dieseltaylor

Mord, how about saying he is a bit more than a community adviser Wiki Lets see. Obviously over-qualified for the job of President but you Americans have the choice of two Palin[potential] or Obama. Tough choice. Incidentally as global image goes can you imagine the kudos that would accrue to the US if it was shown as a true land of opportunity for all. Of course showing that billionaire McCain can get elected with a women from the boonies will not go down so well. Still if it gives two fingers to the rest of the world then that is a McCain/Palin bonus vote catcher. BTW I find it hard to see how having the Republicans in power long enough to orchestrate this current economic cataclysm means they should be rewarded with more chances to help their buddies. Still its none of my business if the worlds most economically powerful country is run to suit the oil and armaments industry and the wealthy. It is wonderful that democracy has such a showcase : )

Good analysis Costard Hand in hand with the boom was the SEC's relaxation of leverage allowing 30 to 40 times lending per dollar held - this instead of the historic 12? times. This really screwed the system inputting huge amounts of money into the system with no proper oversight and no one being responsible for stupid lending as Costard pointed out. What makes me so angry is a traditional banker would have recognised what a horse**** idea this was. It so sucks. And as for Greenspan! ****?!!*

More Soon the world will rue Alaska!

No sirree Eco-cute is not one of them even if I mention Pump also! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EcoCute Given the world's energy requirements I am astonished that these are not more widely known here in the UK. Are heat pumps hot stuff in your region?

With the Australian s now the obesity leaders I am expecting their average engine size to be nearer 4 litres : ) You will appreciate the scientific nature of the linkage.

Interesting point. One would assume only shelled at night. Air power and a very large target would suggest a short life for the gunners otherwise.! Anzio Leopold : ) http://web.ukonline.co.uk/gaz/k5.html

The ocean vastness would also dilute the warming of power station water however I have guesstimated 365 million tons of water per year at 5degrees above the inflow temperature. However it is heating effect no matter how diffused it eventually becomes. It is possible that given the basic methods of sampling in previous centuries the current readings will presumably be compared to the old and the old would no doubt be surface biased. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Global_Warming_Triggers_North_Sea_Temperature_Rise_999.html and this more particularly with reference to volcanoes http://www.scienceinpublic.com/sciencenow/2008/catia_motta_domingues.htm

I am with Affie on this one. Volcanoes warming the ocean seems very fair and hardly shocking. That it has been a shock to those who pontificated on the subject does not make it suddenly dangerous. As for melting at the bottom of glaciers I am afraid that traditionally it is so. As for the warming off the ocean perhaps you better tell me on what figures you are using: http://www.csiro.au/news/OceansWarming.html You will note the errors in reporting systems - which leads one to wonder at the accuracy of the 1961 baseline. BTW the use of power stations to heat "cooling" water I suspect has not been factored in yet. Certainly the amount of sea water heated by the minute by five or six degrees multiplied by all the seaside/river based power stations must have an effect. Slightly amusingly the French atomic reactors were pulled off-line a few years ago drought meant no cooling effect was being gained So that was in 1990 and in 2003. Given that water holds heat reasonably well and mankind does nothing to make oceans cooler [bar melting ice into it] then a gradual rise would seem to be inevitable. You will note I do not mention the sun ... etc In 1990 there were approx 1300 coal fired facilities rated over 300MW however given that China is building two generating facilities a week the overall total must be considerably higher. Say 2500 large power stations and at a guess cooling/heating several tons of water per minute by up to 5 degrees centigrade for years on end. Ask yourself would the average temperature be hotter, the same or colder? I rest my case. : ) Given there is an uncertainty in the climate change models I would always have to come down on the side of humankind doing something to ameliorate climate change. Solar power seems pretty good. BTW look-up Eco-cute on wiki for a very interesting take on saving energy.

Thanks for the reply - sounds good. Belatedly I have looked at your site and finally appreciated the fact that you can have different time periods - dreadnoughts etc. One can imagine the simplified version where zeppelins do the spotting, or towed kites!. I then thought how fast does technology evolve as this may be a downer if ends up as a technology race rather than a battle game. I assume though that technology can be frozen or at least slowed to accord with normal years/shipbuilding time. Battleships probably must be 3-4 years ..? Anyway once finished! ..... I wonder if it can be modular and we can get to the age of sail. Throw in wind directions etc and we will be able to arrange British raids in the Med. during the Napoleonic wars and tie in with Les Grognards!! Or even the exploration of the New World - with slightly smaller ships : )

Very true. Empire was simple - and to be honest I think I preferred the first version to the Deluxe. However NOT having resources in the Deluxe was perhaps why it did not seem as good. It added a layer of fighting complexity but ignored resources - at least in the original version the simplicity of the warfare allowed for the abstraction level to make sense. Not very helpfully part of me does not like to have to many player options as you find a very fragmented fan base all playing their own favoured version - and not wishing to play others not of their persuasion. Ah well I will be buying this whatever : )

Virtually all stock is down today. Don't worry : )

Thanks for the response - obviously you have considered the benefits and problems so that is good. I was mulling my last point re.economic victory. Allowing for the fact there are other sources is it possible to corner the market say in iron, by occupying ore producing areas, and by buying all ore that is available from the world market. Or is the world market infinitely expandable? Just a curiosity on my part. I do not think any added complication in markets would necessarily add much to the game. What it does offer is for those players who are not militaristic a role in the game.

I am not very picky but should not the transfer of resources be subject to transport lift and route being available? Also price should be a negotiable between respective players - or a world market. I have recently played a boardgame where a losing player decided to try to end the game quickly by selling all his output for a dollar. In Realpolitik Cuba was subsidised by Russia so not a total no-no but the ability to transfer was required.Tankers, troop/transport ships would seem to be a natural and make ASW an important consideration. Sorry my point was, before I wandered off, was prices should be variable. An economic victory condition included : )

Great article. Dispiriting to find that the heritage is being lost. Thanks for the link. This could be amusing http://www.kriegsspiel.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=47&Itemid=77

Great info Brit. Makes me happy.

Very useful to know that. Scenario design seems a whole huge learning curve - and with a BF FoW factor to make life tough.

Sending tank crews after snipers, and anti-tank teams has a fine body of supporting evidence. Given the cost of crews you have to think carefully about using them.

I am astonished at the view that public servants are not entitled to have a political life. Surely the difference between carrying out a job and supporting someone politically can be seen as two different functions? It just seems bizarre that because you support someone else you can lose your job. Understandable if your job was overtly political but a librarian?? I suppose if you are not for us you must be against us ..... seems such poor logic... but then librarians can be so powerful. Or possibly this canker of ridding yourself of any office holders who are not your puppets is an important facet of the American democracy.

You could be right Wilhammer. But has politics become more "political" and cynical now. Are people catapulted to power without the testing period of yore. Has media gloss and manipulation got so powerful that it imedia image rather than any substance that is now predominant. Truman was 60 when selected and had some decade of experience in politics. Teddy R was 42 but then the President was only 58 at the time. Johnson had a tough time to be President after the Civil War - aged 56? Incidentally here is a good investigation of firing the librarian: http://www.newsweek.com/id/157986/page/2 still seems bizarre to me what she did as mayor. Do all mayor's carry on like this?

As it is too good to miss here is the whole BBC article. - less some pictures

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7600000/7600592.stm A very interesting, and amusing piece, on the counter-productive nature of attacking Palin - and the redneck vote. Given some of the wilder accusations it does make me wonder how much of this is orchestrated to aid Palin. Incidentally the idea that you sack your staff as a loyalty test seems very odd to those of us who believe that roles such as librarians are apolitical roles. However I suppose this will be a case of mimicking central politics. Get my guys in and then stir the pot. Great way to run things - not. I am sure someone will point to previous Presidents who have installed supporters but my gut reaction is nowadays it seems loyalty/political agendaism is more important than brains and long term thinking. I admire McCain but could not, even if I were able to, vote for someone whose credentials are Mayor of a "city" of 8000 people, and Governor of Alaska. At 71 that is what votes for McCain means to me - I am electing Palin.

Very nice result from a good piece of thinking.

Thanks DW for the fuller story. Two thoughts come to mind: that counts as being a conviction politician or 20 months is not actually a long time anyway to stay quiet However I am prepared to believe that she can be pragmatic - but then look at where Blair got us - a religious streak hidden until he had power.

And she thinks intelligent design[creationism] should be taught equally with evolution. Oh that is just great : ( Reported in the New Scientist. In the same issue reports on a type of beetle that has in the space of 50 years become 4 new species - i.e they can no longer inter-breed with each other. Is that accelerated natural design or is there something in evolution. Science sure does not have all the answers but some of them sure have a lot of corroborating evidence.

The pastor at her church in Wa.... whatever has an interesting line in God's concerns. Western civilisation, Mahatma Ghandi thought it would be a good idea - I am tending to agree with him.