What a difference 100 years makes

It doesn't seem possible that this is what San Francisco was actually like, just a little over 100 years ago. It took millions of years for us to evolve to the level that is seen in this video, and then consider what the world looks like now just those few short decades later. What will the world look like another 100 years on from now..?

Youtube:RIDE ON THE CABLE CAR IN SAN FRANCISCO IN 1906

This film was originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn with the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum figured out exactly when it was shot. New York trade papers announced the film showing. Wet streets from recent heavy rainfall & shadows indicating time of year & actual weather and conditions on historical record, even when the cars were registered (he even knows who owned them and when the plates were issued!) It was filmed only four days before the Great California Earthquake of April 18th 1906 and shipped by train to NY for processing.

End of quarter report for the ECB

So, I wonder what happens to the price of gold after today, when the price won't matter again for another three months.

The fight to control the flow of oil

Wikipedia:2003 to 2008 world oil market chronology

... Prices on June 27, 2008, touched $141.71/barrel, for August delivery in the New York Mercantile Exchange (after the recent $140.56/barrel), amid Libya's threat to cut output, and OPEC's president predicted prices may reach $170 by the Northern summer.

There's quite a lot to say about Iraq in there too, as you might imagine.

Plenty of interesting notes relating to the leadup to war with Iraq in the 2000, 2001 and 2002 pages as well.

Not that I'm attempting to suggest the coalition have anything in mind but helping to install Democracy and freedom in these countries of course.

H/T Mortymer