The Off Topic Topic

[Sheilbh]

Why in God's name would you want a dignified version of PMQ's?  It's only made bearable by reminding us that wearing a tie is the only difference between our MPs and a darts audience.

[Razgovory]

Why in God's name would you want a dignified version of PMQ's?  It's only made bearable by reminding us that wearing a tie is the only difference between our MPs and a darts audience.

I suspect this is a problem stemming from both MPs and general public being British.

[Admiral Yi]

Why in God's name would you want a dignified version of PMQ's?  It's only made bearable by reminding us that wearing a tie is the only difference between our MPs and a darts audience.

As Yakie mentioned, it's potentially more productive to exchange thoughts face to face than sound bites through the media.

[lustindarkness]

Even in summer, antartica is cold, that is all.

Today it snowed, another good hike.

[HisMajestyBOB]

At least 4 gin & tonics, 1 rum & coke, 1 jack & tonic (they screwed up my order. tastes terrible), 2 shots tequila, 1 shot Jagermeister.

My head hurts.

[Josquius]

Somehow some mold has developed on the newly bought meat which I put in the freezer yesterday

[Sheilbh]

As Yakie mentioned, it's potentially more productive to exchange thoughts face to face than sound bites through the media.

I've always thought the American political aversion to debate is something of a root cause of so many sort-of political problems in the US is that you don't seem to have a debating tradition like the British one.  Even high school and uni debates seem to be about reciting facts terribly quickly, whereas in the UK it's based on Parliament so it's about debating your opponent's points and if possible doing it in a witty and elegant way. 

Bagehot said that the problem with the US Congress was that it was all prologue and no play, by which he meant each member stood up and made a speech but there was never any compulsion for any subsequent member to address the points each speech made, they'd just make their own speech.  I think the media's magnified that. 

Debate in Washington seems to be something dirty and somehow that takes place in closed off rooms while public discourse on the media and in Congress is just about staking a position whether it's through a soundbite or through a 10 minute speech.

Now having said that PMQs generates more heat than light.  That's its purpose.  It's not watched outside of Westminster and is largely there to gin up the troops - if you're bad at it you may be removed because you'll be disappointing the target audience, your own MPs.  But it's not an enlightening debate in any sense.  I've watched the Baltimore thing and it did seem reasonably more enlightening.  My understanding is that it's normal for the President to do this, but this is the first time the Republicans/Democrats have let in the TV cameras - and well done to them for it.

However while I think that sort of thing's generally good for discourse, it's still a media event.  Obama's still trying to push his line and the Republicans will still try to push theirs - Obama has an advantage because they get questions, he gets to respond.  I don't think it's productive, except in the sense of possible influence on discourse, because I think there are probably a lot more face-to-face meetings than there are filmed ones and a great deal is done in what Nixon called the 'nutcutting' sessions.

[Admiral Yi]

Interesting op-ed by Volker in today's NYT concerning financial regulation.  His writing style is sort of opaque, as befits a central banker, but what I take from it is the solution to "too big to fail" is not to chop up the mega banks but to limit their leverage and risk.  And withdraw even the possibility of a financial safety net, by adopting what he calls "living wills."  Stockholders get wiped out, management gets wiped out, creditors pick over the bones like a normal bankruptcy.   (Not sure how exactly it would work with management--perhaps a law voiding financial institution management contracts in the case of failure?)

No more in-house hedge funds or proprietary trading for commercial banks.  He says only 4 or 5 do so now.  (Former investment banks like Goldman that flipped to commercial banking?)

No mention of the special levy, thank Hod.

Perhaps someone with a subscription could cut and paste? (SHELFSHELFSHELF)

[Tamas]

3 demo songs of the band of one of my friends (he is the singer):

http://www.myspace.com/acrossmusic

They follow the strange fashion of singing in English, which I don't fully approve, but the music is decent, check it out.

[PDH]

"Just blame it on the guy who doesn't speak English. Ahh, Tibor, how many times you've saved my butt."

[HisMajestyBOB]

So I finally got my money transferred to my US bank account to buy tickets for my trip home, only to find that the original flight I wanted (at $1150) is no longer available, and instead the cheapest flight is $1250, with a 9 hour stopover in LA.

I hope that first flight goes down in flames. 

What? It only took my like $850 to get here from Boston, and if I had purchased earlier I could have got it for $650.

I dithered for a day, and the cheapest was either a $1400 flight whose return trip included overnight stays in both Newark and Beijing, resulting in a 36 hour travel time, or a $1500 that had a 1 hour turnover in Chicago. In February.

I went with a non-stop $1700 flight that left at a reasonable time.
How far in advance did you get your flight? My flight here was only about $1000, and while I got it only a few weeks in advance, it was one-way.

[Ed Anger]

http://www.cracked.com/article_18406_a-day-in-america-according-to-baffled-foreigner.html

I found it funny, as I see the Euros working for us struggle for a bit to adjust. 

Also still shocked that cracked came up with something amusing.

[DisturbedPervert]

I dithered for a day, and the cheapest was either a $1400 flight whose return trip included overnight stays in both Newark and Beijing, resulting in a 36 hour travel time, or a $1500 that had a 1 hour turnover in Chicago. In February.

I went with a non-stop $1700 flight that left at a reasonable time.
How far in advance did you get your flight? My flight here was only about $1000, and while I got it only a few weeks in advance, it was one-way.

Do they not pay for your flights?  My friend teaches in Seoul and they pay for his flights home to the UK or anywhere else he wants to go every year.

[Grey Fox]

http://www.cracked.com/article_18406_a-day-in-america-according-to-baffled-foreigner.html

I found it funny, as I see the Euros working for us struggle for a bit to adjust. 

Also still shocked that cracked came up with something amusing.

Good find.

[Syt]

I just ordered Star Trek I - X from Amazon.co.uk for 47 EUR including shipping. As I only have II so far it's a good deal.