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POPSThe Hours of Catherine of Cleves The magnificent Hours of Catherine of Cleves forms the centrepiece of the Morgan Library's current exhibition (until May 2): Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves. If you're a New York local or visiting in the next couple of months, don't miss this exhibition! I was at The British Library yesterday and spent hours gazing at various beautiful manuscripts similar to this - enjoy.
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POPSIs Geert Wilders A Fascist? Was unaware that he tried to ban the Koran, headscarves, etc. From what I had heard of Wilders, he wanted European countries to stick to their own laws and constitutions and not allow for sharia law. This is now on many sites, it is really pretty amusing to read the comments. As it was described to me in an e-mail from a friend who linked the story, "Wingnuts heads are exploding!" Lol!
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POPSIPCC errors: Facts and spin Sea level in the Netherlands: It surely will go down as one of the more ironic episodes in its history when the Dutch parliament last Monday derided the IPCC, in a heated debate, for printing information provided by … the Dutch government. African crop yields:in condensing these results for its Synthesis Report, important nuance and qualification were lost – especially the point that the risk of drought (defined as a 50% downturn in rainfall) “could be exacerbated by climate change”, as chapter 9.4 wrote – rather than being outright caused by climate change. Trends in disaster losses:there is no IPCC error here; at best there is a difference of opinion. Much more at source.
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POPSWorld Cup "Friendly" March Results Argentina, it seems, is looking real good; and Spain. The USA lost a close game to the Dutch but to Yank newbies, we should understand that is not surprising: The Dutch are (for a long time) one of the best rated teams in the world. Of course, too, these were just 'friendly,' matches, not counting for the World Cup, which are now "only less than 100 days away." FIFA now has a countdown clock on their site.... The spotlight is on. The countdown is happening...only 97 days, 6 hours, 1 minute and 32 seconds from Now. Get out your face paint and funny hats.
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POPSDisqualified From Winning Gold Medal This Dutch speed skater sure has reason to gripe. His coach steered him in the wrong direction. The stories of the Olympics are sometimes more interesting than the sports themselves. Most of them are positive or show strength, courage, discipline and determination; or teamwork or more. But there is a US woman snowboarder who was considered flaky for losing a gold medal by showing off last time, in 2006. She lost again, so now she is the Queen of Flaky. Sort of not fair but she'll have to live with it. In truth her big 'mistake,' was falling down; that's about it. In this case, not only the gold medal but an estimated 300,000 Euros was instantly lost. The coach will probably not be rehired. A Canadian woman figure skater had her mother die one day before her event. It was brave the way she went on....then she burst into tears when her performance was over. Life goes on.
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POPSDutch legalize gay sex in public parks “Thus, condoms must always be cleared away, it must never take place in the neighbourhood of children’s playgrounds and the sex must be restricted to the evening and night-time,” he said. The new park rules have the blessing of the Dutch police, who have urged all Dutch parks to follow Amsterdam’s lead. But Amsterdam’s dog owners are less impressed. The new park code of conduct will set out stiff fines for dogs that are allowed to run around the Vondelpark off the leash. “Research showed that many people find this disturbing,” said Mr van Grieken. One dog owner protested: “As long as the park has existed, we’ve been allowed to let our dogs run freely. It’s outrageous that we will be punished from now on but public sex won’t. If they can drop their trousers, why can’t I let my dog loose?”
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POPSAfrica-gate However, the story then got worse when Dr Pachauri himself came to edit and co-author the IPCC's Synthesis Report (for which the IPCC paid his Delhi-based Teri institute, out of the £400,000 allocated for its production). Not only did Pachauri's version again give prominence to Agoumi's 50 per cent figure, but he himself has repeated the claim on numerous occasions since, in articles, interviews and speeches –such as the one he gave to a climate summit in Potsdam last September, where he boasted he was speaking "in the voice of the world's scientific community". In the wake of all the other recent scandals, "Africa-gate" may be the most damaging of all, because of the involvement of Dr Pachauri himself. Not only is the reputation of the IPCC in tatters, but that of its chairman appears irreperably damaged. Yet the world's politicians cannot afford to see him resign because, if he goes, the whole sham edifice they have sworn by would come tumbling down.
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POPSDutch to ditch cash by 2015 - report This is an idea with many implications, and this "Finextra" site's community of financial professionals is a very knowledgeable community. As a result, comments made in response to this post are more interesting than the post itself.
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