PatrickC

Yes for sure, you could be right.. It's just that the industry has generally been dismissing this as a really bad idea.. But who knows, behind closed doors this could just be a public face on it perhaps.

Hey Arius, great synopsis I thought you made. I wouldn't normally disagree with you either, although having been a bit close to this topic, I'd say it's generally political manipulation of a percieved (and media consumed) 'moral' issue and a possibility of more funds. As it happens almost all drink producers are against this idea. However, given the way booze is taxed in the UK, any hike in prices will be coin for the public purse (as it were). As will be the higher 'moral' ground these tools in govt will receive by the media. The political ends are more important and extra coin is a bonus to be made over time of course. []

Great advice and I have to concur. You are dealing with old architecture that not even Apple supports anymore. Hence the problems he's having with his Java update. They simply aren't updating Java for power PC chips anymore. This is probably why he can't upgrade to Linux either, since Linux requires the intel architecture too. There are some messy virtual methods, but they were always notoriously slow to use of course. I'm sorry to be another bearer of bad news, but I think it's time to buy a cheap desktop from ebay perhaps, if money is tight at the moment.

This is a great example of Orwellian newspeak.. The point here is that the govt wants more taxes. Since they are taxing us too much already the only way they can get away with further taxation is by framing it around a 'moral' issue. One way that might help keep teenagers off the booze is to stop forcing them to attend school. But who am I kidding, where would they learn doublethink. []

Yes, it's what I've come to expect regrettably, both sad and unpleasent to read. It's interesting that the first commenter flings his vitriol in a similar fashion to that of the school children he supposedy meets each day. I've noticed all too often that when adults experience other peoples children in the wild their sympathies are largely moot at best. I have certainly experenced fear around teenagers in big groups. They are in a state of nature of course, so I steer a wide berth around them. But I also remember at that age feeling a deep resentment towards adults who would blame teenagers for everything. It comes from a culture that like christianity still believes that children are born inherently bad. This is why we are now seeing children as young as 10 being hauled before the courts and not their parents.

The beard is super fine Mr Stef..Think it might be time to update your profile pic.. []

It could be argued that he single handedly destroyed British industry by nationalising almost all of it. From ship building, steel, electricity production, coal etc etc. Thus encouraging future prime ministers to do the same in the 1960's when Britain was actually booming economically. It only took 10 years before profits sank to negative figures. The car industry which arguably was Britain’s finest industry went from most bought car in the world to laughing stock by the late 70's. The last vestiges of this industry now belong to BMW. Oh the irony some might say. Yet more irony is that Thatcher has been blamed for the demise of British industry. The decay was there well before Maggie arrived. Whilst her public private partnership solution was by no means the best alternative. From a statist perspective she did the only thing available whereby the state could retain significant influence over those industries, without the debt and losses caused by nationalization. I would rate Atlee as Britains worst 'economic' terroist.

My initial thoughts were, despite the 'begging' you are feeling.. The outcome is likely to be a better one for your children.. Begging in this situation is entirely understandable, if that makes sense. Hopefully that can ease the pain of those subserviant feelings you might be experiencing in these conversations. []

Yes, it seems Thatcher has a special dark place in the hearts of many Brits. Yes, it was just an observation I made and could have been just specific to the individuals I knew. and possibly has nothing to do with their nationality. As you suggest, nice people exist everywhere of course (inc the US). I saw a similar belief amongst New Zealanders too and it struck me as a very novel type of patriotism. I don't think I've ever heard the British, US or many europeans consider their citizens as possessing a special type of 'nice'. Plenty of other patriotic nonsesnse of course. []

Best of luck to you

I was listening to the latest schoolsucks podcast last night with Dayna. No access to the link as at work right now. But she was clear that Tif can and does read and had read one whole book since the show was recorded.

If only indeed.. Very well put Nathan.

Can you explain this breifly Alan, when you have time. Or point me to the relevant podcast perhaps. It's not clear to me what this means.

I used to hang out with some Canadians in London (UK) some years back and they would have this thing every time they would meet fellow Canadians (particularly the women). "Aren't Canadians just so nice". Not that I would have disagreed. Personally this group of Canadians were nice. But it did come off as kind of insincere and rather cheesy frankly. Particularly when they would make this statement whilst amongst other foreigners. I think as others here have suggested, it comes from the US comparison and very much what they consider to be a progressive European panache the Americans don't share with them. In fairness this kind of bigotry is not just for Canadians of course, many Europeans and Australasians share it as well.

I still struggle with those labels even at 44 []

Well if you want to buy more, then buy now whilst it's dipping. Although I get that many folk wont necessarily feel like buying more whilst it remains much higher than a month ago, but that is the tecnique. However, I think it's wise advice from Mr keiser, although I would probably risk a little more, like 5%. I am also curious to listen to the video Alan presented to get an opposing take on it, when I get home later. Best of luck to all investors.

There is actually a very civilised Google Hangout discussion Aaron has with Shanklin and a long term FDR listener. Can't recall his name or link the video, as work doesn’t allow YT access. They go through a lot of these arguments in quite detail. It seems to hinge around the 'human nature' argument. It occurred to me that his YT name is 'StormCloudsGathering'.Not that unusual when you consider he has a somewhat dystopic view of the world from his earlier videos. This view of the world I think helps embolden his 'human nature' argument.

Don't drive a car much myself. But I was stopped some years back whilst walking home late at night and told that I had apparently come from a different direction to the one I was so obviously strolling from. I was like, 'what are you saying, that I doubled back on myself just so I could pretend to prove you wrong. purlease, I live over there' (pointing at my house). 'I need some sleep now'. As an older gent these days I don't get much grief from them. Plus I don't tend to have many late night walks home anymore. I am now a model citizen []

Yes, a quite machiavellian moment I thought. at least psychologically.. well spotted!

I totally understand that the dumping of the dollar is very likely and has been on the cards since 2008. Countries trying to buy oil with euros. Others suggesting a mixture of currencies. I'm just very dubious that the US will attack North Korea, given it's nuclear capabilities. Not to say that isn't impossible, but there would be far easier less troublesome fish to fry such as Iran. Here is the next port of call for the US imo I partly say that, because the whole reason why the US goes to war with countries is to protect the dollar and it's not clear that the US would benefit much from the risk of all out war with N Korea. Not much to gain other than swatting an annoying itch in the far east. N Korea would have to make the first move I think and it would have to be a nuclear one of course. Having said all that, I understand it's all mere speculation of course. Still very interesting all the same.

+5 points for you too, since that didn't occur to me at the time, great point too. One of the big problems I have with the people that promulgate these ideas is that they are often economically illiterate. The fact is that women and black people do exist within companies as CEO's. There problem is that they don't consider enough of them to exist and believe that the ones that are there had to work harder to get there. This is all highly subjective of course and almost impossible to prove. The only thing we can prove is that these classes of people exist as CEO's. The other part is that no successful company is going to discriminate, since to do so would leave the market for CEO's that more tighter for them. They would also run the risk of not acquiring the skills of the latest hot shot CEO, if they happened to be black or female. Basic economics avoids much of the discrimation imo.

This is where I get off the ship called 'privilege'. Since this is meant to end any opposition to the premise. It's similar to when feminists say men cannot possibly have a view on feminism because they are not a woman and therefore cannot possibly understand it. It totally ignores the human capacity for mirroring and empathy. It's the worst way of arguing your point, is to suggest that those it's attacking can never understand. It reminds me of the way christians will happily suggest that the non christians lack of faith will mean they can never understand my faith in Christ.

Yes, the vengeance makes complete sense. I agree that the violence is often more than one can bear to watch or listen too at times. I think the show has a way of enhancing the violent scenes with sound effects and facial expressions, making the scene much less gory than you first imagine. But that said, there were some scenes I simply had to look away from. My interest in the story was with the family mythology which is everywhere within this series. Characters like Theon Greyjoy who was abandoned by his father with the Stark family. Theon considers himself as a prisoner of the Starks and rightly understand his fathers hatred of him. He spent much of the second series attempting to regain his father’s love haplessly, by doing some of the most atrocious and despicable things. He utterly destroys his relationship with the Stark family. But given Theons history brought up within a family that eulogised the family. He then finds himself being completely rejected by his own and never truly accepted as a part of the Starks. He is a deeply tragic character consumed by the family myth. For me the whole series is about peoples relationships with their family. Tyrion positively feels obligated to be out manoeuvring all the members of his family. John Snow is constantly seeking honour as a means to overcoming the name as the ‘bastard’ son of Stark. I'd be curious to get Stef's take on this and particularly the unconscious motives of the writer as well. I find the writing simply superb. The way one moment you can feel such absolute terror with a character and the next moment you could almost shed a tear for them. I think that can be quite bewildering for some listener’s, but is a mark of a brilliant writer I think.

They are all currently working for me.. Although I agree, it does appear that peers were missing on some of my earlier downloads.. I'm currently seeding 0 - 13 minus 8 & 9 and downloading the rest.. Perhaps there is a bottleneck due to a lack of peers perhaps.. Someone was recently downloading podcast 13 from me earlier.

thanks