Thursday 16 October 2008

NEW NAME, NEW ADDRESS, SAME BLOG

Due to clashes in the name, Tube Talk has been rebranded and relaunched as "The Linkrod".

Future issues of The Linkrod can be found here:

http://linkrod.blogspot.com
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Friday 3 October 2008

Issue #8

Tube Talk
The talk of the web

ISSUE #8 - Friday, 3rd October 2008



  • Edmund S. Phelps, Wall Street Journal
    "We Need to Recapitalise the Banks"
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122282719885793047.html

    DJR's gist: Phelps won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Economics, and argues with one of the fundamental ideals of capitalism - Adam Smith's "invisible hand". Financial markets, he argues, are distorted by the bounded rationality of bankers, fund managers, investors and the rest of them - none of whom has the availability of perfect information that underpins the market model. Information is the key, as he suggests that "what has occurred is not just an old-fashioned banking crisis but also a banking scandal". Crucially, the markets are so crippled that any thought of them rescuing themselves is decidedly unlikely. Government-led remidial surgery is required to provide the institutions necessary to allow some sort of rebirth.



  • Daniel Finkelstein, Comment Central blog, The Times
    "By not winning, Sarah Palin lost"
    http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/10/the-conventiona.html

    DJR's gist: Short and sweet, Fink goes against general consensus that Sarah Palin didn't lose last night's debate, by arguing that in the present electoral environment, anything short of an outright victory equates to failure and loss. Barack Obama's lead now appears to be decisive - much like it became in the primaries against Hilary Clinton - and it will take something spectacular from McCain to bring it back. It would seem that the only opportunities left for this to happen would be the two remaining Presidential debates... let's just hope it goes down like his credit crisis stunt.



  • BBC News
    "BBC nuclear bomb script released"
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7648042.stm

    DJR's gist: New documents released by the National Archives include the transcript of a pre-recorded message from the 1970s that the BBC were to broadcast across the UK in the event that a nuclear bomb knocked it off the air. Reading the transcript that is linked in the report not only represents a chilling reminded of how close the world was to nuclear annihilation, but how limited any potential response could have been. Chilling stuff.



  • Anne Ashworth, The Times
    "Locals happy to bid farewell to bollards of Fort Grosvenor"
    http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article4870815.ece

    DJR's gist: The announcement that after the best part of 200 years in one of the most exclusive locations in London - surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the world - the US Embassy will be moving to an area of London famed for its hardcore gay scene will no doubt bring delight to residents of the surrounding Mayfair streets. The Embassy is presently a fortress, with ugly concrete bollards all over the place and cars banned from roads. New tennants will almost certainly see an end to this, and probably going to be much more likely to pay the Congestion Charge.



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Thursday 2 October 2008

Issue #7

Tube Talk
The talk of the web

ISSUE #7 - Thursday, 2nd October 2008

  • James Carney and Michael Scherer, TIME Magazine
    "McCain's Nosedive: Short-Term Tactics, Long-Term Problems"
    http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1846413,00.html

    DJR's gist: When looking back at John McCain's campaign tactics over the last couple of months, you begin to see an increasingly obvious pattern of manoevres seemingly desgined to "win the week", week after week, with a particular attention-grabbing act. Thankfully, it appears that many people have woken up to smell the bacon - largely thanks to McCain taking campaign gimmicks a step to far with his attempt to postpone last week's debate. His campaign appears to be, step by step, slipping downhill, and with a bit of luck Ms. Palin will have accelerated that slide in the next 24 hours.



  • Robert Shrimsley, Financial Times - Notebook
    "Notes for a prince putting politics aside"
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a5333ec0-8fe6-11dd-9890-0000779fd18c.html

    DJR's gist: Who doesn't love an extended analogy? Especially when said analogy is not only in reference to the jostling for political advantage that is currently all the rage over on the gun-toting side of the Atlantic, but somehow manages to extend it to cover the young Davy C (David Cameron to the common man) and his shenanigans with Big Gord (The Prime Minister). Aside from the metaphorical beauty of this piece, it is also an excellent analysis of the game theory at work between Cameron and Brown.



  • Certain Ideas of Europe, The Economist
    "The embarrassment of being gassy"
    http://www.economist.com/blogs/certainideasofeurope/2008/10/the_embarrassment_of_being_gas.cfm

    DJR gist: When it comes to minimising our carbon footprint, the Government are notionally supposed to lead by example. Isn't it ironic, then, that their new system of grading the energy efficiency of buildings has ranked the Palace of Westminster and the Bank of England - the heart of Britian's political and economic decision-making respectively - as the two least 'green' buildings in the country. Put in context, "the Palace of Westminster produces as much carbon dioxide in a year as 14,000 people flying from London to New York."



  • Fran Yeoman and Joanna Sugden, The Times
    "'Bride' arrested on wedding day"
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4862681.ece

    DJR gist: In a swoop of impeccable timing by the pigs, a 21-year-old Portuguese woman was apprehended in her wedding dress as she was driving away from the ceremony. Strangely, her new 'husband' - a 37-year-old Nigerian - was not with her after the wedding. Reason being? The marriage was a sham to give the man, an illegal immigrant, illegal entry into the UK. He was also arrested and awaits deportation.




  • Chris Nuttall, Financial Times - Tech Blog
    "WirelessHD means widespread boxes"
    http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2008/10/wirelesshd-means-widespread-boxes/

    DJR gist: A new technology is being pioneered by WirelessHD which, surprisingly enough, consists of making high-definiton TV connections without the wires. Given the multitude of HDMI ports that the average TV has plugged into it these days (or even bog-standard cables for that matter), the freedom from wire spaghetti would be truly welcome. And, not only will this get rid of the wires - they strength of the wireless connection is such that the component boxes/consoles can be anywhere in the room and still function without issues. AND, with a potential capacity of up to 25Gbps (given that the best current HD - 1080p - functions at 3.5Gbps), it is designed to be future proof. Great stuff.



  • Nicholas Graham, The Huffington Post
    "Lamborghini Hybrid? 'New World' Estoque Could Be One"
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/02/lamborghini-hybrid-new-wo_n_131107.html

    DJR gist: I don't think many people have given much thought to the idea of a green supercar. But as the images in this article illustrate, the desginers at Lambo certainly have. Just like any Lambo, what's on the inside is pretty much irrelevant when a car looks just so beautiful. But in this case, it's also got a hybrid engine to go with the looks, meaning you can get all the driving pleasure you desire safe in the knowledge that you're not damaging the Earth quite as much as you might have been...

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Wednesday 1 October 2008

Issue #6

Tube Talk
The talk of the web

ISSUE #6 - Wednesday, 1st October 2008

  • Ben Macintyre, The Times
    "Wall Street's Masters of the Universe are dethroned"
    http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/article4856942.ece

    DJR's gist: The only news that matters continues to be the ongoing credit crisis, with journalists and commenators queuing up to take a swing at big business, corporate fat cats, regulators, governments, the US Congress, and capitalism itself. But regardless of who's to blame, there is a strong possibility that it the globalised world of today, the actions and outcomes that have emanated from the US in the last two weeks may fundamentally shift where economic power lies in the world. In the interim alone it has shifted from New York City to Washington, D.C., but in the longer run it is hard to see who will be willing to let US ideology prevail again. In the meantime, the all-conquering investment banks have made many people smile by biting the dust.



  • Camilla Cavendish, The Times
    "Congress is the best advert for dictatorship"
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/camilla_cavendish/article4856393.ece

    DJR's gist: In a somewhat unique take on who's to blame for the present financial crisis, Cavendish takes a wild swing at the US Congress, and by extension the superpower status of the USA. Whereas European finance ministers have acted decisively having "learned from American's mistakes", the US Congress have given an illustrative example of what happens when elected politicians, with conflicting preferences, end up making decisions in which the best choice isn't the popular choice. It is times like these when democracy fails, to the extent that Cavendish has "never felt more attracted to benign dictatorship...It should come as a desperate irony to every American that the only grown-ups today are in the capitals of Europe. Europeans are forging the way ahead as Washington's childish sulk brings America to a new nadir."



  • Andrew Buncombe, The Independent
    "Brothers in court: billionaire blood feud"
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/brothers-in-court-billionaire-blood-feud-942801.html

    DJR gist: Whichever way you look at this, it's ridiculous. A man is suing his elder sibling because the elder sibling may have suggested he did the occasional bad thing. Or, the sixth richest man in the world, whose $42bn wealth is about the equivalent of the GDP of Equador, is suing the fifth richest man in the world, whose $43bn wealth is about the same as the GDP of Slovenia. The settlement, of Rs.100,000,000,000/- (£1.2bn) would be substantially more than the entire annual GDP of the Central African Republic. It is silly money being bandied about by silly brothers. Their Mum should do what any good mother would do, and give them two good smacks.



  • The Times of India
    "Tax dept asks Microsoft to pay up Rs 256 crore"
    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Tax_dept_asks_MS_to_pay_up_Rs_256_cr/articleshow/3532472.cms

    DJR gist: In what is certainly not their first run-in with the Indian government, Microsoft has today been fined Rs256 crores (approximately £32m/$55m) for tax evasion. It appears that one of their offices who claimed to be conducting marketing activities directed at Singapore were, in fact, marketing directly to the Indian consumer. The Indian government never resist the opportunity to bash a foreign multi-national (remember Coca-Cola?), and immediately slapped them with a solid fine. Happy days all-round.

    Speaking of getting slapped, this link was indirectly provided by "Chouders the Vicissitudinous Ayatollah of Misogyny". Any time soon, he might get off his lazy arse and post his own notes, instead of complaining when other people forget to cite him. We shall see...



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Tuesday 30 September 2008

Issue #5

Tube Talk
The talk of the web

ISSUE #5 - Tuesday, 30th September 2008

  • David Brooks, The New York Times
    "Revolt of the Nihilists"
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/opinion/30brooks.html

    DJR's gist: Is this the end of the Republican Party as we know it? Brooks here displays a damning analysis of House Republicans, whose obsession with short-term populism is, in his view, not only going to come back and bite them in the arse, but potentially fracture their party in two. "[L]et us recognize above all the 228 who voted no — the authors of this revolt of the nihilists. They showed the world how much they detest their own leaders and the collected expertise of the Treasury and Fed. They did the momentarily popular thing, and if the country slides into a deep recession, they will have the time and leisure to watch public opinion shift against them."

    Brooks suggests that these people could "go down in history as the Smoot-Hawleys of the 21st century" and, in the short-run, could well be damning for John McCain. Which means the Republicans can expect losses across the board come November, and in the medium-term expect very little political clout.





  • Alan Cochrane, The Daily Telegraph
    "Will Tory government hasten end of United Kingdom?"
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/09/30/do3005.xml

    DJR gist: The Tories are very much an English party. They have essentially zero presence in Scotland, and at best a fringe presence in Wales. With the SNP in power north of the border, the election of a Tory governement in Westminster could well give Alex Salmond the very firepower he needs to push through Scottish independence. Frankly, I'm all for it, and if I were David Cameron I'd be supporting it two. Eliminate Scottish MPs, and all of a sudden the Tories are looking even stronger in any Westminster election. Plus it'd be bye-bye Gordon Brown...



  • Certain Ideas of Europe, The Economist
    "Too soon to be smug"
    http://www.economist.com/blogs/certainideasofeurope/2008/09/too_soon_to_be_smug.cfm

    DJR gist: As is to be expected, critics of capitalism and the free market have emerged from the woodwork from all directions, claiming they told everyone so all along. The fact that a lot of them actually did still doesn't hide from the fact that lots of other commentators appear to have changed creed in the space of a week. Anyway, The Economist retains its usual angle on such matters and points out what is surely blindingly obvious - it is far too early to be making any sort of prediction about where this story is going.



  • Robert Vamosi, CNET News
    "How 'carders' trade your stolen personal info"
    http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-10053523-57.html

    DJR gist: 'Carders' are the clowns who use hacking techniques to get hold of all sorts of personal information about internet users - most prominently credit and debit card details. While once upon a time this was done "for fun" and for the "glory" of it, things have taken a turn for the worst, with criminal organisations now funding hackers to get details for them. This CNET report illustrates how openly information can be obtained on various websites, how big a problem identity fraud is, and how important ID protection is in stopping it.





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Friday 26 September 2008

Edition #4 - today's pick of the web

Tube Talk
Today's pick of the web

ISSUE #4 - Friday, 26th September 2008

  • Gerard Baker, The Times
    "This is the election you wouldn't want to win"
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4827820.ece

    DJR's gist: The macroeconomic and geopolitical climate which the next President of the United States is going to find himself surrounded with cannot be something to fill them with hope. The economy is going down the tube, fiscal constraints and going out the window, and the Middle East is going up in smokes. Situations like this give rise to two times of President - ones who are rubbish, one-term failures (e.g. Carter), or ones who stand up to be counted and are remembered as greats (e.g. Reagan). It shall be very interesting to see which of these we have on our hands this time.

    Though as an aside - it is surely worth pointing out that George W. Bush was a complete failure in the first term, but still managed a second. Never underestimate the stupidity of approximately 50% of Americans.



  • Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal
    "Party of one"
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122237691191376341.html

    DJR gist: Neither John McCain or Barack Obama come from the traditional school of Democrat or Republican. Perhaps it's time they took a step back to engage their core voters and state, quite simply, "Why am I a Democrat?", or "Why am I a Republican?" Noonan's article makes But there's a pretty stark point to focus the Obama campaign on its goal: "The polls are dead even. This is astounding. The Democrat, after two wars and an unprecedented economic crisis, should be 10 or 20 points up right now. The polls say Mr. Obama is rising, but if he's not sweeping now, he's losing."



  • BBC News
    "Doctor's slang is a dying art"
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3159813.stm

    DJR's gist: The evil cloud that is the threat of litigation is, apparently, threatening to end doctors' ability to have some inter-clinic banter. Acroymns such as UBI (unexplained beer injury) or GROLIES (Guardian Reader Of Low Intelligence in Ethnic Skirt) are becoming less common on patient reports, due to doctors' fear of having to explain their meaning at a later stage (possibly in a court). Which is a shame, in my view - I can think of plenty of people for whom "LOBNH" would be a perfect diagnosis...



  • BBC News
    "Pilot completes jetpack challenge"
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7637327.stm

    DJR's gist: Yves Rossy made history today by becoming the first person to fly across the channel using a jet-propelled wing. This has got to be the dream of so many people - I'm sure I wasn't the only kid who wanted to be able to fly like Superman - and now that someone has accomplished such a feat and achieved the publicity of this event, I hope/expect that we will see many more such activities, and possibly even a widescale commercialisation of the jet-wing as an "extreme sport".





  • The Denver Channel
    "Man Hit By Car, Then Train 6 Hours Later"
    http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17546518/detail.html

    DJR gist: Occasionally you have days when everything goes wrong. I had one a couple of weeks ago. But getting hit by a train while on your way back from hospital after getting hit by a car has got to be up there with the worst days ever. And to top it off, the poor sod faces charges of trespass for attempting to take a shortcut on a train bridge that is off limits to pedestrians.

    Incidentally, this link came courtesy of Chouders the Vicissitudinous Ayatollah of Misogyny. There's a chance you'll be hearing from him in person in the near future...



  • Stephen J. Dubner - "Freakonomics", The New York Times
    "Wall Street Jokes, Please"
    http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/wall-street-jokes-please/

    DJR's gist: Considering how unfunny most business-related jokes are, there are some classics in the comments to Dubner's latest blog entry. The one about the broker and trader is brilliant, but I've heard it before. My favourite new one has got to be about Dubya:
    "George Bush has said that he is saddened to hear about the demise of Lehman Brothers. His thoughts at this time go out to their mother - losing one son is hard, but losing two is a real tragedy."

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Thursday 25 September 2008

Issue #3 - today's pick of the web

Tube Talk
Today's pick of the web

ISSUE #3 - Thursday, 25th September 2008

  • Anatole Kaletsky, The Times
    "Save the world? Hank just didn't have a clue"
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/anatole_kaletsky/article4820549.ece

    DJR's gist: This is the first of several articles from today's Times, but this one is without doubt the most important. Kaletsky has always had strong opinions about economic issues, and generally he's right. This time, he's hit the nail on the head: "Henry Paulson is to finance what Donald Rumsfeld was to military strategy, Dick Cheney to geopolitics and Michael Chertoff to flood defence." He goes on, "As the cross-examination rolled on...the terrible truth dawned. There was no such thing as a Paulson plan. Not only did Mr Paulson not know what he was doing. He did not know what he was talking about." The Bush administration will surely go down as the worst Presidency in at least a century. I'm fairly sure even Nixon came out of his better than this.














  • The Economist - Certain Ideas of Europe
    "Bon appetit"
    http://www.economist.com/blogs/certainideasofeurope/2008/09/bon_appetit.cfm

    DJR's gist: I'm not gonna beat around the bush. I don't like the French, or France, or Paris, or Air France, or La Revolutione, or French bureaucracy or French socialism. However, their food is amazing - so good, in fact, that I'm almost willing to forget all the above for it. Almost. Unfortunately, they then take it upon themselves to somehow combine their cuisine with everything I can't stand about them, leaving me in a state of limbo. While French cuisine is great, giving it - an abstract concept - UNESCO World Heritage status is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. Alongside declaring war on "Terror".

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