I am moving the blog to blogspot.

http://dnpt.blogspot.com/

Why:

• So it’s in the same place as my ultimate blog.
• Blogger has many new features that it did not have when I started the blog; they are free and mostly easy to use. WordPress requires that I pay even to edit the CSS stylesheet.

There are a few new stations on Soma FM, an internet radio. My favourites are still “Secret Agent” and “Beat Blender”.

Also IndieFeed, podcasts, has one new dance channel. My favourite is still the electronica channel.

RSS Feeds:

• Dance: http://indiefeedelectronicadance.libsyn.com/rss
• Electronica: http://indiefeedelectronicadance.libsyn.com/rss

Greg Mankiw mentions a USA Today article by Don Campbell that explains why keeping pennies (US$ 0.01) in circulation is not worthwhile:

• The cost of producing the one penny is greater than $0.01. Making 1 cent costs 1.26 cents.
• Handling pennies makes each cash transaction slower (2.5 seconds). And time is money of course.

The same argument applies also for pound sterling pennies and eurocents.

I find the existance of eurocents particularly irritating. $0.01 and £0.01 coins have always been around for a long time and it’s certainly difficlut to remove them from circulation because people are so used to them.

I can’t think of a sane reason for introducing the €0.01 coin in 2002. Finland and the Netherlands showed to be more sane than the other contries and do not produce €0.01 and €0.02 coins, although they are oblged to accept coins brought in from other countries.

BBC Business Daily on 20 May explains why food subsity and the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are madness.

Listen to the podcast.

An article on the International Herald Tribune reports two studies that conclude that biofuels are probably not such a good idea after all.

When thinking changes your mind, that’s philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that’s faith.
When facts change your mind, that’s science.

WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY?

Science is based on evidence. What happens when the data change? How have scientific findings or arguments changed your mind?”

Discuss…

Links:

• www.edge.org

A humorous video against biofuels.

Links:

• Biofuel Wikipedia entry

Update: An article about biofuels on The Guardian.

He calls himself the first and only Italian financial preacher.

Like a fundamentalist evangelical Christian preacher, he warns of the imminent end of the world as we know it. He blames capitalism, America, the financial system, and globalisation among others.

His conclusions are backed by imaginary scientific analysis.

If you have read (and understood) an introductory economics textbook. You’ll find this either useless, entertaining, or disturbing.

If you know nothing about economics and you want to believe, you’ll like it and you’ll start counting the days left to the financial apocalypse.

Links:

• Website
• YouTube Channel

I discovered this track via IndieFeed and I have heard it 1000 times on my ipod.

Related links:

• IndieFeed
• Benjamin Bates

Worries about Starbucks’ magic fading have been brewing for some time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jan/07/starbucks.useconomy

Why do they do it? Why?