Keeping Tabs

I currently have a bunch of tabs open in Firefox that I kind of want to comment on, but not really enough to make a full post. So, here, from left to right (which kind of matches up with oldest first), are the contents of those tabs.

First, a diatribe from the chaplain of the London Stock Exchange about how liberalism has gone too far. I do disagree with his opinion that secularism is a greater threat than international terrorism.

Next is a video about Fractional Reserve Banking. It's a bit long (47 minutes), but it has made me think a bit about the current money system. The system seems to be based on nothing, and the ideas behind it don't seem to actually work. There is a huge uncertainty in the whole system.

While I was reading up on Fractional Reserve Banking, I came across Islamic banking. Islamic banking is a system whereby financial institutions in Islamic countries organise financial deals so that they make money but don't technically charge interest, which is forbidden by Islam. They plan the deals out so that the amount of money they make is the same as if they pay interest, and that the actual situation is as close as possible to what most people would consider and interest bearing loan. It boils down to obeying the letter of the law but not the spirit. On the plus side, it should bring Christians and Muslims together, since the Christians did this in the middle ages.

Next is a troublesome story of a reporter in Afghanistan sentenced to death for blasphemy because of an article on his computer about women in the Koran which was actually written by someone else.

Finally two interesting blogs. One is based on the letters of a soldier during World War One. the letters are put on the blog 90 years after they were originally written. The other is a collection of strange maps.

End Post
Writing time: 25 minutes
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