Why global warming is not good for you

Why is global warming not good for you? Well, look what happened last time! The last period of global warming was in the time of the dinosaurs and it was global warming that wiped them out. Then again, global cooling is not good either; that's what led to the extinction of the Neanderthals. But for now, don't allow global warming to hijack the snowman; let's drive less, walk more, use less electricity - cuddle more. There also is substantial scientific evidence (somewhere) that proves that laughing keeps the weather in check.

When to put up the Christmas tree

Christmas trees traditionally are put up 12 days before Christmas day, on the 13th of December. Some put up the Christmas tree on the 6th of December 6th in honor of Saint Nicholas. In Catholic tradition the Christmas tree is put up after noon on Christmas eve. Nowadays Christmas trees are put up the day or weekend after Thanksgiving.

Some people take Christmas trees down 12 days after Christmas, others take it down on Epiphany, January 6th.

Some sources say that Martin Luther (1483-1546) was the first person to decorate a Christmas tree with candles to show kids how stars twinkle in the night. We have been decorating Christmas trees since the beginning because here in Lapland we've always had Christmas trees and never have to take them down. Our Christmas trees are sprinkled with magic dust, the same dust that makes Rudolph's nose shine.

Socially useless

The ultimate insult in life is to be labeled "socially useless." And that is exactly the preferred term for the bankers and others who caused suffering to millions of innocent people around the world through greed, one of the seven deadly sins: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride. Actually, since the banking crisis any one or all of these terms have been accredited to the bankers. But the phrase to aptly sum up the banks actions was made by Jonathan Turner of the British FSA (Financial Services Authority - an odd title for a, well, useless service): "... some of it is socially useless activity," he said.

It was not the first time that the stock market speculation was called socially useless. A few years ago Murray Kemp and Hans-Werner Sinn published the study A Simple Model of Privately Profitable But Socially Useless Speculation in which they stated: "speculation in the forward market is profitable and stabilizes prices but is useless from a welfare point of view. Reconciling the Siegel paradox with the theory of incomplete markets, we show that banning speculation by closing the forward market may increase social welfare."

In the 1920's, Psychologist Alfred Adler described the possible reasons and personalities of socially destructive persons. The behavior is explained by Richard Erickson: "A person's lifestyle may be self-defeating and socially useless because he is discouraged and pursuing mistaken goals described as self-protection and self-aggrandizement at the expensive of the community."

We asked Santa what makes a person socially useless and he says it is when someone prohibits another from getting gifts at Christmas. Such thoughts should immediately be sent to the recycle bin.

The cost of going to the moon

When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon on this day 40 years ago, it was the pinnacle of the most expensive project of its time. The cost of going to the moon was $25 billion, or $150 billion in today's money, which is about 1/10th of the money used thus far to bail out the banks. This achieved one giant leap for bankers, one step back for man.

Armstrong was joined by his buddy Buzz Aldrin, pictured here, while their other buddy, Michael Collins, orbited the moon in the command module of Apollo 11. To date, only 12 people have walked on the moon. That is more people than those who know the secret of where the village of Santa is located.

Who will forgive Bernard Madoff?

Bernard Madoff is listed on the wrong side of the Naughty and Nice List, administrated by Alabaster Snowball. While Bernard made off with a few billion of other peoples dollars and received 150 years sentence in return the question remains: who will forgive Bernard Madoff?

Apparently Bernard prayed to God for free money but quickly found out it did not work that way... so he stole it and prayed to God for forgiveness.

Pen is mightier than the sword

English novelist and dramatist Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) uttered the wise words "The pen is mightier than the sword" in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy:



True, This! —
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! — itself a nothing! —
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword —
States can be saved without it!

Indeed, the opposite often happen to states - or more correctly speaking, statesmen. Currently the British Labour Party, is feeling the sharp end of the newspaper quills. The British leaders should have taken in the wise words from an old enemy of theirs, Napoleon Bonaparte: "Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets."

Time will tell how well US journalists have been sharpening their words against the blunt ideas of the elected. Of course, you can follow the mood on the blogs but they still have an awful long way to go to reach the edge that newspapers still swing. And to think, the end of newspapers and, indeed, the end of the book has been predicted since the dawn of the personal computer. Alas, thanks to their online presence, newspapers actually have more readers than ever before (even though they sell printed newspapers, thankfully).

Books are doing pretty well too. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling became the world's first billionaire writer. She sold more than three times as many books as the next two, Enid Blyton and Theodor Seuss Geise (Dr Seuss), who have an estimated 100 million sales each. And those numbers ain't too bad either. Unless you are the villian in the story.

"Bloodletter Quill", the shown art work, is by Dan Scot, a master of the color quill.

The duck stops here!

There might not be Christmas-in-July for British MP children as their daddies (and some mommies) got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. The British public is fuming over members of their parliament claiming expenses on anything from porn watching to benefits on second houses. Other items include cuddly toys, fancy TV sets, fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, oven, carpets - the list goes on - but the most infamous item is the duck house island (as in picture) claimed for by Peter Viggers.

The expenses whistleblowing by John Wick, a former SAS (Special Air Services) officer, to The Daily Telegraph (see their MPs expenses section) not only was evidence that newspapers still have more impact than blogs but it also led to the resignation of the Commons Speaker Michael Martin and a number of others with an appetite for those cookies. Note, Michael said he did not have any of the cookies but he left the jar open.

The British public reaction is "The duck stops here!"

By the way, you can get your very own similar duck island for £2,850 ($3,500) at Heytesbury.