Stores in Iceland are emptying out and the country only has two weeks of imported food left. How does a small island country buy and have goods shipped to it when no one will accept their currency? Their stock market reopened today, then dropped 77%. Norway just priced shares in the now nationalized banks of Iceland at zero. Yes, zero.

The Baltics could be next.

Two major banks in Scotland just failed and were taken over by the British government. Would an independent Scotland have had the financial resources to handle that on their own and is the dream of Scottish independence now dead?

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Yes, you reads that right.

They will auction off a block of airwaves next year to be used for free wireless that would be supported by ads (and have faster service for pay.)

The network would have to reach 50% of the U.S. population in four years and 95% within a decade.

Wireless is quickly becoming a low-priced if not free commodity. Many airports and hotels now have free wifi. If you have AT&T DSL at home, then you can use that account to go online for free in any Starbucks. Plus, if you have a Starbucks card and use it once a month, you can go online at Starbucks for 2 hours a day free.

Accessing the net via wireless should be as simple as dialing a phone. And in a few years, it probably will be. It’ll just be there, everywhere, at low cost.

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A chemical found in mushrooms could one day replace the expensive and polluting heavy metals at the heart of fuel cells and conventional batteries.

Thus, fungi could replace platinum as the catalyst in fuel cells. Wow.

Other researchers are working on using microbes from human waste to do the same.

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Prop 4 threatens teen safety by mandating parental notification prior to a minor terminating a pregnancy. Parents rightfully want to be involved in their teenagers’ lives and we want our daughters to come to us if they become pregnant, and most do. But in the real world, laws like this don’t work. Prop 4 can’t force teens to talk to their parents, but it may force them to do something desperate and dangerous.

Vote No on Prop 4

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A Chairman Mao analogy to the financial crisis.

Communist or capitalist? It doesn’t matter. Stupidity, self-interest, and turning a blind eye to poor system design can bring about disaster just the same.

(Our Soros post is here.)

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Ireland’s largest bookmaker, Paddy Power, is now laying 20-1 that the American election will be postponed, odds which have shortened from 40-1 in just one week. We can only pray (to paraphrase The Pioneers) this longshot kicks the bucket.

This presumes Bush has the mojo to pull off such a move. To do so would require support of the ruling class, something he clearly no longer has. Besides, we heard the the same ominous rumors about Nixon too and it didn’t happen.

Obama has support among the wealthy

About 50 percent of BlackRock’s ultra-high net worth clients are Obama supporters,

The rich support McCain, the super-rich support Obama.

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