Thursday, January 24, 2008
Why Europeans have the travel bug
It struck me today that most of the time I am outside here in Amsterdam, its a constant struggle against the elements - the biting cold that makes u want to shrivel up within yourself or the chilly wind thats blowing your umbrella off or that painfully slow drizzle which never gets to be the downpour I love. And this is what people here live with, and have forever lived with. No wonder then they wanted out and they travelled out in their ships the first chance they got. No wonder also that they are so structured and disciplined like machines - humans couldn't possibly have survived in such conditions otherwise.
Cricket.. (if google will.. argh)
Last time I wanted to write something about cricket, google pained me with getting me to creating some stupid google account with my blogger account. Fortunately, they dont seem upto any new tricks today.
Just a thought - another way in which cricket differs from football - both are beautiful sports; and both showcase individual brilliance and teamwork too; football however requires a certain amount of teamwork to do the individual brilliance which can then make a telling difference to the result of the game; cricket on the other hand can have great individual play without teamwork but that has less of an effect on the result (A goal or two can decice a game more than a fifty or a century - particularly test cricket.)
The other differences like how test cricket is more of a man game's rather than football etc are of course obvious :)
Just a thought - another way in which cricket differs from football - both are beautiful sports; and both showcase individual brilliance and teamwork too; football however requires a certain amount of teamwork to do the individual brilliance which can then make a telling difference to the result of the game; cricket on the other hand can have great individual play without teamwork but that has less of an effect on the result (A goal or two can decice a game more than a fifty or a century - particularly test cricket.)
The other differences like how test cricket is more of a man game's rather than football etc are of course obvious :)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
All that shit...
Excerpt from FT's "Why the climate change wolf is so hard to kill off" (By Martin Wolf) (Published: December 4 2007 19:02)
(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc338d2a-a292-11dc-81c4-0000779fd2ac.html)
...we must confront the fact that the world is far from a single country. This creates three huge problems: collective (in)action; perceived injustice; and indifference.
First, not only does each country want to be a free rider on the efforts of others but none feels wholly responsible for the outcome.
Second, the contributions made by different countries to the problem have been (and remain) enormously different. Collectively, the rich countries account for seven out of every 10 tonnes of CO2 emitted since the start of the industrial era. While China is the biggest emitter in the world, its emissions are still only one-fifth of US levels per head. India’s are one-fifteenth.
Third, as the report spells out in compelling detail, the heaviest cost will be borne by the world’s poor...............But this, if we were honest, is why the rich are unlikely to make the huge reductions in emissions the report demands. The powerful will continue to act without much consideration for the poor. This, after all, is a world that spends 10 times as much on defence (much of it useless) as on aid to poor countries.
....
The truth, moreover, is that this will happen only if the US also takes the lead. No country will deliver radical cuts if the US does not do so, too. No leaps forward in science and technology will occur if the US is not prepared to commit its resources to those ends. The US can no longer wait for a lead from others. Either it takes the lead now or the cause, in all probability, will be lost.....
(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc338d2a-a292-11dc-81c4-0000779fd2ac.html)
...we must confront the fact that the world is far from a single country. This creates three huge problems: collective (in)action; perceived injustice; and indifference.
First, not only does each country want to be a free rider on the efforts of others but none feels wholly responsible for the outcome.
Second, the contributions made by different countries to the problem have been (and remain) enormously different. Collectively, the rich countries account for seven out of every 10 tonnes of CO2 emitted since the start of the industrial era. While China is the biggest emitter in the world, its emissions are still only one-fifth of US levels per head. India’s are one-fifteenth.
Third, as the report spells out in compelling detail, the heaviest cost will be borne by the world’s poor...............But this, if we were honest, is why the rich are unlikely to make the huge reductions in emissions the report demands. The powerful will continue to act without much consideration for the poor. This, after all, is a world that spends 10 times as much on defence (much of it useless) as on aid to poor countries.
....
The truth, moreover, is that this will happen only if the US also takes the lead. No country will deliver radical cuts if the US does not do so, too. No leaps forward in science and technology will occur if the US is not prepared to commit its resources to those ends. The US can no longer wait for a lead from others. Either it takes the lead now or the cause, in all probability, will be lost.....
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