I hate to admit it, but it’s true.  I was fine for the whole campaign, but over the past couple of days, I don’t know, it just snuck up on me.  Maybe it’s his je ne sais qoui…. wait, je sais quoi!  It’s his normalness.  His sanity.  His lack of supporters who carve McCain’s initials into their cheeks and call the media, saying they were mugged by Republicans.  His lack of endorsements from tax-evading, unlicensed “plumbers”, warmongers, candy-hoarding bitches, witch-hunters, angry mobs and racists. I think that’s what it is – …
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What on earth is going on here? Courtesy of Huffington Post. …
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I’m in a bind. I joined a book club, mostly out of boredom – there’s nothing else to do here.  At first, I didn’t think I was going to enjoy talking about books, but I do!  The other book club members throw words like “deracinated” into casual conversation!  I felt like a swan indoctrinated in duckness discovering my lost tribe for the fist time.  I love words.  Big words, small words, foreign words, swear words – practically any assortment of words strung together fills me with an intoxicating joie de vivre.  Other people who read know a lot …
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On a discussion forum I participate in, the question arose, “if the media blamed the bailout not being passed for the stock plummet that followed, why did it plummet again after the bill was passed?” The wealth the markets are losing never existed to begin with: All the wildly swinging ups and downs in the stock market are evidence that investment bankers are playing hot potato.  They are looking for a New Bubble that can replace the housing bubble, just as hyperinflated house prices took over from the IT crash, but there is no new bubble anywhere in sight – although there …
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There’s no doubt the global economy is undergoing significant changes with far-reaching, unknown consequences.  Tens of trillions of dollars of fictitious wealth will need to vanish from the books of financial institutions around the world before stability can return to banking and international trade. The panic, hysteria and hyperbole in the media are reducing the likelihood of a smooth and relatively painless transition.  Drastic, ill-conceived measures like the 700 billion bail-out are not based on research or reason, but on fear.  As a society, we make fear-based decisions at our …
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Let me count the ways… The Data Protection Act of 1998 prescribes eight principles of Data Protection all organisations that collect and process personal data must apply.  It also requires these organisations to take adequate measures to ensure all staff are trained in and understand the application of these principles. It seems the Labour government has been negligent in their Data Protection training, since as far as I can see, the National ID card scheme being rolled out in the UK violates all eight of them.  Let’s consider these principles one at a time. 1 Personal data …
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