Yuan vs Dollar

The US is currently demanding that China let the Yuan rise against the USD in order to have a fairer trade between the 2 countries.
The thing is that doing so might be good for China, not for the USA!

More from the Economist here.


Posted in: _Economy , _Geopolitics

Bill, oh reilly!

Me being French and all, I guess I take all the crap O'Reilly says about France a bit too seriously. But on this one he is really making a fool out of himself. He is simply ridiculous...
After declaring a boycott on French products, he is now lifting it.
More here, and video here.


Posted in: _Fun , _USA

QOTD

"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left."

- Oscar Levant

The Lucifer Effect

Why do good people engage in evil actions?
How do ordinary people sometimes turn evil and commit unspeakable acts?

The book The Lucifer Effect tells, for the first time, the full story behind the Stanford Prison Experiment, a now-classic study I conducted in 1971. In that study, normal college students were randomly assigned to play the role of guard or inmate for two weeks in a simulated prison, yet the guards quickly became so brutal that the experiment had to be shut down after only six days.


Posted in: _Sciences , _Society

Funny Stuff

Here is a funny video from Bill Maher, about why Americans should not despise the French :)




Posted in: _Fun

Medical Stuff

3 nice articles about honey (here), depression (here, subscribers only) and anesthesia (here, subscribers only).

- Honey may help in the battle against superbugs.
- Living in a too sterile environments when kids does actually not help your immune systems. It is not good against illness in general (especially asthma) and depression in particular.
- Researchers are starting to understand how to put you to sleep in a different way, using drugs affecting different part of the brain. Patients recovering from surgery may then emerge feeling pleasantly refreshed rather than having gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.


Posted in: _Sciences

The Big Dry

Australia might get in deep trouble very soon. Indeed, the water shortages are really forcing them to make though decisions. Have a look at the article here.
More people, less water, wasted water and you get into a nice big problem.
When you don't have enough water for your cities, or when you have to choose between cities and agriculture, either you change your way of life or have less people.


Posted in: _Sciences

Funny Stuff

Click on the images to view them in full size.


Posted in: _Fun