Spotty died last night. He was a beautiful Faverolle cock. He looked quiet last night when I put him to bed. This morning he was still slightly warm and supple, but otherwise lifeless. There were no signs of injury or sickness and he’s less than a couple of years old. Very sad. We’ll miss him.
How the sub-prime melts …
A good explanation of how mortgages were packaged, sold and then turned to dust from Fortune: Junk mortgages under the microscope -A close-up of one deal shows how subprime mortgages went bad. And here’s the graphic to keep you in the picture.
GRI financial services guidelines for public comment
UNEP Finance Initiative and the Global Reporting Initiative have jointly coordinated a working group to pilot and review the draft versions of the GRI Financial Services Sector Supplement (Environmental and Social Performance). The revised Supplement including all these changes is now available for public comment until 10 January, 2008. The new Supplement and the response …
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Dalai Lama, Politics and Religion
The hosting of the Dalai Lama by Bush raised hackles in China, as expected. The Dalai Lama was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honour. China is upset because it sees the Buddhism as a threat to state unity. It seems as if it is fighting a rearguard action though, because in August …
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Consumers enforce organics in US, because the government won’t
Acting on behalf of organic food consumers in 27 states, class action lawsuits are being filed in U.S. federal courts in St. Louis and Denver, against Aurora Dairy Corporation. The suits charge Aurora, one of the nation’s largest organic dairies, with consumer fraud, negligence, and unjust enrichment concerning the sale of organic milk by the …
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Humans learn aggression from parents when young
Research looking at the development of aggressive behaviour in toddlers, highlights that young children do not learn to be aggressive, instead as they get older and their brains become more mature they become less aggressive as they learn to control their behaviour. Children learn to regulate the use of physical aggression during the preschool years, …
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WTO rules US cotton subsidies illegal, again
The World Trade Organisation upheld the findings of its interim report released in July saying that subsidies paid to US cotton farmers are illegal. The US is expected to appeal, but if it is upheld, the US could face billions of dollars in trade sanctions for failing to scrap illegal subsidies. The ruling is a …
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What coalition … ?
A senior Pentagon official has been on a fortnight tour of little-known European and Eurasian capitals trying to deliver a dribble of troops for Iraq and Afghanistan. As the NYT notes “The low-profile trip reads more like a geography test than a geostrategic foray.” Debra Cagan, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for coalition affairs, …
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Bloggers censored just like traditional media channels
Reporters Without Borders’ annual study of press freedom shows that blogging is becoming a serious media channel as bloggers are now finding themselves prey to censorship from repressive governments as much as journalists in traditional media. The report says governments realise the internet is now a key tool in promoting democracy and are moving to …
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Earth from space
Beautiful pictures of earth from space shared by the Earth Observatory. Click the link to get the full resolution images (~3 MB each).