Things I’ve Seen

Inspired by Mike, I’ve produced a Word Press Greek Plugin which parses an XML feed from zhubert to insert NT Greek Bible verses, with lots of additional grammatical information and links into zhubert’s analysis site, into a WordPress blog.

Updated - I’ve released the new version, and updated the link above to point to the new site. To be kept informed about developments, email chris (at) goringe (dot) net.

(original post April 21st; bumped on April 27th)

Rogers Cadenhead, the man who cybersquatted bendictxvi.com has redirected it, to publicise Modest Needs

…a non-profit organization reaching out to the people conventional philanthropy has forgotten: hard-working individuals and families who suddenly find themselves faced with small, emergency expenses…

They are obviously delighted with Cadenhead’s generousity:

He could easily have profited - to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars - by simply selling this domain to the highest bidder.

Instead, Rogers has pledged to do nothing to profit from his ownership of this domain. Rather, he plans to transfer control of this domain to the Vatican as soon as he is able to contact them successfully.

The joys of cybersquatting

A US man who registered the Internet name BenedictXVI.com before the new Pope was chosen says he has not worked out what to do with it but is pretty sure it would be a sin to sell it to a pornographer.

This is an American with a sense of humour:

He says he has already rejected an offer from a gambling site.

“Even though I’m a lapsed Catholic, I’m not lapsed that far.”

He says he is considering his options for the site but if the Pope’s people were to approach him to discuss taking over the site, he might make some requests.

“I’d like one of those big papal hats and maybe three days/two nights at the Vatican hotel they built for the conclave,” he said.

This (UK-centric) survey is quite interesting, not least in that it plots your result against all the other people who have taken the test:

I’m not suprised to find myself very strongly ‘rehabilitationist, internationalist’, but was suprised to be slightly on the pro-war free-market side (a provocative combination, to say the least). I would have identified myself as strongly anti-war, mildly pro-market, so would have expected to be a little bit the other side of the line. A little bit of experimentation shows that moving one answer from ’somewhat disagree’ to ‘neutral’ is enough to move me across the line. So I guess the margin of error is pretty big.

What’s really interesting is that there seems to be very little correlation between the two axes, suggesting that the people who came up with this survey might have identified a genuine orthogonality. Alternatively, they might just have made the y-axis a bit random by combining attitude to war with attitude to the market. It would be nice to see them break the four parameters out in a proper multivariant analysis.

So, the Howard government has gone back on its election promise that Medicare safety net thresholds wouldn’t increase:

Prime Minister John Howard has defended the move to make low-income earners spend $500 on out-of-pocket medical expenses before being able to claim a rebate.
…
Low-income earners currently receive 80 cents in the dollar for any out-of-pocket medical expenses, once they have spent $300 on bills.

What did the Health Minister say before the election?

TICKY FULLERTON: Will this Government commit to keeping the Medicare-plus-safety-net as it is now in place after the election?

TONY ABBOTT: Yes.

TICKY FULLERTON: That’s a cast-iron commitment?

TONY ABBOTT: Cast-iron commitment. Absolutely.

TICKY FULLERTON: 80 per cent of out-of-pocket expenses rebatable over $300, over $700?

TONY ABBOTT: That is an absolutely rock solid, iron-clad commitment.

(Four Corners, 6th September 2004)

So, just “an absolutely rock solid, iron-clad commitment”. Not a core promise, after all.

At the risk of appearing irreverant…

As of this moment, you can sell “PAPACY.R-MARADIAGA” for $0.10 per $1 contract at tradesports, and get 14-1 on “Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga” at paddypower.com.

So (hypothetically) one might sell 15 contracts at tradesports, and bet $1 at paddypower.

If Maradiaga is not the next pope, your tradesports bet wins $1.50, and you lose $1 at paddy. Net gain, $0.50
If he is the next pope, you lose $13.50 at tradesports, but win $14 at paddy. Net gain, $0.50