On this date in history:

1832 - Alexandre Charles Lecocq, a French musical composer, was born. (d. 1918)

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Yes! The New Earlier Open Thread™!

The article below is a wonderful example of pundit cluelessness and or wanton incompetence, and I'm going to rip it to shreds in detail below.

Gordon Brown landed North Sea oil in choppy water

The Treasury is enjoying a windfall as oil soars but taxation policy may have knock-on effects

The rest of us may have been too busy partying like it was 1999, but on the eve of the millennium Britain was quietly, unwittingly, selling off the family silver on the cheap.

Gordon Brown's choice of that year to start selling off Britain's gold reserves with the precious metal's price close to an unprecedented low is well documented. What is less well known is that 1999 marked the peak for North Sea oil production and - by an unfortunate twist of fate - the very nadir of the oil price.

On this date in history:

1857 - Birth of Edward Elgar, an English Romantic composer. (d. 1934)

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The Thread is Open.

As the hard corners of reality finally begin to dig into the well-padded bottoms of the pronouncing class as well as the leaner tushes of the working class, the need to trot out and spruce up the story emerges. Here's a couple little short stories from two different universes.
The marvel here, for me, is the tenacity with which one story edits.

No great insights here-just a remarkable juxtaposition I read today that struck me.  

Promoted by Migeru

Here's a hook for your photos.

Photos for Sunday... afew

On this date in history:

1771 - Birth of Ferdinando Paer, an Italian composer. (d. 1839)

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Over to you

Saturday bump, listen away! - In Wales

On this date in history:

1656 - Marin Marais, was a French composer and viol player.(d. 1728)

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Natter away

Via a comment on Anders Piebalgs's blog by one Carolus Obscurus:

the term ‘peak oil’ seems to be DG TREN’s equivalent to the N-word in civilised society. It’s literally verboten, its use presumably creating grounds for disciplinary action. I’ve checked it out. At DGT [the Commission’s translation service – CO] we have access to the Commission’s entire translation corpus. This electronic database contains a vast range of documents emanating from all the Commission’s services as well as a huge volume of incoming mail from other EC institutions, national authorities, industry, private associations, and individual citizens.

Yet in DG TREN’s corner there is not one single document in which the term ‘peak oil’ occurs – not once, over the past 30 years, in texts dating back to 1977, the year I was recruited. As to the Commission as a whole, the taboo term crops up only twice in the entire text base – once in an open letter […] (2006) and once in draft report from the European Parliament (also 2006). And that’s it. There is no Commission document containing a term that may well encapsulate the defining moment of our century. Not even in an attempt to refute the theory. In contrast, ‘climate change’ scores over 12196 hits – giving us a ratio of 6000 to 1, although oil depletion may well have a more disastrous impact on our lives than global warming: misery today, rather than misery tomorrow. Even the term ‘Mickey Mouse’ mysteriously scores 57 hits –almost 30 times more than ‘peak oil’. ‘Donald Duck’, with 39 hits, still does 10 times better. Such are our priorities in Never-Never Land.”

This fits with what Monbiot noted recently about the UK government:

Our government must have known this, but it has refused to conduct its own analysis of global oil reserves. Uniquely among possible threats to the economy and national security, it has commissioned no research of any kind into this question. So earlier this year, I asked the Department for Business what contingency plans it possesses to meet the eventuality that the IEA's estimates could be wrong, and that global supplies of petroleum might peak in the near future. "The government," it replied, "does not feel the need to hold contingency plans."

Our governments are totally clueless - or in denial, or wilfully incompetent, your pick - about the most fundamental threat to our (non-negotiable) way of life. Sweet.

The German corporate world is raked by scandals this week.

As Fran reported in the Salon, Deutsche Telekom got in unkind light for espionage: magazine SPIEGEL made public that the telecommunications giant tracked the calls of journalists, to find the source of leaks in the company.

But meanwhile, another case reached the court stage, which may be more important, because it concerns a more systematic practice: the Siemens corruption scandal. Confessing culprits laid bare how bribes and kickbacks were institutionalised in one industry giant.

On this date in history:

1958 - Marie Fredriksson, is a Swedish singer, songwriter and pianist best known as one half of the pop duo Roxette

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Thursday already!

What happens when one takes on the challenge to eat only locally produced food (and wine) and all within a 160 kilometer radius (100 miles) for an entire month? It's about getting back to our grassroots, supporting our local farmers and reducing the miles our food travels from paddock to plate. It's that simple. It is a movement sweeping the world.

Coined by a Bay Area group, the term "locavore" refers to people who only eat food grown, processed and produced within a 100 mile radius of where they live.

More and more of us are turning our backs on imported products and getting back to our grassroots supporting local farmers and producers. Eating local food cuts back the distance it travels from the paddock to the plate and in turn reduces harm to the environment.

Diary rescue by Migeru

This is pretty much the common wisdom on ET. But just the opposite of what we expect mainstream politicians to dare nowadays: they rather advocate tax cuts à la Sarko.

However, Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD), Germany's Federal Minister for Transport, Construction and City Development just did the 'unthinkable':

1. He called for an EU-wide harmonisation of car taxes, with rates set proportionally to CO2 emissions - so that "every EU citizen makes the same contribution to climate protection"!

2. He also called for a tax on kerosene, saying, "there is no reason to continue with tax benefits for air traffic"!

The campaign is in full swing, and Simon McGarr on IrishElection.com has set up a Flickr group of NO posters seen on the streets here. If you can't see an obvious identifier for who the poster is from it's probably either from Libertas (who have taken to putting much, much smaller labels on the stuff I've seen recently) or one of the other groups whose reputation won't do the No campaign any good. Like the anti-choice group Youth Defence who have in the past rioted against pro-choice campaigns and been alleged to have links with continental neo-Nazi groups.

I expect the referendum to fail, because the 30% of followers that Ireland has will be more motivated to vote against abortion, chipped babies and nuclear bombs than the pro-European people will be to vote for obscure and complicated changes in voting weights and rules.

On this date in history:

1922 - Birth of Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer, architect, and a major figure in the postwar development of musical modernism. (d. 2001)

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