World Brain

The idea of wikipedia originated with H.G. Wells, author of The Time Machine.

Sedans and Saloons: Classic and Modern

Sedan is the American term for the British saloon, referring to a car with a three-box configuration, three sections for engine, passenger and cargo.

A classic sedan would be a light-blue 1962 Chevrolet Impala. The word sedan comes from sedan chair, the old-fashioned automobile powered by humans rather than engines. A palanquin is similar to a sedan chair, carried using four poles.

A modern sedan would be the BMW M5.

Pembrokeshire - Wales most popular coastal destination

Skomer (Norse: short sword) - marine nature reserve
Puffins - diving
Landing strip for nocturnal birds from South America; Manx shearwater
Phileas also recommends Harlech Castle
"The Singing Sands" in Wales - sand squeaks

Stitches

Straight Stitch

Electricity Storage Technologies

Supercapacitors - used for UPS and for "regenerative braking" in cars and trains
limited storage potential, hard to scale

Vuvuzelas

The vuvuzela is an almost metre long horn that produces a loud, monotone sound. It became popular at South African football matches in the 1990s. Vuvuzelas are on the list of banned items at Wimbledon.

Electricity Markets

How does the electricity wholesale spot market in the UK work? (wholesale=> selling to retailers).

Before each period the market is open, generating companies submit the minimum prices at which they are willing to supply power.

The National Grid then draws up a supply plan based on these "offer" prices.

Brazil's Non-Commodity Exports

Brazil obviously exports a lot of commodities ($120bn in 2008). These include oil, iron ore, steels and metals, almost the full commodity complex. Soybean-product exports are also sizeable ($18bn-worth in 2008).

But what are the $28bn of non-commodities that Brazil exports? These include $5.9bn worth of aircraft, military and civil. Manufacturers include Embraer. Until 1975, Embraer's business was built up solely of Brazilian government orders and focused on military aircraft later branching out into civilian airliners such as the EMB 120.

Much data on Brazil can be obtained from the Ministry of Development, MDIC.

Another interesting fact is that Brazil's energy is dominated by hydroelectric power (85% of capacity). The largest hydro plant in Brazil is the 14,000 MW Itaipu plant.

Argentina's Two Economic Crises (80s, 90s)

Argentina is the Eastern neighbour of Chile in South America. The "AEC" took place in the late 1990s and is correlated with the decrease in real GDP in 1999 and return to growth in 2002. Origins of the crisis went back to the 70s and 80s, Argentina had acquired huge debt during the National Reorganization Process (1976-1983), where the country was ruled by la ultima junta militar, the money was spent on unfinished projects and the Falklands War. In 1983, Argentina became a democracy and created a new currency known as the austral, which required new loans. When the state became unable to pay interest on the debt, confidence in the currency collapsed. In July 1989, Argentine inflation reached 200%. Although unemployment did not increase, real wages halved. In 1991, a fixing of 10,000 australs to 1 USD was introduced. A condition to secure "convertibility" of the currency was for the Central Bank of Argentina to keep USD FX reserve at the same level as cash in circulation. The currency was then renamed the peso (Argentine peso) and the exchange rate was fixed in law. So drop in inflation and preservation in currency value resulted. However, in the 90s borrowing continued and another crisis resulted.

Neapolitan Ice Cream

Chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

Preconditions for CIvilization

How did civilization emerge? Let us take the case of Mesopotamia. The soil of Mesopotamia led to a surplus of food. With a food surplus people could settle. As cities developed interactions between people developed. With an unpredictable food supply, civilization cannot flourish.

Primarni

The Primarni Effect
What's seen on the catwalk is replicated so quickly in stores. The term Primarni is giving a nod to the roots. primark or top shop.

One Country, Two systems

Diplomacy: Knowing how far you can go, how much the bridge will carry
realpolitik (ray-arl-politeek)

From: "Getting our Way"

Immortal Beloved (1994)

The life and love story of Ludwig van Beethoven. Vienna 1827. "If we could be united we would feel this pain no longer".

"he's a genius"
"but in the last year he has not played or published a single note"

Cool Magazines

What are your favourite magazines?

National Geographic Magazine - Mar2010 issue is on Wolf Wars.
Discover Magazine - running a feature on the technology of the Winter Olympics
Science et Vie
Scientific American
BBC Focus Magazine
Communications of the ACM
CNET TV

What are Rum Balls?

Rum balls are like truffles made with chocolate and rum. They can be coated in chocolate sprinkles, dessicated coconut or cocoa. They are a popular Christmas snack in parts of Europe (Austria, Hungary, Denmark) as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Meet Robert Solow (Nobel Prize Winner 1987)

Robert Solow was a Brooklyn-born American economist known for his work on economic growth.

The model he conceived was called the Solow-Swan neo-classical growth model. He was famously quoted as saying: "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics".

He taught statistics and econometrics (time series) at MIT. In doing so, his interests admirably shifted to macroeconomics. He is currently an Institute Professor (highest Professor title) at MIT.

International Trade: The Uruguay Round

The Uruguay Round of 1986 was the largest trade negotiation in history since the GATT agreement after the Second World War and involved 123 countries. The resort of Punta del Este also known as the St Tropez of Uruguay(on the South Eastern part of South America) the other side of Chile (very West), played host to the talks where all GATT articles were up for review! Tariffs and related subjects were discussed under the umbrella term "market access". This led to the creation of the WTO, preceded by the Marrakech Agreement of 1995. The Doha developement agenda consisted of trade talks post-Uruguay.

Sidebar: St Tropez is situated on the Cote d'Azur, also known as the French Riviera - the Mediterranean coastline of the South East corner of France. It was a favourite winter health resort for the British upper class. Officially, the Cote d'Azur is home to 163 nationalities and the towns of Marseille, Nice and Cannes.

Benefits of Chewing Gum

There is a theory that chewing gum can be an aid to concentration stimulating the hypothalamus (that part of the brain that connects the endocrine system to the nervous system) to release hormones to keep us alert. Also it burns off a small amount of energy. Also it stimulates saliva production which helps to digest carbohydrates.

Dollar is stronger than which currencies?

Assume you are USD-denominated tourist. To travel to new destinations you need foreign currency!! In some countries the dollar is stronger (like Turkey!!) and in other countries the dollar is weaker (like Eurozone and UK - GBPUSD is around 1.5 to 1.6).

Here's a currency ballpark set of rules to work out approximations to how much currency you'll get for your greenback. Once you understand BALLPARK you then need to study time series to understand VOLATILITY (one measure being 52wk range).

TRY is New Turkish Lira. 1.5 of these smackers roughly equate to a humble dollar. So if you have N lira and you change it for M dollars, then N/M is roughly 1.5.

Euro to Dollar is a different beast altogether. Why, because Euro is stronger than Dollar. So if I have N EUR and M dollar then M over N(larger quantity over smaller quantity) should roughly equate to 1.4 (or maybe below).

Quiz: which is stronger, greenback or Ozzie dollar? If I divide my Ozzies by my greenback equivalent I should get ballpark 1.12. The greenback buys around 1.12 ozzies!! Good value!! But it's a close call. It's a similar story for CADS, I can get just over 1 CAD for a greenback. Makes sense, I guess, economies are somewhat similar. Similar story for Swissies, if I divide my Swissies by my equivalent dollars, I get something just over one. So the greenback is marginally stronger than these currencies, but significantly stronger than the lira!!!

Exmouth Market

Exmouth Market is in Clerkenwell (EC1), nearest station Angel and two minutes walk from Sadler's Wells theatre (which has a history of over 300 years). Also close to Farringdon tube (600m+ walk). Head out of the tube, down Farringdon Road (A201). Walk Northwards towards King's Cross and away from Smithfield. Cross Clerkenwell Road, the road starts curving West. You will pass Pear Tree Court and Bowling Green Lane on your right. Shortly after you need to make a right turn before Roseberry Avenue (the next major road).

GPS

GPS is the Global Positioning System, a space-based satellite navigation system. But who pays for the GPS satellites? GPS satellites are owned by the US government and leased out on a time-sharing basis.

The Mighty Pound

The pound is the world's oldest currency still in use. 1 GBP = 100p = 100 GBX = 100 GBp. In the olden days, the pound was divided into Shillings and Pence. This disappeared with decimalization in 1971. Prior to decimalization, 1 pound was 20 shillings, each shilling was 12p (meaning 240 pence to the pound). "3s6d" (Three and Six) meant 3 shillings and sixpence.

A numismatist is a collector of coinage e.g. crowns and guineas. A guinea is a gold coin; the name comes from Guinea where gold was mined.

Murphy's Law and the Analogies of Physics

Murphy's Law is an adage that states: "anything that can go wrong will". It might be used as a muse or sometimes, given a sufficiently long time, an event which is possible will almost surely take place. Sometimes Murphy's Law is used in conjunction with thermodynamics (e.g. Second Law of Thermodynamics) which demands an understanding of the concept of entropy. Entropy is sometimes used in information science to describe the amount of information, for example, in a string of binary digits, but in thermodynamics describes number of ways a system may be rearranged (similar concept) but in the latter case, often taken to mean a measure of disorder. Ice melting is a classic example of entropy increasing.

Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil...

Continuing with the theme of virtual travel, we now visit Northern South America via the isthmus of Panama (an isthmus is a narrow strip of land, connecting two larger areas of land).

Panama is the connecting piece between Central America and Northern South America, famous for the Panama Canal that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Its capital is Panama City. The Spanish used Panama as a launch base to explore and conquer Peru.

The maximum size of ship that can go through the Panama Canal is known as Panamax, many modern ships are too big and are known as post-Panamax vessels.

 The isthmus of Panama (formerly the Isthmus of Darien, an isthmus being a narrow strip of land that connects two larger pieces of land) plugs into Colombia.

Travelling East from Colombia we reach Venezuela (capital Caracas), comprising Highlands, jungle, lakes and a Northern shore facing the Caribbean Sea (named after an Amerindian tribe known as the Caribe). South of Colombia is Ecuador and Peru, South of Venezuela is Brazil. Caracas, Venezuela, has become one of Latin America's economic centres owing to the oil-rich nature of Venezuela.

From the Blue-Waters of Western Australia to Tasmania

We start our journey in the beautiful blue waters of Perth, Western Australia. Australia has about six large regions: Western Australia (which contains Perth), Northern Territory in the North (containing Darwin), South Australia (Adelaide), Queensland (North East), NSW, Victoria (the most densely populated state, named after Queen Victoria and containing Melbourne in SW). Off the Victoria coast is Tasmania, an island and state, whose capital is Hobart (originally founded as a penal colony). It was named after Lord Hobart, the British Colonial Secretary. The Australian flag is blue with the Union Jack in the top left and stars representing the different states. Middlesborough man Captain James Cook is inextricably linked to the history of Australia, being the first European to land on its Eastern shores.

Who were the Plantagenets?

The Plantagenets (aka First House of Anjou) was a house of royals founded by Henry II in the 12th Century. He was the first to use the title "King of England" as opposed to "King of the English" and was born in Le Mans, France (North-Western France). The old town of Le Mans is also known as Cite Plantagenet.

San Francisco Drama

Execution of Justice (1999) is a film about the assassination of George Moscone, Mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk in November 1978. It is based on a play by Emily Mann. The role of Dan White is played by Tim Daly, an Irish-American actor from NYC. The film alludes to the development of Pier 39, a "second Fisherman's Wharf" in San Francisco. After Moscone's assassination, Dianne Feinstein took over as Mayor of San Francisco.

The Sioux Indians and the Dakota Territory

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) is a story of the Native American Sioux tribe and is set just after the Sioux victory over General Custer at Little Big Horn. The three main characters are Sioux doctor Charles Eastman (real name Ohiyesa), Lakota chief Sitting Bull and Senator Henry Dawes, architect of policies on Indian affairs.