Inflation

UNDERSTANDING INFLATION
SO, WHAT'S TO WORRY ABOUT, ANYWAY?
FUTURECASTS online magazine
www.futurecasts.com
Vol. 6, No. 2, 2/1/04.
Economic inflation:

Policies that hold prices down can be inflationary. When we think of inflation - when we define inflation - we think of rising prices instead of the actual causes of inflation. This is reasonable, since the ultimate outcome of inflation is always a general and sustained increase in price levels. It is thus easy to define inflation in terms of its ultimate results - the price increases that it causes - and ignore the underlying causes of inflation - the underlying forces that caused those results.
This is no minor matter. It leads to the common policy mistakes that arise from the belief that anything that holds prices down is "anti-inflationary" - when the opposite is often actually true.
Price controls and the expenditure of financial reserves subsidize inflationary levels of demand and deter increases in supply, and are thus inflationary. It is the price rises themselves that are "anti-inflationary." The measures often employed to hold down price increases are actually additional forces of inflation that will cause even further price increases in the future.

The Collapse of Agriculture

DESCENT INTO THE DEPTHS (1930):
The Collapse of Agriculture
FUTURECASTS online magazine
www.futurecasts.com
Vol. 3, No. 4, 4/1/01.

(The vast majority of the following was taken from articles published in contemporary issues of the N.Y. Times.)

The aborted spring business revival: By the beginning of April, 1930, the rise in stock prices had once again left dividend yields, by themselves, well below attractive investment levels. The limited revival of railroad car loadings indicated the limits of the spring economic revival and caused a 33% reduction in railroad earnings.

Disappointing levels of railroad car loadings indicated the limited nature of the spring business revival. Accelerated maintenance work and purchases by the railroads and other major industrial corporations - undertaken pursuant to a plea from Pres. Hoover - had pushed steel production momentarily as high as 82% in February, but by April the railroads were forced to make substantial reductions in these plans. However, the successful liquidation of excess auto inventories and the continuation of good sales through April, 1930, resulted in a pickup in auto production that pushed steel production back up to 80% of capacity. There were now no observable merchandise inventory problems.

Articles on Global Warming

ARTICLES BY GARY NOVAK
All articles are Copyright by Gary Novak.
All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission.

Climate and Ice Ages
Global Warming
Intelligent Design of the Globe
Heat in the Earth's Core

Climate and Ice Ages

The past ten ice ages have been cycling at 100 thousand year intervals. Environmental influences would not be so cyclic. Hot spots rotating in the earth's core seem to be the best explanation.
Warm ocean currents are melting ice at the poles and damaging coral reefs. It's primarily ocean temperatures that are increasing, and secondarily air temperatures.
Rainfall is greatly increasing in the upper plains (of USA). That moisture originates with evaporation of the Pacific Ocean, which must be heating up.
Atmospheric temperature is over-played in the hype on global warming.
Change in air temperature is not of much significance at even moderate levels, let alone the minute levels being questioned. The reason is because air has very low heat capacity.

Increases in temperatures below the ground surface have recently been detected. This includes unusual melting of ice on lakes in Minnesota.
Increases in CO2 in the atmosphere have been occurring for about a century. But only about 3% of the CO2 has human origins. A likely source of the increase is heating of oceans, which causes CO2 to be released.
Heating of oceans appears to be the cause of ice ages. Increased evaporation would create more cloud cover and reduce radiant heating.

The tale of a giant

100 Tests for Inzamam (2005)

A star is born in the 1992 World Cup © Getty Images
January 1989 First big innings
Inzamam's back-to-the-wall 201 not out for United Bank Limited in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy on a greentop pushed him into the limelight. Haroon Rashid, the former Pakistan batsman and coach, considers it the best innings he has ever seen.
November 1991 One-day debut

Inzamam had to contend with a fiery line-up of Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop, Malcolm Marshall and Patrick Patterson on his international debut at Lahore. He managed 20 before being bowled by Marshall. The game turned out to be a thriller and ended in a tie.

Another cracker on cards, clouds permitting

India v Australia, 2nd Test, Bangalore

The Big Picture
 

Can India and Australia produce an encore? Is it even possible to match the high of that first Test? Both teams will miss key men involved in the drama at high noon in Mohali: Ishant Sharma has already been ruled out, Doug Bollinger is extremely unlikely to play and VVS Laxman is in a race for fitness. India have other worries too: Gautam Gambhir was injured in the first Test and isn't available for selection. But both teams have always found a way to stretch themselves and produce exciting contests - and Bangalore, weather permitting, should be no different.

There are a few concerns, though, and a few questions. Without Bollinger, do Australia have the resources to take 20 wickets? Without him, can they hustle the Indians? Will a replacement bowler release the pressure and will that affect how the others operate? There is also a question mark over Marcus North, who seems to be given endless chances, and enjoys the confidence of his captain and selectors, while the rest of the world wonders why. Thankfully, for North, the rest of the world's opinion doesn't matter - though it might soon if he continues producing inconsistent performances.

India, too, have tough questions to ponder. Harbhajan Singh wasn't completely fit for the previous two series and that affected his bowling. Have his ailments healed and will we see a fully-fit Harbhajan bowl? The spinners on the bench don't seem to have convinced the management that they can be better than a half-fit Harbhajan. The rise of Pragyan Ojha has been because of Amit Mishra's slide. And is Sreesanth match-fit to replace Ishant? Can Suresh Raina manage to develop a way to tackle the bouncers, or will he slip away like Vinod Kambli?

Misbah-ul-Haq appointed Test captain

Misbah-ul-Haq has been appointed Pakistan's captain for the two-Test series against South Africa in Abu Dhabi in November. He becomes the fourth man, after Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi and Salman Butt, to lead Pakistan in Tests in 2010 alone, and the decision completes a remarkable and typically Pakistani comeback; earlier this year, after the Australia tour, he had been dropped from all formats of the game. In July, he was contemplating retirement.

Instead, he will now lead a 15-man squad which includes Mohammad Sami, opener Taufeeq Umar, Danish Kaneria - each of them recalled - and a first time Test call-up for Asad Shafiq, who impressed in his debut ODI series against England recently.

There are signs that the decision hasn't pleased everyone involved with selection of the squad. When asked about the reasons behind the appointment, Mohsin Khan, chief selector, told ESPNcricinfo only that "the selection committee has nothing to do with the appointment of the captain." He refused to comment about the squad.

Difference Between Love & Marriage (Plato)

One day, Plato asked his teacher, "What is love? How can I find it?" .His

teacher answered, "There is a vast wheat field in front.. Walk forward

without turning back, and pick only one stalk. If you find the most

magnificent stalk, then you have found love." Plato walked forward, and

before long, he returned with empty hands, having picked nothing.

His teacher asked, "Why did you not pick any stalk?" Plato answered,

"Because I could only pick once, and yet I could not turn back. I did find

the most magnificent stalk, but did not know if there were any better ones

ahead, so I did not pick it. As I walked further, the stalks that I saw were

not as good as the earlier one, so! I did not pick any in the end. His

teacher then said, "And that is LOVE."

On another day, Plato asked his teacher, "What is marriage? How can I find

it?" His teacher answered, "There is a thriving forest in front. Walk

forward without turning back, and chop down only one tree. If you find the

tallest tree, then you have found marriage". Plato walked forward, and

before long, He returned with a tree. The tree was not bad, and it was not

tall either. It was only an ordinary tree, not the best but just a good

tree. His teacher asked, "Why did you chop down such an ordinary tree?"

Plato answered, "Because of my previous experience. I had walked through the

field, but returned with empty hands. This time, I saw this tree, and I felt

that it was the first good tree that I saw, so I chopped it down and brought

it back. I did not want to miss the opportunity."

His teacher then said, "And that is MARRIAGE. You see son...Love is the most

beautiful thing to happen to a person, its an opportunity but you don't

realize its worth when you have it but only when its gone like the field of

stalks. Marriage like the tree you chopped, it's a compromise; you pick the

first best thing you see and learn to live a happy life with it."

Women are victims of environmental degradations

ISLAMABAD, May 10: Gender justice which provides both men and women a level playing field for sustainable development is the need of the hour. This was the viewpoint shared by the participants at a workshop on “gender concepts in relation to environment and sustainable development”. The event was organized by the National Conservation Strategy Resource Centre (NCS-RC), federal environment ministry, here on Tuesday.

The objective of the workshop was to create awareness about degradation of natural resources and environment with regards to current economic development and its role in gender perspective.

COMPUTER VISION SYNDROME

M any computer users have Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). Studies show that 50% - 90% of computer users experience the symptoms of CVS. The good news is that the eye and vision symptoms and problems of CVS can usually be alleviated by good eye care and/or by changes in the work environment. It does not disable their sufferers for life. Most of the eye symptoms clear up after a few hours away from the keyboard.
People getting older is the biggest issue when it comes to computer vision problems as it collides with normal deterioration of vision at age of 40. However young persons whose monitor is placed too high may also be affected. There is no evidence that using of computer will cause permanent eye problem but it can make people so uncomfortable that they are troubled in concentrating on their work.
Symptoms
Headache.
Tired and achy eyes.
Dry, Gritty or usually watery eyes.
Blurred or double vision.
Difficulty in focusing after working for long on computers.
Neck, Back and Shoulder pain.
Cause

E-commerce and its future in Pakistan

E-commerce is a very hot issue these days. After the revolution of Internet, more and more countries are getting involved in it.

However, in general, if we use any type of electronic devices in getting orders and sending catalogues, like telephone, fax or any other such instruments, we are supposed to be applying electronic business techniques. However, the real sense of e-commerce is the business on the internet of which there are different modes, like opening a retail store on internet, where all transactions are done on line, from selection of product to payment of bills.

The over-all volume of e-commerce is more than $4 billion annually. Doing business on internet is not a very costly investment. It is estimated that in near future, almost 25 per cent of the traditional business will be converted into internet business.