Please explain economics to me

So the Euro has been adopted by countries with very different economies. Some – like Ireland, Greece and Portugal – are in a bad way and need massive bailouts. Others, like Germany, aren’t doing so badly. But because the Euro includes the weak economies too, its value has fallen (CHECK). And that means that Germany, which exports a lot of high tech stuff to the rest of the world, now does well because its currency is cheap to non-Euro countries (CHECK). Meanwhile Britain has adopted austerity measures to sort out its public finances, and that reassures the markets. It’s not going to be another Greece, and so its currency rises in value (CHECK). And that means that British exports suffer because they’re expensive (CHECK). Then there’s the USA, which isn’t really interested in getting its public finances in order. So the markets realise it could be a bit like Greece, and everyone sells dollars. So the value of the dollar falls (CHECK). Yup. Nothing really fits. But tell me this: supposing… - The Euro had fallen in value - German exports only did well under a cheaper Euro - Sterling rose in value as the government tackled the deficit - British exports were doing badly - The dollar fell because market were worried about US public finances …then you can bet your bottom dollar everything would be explained by the economic theories above. Doesn’t what's actually happening show that economics is little more than a kind of folklore which just happens to fit some scenarios better than others?

Facebook for Dummies reviewed

Facebook For Dummies by Leah Pearlman




Who'd have thought that even dummies would need a 330-page book to tell them how to use Facebook? But this casual Facebook dummy learnt a lot, to add to the superficial know-how he'd acquired without really thinking about it.

So now I can tell you the difference between Pages and Profiles, Lists and Groups, and how to advertise a page (not that I expect I'll ever want to do that). I know a bit about searching on Facebook, tagging photos, and how to adjust privacy setting for apps you use.

I also absorbed some Facebook company culture, through the glimpses into their own lives offered by the authors, present and former Facebook staffers. A lot of it seemed to involve organised games of ultimate frisbee. The authors are so relaxed about privacy that their own Facebook pages are used to illustrate the book.

Although it was only published last year, some of the details of the site are already out of date, and you can never be quite sure which until you're checked.






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Why?

Why hasn't my previous post appeared on my Facebook Page, which has managed to scoop everything else from my blog as instructed by Facebook Notes?  It was two and a half hours ago: that must be long enough for it to catch up? If this appears, then that was some kind of glitch. If it doesn't I'll try to link them up again. Irritating but we'll get there in the end... Meanwhile, have a picture on a cross-channel ferry.