Cohen: Bring on the right biofuels - International Herald Tribune

Cohen: Bring on the right biofuels - International Herald Tribune: "The supposed crimes of biofuels are manifold. They're behind soaring global commodity prices, the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, increased rather than diminished greenhouse gases, food riots in Haiti, Indonesian deforestation and, no doubt, your mother-in-law's toothache.

Most of this, to borrow a farm image, is hogwash and bilge.

I'll grant that the fashion for biofuels led to excess, and that some farm-to-fuel-plant conversion, particularly in subsidized U.S. and European markets, makes no sense. But biofuels remain very much part of the solution. It just depends which biofuels."

Future Fit � Blog Archive � A dispassionate look at crime

Future Fit � Blog Archive � A dispassionate look at crime: "The second empirical fact is that several categories of crime have declined. A critic of the government and certainly no friend of the Mbeki administration, The SA Institute for Race Relations, reported that 8 of 12 crime categories have declined over the period 1994/5 to 2005/6. This is confirmed by victim surveys. In victim surveys official stats are ignored and a sample of the population is asked if they experienced crime, what types of crime, how often and so on. These victim surveys confirm the official stats the SAIRR used.

Some of the crimes that decreased and the percentage by which they decreased (measured in the standard measurement of crimes per 100 000 of the population) are murder (41%), attempted murder (36,5%), car theft (32,8%) & commercial crime (28,9%).

The crimes that increased, according to the SAIRR analysis are rape (1,6%), indecent assault (106%), aggravating robbery (16,8%) and drug related crimes (72,4%)."

Morehead's Musings

Morehead's Musings: "I recently became aware of a new scholarly translation of the infamous Malleus Maleficarum by Dr. Christopher Mackay of the University of Alberta."

西儒 ─ The Western Confucian: The Ubiquitous and Offensive Darwin Fish

西儒 ─ The Western Confucian: The Ubiquitous and Offensive Darwin Fish

Journeys In Between: Missional Resources for Christian Engagement with New Religions and Irreligious Spiritualities

Journeys In Between: Missional Resources for Christian Engagement with New Religions and Irreligious Spiritualities