7. februar 2005

Stock exchange ruled by blind lemmings Scientists have found that the real stock exchange closely mimics the behaviour of unintelligent random buyers and sellers. However, the surprising result does not mean traders are actually just buying and selling at random, say researchers. Instead, it suggests that the movement of markets depend less on the strategic behaviour of traders and more on the structure and constraints of the trading system itself. The research, led by J Doyne Farmer and his colleagues at the Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico, US, say the finding could be used to identify ways to lower volatility in the stock markets and reduce transaction costs, both of which would benefit small investors and perhaps bigger investors too. Stock exhanges now consider ways to change the rules to make the markets less volatile. 4:52:44 PM    comment []  trackback []

Royal Navy OKs pinups again In December, the top brass in Britain's navy caused serious waves by banning popular pinup posters in sailors' cabins. Now the navy has lifted the ban. But the UK's Naval head honcho Admiral Sir Alan West has reversed the rules that caused waves when they were made in December. He told The Sun seamen would be "permitted in the privacy of their own quarters" to display the images. The pictures will be allowed in bunks and lockers on ships and the newspaper has hailed the decision with a Page Three "salute". But it is not just for the lads - Navy wrens also get the benefit and can now plaster images of their favourite hunks all over their bunks. True equal rights. 11:12:26 AM    comment []  trackback []

Author: Deep Throat was Bush senior It has never been revealed who was the secret source nicknamed "deep throat" who gave journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward the inside scoop of "watergate," leading to president Nixon's downfall. Neither has there been any end to speculations about the source's identity. Now author Adrian Havill, who earlier argued the source was a composite, thinks that "deep throat" was former president George H. W. Bush. Yes, daddy Bush! Havill said he began to suspect Bush when his president son, who dislikes the press, gave Woodward an unusual seven hours of interviews. Also: The elder Bush had motivation to dislike Nixon, who had urged him to leave a safe congressional seat for an assistant Secretary of Treasury position and hinted he would replace Spiro Agnew on the 1972 ticket. Nixon reneged, and Bush "was given the thankless task of heading the Republican National Committee in 1973,'' Havill said. Bush was United Nations ambassador in New York from 1971 to 1973 but came to his Washington home on weekends. Seven of the eight Deep Throat/Woodward meetings were on weekends. Bush, who later became CIA director, had intimate knowledge of Washington. "This is a guy with deep political contacts from way back,'' Havill said. Both Woodward and Bush are Navy men and Yale graduates. Obviously this theory has the added benefit of getting a lot of attention! And, besides, there aren't that many people who were in Washington DC in the early 70s who haven't at one time been accused of being "deep throat" already. Woodward keeps his mouth shut. Bush Sr. has not commented on the claim. PS: It says a bit about the climate of the 70s that they actually seriously gave the inside source a nickname based on the most famous porn movie. Still has me chuckling, even though it was a pathetic porn flick. 7:35:12 AM    comment []  trackback []

The media is soon the terrrorists' only weapon I have argued that terrorism is primarily a media strategy. Columnist Jack Kelly notes how the mainstream media are all too eager to fall for the terrorists' hoaxes, to refer to a handful of psychotic murderers as "insurgents" and play up their significance, and the outright hostility towards the armed forces as made clear by Eason Jordan, CNN's top news executive 7:08:56 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.03.2005; 01:29:54.