Stereotypical but.... blog software for Blackberry?

The Lounsbury - July 29, 2010 09:28 AM | Comments (2)
Filed Under: Blog Notes - Admin

I find I have blogging time in airports on me blackberry, and while Scribefire works brilliantly from a laptop, it would be nice to have something to work with Moveable Type from Blackberry.

American meddling - Megrahi & BP

The Lounsbury - July 20, 2010 04:29 PM | Comments (0)
Filed Under: North Africa , Politics - Foreign Policy

The silly US furour over this is just plain stupid.

FT.com / UK / Politics & policy - Cameron tries to shield BP over Megrahi release

Cameron tries to shield BP over Megrahi release

By George Parker and Ed Luce in Washington


David Cameron on Tuesday tried to shield BP from growing anger in Washington over the oil company’s alleged role in the release of the Lockerbie bomber, arguing that the blame lay with Scottish ministers.

Speaking ahead of his first visit to the White House as prime minister, Mr Cameron rejected suggestions that BP’s lobbying over oil contracts in Libya played any part in the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi from a Scottish jail last year.

He said the “misguided” decision to release the bomber was taken by ministers in the devolved Scottish Executive on compassionate grounds. “He should have died in jail,” the prime minister said.

But speaking on National Public Radio, he said: “Let’s be clear over who released Megrahi. It was not a decision of BP – it was a decision of Scottish ministers.”

Interesting reflexion on Credit & Inequality

The Lounsbury - July 17, 2010 07:23 PM | Comments (0)
Filed Under: Biz - Policy & Development , Biz - Private in MENA

Interesting comment worth reflexion also relative to emerging markets (and the naive obsession of the development community with expansion of credit to any and all):

Credit Drives Income Inequality Drives Credit - Business - The Atlantic

Jul 17 2010, 10:15 AM ET | Comment

As economists continue to sort through the causes of the financial crisis (even though Congress already fixed the problem), there's one cause you don't hear very often: income inequality. Economist Raghuram Rajan explains this point in a recent article at Project Syndicate. He says that income inequality was growing prior to the housing bubble, which is part of what drove policymakers to champion subprime mortgages. Since these individuals couldn't actually afford as much as more affluent Americans, they could now tap into credit to feel just as wealthy. The corollary to his point is what too much credit can do: help to mask income inequality and cause it to further grow.

Belgium & the Francophones

The Lounsbury - July 15, 2010 09:28 PM | Comments (0)
Filed Under:

Besides of course the history of Francophone arrogance (no snideness from the Americans on this, American linguistic arrogance is of a piece) of course is also the heritage of French style (as in France style) labour code versus the Flemish liberalism (relative liberalism).

One Town’s Language Divide Mirrors Belgium’s - NYTimes.com

Fueling the tensions is a change of economic fortune and a long grudge match between the Flemish and the French. Belgium, a relatively new country, declared its independence in 1830. At first, the country’s aristocracy spoke French and the country’s French-speaking regions — rich from iron and coal manufacturing — were often contemptuous of the largely agricultural north. During World War I, most Belgian officers were French-speaking and made little effort to translate for Flemish soldiers.

These days, however, the French part of Belgium — population about four million — is poorer, while Flanders, population about six million, has grown wealthy with a diverse economy. Many Flemish voters resent their taxes’ flowing south.

In some parts of Wallonia, the unemployment rate is close to 20 percent. Nonetheless, Mr. Desmet said the Walloons can refuse a job if it is more than 15 miles from their homes, and collect unemployment. “In the north, there are jobs that could be filled,” he said. “That really annoys a lot of the Flemish.”