Climate denialists in the FT
June 14th, 2007
Is there a reason why the Financial Times published Czech president Vaclav Klaus’s ill-informed rant against climate change? A brief taste of the nonsense:
As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central (now global) planning.
Perhaps someone on the FT is auditioning for a role on the Wall Street Journal editorial page, where Klaus would be in fine company.
The irrational exuberance song
June 14th, 2007
A good friend, Michael Smolens, is building a fascinating business by encouraging subtitling of video content on the web. He just pointed me to a compelling reaction to the stock market boom in China. “Won’t Sell Even If It Kills Me” could be the song for all market bubbles.
Have a look and listen for yourself. At the moment, the song is available with English subtitles and has been partially translated into Danish and French. If you are a linguist and create a dotsub account, you can submit your own translation (Adrian: how about a Latin version?).