Greek Bailout: An Extreme Necessity
Media Leave “South Park” Creators Out to Dry
Diana West, DC Examiner
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of “South Park,” get it.They get the free-speech significance of the Danish Muhammad cartoons epitomized by Kurt Westergaard's bomb-head Muhammad.
Jerome a Paris has an interesting post at the European Tribune about the economics of wind power – Wind’s latest problem: it … makes power too cheap.
Bloomberg has a somewhat confusing article about the newest complaint about wind power, but the gist of it is that wind power is an issue for the industry because it brings their revenues down:
operators in Europe may have become their own worst enemy, reducing the total price paid for electricity in Germany, Europe’s biggest power market, by as much as 5 billion euros some years
Implicit in the article, and the headline (which focuses on lower revenues for RWE) is the worry that wind power will bring down the stock market value of the big utilities – which is what the readers of Bloomberg et al. care about.
But despite the generally negative tone of the article, it’s actually a useful one, because it brings out in the open a key bit of information: wind power actually brings electricity prices down!
windmills (…) operators in Europe may have become their own worst enemy, reducing the total price paid for electricity in Germany, Europe’s biggest power market, by as much as 5 billion euros some years …
The wind-energy boom in Europe and parts of Texas has begun to reduce bills for consumers. …
Spanish power prices fell an annual 26 percent in the first quarter because of the surge in supplies from wind and hydroelectric production
This tidbit of information, which will hopefully begin to contradict the usual lies about the need for hefty subsidies for the wind sector, has been publicised by EWEA, the European Wind Energy Association in a report on the merit order effect (PDF). This is the name for what happens when you inject a lot of capital-intensive, low-marginal-cost supply into a marginalist price-setting market mechanism with low short term demand elasticity – or, in simpler words: when you have more wind, there is less need to pay to burn more gas to provide the requisite additional power at a given moment.
I’ve long argued that this was one of the strongest arguments for wind (see my article on The cost of wind, the price of wind, the value of wind from last year), and I’ve pushed the EWEA people to use it more – so this study (which I was not involved in) is most welcome.
The key thing here is that we are beginning to unveil what I’ve labelled the dirty secret of wind: utilities don’t like wind not because it’s not competitive, but because it brings prices down for their existing assets, thus lowering their revenues and their profits. Thus the permanent propaganda campaign against wind. But now that this “secret” is out in the open, it’s hopefully going to make one of the traditional arguments against wind (the one about its supposed need subsidies) much more difficult to use… The argument remains true for solar, and to a lesser extent for offshore wind, but the utilities are going to complain much less about offshore wind given that they are investing so much capital in that sector right now. The reality is that wind power brings prices down for consumers, even taking into account the cost of feed-in tariffs or other regulatory support mechanisms, which means that these regulatory schemes are not subsidies, but rather smart corrections of market inefficiencies for the public good.
Ironically, wind provides “utility-like” returns to investors, ie low, stable single-digit returns, as befits a regulated strategic infrastructure activity required for the common good. Utilities and investors should love the sector; but they have been spoiled by market deregulation, which has allowed companies to seek higher returns by under-investing, building merchant gas-fired plants, going for M&A games, and playing on market price volatility and trading – in other words, by behaving as perfect clients for investment banks…
As I’ve noted many times, the energy sector is one of the best examples of how the financialisation of the economy has brought results that are bad for everybody except the investment bankers and top management; it’s also, thankfully, one where reality can most objectively re-assert itself.
And the reality is that you get cheaper electricity with wind – and oh by the way, wind requires no imports of fast-depleting fuels from unstable countries, spews no carbon and provides lots more domestic jobs. And it’s a perfect investment for our pension needs – safe, low risk, stable, decent long term returns…
Citroen acaba de publicar las primeras imágenes del interior del nuevo prototipo que nos adelantará el futuro diseño de las nuevas generaciones del DS y C4. Este concept se denomina Citroen DS High Rider.
Su diseño mezcla características de un coupé, con un monovolumen y todoterreno. La verdad es que el resultado es inmejorable. En el interior primará la comodidad de los ocupantes mientras que contará con algunos acabados cromados.
Por el momento no se ha confirmado nada pero se espera ver este mismo interior en la próxima generación del C4 que verá la luz en el año 2011
Related posts:
Each Sunday I highlight the Carnivals I participated in over the past week, along with any notable articles that I came across. For those readers not familiar with carnivals, it’s where personal finance bloggers submit their best articles of the week with one blog serving as the host. The entries are separated into various categories such as Investing, Credit, Debt, Budgeting, Frugality, Wealth Building, Money Management, Financial Planning, Insurance, Taxes, The Economy, Real Estate, et. al.
Below are the carnivals that I participated in this week, along with a link to my article:
Articles I enjoyed reading included (in no particular order):
The DIV-Net Featured Articles
Articles From DIV-Net Members
Other Articles
There are some really good articles here, please take time and read a few of them.
(Photo: Sachin Ghodke)
Have future posts delivered to you for free! If you enjoyed this post, please bookmark or share it here:
Joe Romm has an article at Forbes on Areva’s interest in solar thermal power – Nuclear Giant Areva Predicts Solar Thermal Boom.
Earlier this year, French energy giant Areva bought U.S.-based Ausra in order “to become a world leader in concentrated solar thermal” power (CSP). And so the race is on for market share in “The Technology that will Save Humanity.”
CSP is the most scalable and affordable baseload (or, even better, load-following) low-carbon supply technology — when used with low-cost, high-efficiency thermal storage. CSP can also share its steam turbine with biomass, a strategy the Chinese are pursuing, or with natural gas.
The Oil Drum wonders if Areva is “losing faith in the oft-predicted but unrealised ‘nuclear renaissance’.” Certainly, Areva’s best-known product has become very expensive and the cost of a new reactor today would be as much as 6 billion euros, or $8 billion, double the price offered to the Finns.
CSP, on the other hand, has just started down the experience curve and is poised to be one of the major winners in the low-carbon economy. Indeed, Bloomberg/BusinessWeek reports:
Areva SA of France predicts the global use of solar-thermal power will grow by about 30-fold this decade, a forecast that spurred the world’s largest maker of nuclear reactors to buy a California-based equipment maker.
The technology, which typically uses curved mirrors to focus sunlight to generate electricity, will be installed on plants with 20,000 megawatts of power potential by 2020, Anil Srivastava, Areva renewable energies executive vice president, said in an interview. That compares with about 625 megawatts today, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data.
“It is a very attractive market,” Srivastava said. Paris- based Areva aims to become a world leader in solar thermal, he said, after agreeing yesterday to buy Ausra Inc., a Mountain View, California-based maker of sun-driven steam generators used by power plants.
Many big international companies are trying to become leaders in CSP:
Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, agreed last year to a $418 million purchase of Beit Shemesh, Israel- based Solel Solar Ltd. Abengoa SA, also an engineering company, is building 13 solar-thermal plants in Spain that will benefit from consumer subsidies for clean energy….
Bloomberg New Energy Finance has forecast the installed base to grow to as much as 34,000 megawatts worldwide by 2020, exceeding the estimate of the French atomic-reactor maker.
Whether 20 GW in 2020 or 34 GW, CSP is a very fast-growing market (see “World’s largest solar plant with thermal storage to be built in Arizona — total of 8500 MW of this core climate solution planned for 2014 in U.S. alone“). And ultimately that’s why Areva says it is jumping in:
The market for concentrated solar power plants is expected to grow substantially in the next decade with an average annual growth rate of 20% and should reach an estimated installed capacity of over 20 GW by 2020. With this acquisition, AREVA is poised to capture the leading position of this attractive and growing market.
This gizmo looks pretty good for campers…
Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disk Utility is a tool to create multiboot ISO and multibootable USB with Antivirus Rescue disk, various utilities (copy, fixing, recovery), some Linux distros and some Windows PE boot solutions.
What’s New in version 1.0.7.2:
Homepage: http://www.sarducd.it/
Download: SARDU_1.0.7.2.zip
File Size: 3.02MB
Avira AntiVir Rescue System is a Linux-based application that allows
Active@ Hard Disk Monitor is a freeware disk utility that
Norton AntiVirus 2000
Norton AntiVirus 2000
Norton AntiVirus 2000
Copyright © 2008
Best Freeware Blog | Buy Laptop | Business Software Reviews | astaga.com lifestyle on the net
Jnes is a free, fast, Nintendo Entertainment System emulator for the PC. Its emulation capabilities include graphics, sound, input devices, and emulating quite a few memory mapping boards found in most USA games and a few popular japanese ones.
Jnes boasts a fairly intuitive user interface that makes playing NES a little more enjoyable. Kaillera internet play is available for those adventurous enough to play online. One of the coolest features is the included database of Pro-Action-Replay and Game Genie cheats.
What´s New in version 1.0.2:
Homepage: http://jabosoft.com/
Download: jnes_1_0_2.exe
File Size: 342KB
Copyright © 2008
Best Freeware Blog | Buy Laptop | Business Software Reviews | astaga.com lifestyle on the net
Citrix is the granddaddy of remote access, and the company has now released a remote desktop receiver for Windows Mobile 6.5 that supports the gestures on the platform, including swiping and scrolling.
The software allows zooming, unfortunately not via multi-touch, and features an extended keyboard with function keys to improve compatibility with desktop software. The software also features accelerometer support on select devices, and for others allow rotation via the menus.
The full new feature list in 11.5 include:
The software can be downloaded here, and is also now available via Marketplace.
via Dabcc.com
Değerli Arkadaslarım,
Aklimda bu haftasonu termik santrallerle ilgili önemli konular vardı, Pazar sabahı onları burda- bu blog sayfasında sizlerle paylaşayım istedim
Ben termik santral yapımı, tasarimi, pazarlanması, satışı, proje yönetimi, işletimi konusunda mezuniyetinden itibaren (1973) çalışmış bir makina mühendisiyim.
Benim ve benim gibi makina muhendisliği konusunda eğitim almış bu konuda yıllarca çalışmış kişilerin doğrudan termik santral karşıtı olması herhalde beklenmez. Biz termik santral yapmak , tasarımını gerçekleştirmek, inşaa etmek, ve düzgün çevreye zarar vermeden işletmek için eğitim aldık. Toplum bizi bu amaç için eğitti, yetiştirdi, kaynaklarını seferber etti, biz de en iyisini yapmak, topluma daha çok enerji, daha çok elektrik, daha iyi çevre şartlarına uyumlu santral kurmak için çalıştık, bugünlere geldik
Doğrudan termik santrallere karşı olmak bence komik, anlamsız hatta absürt bir durumdur. Konudan anlamasanız, diyelimki otelci, cevreci, veya TIP doktoru olsanız, yine elektrige ihtiyacınız var, otelci iseniz yazın otelinizde klimalar çalışacak, havuz filtresi sirküle olacak, Doktor/ Cerrah için ameliyat masasında cihazlar çalışacak, lambalar yanacak, sterilizasyon yapılacak, en azından lambanız, kaloriferiniz, bilgisayarınız çalışacak,
Termik santralleri doğru tasarımla, çevreye en az zarar verecek şekilde, en uygun yerde, tüm filtreleri yapılmiş çalışır şekilde inşaa etmek gerekir. Güneş santralleri geceleri çaışmaz, rüzgar santralleri rüzgar esmezse çalışmaz, güneş ve ruzgar santralleri çalışmadığı sürelerde devreye girecek eşdeğer kapasitede termik santrali sıcak hazir beklemede tutmak zorundasınız. “Rüzgar, güneş bize yeter” demek, bu konuyu hiç bilmeyenlerin ifadesidir, sadece gunes ruzgar degil, termik, hidrolik, nukleer her tür santrali uygun oranda, düzgün tasarımlarla, çevreye en az zarar verecek şekilde ve yerli kadrolarla yapmak gerekir
Enerji, elektrik üretimi olmadan toplum gelişemez, refah seviyesini yükseltemez. Toplum kültürel, sosyal olarak ta ilerlemeli, ama elektrik olmadan opera seyredemezsiniz, trafik ışıkları olmadan karayolunda gidemezsiniz, aksamları evinizde rahat aydınlık sıcak ortamda oturamazsınız
Enerji üretimi şarttır, elektrik üretimini artırmak zorunludur. Herkes elektrik ister, ancak kimse kendi arka bahçesinde istemez. Bu açmaz nasıl düzelecek?
Düzelecek, yatırımcı düzgün yerde, çevre ile barişık, yerli insanla barişık santral yapacak, filtreler çalışacak, derin deniz deşarji doğru düzgün olacak, ortam hava su kirlenmeyecek, insanlar aldatılmayacak,
“Ben CED raporu yazdım, işte burda gel bak oku incele”- demek komiktir, CED raporunu pdf yapar internet sayfası açar koyarsın, hepimiz okuruz, varsa itirazımız yazarız
Ekonomisi batmiş (Yunanistan) bir ülkenin müteahhitlik firmasına (Metka) Türkiye’de 770 MWe Denizli Kaklık köyünde hemde Çardak havaalanı uçak iniş koridoru üstünde kombine çevrim santrali inşaatı işini vermek, aynı firmaya Samsun Terme Kozluy da 870 MWE başka bir kombine çevrim santrali işini vermek başka bir absürt durumdur. Bizim firmalarımız bu artık basit santral tasarımını, inşaasını, montajını, işletmesini yaparlar, bu tip yabancı firmalarin yurtiçi santral yapımına kanuni olarak karsi çıkmak en doğal hakkımızdır- Kendi yerli mühendislik istihdam hakkımızı sonuna kadar savunmak şarttır
Aynı şekilde Amasra’da olanlar başka bir absürt / anlaşılmaz durumdur. Ortada anlaşılmaz, uyduruk hatta yer yer komik bir CED raporu vardir, bazı milletvekilleri “Bartin için en iyisi neyse yapılacaktir” seklinde anlaşılmaz bir ifadenin arkasına saklaniyorlar. Benim eski oto tamirci ustamda detaydan kacmak isteyince oyle diyordu, hemen baska bir usta buldum, internet ortamında BartınPlatformu olarak ortaya çıkan yerel gurubu tebrik ediyorum. Yatırımcının kendini anlattığı bir internet sayfası yok, ama BARTIN halkının var, çok güzel, internet sayfası henüz baslangıç aşamasında ancak ilerleyen günlerde cok daha iyi olacak eminim. Ortada yanlış işler var, bunları gelecek nesillere birakmadan şimdiden çözmek zorundayız
Yalova’daki 100 MWe ithal kömür santrali için yatırımcının ve yerel halkın ayrı ayrı tanıtım internet sayfaları var, yatırımci yerli halkı, çevredeki eğitimli emeklileri ikna edecek, güven tazeleyecek, eski yanlışlarını tekrarlamayacak, külü tutacek, filtreleri en iyi şekilde çalıştıracak, derin deniz deşarjını düzgün yapacak, bütün bu işler için yerli mühendisliği sonuna kadar kullanacak. Biz mühendisler bu yurdun insanlarıyız, yabancı firmaların yaptığı gibi işi bitirip kaçmak bizde yok,
Gerze’de olduğu gibi “Biz en iyi termik santrali yapacagiz, zaten yapmaz isek devlet kontrol eder ve santrali kapatır” demek yanlış bir ifadedir, çevre konusu sadece kamu kurumlarına, Çevre bakanlığına bırakılmayacak kadar önemli bir konudur. Çevreye ne kadar zarar verdiği herkesce bilinen, Afsin-Elbistan-A, Yatağan santralleri örnekleri varken bunları söyleyebilmek, yurt gerçeklerinden uzak olmak, akademik izole kulede yaşamak anlamındadır.
Yerel Sivil toplum örgütlerinin, TMMOB, EMO, MMO’nun düzenleyici, denetleyici ve yönlendirici olarak mutlaka devrede olmaları şarttır.
Afsin Elbistan -A unitesinde filtreler devrede olmadan çalışmak anlaşılır değildir. Durumu anlatacak, söyleyecek söz bulamıyorum. ETKB, EPDK, Cevre, DPT, Hazine bu durumu önlemek için yıllardır birşey yapmıyor. 280 milyon Euro uygun krediyi kullanamadan iade etmek hiç anlaşılır değildir, bu yapilanlar anlama sınırları ötesindedir. Afsin Elbistan-B santralinde kül barajı hala yoktur, kül tutulmakta ancak yanda stoklanmaktadır, rüzgar esince ortalık kül içinde kalmaktadır. Bu yatırımın da bitirilmemesi anlamanın ötesinde bir büyük hatadır.
Rehabilitasyonları yapılmamış, amili- mutehassıs usuluyle cok pahalıya yabancılara ihale edilerek yapılmış termik santrallerin varlığı ayrı bir hatadır, 10 senedir rehabilitasyon ihalesi yapılamamış eski kullanılmaz halde termik santraller vardır, kamu bu işleri çabuk ve düzgün ihale etmek zorundadır.
Termik santrallere karşı olmak “Cocuk hastalıkları olmasın”- diyerek “çocuk yapmayalım”- çözümünü söylemek gibi absürt birşeydir.
Daha çok elektrik üretimi maddi gelişmişlik için şart, bunlara kafa yormak sadece biz mühendislerin işi değil,
Ayrıca toplum için sosyal, zihinsel, entellektüel, kültürel gelişmişlik lazım ve bunlar zaten herkezin işi.
En derin saygilarimla
Haluk Direskeneli
ODTU ME’1973, MMO Ankara 6606
We brought you the review of SMobile System’s Parental Control, and we announced the news when they partnered with Net Nanny to create a powerful solution for your child’s safety and piece of mind. Net Nanny has generously given a discount for our readers through the end of May. Check it out…
SMobile’s software had me surprised. I couldn’t believe how well you can monitor your child on their phone. See their texts, their pictures they’re sharing, who they’re talking to, who they are, emails, social networks, know your kids. With the dangers of sexual predators and sexting, it’s a scary world out there. You can also wipe your child’s phone should it get lost, track it, so much available. And another great feature, Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware. Be assured that spyware won’t be a worry as well.
The partnership has created this incredible guardian for your child’s safety called Net Nanny Mobile. Features include:
Net Nanny Mobile is an annual subscription of 29.99 a year, but there’s more. Now here’s the offer. Content Watch/Net Nanny are giving our readers 25% off the subscription of Net Nanny from now through the end of May. Just be sure to use the following code: BBSYNC
Take advantage of the Net Nanny Mobile at 25% off from the Net Nanny site here
Stay tuned for a giveaway contest! Hint….be ready to Twitter!
You’re reading a story which originated at BlackBerrySync.com, Where you find BlackBerry News You Can Sync With…
This story is sponsored by the new BlackBerry Sync Mobile App Store. Grab your free copy today at www.GetAppStore.com from your BlackBerry.
Birthday Offer From Net Nanny For Our Readers, Stay Tuned For More!
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This is an fMRI study on how Christian faith healers influence the brains of believers and non-believers. It is an absolutely remarkable experiment when you think about it but I still don’t know quite what to make of it.
The power of charisma–perceived charisma inhibits the frontal executive network of believers in intercessory prayer.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2010 Mar 12. [Epub ahead of print]
Schjoedt U, Stødkilde-Jørgensen H, Geertz AW, Lund TE, Roepstorff A.
This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how assumptions about speakers’ abilities changed the evoked BOLD response [changes in blood oxygenation indicating neural activity] in secular and Christian participants who received intercessory prayer. We find that recipients’ assumptions about senders’ charismatic abilities have important effects on their executive network. Most notably, the Christian participants deactivated the frontal network consisting of the medial and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally in response to speakers who they believed had healing abilities. An independent analysis across subjects revealed that this deactivation predicted the Christian participants’ subsequent ratings of the speakers’ charisma and experience of God’s presence during prayer. These observations point to an important mechanism of authority that may facilitate charismatic influence, a mechanism which is likely to be present in other interpersonal interactions as well.
There’s a write-up over at the excellent Inkling Magazine if you want more.
Link to PubMed entry for study (via @anibalmastobiza)
Link to write-up on Inkling.
Remember back in January when we reported on the new Beats by Dr. Dre Spin Professional DJ Headphones? Yeah well sometime has passed and not only has the name now changed to Beats Pro but so has the price! They will now retail for $399, versus the original $349 price when it was initially announced. That price was no bargain but now that it is even more money, we are dying to see if is truly worth it. The design concept will stay the same and will have the dual cable inputs and ear cups that flip up. I guess we will get our chance to play with these rather soon, since according to the Beats by Dr. Dre website they plan on launching in June.
And the accessories for the iPad just keep on rolling out and the latest is the GroovyStand Writer. This latest stand lets you place your iPad on your lap and gives you not one, but two options for viewing. There are 45 and 18 degree grooves that will hold your iPad in either landscape or portrait. When you’re done with it in your lap, just leave it around your home as it blends in with the furniture. The Writer comes in brown, natural, and black stained hardwood and retails for $14.95.
And just like that, the bill that Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) were planning to unveil on Monday gets put on indefinite hold.
The New York Times has the story.
DJ Hero is upping the challenge next week with a rather challenging track pack. Just how challenging is this track pack? Check out what’s in the Domination Pack and see if your skills are up to it.
Esta mañana desperté tarareando una canción de… The Alan Parsons Project. Suenan mientras dejo los enlaces de la semana en los blogs. Ahí van:
Os dejo con el “Don´t answer me”:
We wrote about the Lady Gaga laptop skins before, but now the same designer behind those on Etsy has released a new set of Lady Gaga decals focused on her Telephone video. I will admit that these latest ones do capture the essence of the Telephone video but look a bit more cartoony than the original ones did. Each one retails for $12.99 and comes in several different colors for each. Now if only they included Beyonce too, now that would have been awesome Honey B.
Everyone knows that the human body needs a certain amount of vitamins and minerals everyday to function properly and remain healthy. A well balanced diet can supply your body with the vitamins it needs, although problems and disorders can arise if your diet doesn’t supply your body with the vitamins it needs. The symptoms of vitamin deficiency will normally present themselves when the lack of vitamins is at an advanced level.
Those who don’t get enough of vitamins A, B1, and B2 for example, will always feel tired, along with a loss of appetite. Other symptoms include mental and emotional stress, chapped lips, and other annoying or painful habits.
The most common causes of deficiency include a poor diet, alcoholism, stress, a lack of vitamins, or medicine that interferes with your ingestion of vitamins. If you are always feeling tired or feeling a lack of energy, you are probably short on the vitamins that your body needs to have on a daily basis. If you visit your doctor and tell him the problem, he will probably recommend vitamins and supplements that will give you want you need. Whatever you do, you should never overdo it and try to catch up on what you’ve been missing – as this will do you more harm than good.
Even though you may be following a healthy diet, you’ll still need to take vitamins and supplements. No matter how healthy you eat, you should still use the right vitamins and supplements to give your body what it needs. Vitamins are a great back up source, as they will provide your body with the minerals and nutrients it needs in the event of your diet failing you.
Before or after every meal that you consume, you should take vitamins or supplements. If you have a deficiency in a certain vitamin or vitamins, you should make sure that you never miss taking the vitamin you need. Even though you may not realize it, being deficient in a vitamin can greatly damper your performance as well as the overall health of your body.
When you look for supplements, you should always look for those that contain vitamins B6, B12, D, E, and folic acid. Along with being considered dietary supplements, these well known vitamins will help to fight cancer and help your heart remain healthy. The combination of these vitamins will help your body to remain healthy, boost your immune system, and keep you feeling refreshed.
To remain healthy and keep your body operating as it should, you’ll need to invest in vitamins and supplements. You can find them online or at local nutrition stores, many of which won’t cost you much money at all. No matter what your age may be, you’ll need to ensure that you are eating the right foods and taking the right foods. Keep in mind that you should never replace food with vitamins, as they are more less meant to give you additional nutrients and minerals.
Anytime you aren’t able to eat the right food, you should always turn to vitamin supplements to give your body what it needs. Supplements and vitamins are one of the best investments you can make, as everyone needs vitamins in their body. Even though the costs may add up over time, it is more than worth it when you think about. For what you spend in vitamins and supplements, you’ll be keeping your body healthy – and preventing a deficiency in vitamins. Although vitamin deficiency is very common these days, it doesn’t have to be.
The Question of Evil in Ancient Egypt by S.J. Mpay Kemboly, Golden House Publications.
The book examines relevant sources from the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts (c. 24th century B.C.E.) to the Graeco-Roman Period inscriptions (2nd century C.E.) in order to understand the way the ancient Egyptians tackled the question of the origin of evil in the world. It also investigates whether the world was perfect or imperfect since its beginning. Scholars addressing these questions are generally of two categories: those advocating the pre-existent character of evil and asserting therefore that the world was not perfect since its creation, and those who plead for the contingent nature of evil and thus imply that the world was created perfect at the beginning but was marred afterwards by various protagonists other than the creator.
