tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post116790831034796598..comments2024-03-29T09:13:55.008+00:00Comments on UK Commentators: New ToyLabanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168163347950569942007-01-07T09:49:00.000+00:002007-01-07T09:49:00.000+00:00It's parabolic. They also do a spherical version w...It's parabolic. They also do a spherical version with longer focal length.Labanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168147033540051272007-01-07T05:17:00.000+00:002007-01-07T05:17:00.000+00:00India may be getting richer but we are only lookin...India may be getting richer but we are only looking at the wealth of a tiny middle/upper class group. The vast majority of Indians live in abject poverty a few meals away from starvation. There must be millions who literally live on the streets. Indias expanding economy barely affects them at all.<BR/><BR/>Comparative advantage - if one checks wikipedia for a quick summary: onehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage<BR/><BR/>It will be clear that trade with China is much more like absolute advantage than comparative.<BR/><BR/>Libertarian cheerleaders for globalisation would have us believe that comparative advantage is a first order process like supply and demand, it just works whether we believe in it or not.<BR/><BR/>I disagree, I think that if it happens at all its got be bullied into existence.<BR/><BR/>LurkerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168107653400092522007-01-06T18:20:00.000+00:002007-01-06T18:20:00.000+00:00Trouble with cheaper reflectors is that you cannot...Trouble with cheaper reflectors is that you cannot be sure the mirror is parabolic rather than sphericalAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1168003193141599962007-01-05T13:19:00.000+00:002007-01-05T13:19:00.000+00:00If China develops then it will get richer and conc...<I>If China develops then it will get richer and concurrently it's citizens will get richer.</I><BR/><BR/>Hogwash.........until recently the population of the world's largest industrial nation was 300 million.<BR/><BR/>China or India bring a population into the industrial world greater than the combined population of ALL industrial nations<BR/><BR/>James Goldsmith wrote a book in 1993 "The Trap" warning about the destruction of THe west through Chinese manufacturing dominance and the simple fact that The West could never compteAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1167993192015789282007-01-05T10:33:00.000+00:002007-01-05T10:33:00.000+00:00Same thing happened 30 years ago in the guitar-pla...Same thing happened 30 years ago in the guitar-playing 'music industry'. One had to save up for an expensive imported Fender or Gibson, or an even more expensive locally made custom job. <BR/><BR/>Then along came Mr Ibanez with guitars as good as the big stuff for half the price. Budding Hendrix's like myself were suddenly in the big league. Later Ibanez and the Koreans were so successful that they bought Fender and Gibson, and the 'copies' and 'originals' were simply different grades of the same thing. <BR/><BR/>Now, for about $500 Australian(pounds? what are they?), my son has a small outfit which makes sounds Hendrix or Led Zeppelin would have sold their souls for. And I still can't play 'Hey Joe'. <BR/><BR/>In some ways its all a bit of an anticlimax. <BR/><BR/>Don't the Hubble pictures also put the fuzzy earth-based backyard stuff to shame?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1167991212478256412007-01-05T10:00:00.000+00:002007-01-05T10:00:00.000+00:00I don't say the Chinese will place factories in Br...I don't say the Chinese will place factories in Britain although the example of Japan suggests otherwise. I say that just as Japan was once a low wage country compared to the west now it in fact has higher wages. If China develops then it will get richer and concurrently it's citizens will get richer. That will happen irrespective of what happens in Britain. Now, whether Britain keeps up with China or falls behind is another matter entirely. <BR/><BR/>I'd have thought the fact that we are switching graduate programs away from pure science to things like media studies is a more worrying trend.JohnMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05696206173235574775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1167959037567811512007-01-05T01:03:00.000+00:002007-01-05T01:03:00.000+00:00No johnm, you assume as the wage differential chan...No johnm, you assume as the wage differential changes that the rich Chinese will start placing their factories over in Britain.<BR/>(British owned companies are getting less and less!)<BR/><BR/>But they wont, just because Brits don't care about their own people doesn't mean the Chinese will be the same, and even if they were there are plently of people closer to home for them to 'exploit' such as North Koreans.<BR/><BR/>The future is bleak for Britain, the Chinese and India are graduating more and smarter people, this idea of Britain being a knowledge based economy is pure fastasy, and we don't make stuff anymore, and they are trying to kill of the farming industry, we don't have our own energy supplies anymore.<BR/>I laughed at the news a few weeks ago when some minister said we need to become more efficient importers, something like that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1167945522976520392007-01-04T21:18:00.000+00:002007-01-04T21:18:00.000+00:00Im not sure what we seeeing is comparative advanta...Im not sure what we seeeing is comparative advantage. Its just good old cheap labour.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1167932393555694302007-01-04T17:39:00.000+00:002007-01-04T17:39:00.000+00:00The wage differential between us and China will go...The wage differential between us and China will go the way of the the differential between us and Japan. Comparative advantage will change over time.JohnMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05696206173235574775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1167926197595034132007-01-04T15:56:00.000+00:002007-01-04T15:56:00.000+00:00Telhttp://www.telescopesales.co.uk/scopes.htm<A HREF="http://www.telescopes.ru/product.html?cat=1&prod=8" REL="nofollow">Tel</A><BR/><BR/>http://www.telescopesales.co.uk/scopes.htmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1167926047750768102007-01-04T15:54:00.000+00:002007-01-04T15:54:00.000+00:00The best of the cheaper telescopes are Russian sti...The best of the cheaper telescopes are Russian still - I would much prefer Russian optics to Chinese.<BR/><BR/>A good Russian Newtonian on an equitorial is around £400.<BR/><BR/>You could off course escape to the garage and grind your own mirror - very soothing to be away and let your wife deal with "her" childrenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com