South Africa's parliament held a special session to debate an electricity crisis; the country has been hit by a series of blackouts since the new year.
The energy minister suggested, among some of the ways to conserve power, that people should go to bed early.
Out of a selection of perfect ads
Uncontacted tribes. This is their story.
Southeast Asia beautifully captured in photographs
The world's largest known natural crystals (up to 11 meters)
Unprecedented in history: ThePalm and TheWorld islands in Dubai
Greg Mankiw comments on why he is not interested in heading the NBER:
Why did I decide not to pursue the job? As in many such decisions in life, various factors were at play, both personal and professional. But what really pushed me over the edge was pending tax policy. With the Bush tax cuts set to expire in a couple years, I am looking for ways to reduce my taxable income.
A change in individuals' marginal income tax rates can induce them to alter their taxable income in a wide variety of ways, including:If my interpretation of Greg's statement is correct, the driving force behind his decision is not to increase the amount of leisure he consumes: he doesn't want to substitute some leisure for income, he is looking to reduce his taxable income. So 1 is out.
1. changes in labor supply,
2. in the form in which employee compensation is taken,
3. in portfolio investments,
4. in itemized deductions and other expenditures that reduce taxable income, and
5. in taxpayer compliance.
A father lays in his deathbed. He had a long and productive life; having started out with nothing, he managed to amass a fortune of mythical proportions.
Not so much the gold, or the land that stretches far beyond anyone's eye could see. His fortune lay in his wisdom: through toil, wits and luck he found a way to plough the land so that instead of one it can feed a million people, he discovered how to mix herbs to heal the wounds, and he uncovered the secrets of flying in the skies.
His two sons are by his side. The one on his right is strong, clever and hard-working, the one on the left a bit less so - although some say his misfortunes are due to his bad luck.
The cruel father utters these last words: 'May my land and my diamonds go to the strongest one; and as for my most expensive treasure, the knowledge I have developed, may that be free for both of you to use'. And as he closes his eyes, the strong son goes on to cultivate his father's lands, and to apply his father's knowledge and develop it even further; the weak son goes on living on the breadcrumbs that fall from the strong son's table.
But the good father utters these last words: 'My two sons, one of you is strong and the other weak. Yet, my strong son, no matter how you claim your wealth is all of your own making, you would never be able to get rich without my knowledge, without the foundations I built. Most of what you produce is not of yours, but of my making.
I love you both the same, and this holds true of your children and of your children's children that I will never meet. So, I will grant you each half of the rights to my knowledge - call it a patent if you wish. Should one of you utilise this knowledge to create wealth for himself, he should compensate the other for using his half of the rights to the knowledge that I, your father, bequethed you. Never forget, you are standing on the shoulders of giants, and the giants have no reason to love either one of you more than another.'
Which father is the fairer of the two? What would your father be more likely to do? If you are confused, it may all become clearer if you remember Will giving me a hard time.
FRIENDS of rogue trader Jerome Kerviel last night blamed his $7 billion losses on unbearable levels of stress brought on by a punishing 30 hour week.
Kerviel was known to start work as early as nine in the morning and still be at his desk at five or even five-thirty, often with just an hour and a half for lunch.
One colleague said: "He was, how you say, une workaholique. I have a family and a mistress so I would leave the office at around 2pm at the latest, if I wasn't on strike.
"But Jerome was tied to that desk. One day I came back to the office at 3pm because I had forgotten my stupid little hat, and there he was, fast asleep on the photocopier.
"At first I assumed he had been having sex with it, but then I remembered he'd been working for almost six hours."
As the losses mounted, Kerviel tried to conceal his bad trades by covering them with an intense red wine sauce, later switching to delicate pastry horns.
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