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Archive for April 2010

That’s So Black Feathered Wound-Bird!

Posted by: Aadisht on: April 27, 2010

The Saga of Cormac the Skald, which I mentioned in my post on Icelandic awesomeness is notable for the badassery of its subjects, the beauty of its language, and many, many songs about ravens. Sample these: The friend that I trusted has failed me In the fight, and my hope is departed: I speak what [...]

Twenty First Century Land Purchases

Posted by: Aadisht on: April 26, 2010

This is pretty interesting. The state of New York is practically broke, but the city of New York is merely deeply indebted. To ease its fiscal crisis, the state of New York is transferring an island from joint administration to the sole administration of New York City: After more than a year of negotiations, New [...]

The SEBI-IRDA Fight

Posted by: Aadisht on: April 26, 2010

As a free market fundamentalist, it isĀ embarrassingĀ for me to admit that a regulator is doing a good job where the market has failed. However I am so pleased about how SEBI has taken on IRDA that I shall suppress my instincts and praise a regulator to the skies. Since this will mean unleashing my inner [...]

You Don’t Fuck With Surtr’s Own Country

Posted by: Aadisht on: April 24, 2010

Last year, when Iceland’s Landsbanki collapsed, Great Britain invoked the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act to freeze all Icesave accounts opened by British depositors. Thus, while the British government was happy to bail out Northern Rock, it decided to give Iceland the shaft. Perfidious Albion’s treachery was not to go unpunished for long! Six months [...]

History Repeats Itself

Posted by: Aadisht on: April 23, 2010

The first time as labour, the second time as capital. This is interesting. Back in the 19th century, when Southern Pacific and Central Pacific were building transcontinental railroads in the USA, they used Chinese labourers when they hit California. Here’s a very Web 1.0 page on the subject. Precis-ing it madly, the interesting bits are: [...]

First Things First

Posted by: Aadisht on: April 22, 2010

This blog is back up (please say you noticed it was down), and much writing will follow. But first, an important pending task: here is the link to the NED Open Quiz 2010. It contains all the audio, all the video, and all the answers. This makes it a massive download, but based on the [...]