Also - a good time to take out Euro
The NZ/EUR cross rate is looking particularly good for NZ'ers. If you're planning a holiday to Europe, even if it's a way off, I'd buy some € now.
Labels: david
Warning – your investment may go up as well as down
Thanks to David McWilliams' column for pointing me to a brilliant Irish blog on economics.
This guy blogs about the kind of stuff that I want to read. Actually the kind of stuff I would like to write. If you're at all interested in economics I strongly encourage you to read it.
And to tempt you further, here is a selection of things to read:
This guy blogs about the kind of stuff that I want to read. Actually the kind of stuff I would like to write. If you're at all interested in economics I strongly encourage you to read it.
And to tempt you further, here is a selection of things to read:
- Five years, six property markets, mixed fortunes - what goes up must come down, especially in Detroit.
- How many mortgage-holders (in Ireland) are faced with unemployment?
- Is it cheaper to buy or rent (in Ireland)?
- Are Irish workers undertaxed? - reveals a very interesting factoid that in 2007 an Irish family on the average industrial wage was effectively being "taxed" (paid, that is) at -0.2%. Yes that was a minus. Shit.
Labels: david, Economics for the masses
Material reductionist façade shows cracks
See Chemist Shows How RNA Can Be the Starting Point for Life.
The article reports that an English chemist, John D. Sutherland, has found a way to cause nucleotides (the building blocks of RNA, i.e. the building blocks of life) to form naturally, as they would have done on the primitive Earth - thwarting a problem has long tripped up scientists looking at the origins of life.
This was a 10-year effort and involved working methodically through every possible combination of starting chemicals - and it is reported that the winning combination was particularly counter-intuitive.
Dr Sutherland said:
Oh my! Dr Sutherland! You shouldn't have! Are you saying there is some kind of creative principle at work in these mere ... chemicals?
The article reports that an English chemist, John D. Sutherland, has found a way to cause nucleotides (the building blocks of RNA, i.e. the building blocks of life) to form naturally, as they would have done on the primitive Earth - thwarting a problem has long tripped up scientists looking at the origins of life.
This was a 10-year effort and involved working methodically through every possible combination of starting chemicals - and it is reported that the winning combination was particularly counter-intuitive.
Dr Sutherland said:
"My assumption is that we are here on this planet as a fundamental consequence of organic chemistry. So it must be chemistry that wants to work." [italics added]
Oh my! Dr Sutherland! You shouldn't have! Are you saying there is some kind of creative principle at work in these mere ... chemicals?
"What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos."
- Albert Einstein to Joseph Lewis, Apr. 18, 1953
Labels: david
