Orinoco outflow II...

---

Milosevic, Mugabe and Maduro: 3M but not the Scotch tape or Post-it kind; the Malign Marxist Manifesto kind. The first two Communist followers had hyperinflation and survived in power; the latter Communist follower has very high inflation (not yet hyper?**) and is surviving, mainly through communication hegemony and legal government assisted looting to 'guarantee that everybody has a plasma television and the latest-generation fridge'. At present, the implied annual inflation rate is between 250 and 300% and [edit] between a fifth and a third of all products are not even available in the shops (yes, think about that). The World Bank "Doing Business" rankings for 2014 (online rankings, full report pdf file) puts Venezuela 181st out of 189, dismal, unbelievable and below the likes of Haiti, the aforementioned Zimbabwe and Afghanistan (164th).



** The "Hyperinflation or not?" row is interesting: Steve H. Hanke has his own reasoning and excepted definition but he also has those who disagree and cite other definitions. To me it seems a moot point as whatever the definition of hyperinflation, everyone agrees that Venezuela is in deep trouble and sinking fast:"So, don’t hold your breath waiting for an uprising in Venezuela because of high inflation and economic misery. Short of $50 per barrel oil, the Titanic called Venezuela might stay afloat for longer than you think, before it inevitably sinks".

Certainly worth reading Steve H. Hanke, The Troubled Currencies Project, Cato Institute - Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved on 12/31/2013 from http://www.cato.org/research/troubled-currencies-project. (click on image).

Orinoco outflow II...

---

Milosevic, Mugabe and Maduro: 3M but not the Scotch tape or Post-it kind; the Malign Marxist Manifesto kind. The first two Communist followers had hyperinflation and survived in power; the latter Communist follower has very high inflation (not yet hyper?**) and is surviving, mainly through communication hegemony and legal government assisted looting to 'guarantee that everybody has a plasma television and the latest-generation fridge'. At present, the implied annual inflation rate is between 250 and 300% and [edit] between a fifth and a third of all products are not even available in the shops (yes, think about that). The World Bank "Doing Business" rankings for 2014 (online rankings, full report pdf file) puts Venezuela 181st out of 189, dismal, unbelievable and below the likes of Haiti, the aforementioned Zimbabwe and Afghanistan (164th).

** The "Hyperinflation or not?" row is interesting: Steve H. Hanke has his own reasoning and excepted definition but he also has those who disagree and cite other definitions. To me it seems a moot point as whatever the definition of hyperinflation, everyone agrees that Venezuela is in deep trouble and sinking fast:"So, don’t hold your breath waiting for an uprising in Venezuela because of high inflation and economic misery. Short of $50 per barrel oil, the Titanic called Venezuela might stay afloat for longer than you think, before it inevitably sinks". Certainly worth reading Steve H. Hanke, The Troubled Currencies Project, Cato Institute - Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved on 12/31/2013 from http://www.cato.org/research/troubled-currencies-project. (click on image).

Octahedral obeisance

---

Uplifting quotes ("Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough"), famous lyrics ("I'll buy you a diamond ring, my friend If it makes you feel alright"), marketing slogans ("Diamonds are Forever") all with one thing in common. There's even the London slang: "he's a diamond geezer"; except now it's not just geezers: now anyone can be a diamond, no, literally! Hat-tip: James Halling at The Commentator. I am assuming turning dead loved-ones into Remembrance diamonds isn't 'the done thing' or maybe even illegal in the UK as it isn't even listed in Algordanza's website. Or maybe the idea's been put on ice.



(The crystal habit of a diamond is octahedral)

Octahedral obeisance

---

Uplifting quotes ("Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough"), famous lyrics ("I'll buy you a diamond ring, my friend If it makes you feel alright"), marketing slogans ("Diamonds are Forever") all with one thing in common. There's even the London slang: "he's a diamond geezer"; except now it's not just geezers: now anyone can be a diamond, no, literally! Hat-tip: James Halling at The Commentator. I am assuming turning dead loved-ones into Remembrance diamonds isn't 'the done thing' or maybe even illegal in the UK as it isn't even listed in Algordanza's website. Or maybe the idea's been put on ice.

(The crystal habit of a diamond is octahedral)

Our oblectation...

---

Talk of floods and cold and climate change and energy bills etc is one thing (and certainly a bummer when it affects you personally) but the truth is that the good news far outweighs the bad...FAR outweighs: "It’s a story that no one organisation or government can take credit for – and a story that doesn't particularly suit anyone’s agenda. But the story is there, for those with an eye to see it." Fraser Nelson at The Spectator on "The biggest shocker of 2013? That it really is a wonderful world": deaths from disease, war, extreme weather etc are minuscule compare to previous decades mainly due to money and spreading it about 'via a system known by its detractors as global capitalism'.



Still - pissing on any fireworks that good news may have launched - will this only accelerate us towards our end?



Update: ...and this won't help!

Our oblectation...

---

Talk of floods and cold and climate change and energy bills etc is one thing (and certainly a bummer when it affects you personally) but the truth is that the good news far outweighs the bad...FAR outweighs: "It’s a story that no one organisation or government can take credit for – and a story that doesn't particularly suit anyone’s agenda. But the story is there, for those with an eye to see it." Fraser Nelson at The Spectator on "The biggest shocker of 2013? That it really is a wonderful world": deaths from disease, war, extreme weather etc are minuscule compare to previous decades mainly due to money and spreading it about 'via a system known by its detractors as global capitalism'.

Still - pissing on any fireworks that good news may have launched - will this only accelerate us towards our end?

Update: ...and this won't help!

Ovine observance...

---

Whilst shepherds watched...Craig writes "Did you know that only one Christmas carol was legally permitted to be sung in the Church of England following the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660? ...That carol was When Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night." No, I didn't know that nor most of the rest that he tells us summarising Jeremy Summerly's 'A Cause for Carolling' on BBC Radio 4. An excellent post and ironic when you see the raison d'être of his blog. "Only in 1782 was the legal monopoly of When Shepherds Watched revoked as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and O Come all ye Faithful joined it in the licit embrace of the Anglican communion."  The carol, really a hymn - 'Song of the Angels at the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour' - based on the Gospel of Luke (Luke II. from v. 8. to v. 15) in which angels tell shepherds about the birth of Jesus; the words, written by poet Nahum Tate, appeared in Tate and Nicholas Brady's 1700 supplement to their New Version of the Psalms of David of 1696 ('before 1700 only the Psalms of David were permitted to be sung').

...Good-will, henceforth, from heav'n to men, 

        " begin and never cease.

Ovine observance...

---

Whilst shepherds watched...Craig writes "Did you know that only one Christmas carol was legally permitted to be sung in the Church of England following the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660? ...That carol was When Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night." No, I didn't know that nor most of the rest that he tells us summarising Jeremy Summerly's 'A Cause for Carolling' on BBC Radio 4. An excellent post and ironic when you see the raison d'être of his blog. "Only in 1782 was the legal monopoly of When Shepherds Watched revoked as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and O Come all ye Faithful joined it in the licit embrace of the Anglican communion."  The carol, really a hymn - 'Song of the Angels at the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour' - based on the Gospel of Luke (Luke II. from v. 8. to v. 15) in which angels tell shepherds about the birth of Jesus; the words, written by poet Nahum Tate, appeared in Tate and Nicholas Brady's 1700 supplement to their New Version of the Psalms of David of 1696 ('before 1700 only the Psalms of David were permitted to be sung').

...Good-will, henceforth, from heav'n to men, 
        " begin and never cease.

Obsidional omissions...

---

When the truth is secondary - a phenomenon becoming increasingly more prevalent (especially with the BBC, IMHO); a situation that any 'normal' person should be uncomfortable with; without further comment from me but linking to Christopher Booker in the Sunday Telegraph ("Why Mandela owed a huge debt to Thatcher": FW de Klerk) and to EU Referendum (more discussion; "anything which strays from the "narrative" is ignored, while the bubble-dwellers drown out the truth with their prattle").

Obsidional omissions...

---

When the truth is secondary - a phenomenon becoming increasingly more prevalent (especially with the BBC, IMHO); a situation that any 'normal' person should be uncomfortable with; without further comment from me but linking to Christopher Booker in the Sunday Telegraph ("Why Mandela owed a huge debt to Thatcher": FW de Klerk) and to EU Referendum (more discussion; "anything which strays from the "narrative" is ignored, while the bubble-dwellers drown out the truth with their prattle").

Only Obama's olinguito...

---

The story behind this famous selfie is HERE

Last month the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013 was declared as "selfie". The word has become more popular with the ubiquitousness of smartphones but has in fact been around for over a decade (yes, before Facebook, YouTube and Twitter existed). Barely a month later the site Selfies at funerals closes up shop because Obama just put the cherry on the icing on the cake. The main reasons why the picture of Obama's selfie stands out are many as a great article in the New York Post makes clear and few that pay any attention at all can doubt Obama's narcissitic tendancy: "Days before the funeral selfie, the White House tweeted out a Pearl Harbor remembrance that consisted of a photo of Obama laying a wreath. Six days before that he honored Rosa Parks by tweeting out a picture of himself sitting on the bus she desegregated. Nine days before that he honored the anniversary of JFK’s death with a tweet of himself looking at the fallen president’s White House portrait." [Link NYP]. Santiago Lyon, vice president and director of photography at The Associated Press has another word for it: "Until the White House revisits its draconian restrictions on photojournalists’ access to the president, information-savvy citizens, too, would be wise to treat those handout photos for what they are: propaganda." [Link, NYT].



For those interested the Word of the Year shortlist (see first link above) was as follows: bedroom tax (the BBC's favourite); binge-watch, bitcoin, olinguito (Ows' favourite), schmeat (WTF?), showrooming and twerk (any perv's favourite).

Only Obama's olinguito...

---

The story behind this famous selfie is HERE

Last month the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013 was declared as "selfie". The word has become more popular with the ubiquitousness of smartphones but has in fact been around for over a decade (yes, before Facebook, YouTube and Twitter existed). Barely a month later the site Selfies at funerals closes up shop because Obama just put the cherry on the icing on the cake. The main reasons why the picture of Obama's selfie stands out are many as a great article in the New York Post makes clear and few that pay any attention at all can doubt Obama's narcissitic tendancy: "Days before the funeral selfie, the White House tweeted out a Pearl Harbor remembrance that consisted of a photo of Obama laying a wreath. Six days before that he honored Rosa Parks by tweeting out a picture of himself sitting on the bus she desegregated. Nine days before that he honored the anniversary of JFK’s death with a tweet of himself looking at the fallen president’s White House portrait." [Link NYP]. Santiago Lyon, vice president and director of photography at The Associated Press has another word for it: "Until the White House revisits its draconian restrictions on photojournalists’ access to the president, information-savvy citizens, too, would be wise to treat those handout photos for what they are: propaganda." [Link, NYT].

For those interested the Word of the Year shortlist (see first link above) was as follows: bedroom tax (the BBC's favourite); binge-watch, bitcoin, olinguito (Ows' favourite), schmeat (WTF?), showrooming and twerk (any perv's favourite).

OMG V...

---

I know there's a year and a half to go but based on current polling:

Please people...WAKE UP! In the UK's crazy rotten borough system just this 6% lead to Labour would give them a 130 seat majority! You know it's unfair: 2005 Tony Blair 35% of votes = 355 seats; 2010 David Cameron 36% of a higher turn-out = 306 seats. Updated Sat 8 a.m.: OK, OK, I missed this yesterday but it would still lead to a massive working majority for Labour!

OMG V...

---

I know there's a year and a half to go but based on current polling:

Please people...WAKE UP! In the UK's crazy rotten borough system just this 6% lead to Labour would give them a 130 seat majority! You know it's unfair: 2005 Tony Blair 35% of votes = 355 seats; 2010 David Cameron 36% of a higher turn-out = 306 seats. Updated Sat 8 a.m.: OK, OK, I missed this yesterday but it would still lead to a massive working majority for Labour!

Observing OIC Observatory...

---

I could add 'Orwellian' to that title. My comment in the post yesterday prompted this post. Yesterday ended the presentation to the 40th Council of Foreign Ministers the 6th OIC Observatory report on Islamophobia [report:pdf]. You can make up your own mind about Islamophobia (a) here or (b) here (pdf). I tend towards the (b) link and concur with the dozen writers (including Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali) who a few years ago - after this incident - declared "After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global threat: Islamism...". Soeren Kern at Gateway The Gatestone Institute highlights a key point to the OIC report: "The common thread that binds the entire document together is the OIC's repeated insistence that the main culprit responsible for "the institutionalization of Islamophobia" in Western countries is freedom of speech." It is not an exaggeration to say that when you read the report (if you don't fancy that just read the two pages of conclusions and recommendations, pages 33 and 34; everything after that is annexes anyway) what Soeren says is true and highlights a massive contradiction, from the OIC: "Many distorted facts and ill conceived ideas about Islam... ...include the perception that Islam is linked to terror; that it is intolerant of other religious beliefs, that its values and practices are incompatible with modern democratic systems; that it favours repression of freedom of expression and undermining human rights and other misperceptions." Errm, can anyone point out how any of that [edited 4pm] is distorting facts or ill-conceiving something? And then their recommendations in the report: their solution to stop people thinking they want to repress freedom of expression is by repressing freedom of expression! FFS.  A suggestion OIC: take one step back and look at the causes of "Islamophobia".

Observing OIC Observatory...

---

I could add 'Orwellian' to that title. My comment in the post yesterday prompted this post. Yesterday ended the presentation to the 40th Council of Foreign Ministers the 6th OIC Observatory report on Islamophobia [report:pdf]. You can make up your own mind about Islamophobia (a) here or (b) here (pdf). I tend towards the (b) link and concur with the dozen writers (including Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali) who a few years ago - after this incident - declared "After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global threat: Islamism...". Soeren Kern at Gateway The Gatestone Institute highlights a key point to the OIC report: "The common thread that binds the entire document together is the OIC's repeated insistence that the main culprit responsible for "the institutionalization of Islamophobia" in Western countries is freedom of speech." It is not an exaggeration to say that when you read the report (if you don't fancy that just read the two pages of conclusions and recommendations, pages 33 and 34; everything after that is annexes anyway) what Soeren says is true and highlights a massive contradiction, from the OIC: "Many distorted facts and ill conceived ideas about Islam... ...include the perception that Islam is linked to terror; that it is intolerant of other religious beliefs, that its values and practices are incompatible with modern democratic systems; that it favours repression of freedom of expression and undermining human rights and other misperceptions." Errm, can anyone point out how any of that [edited 4pm] is distorting facts or ill-conceiving something? And then their recommendations in the report: their solution to stop people thinking they want to repress freedom of expression is by repressing freedom of expression! FFS.  A suggestion OIC: take one step back and look at the causes of "Islamophobia".

Olympus...

---

...is falling. Anyway 11th December is UN designated International Mountain Day [link]: Earth's mountains - "Mountains - Key to a Sustainable Future" - cover 27 percent of the land surface and 'play a critical role in moving the world towards sustainable economic growth'. "In particular, mountains provide freshwater, energy and food – resources that will be increasingly scarce in coming decades. However, mountains also have a high incidence of poverty and are extremely vulnerable to climate change, deforestation, land degradation and natural disasters." Excellent, the UN can be a force that is good.



Yesterday was UN designated Human Rights Day, the 20th anniversary [link]; however, only a couple of weeks ago they proclaimed 2014 the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People [link], not a day, a YEAR. This was decided at a meeting where UN approved Jewish groups were banned from attending. Last year U.N. General Assembly adopted 22 resolutions on Israel and 4 on the rest of the world combined [UN Watch]; last month alone there were a nearly a dozen more, FFS, it is getting pathetic: the UN can be a force that is not good.



Set up with such lofty and fine ideals and with a number of specialised agencies (WHO, FAO, UNESCO...) it has to avoid becoming completely tarnished yet the UNGA seems hell bent on falling further from the heady heights of the objectives on which it was founded.



Off topic aside: a minute ago it was 9:10, 11/12/13...yippee. 

Olympus...

---

...is falling. Anyway 11th December is UN designated International Mountain Day [link]: Earth's mountains - "Mountains - Key to a Sustainable Future" - cover 27 percent of the land surface and 'play a critical role in moving the world towards sustainable economic growth'. "In particular, mountains provide freshwater, energy and food – resources that will be increasingly scarce in coming decades. However, mountains also have a high incidence of poverty and are extremely vulnerable to climate change, deforestation, land degradation and natural disasters." Excellent, the UN can be a force that is good.

Yesterday was UN designated Human Rights Day, the 20th anniversary [link]; however, only a couple of weeks ago they proclaimed 2014 the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People [link], not a day, a YEAR. This was decided at a meeting where UN approved Jewish groups were banned from attending. Last year U.N. General Assembly adopted 22 resolutions on Israel and 4 on the rest of the world combined [UN Watch]; last month alone there were a nearly a dozen more, FFS, it is getting pathetic: the UN can be a force that is not good.

Set up with such lofty and fine ideals and with a number of specialised agencies (WHO, FAO, UNESCO...) it has to avoid becoming completely tarnished yet the UNGA seems hell bent on falling further from the heady heights of the objectives on which it was founded.

Off topic aside: a minute ago it was 9:10, 11/12/13...yippee. 

Objuragtion of once...

---

Snouts in the trough: the pigs in the image are happily eating their daily ration, heads down, no interest in what is around them; you can't think ill of the pigs for that, it's all they get. Those in parliament also have their heads in the trough with no interest in what is around them, but they want more, much more. The 'once' in the title is really "on-ce", eleven, an 11% pay-rise for UK Members of Parliament. "A Whitehall source said the 'across the board' reform would not cost taxpayers more. Funding for the salary increase would come from cuts to MPs' pension schemes that go far deeper than published proposals" [Link] PAH! That's OK then is it? I doubt many will see it that way and it is also a FUCKING LIE. There are too any MPs and they are mostly liars, thieves, corrupt, useless self-serving fuck-wits (no, really). Don't get me wrong, any good MP deserves a salary of 74K (£6167/month), more, make it higher... but they also claim 36K on personal expenses (£3000/month) and I doubt very much whether they penny-pinch about how and what they spend it on. We're not finished: PLUS they also get over 114K for staff expenses (£9525/month); you guessed it, 24% (155 out of 650) of them employ direct family members; how many of the rest employ friends and acquaintances probably not suited or best for these jobs? Who checks who is getting paid what? Those figures are for the year 2012/13 ending April this year; they are 7% HIGHER than the year before. Those nice members are really holding back, aren't they? Of COURSE it is costing taxpayers more.



Update: just to be clear: those personal and staff expenses are of course average figures; there are saints and sinners.

Objuragtion of once...

---

Snouts in the trough: the pigs in the image are happily eating their daily ration, heads down, no interest in what is around them; you can't think ill of the pigs for that, it's all they get. Those in parliament also have their heads in the trough with no interest in what is around them, but they want more, much more. The 'once' in the title is really "on-ce", eleven, an 11% pay-rise for UK Members of Parliament. "A Whitehall source said the 'across the board' reform would not cost taxpayers more. Funding for the salary increase would come from cuts to MPs' pension schemes that go far deeper than published proposals" [Link] PAH! That's OK then is it? I doubt many will see it that way and it is also a FUCKING LIE. There are too any MPs and they are mostly liars, thieves, corrupt, useless self-serving fuck-wits (no, really). Don't get me wrong, any good MP deserves a salary of 74K (£6167/month), more, make it higher... but they also claim 36K on personal expenses (£3000/month) and I doubt very much whether they penny-pinch about how and what they spend it on. We're not finished: PLUS they also get over 114K for staff expenses (£9525/month); you guessed it, 24% (155 out of 650) of them employ direct family members; how many of the rest employ friends and acquaintances probably not suited or best for these jobs? Who checks who is getting paid what? Those figures are for the year 2012/13 ending April this year; they are 7% HIGHER than the year before. Those nice members are really holding back, aren't they? Of COURSE it is costing taxpayers more.

Update: just to be clear: those personal and staff expenses are of course average figures; there are saints and sinners.

Obit overshadows Osborne's optimistic outlook...

---

No disrespect to Mandela but enough is being said elsewhere... everywhere, so I'll keep schtum [edit: 9pm] although if you have had enough of the fawning pap being spewed out in most media please read this from Charles Crawford. Yesterday had other news: the UK Chancellor George Osborne gave his Autumn Statement (Link: PDF) to Parliament on the state of the UK economy and the Coalition government's future plans. At a glance things are looking good despite BBC Peston's ludicrously negative report (and coordinated comments); he was presumably one of those BBC journalists prepared in advance (Link: PDF) by the assumed lefty (pinch of salt) IFS; (no doubt more from them on the BBC later ([edit]...later: haha, told you). The Taxpayers' Alliance briefing is broadly supportive (Link:PDF) but think Osborne 'must do more'; a key is the continued cutting the number and complexity of taxes: they say Tolley’s Tax Guide is now over 17,000 pages long. Particularly interesting is the TPA tax tracker: "Since the Coalition Government came to power in 2010, 509 tax hikes and 209 tax cuts have been announced". Two articles that IMHO are worth reading: Kamal Ahmed in the DT ("Be grateful that George Osborne did not unveil a Brownite master plan") and I also liked Rafael Behr's article in the NS: "...the macroeconomic indicators fuelling Conservative levity conceal real pain that will cost the government votes".

Obit overshadows Osborne's optimistic outlook...

---

No disrespect to Mandela but enough is being said elsewhere... everywhere, so I'll keep schtum [edit: 9pm] although if you have had enough of the fawning pap being spewed out in most media please read this from Charles Crawford. Yesterday had other news: the UK Chancellor George Osborne gave his Autumn Statement (Link: PDF) to Parliament on the state of the UK economy and the Coalition government's future plans. At a glance things are looking good despite BBC Peston's ludicrously negative report (and coordinated comments); he was presumably one of those BBC journalists prepared in advance (Link: PDF) by the assumed lefty (pinch of salt) IFS; (no doubt more from them on the BBC later ([edit]...later: haha, told you). The Taxpayers' Alliance briefing is broadly supportive (Link:PDF) but think Osborne 'must do more'; a key is the continued cutting the number and complexity of taxes: they say Tolley’s Tax Guide is now over 17,000 pages long. Particularly interesting is the TPA tax tracker: "Since the Coalition Government came to power in 2010, 509 tax hikes and 209 tax cuts have been announced". Two articles that IMHO are worth reading: Kamal Ahmed in the DT ("Be grateful that George Osborne did not unveil a Brownite master plan") and I also liked Rafael Behr's article in the NS: "...the macroeconomic indicators fuelling Conservative levity conceal real pain that will cost the government votes".