Volcano bonus

Loving the inspired response from guys stuck in London due to the volcano that nobody can pronounce. TED and a VC are doing/have done unscheduled events. I'm sure there are many more. Increases my belief that, contrary to the startling figures bandied around, the Volcano-induced grinding halt seems to have a net zero effect. No tourists in, but other tourists and others who had wanted to go on holiday are stranded.

This of course doesn't account for the plight of individual industries, such as Kenyan flower growers or airlines, but works, roughly, on an economy wide scale. Now that I've started looking, NYT insists that, unless it lasts for a while and companies start finding it difficult to cover supply needs, it wont really damage GDP.

Of course, we could see more dramatic social outcomes, as in 1783, when the "eruption of Laki in Iceland, which lasted for about eight months, [was] linked to crop failure in France. As such, it may have been one of a number of factors that led to the French Revolution." [Guardian]

In the meantime, those of us that remain unaffected in Nigeria can just entertain ourselves by listening to the stories of stranded passengers and their responses, such as Angela Merkel, the Norwegian Prime Minister and John Cleese.

UPDATE: Just found this picture of thunder lightening the eruption through facebook friends, truly amazing. Hat tip, BB.