Fascinating video – well worth the 8 minutes. Anybody that knows where I can see the rest of this production let me know.
Video Description:
Michael Mosley explains how Holland became an empire in the 17th century. He shows what role Simon Stevin and mathematics were playing to make Ansterdam one of the most cosmopolitan cities with the first central bank and the first stock exchange on the planat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o8_ik7lDWRo&list=PL738C6EBF8EB29F8D
😉
Also:
Excellent!
(I grew up in Lancashire in England in the 60s – we still had steam engines even then)
What you’re looking for is actually the second video I posted, Peter.
CNET is currently streaming live coverage of the Curiosity Mars Landing:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57486458-76/watch-nasas-live-coverage-of-mars-rover-landing/
NASA TV link for Curiosity Mars Landing:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57486458-76/watch-nasas-live-coverage-of-mars-rover-landing/
(This is probably a better choice than the CNET link. It’s working much better for me.)
The religious tolerance in the Netherlands for some time helped attract great thinkers as well.
Cool vid.
Anyone able to de-bunk the following document, as submitted to the UK government (on behalf of the the Global Wonky Policy Foundation [GWPF]) by economics Professor Gordon Hughes:
http://thegwpf.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=c920274f2a364603849bbb505&id=d4b3c581cb&e=c1a146df99
Interesting list of people on the GWPF’s advisory council (why have I never noticed this before?), reads like a who’s who of climate change denial…
Professor David Henderson (Chairman)
Adrian Berry (Viscount Camrose)
Sir Samuel Brittan
Sir Ian Byatt
Professor Robert Carter
Professor Vincent Courtillot
Professor Freeman Dyson
Christian Gerondeau
Dr Indur Goklany
Professor William Happer
Professor Terence Kealey
Professor Anthony Kelly
Professor Deepak Lal
Professor Richard Lindzen
Professor Ross McKitrick
Professor Robert Mendelsohn
Professor Sir Alan Peacock
Professor Ian Plimer
Professor B P Radhakrishna
Professor Paul Reiter
Dr Matt Ridley
Sir Alan Rudge
Professor Philip Stott
Professor Richard Tol
Dr David Whitehouse
I’m looking for a clue there too.
Any response very welcome.
Thanks.
GWPF => http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=GWPF
Here another “masterpiece” of Gordon Hughes => “We can adapt!”. It’s at the end of the typical order of denialism. One comes after the other is debunked:
Climate change isn’t happening, it’s a hoax
It’s happening, but we’re not causing it
Mitigation is too expensive, we can adapt
Also => How to solve ‘green growth denial’ in one stroke (The Guardian)
The Committee on Climate Change and the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology at Imperial college do not agree with Professor Hughes “Why Is Wind Power So Expensive?”. One of the main differences is the assessment of how much wind might be necessary, and they believe that the professor has overestimated that by a third. Furthermore, he has not looked at the range of alternative back-up provisions, including interconnectors, or at the likely price of gas in the future. (UK Parliament debate)
Lord Lawson, Chairman of the GWPF, refuses to release the names of his funders, claiming he is running a “charity” and donors’ names should not be released. …
Thanks for all of that. Even more disturbing is seeing the Bishop of Chester is on the Board of Trustees… I can feel the need for another blog-post on the GWPF coming on…
Big time!
Something to read too when you get done watching that.
Wind powered factories: history (and future) of industrial windmills
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/10/history-of-industrial-windmills.html
Dunno about the efficacy of trying to revive the traditional windmill using high tech components and research, but it would be fascinating to see especially if they looked like old school windmills. Windbaggers and Nimbots need not apply!