Author: Duncan Toms

Twenty reasons never to fly Ryanair

Posted on by Duncan Toms

But their out-of-city airfield in Sweden is the only reason I use them – it’s very near to our destination, being an hour south of Stockholm.

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Twenty reasons never to fly Ryanair

You have to admire the audacity of everyone’s favourite love-to-hate chief executive Michael O’Leary.

His latest stunt, to cause outrage by suggesting that Ryanair might start charging holidaymakers “a pound to spend a penny” onboard, made it on to the cover of The Daily Express. In the process, one imagines, reminding several hundred thousand hard up Britons to take advantage of the airline’s spring seat sale.

This week The Sun reports: “A saucy stewardess is putting the thrills in no-frills airline Ryanair.”

The “34B Czech stunner” , it alleges, has been given her bosses’ blessing to moonlight as a porn star.

Depressingly, all publicity is good publicity when you are the world’s leading budget airline and Ryanair doesn’t give a damn whether you like it or not. O’Leary knows that when it comes to the crunch, especially this credit one, you will still turn to him for a cheap weekend jolly.

But while the airline can be cheap, the customer service truly sucks. So, here are 20 things to remember next time you are led into temptation by those 1p flights.

via Money Central – Times Online – WBLG: Twenty reasons never to fly Ryanair.

Bag a polar bear for $35,000

Posted on by Duncan Toms

We really are sick

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Bag a polar bear for $35,000: the new threat to the species

The latest challenge for fans of extreme hunting is an expedition to the Arctic Circle. Jerome Taylor reports

Hunters pay tens of thousands of dollars to kill polar bears in the Arctic

Boyd Warner treasures the memory of killing his first polar bear. It was 2003. For days he had stalked his prey on the frozen wastelands north of Pond Inlet, one of Canada’s most isolated Inuit communities deep inside the Arctic Circle. His dog team picked up the scent of an eight-foot adult male and they hurtled over the ice: the hunt was on.

via Bag a polar bear for $35,000: the new threat to the species – Nature, Environment – The Independent.

Climate-Saving Sunshade Would Screw up Climate-Saving Solar Facilities

Posted on by Duncan Toms

D’oh!

An obvious example of partial solutions not working. There’s always a knock-on effect.

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Climate-Saving Sunshade Would Screw up Climate-Saving Solar Facilities

As global warming’s effects become evident researchers have turned to geoengineering schemes that could slow the warming process, like a global “sunshade” produced by spraying sulfur aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight back into space. But a new study points out an (obvious in retrospect) drawback of that idea: It would seriously reduce the effectiveness of some solar energy facilities, which proponents hope would reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and thus prevent further global warming.

via Climate-Saving Sunshade Would Screw up Climate-Saving Solar Facilities | 80beats | Discover Magazine.

The Size of Derivatives Bubble = $190K Per Person on Planet

Posted on by Duncan Toms

The Size of Derivatives Bubble = $190K Per Person on Planet

The Invisible One Quadrillion Dollar Equation — Asymmetric Leverage and Systemic Risk

According to various distinguished sources including the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland — the central bankers’ bank — the amount of outstanding derivatives worldwide as of December 2007 crossed USD 1.144 Quadrillion, ie, USD 1,144 Trillion. The main categories of the USD 1.144 Quadrillion derivatives market were the following:

1. Listed credit derivatives stood at USD 548 trillion;

2. The Over-The-Counter (OTC) derivatives stood in notional or face value at USD 596 trillion and included:

a. Interest Rate Derivatives at about USD 393+ trillion;

b. Credit Default Swaps at about USD 58+ trillion;

c. Foreign Exchange Derivatives at about USD 56+ trillion;

d. Commodity Derivatives at about USD 9 trillion;

e. Equity Linked Derivatives at about USD 8.5 trillion; and

f. Unallocated Derivatives at about USD 71+ trillion.

via The Size of Derivatives Bubble = $190K Per Person on Planet.

Let the wild rumpus start! – 35/365

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Let the wild rumpus start, originally uploaded by :Duncan.

The night Max wore his wolf suit
and made mischief of one kind and another
his mother called him “WILD THING!”
and Max said “I’LL EAT YOU UP!”
So he was sent to bed without eating anything.

That very night in Max’s room a forest grew
and grew and grew
until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls
became the world all around
and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max
and he sailed off through night and day and in and out of weeks
and almost over a year to where the wild things are.

And when he came to the place where the wild things are
they roared their terrible roars
and gnashed their terrible teeth
and rolled their terrible eyes
and showed their terrible claws
till Max said “BE STILL!”
and tamed them with a magic trick of staring
into their yellow eyes without blinking once
and they were frightened and called him the most
wild thing of all
and made him king of all wild things.
“AND NOW,” cried Max,
“LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!”

“NOW STOP!” Max said
and sent the wild things off to bed without their supper.
And Max, the king of all wild things was lonely
and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.

Then all around from far away
across the world
he smelled good things to eat
so he gave up being king of where the wild things are.
But the wild things cried,
“Oh please don’t go – we’ll eat you up – we love you so!”
And Max said, “NO!”
The wild things roared their terrible roars
and gnashed their terrible teeth
and rolled their terrible eyes
and showed their terrible claws
but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye
and sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks
and through a day
and into the night of his very own room
where he found his supper waiting for him.
And it was still hot.

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Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak, 1963

Look out for the movie version this year by Spike Jonze