efficiency meets sustainability

Red Herrings' Summit

2011-12-11T13:29:00.001Z

"You have ten days to save the Euro"

That was the headline before last week's euro-saver-summit. And now? The magic bullet is to be an old hat called Fiscal Union and one more silver bullet was left to make David Cameron come across this brilliant idea of walking away from Europe in order to save his respectively the banksters' City?!

Great!

Fiscal discipline, the focus on strengthening competitiveness and penalties for those who are too deep in debts will actually have to sort out the Greek economy and that of all the other PIIGS and friends; together with iron German austerity concepts and French red but too short herrings this is the latest Wunderwaffe to save the Euro - in just ten days. Merkozy should write two thick books about it and use those to stand on; at least that will make them taller.

I bet Italian bonds will be creeping back up above 7%, the ECB will buy more bond crap and not call it Eurobonds and soon it will be very irrelevant how few diplomacy lectures DavidC ever had for breakfast at Oxford; and his teammate needed a day or two to understand the implications and now tries the splits.

It just makes very clear if you did not know before that none of those in charge of the problem have any plan to sort things out. Red herrings in dark waters.

Carpe diem!

Euroland is PIIGS' land

2011-12-05T06:19:00.001Z

I don't get it!

And why don't Merkel and/or Sarkozy want to get it?

the guardian: European Union leaders have five days to solve debt crisis

Europe has five days to find a solution to the sovereign debt crisis or else the EU itself will collapse, political leaders warned on Sunday at the start of a week of high-stakes summitry.
...
Peer Steinbrück, her [Merkel's] likely opponent at the general election in 2013 and her ex-finance minister, said she had to change course if she was to win broad support: "Either the ECB becomes a state treasurer or the rescue fund the EFSF wins a bank licence or Eurobonds arrive or there is some form of transitional solution among these proposals."

Eurobonds as the last resort, the ultimate solution for saving the ECB crashing! How naive is that? Another distraction from the real problem, another trick to delay death. Brain death Euro in its final weeks:

That's what the ECB pumped itself up with in the past few months: trash! In its function as the Worst Bank for the Bad Banks and its Banksters, similar to the BoJ, the BoE and the FED, the ECB has already sucked up more than 2 trillion of printed rubbish promises worth ... zero! Capitalised with roughly €5 billion a capital/lending ratio is not worth mentioning and this stupid argument "But they can print whatever sums they want!" is as much nonsense as it is destructive.

So, the party is over, but almost, only. We have yet to watch Eurobonds coming in which will finally and irreversibly make all debts of all Euro countries the debts of the EURO no matter what Euroland it originally was printed for; with other words Euroland will be one big PIIGS as it definitely can't be one big Germany.

And really it is not about rescuing the Euro, it is only about the banks, as the above article sums it up:

Market hopes are that – despite their differences – Merkel and Sarkozy agree on both a short-term solution and longer-term vision that will persuade the ECB not only to cut interest rates by 0.25% to 1% but extend loans of up to three years maturity to struggling banks. The ECB governing council meets hours before the EU summit on Thursday.

Once they decided to all be PIIGS - what kind of animal will the UK with its fabulous Pound be?

Carpe diem!

if it wasn't so sad

2011-12-04T08:24:00.001Z

... I would recommend laughter!

EUROland is celebrating 10 years of - YES! - the Euro!

I am used to hearing b...s..., but that's setting a new record:

Europe builds bridges... and inspires hope... it also has a common currency, the Euro, our money!

The first twelve to introduce the Euro banknotes and coins in 2002 were Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland...

... all of which are now tumbling in different levels of bankruptcy!

One advantage is that there is no need to exchange money when travelling within the Euro area.

True: having cut into education for many years would now make it virtually impossible to calculate a cost of a beer in Spanish Peseta for anybody used to the Pound; sorry, I meant to say: the Euro.

Mario Draghi:

Over the past decade the Single Currency has become a symbol of integration and co-operation and the Euro banknotes and coins have become part of our daily lives. Despite the challenges currently faced by Europe as well as the rest of the world the people of the Euro area can rest assured that the European Central Bank will remain faithful to its mandate of maintaining price stability.

This is a joke, is it it? The decade's best joke. Listen yourself, I guess we all paid for that brilliant marketing BS!!

It reminds me very much of this Gentleman and his reassurance to the World, whereas nobody would want to build a wall...:

_____

It is terribly unreal this world; but then this is reality:

That shows UK's oil production curve in a severe decrease. It suggests the UK is saving for later or it is peak UK oil... More on this you will find here (in German).

_____

And, as I have had no time to blog being heavily involved in PassivHaus(ing) here is something to laugh, even though it might be an old joke but more importantly be very sad:

WALKING EAGLE

On a recent trip to the United States, Tony Blair, Ex-Prime Minister of the UK, addressed a major gathering of Native American Indians. He spoke for almost an hour on his plans for a Carbon Trading Tax for the UK and Europe At the conclusion of his speech, the crowd presented him with a plaque inscribed with his new Indian name - Walking Eagle.

A very chuffed Tony then departed in his motorcade, waving to the crowds.

A news reporter later asked one of the Indians how they came to select the new name given to Tony Blair. They explained that Walking Eagle is the name given to a bird so full of shit...
...that it can no longer fly.

Tell me, please, who of those eagles working for us, our future and themselves still fly? And, is there an Eagle in the walking Euro?

Apropos Tony, the Blair, here ...

is more on him, and here on him and his best pal! Oh, if you think I don't like him; that's really giving the facts no justice.

Walking...tssss!

Carpe diem!

the €-bomb

2011-11-13T06:26:00.001Z

here in slow motion...

to understand why I have repeatedly claimed: the Euro is dead:

Querschuesse

The industrial output of Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece - month by month since January 2000; a lot of growth in this gap with great potential.

Pure coincidence? It started slowly with the € coming in and it will only be stopped with the € going out. Any other result would see us witness Germany give away permanently e.g. Volkswagen to Greece, BMW plus a couple of its suppliers to Spain, a number of globally leading industrial members and Mercedes to Italy and even a pretty heavy load of successful German exporters to France - all for free just to even out the gap you see on the chart and rescue that marvelous European Single Currency. A really veritable European act of German heroism; the circle closes where Europa was an important and heroic gestalt in Greek mythology.

Now, what would we need to drink to believe in something like that? That's pure phantasy! Fellow Germans will think I am nuts; well, I won't dispute that, calm down. But, we all are watching the patient's mortal agony which the above chart suggests will end in a harsh finale of what was pure bloody nonsense in the first place.

While the € came in putatively friendly and smooth its explosion will rather feel rough and hostile. It will trigger protectionism and isolationism, it will toss Europe far back and make it totally depending on the rest of the world with the only exception being the USA; it will loose the fight to make its green paper the weakest currency. Welcome in the dark ages, boys and girls.

More debts and exchanging the figures in Italy, Greece or anywhere else will not alter the outcome.

And then: what about our beloved Pound?

Carpe diem!

In Pound we trust?!

2011-11-10T06:40:00.001Z

Miserere!

Some more details on the UK economy that are worthwhile sharing and noting - you can't do much more than note and watch the further development as this economy is obviously run by intelligence that tells us every day they knew what they are doing. A specific proof you can watch here. But for inflation see here. For DC's new economy see here.

These graphs below show our strength in imports and dependency. And strong we are:

The above shows the monthly trade deficit of the UK, the next one the same in reference to food, only.

more; all graphs are in English ink! Querschuesse

Should you make out some kind of trend over the 30 years: don't worry!

Once the Euro is history not only logically (that's the case since 1998) but also in the reality of such intelligence that came up with that crap in the first place and their naive heirs like Merkel and Sarkozy we will have to bury the Pound instantly; that is it will need dumping over night!

Let us hope our intelligence will understand that this burial must happen in an instant manner not being dragged over weeks, months or years really. The latter would destroy the last remains of any kind of UK (export) economy we have and would see us people starve and/or freeze to death despite a global climate change: many!

miserere: [lat] have mercy!

Carpe diem!

merde noir!

2011-11-03T19:02:00.000Z

What a day?! Full of democratic competitiveness!

For once a Prime minister wants to ask the people about their opinion - okay it is 10 or 12 years too late for a now silly question and a last resort, only, of a desperate man, but his move suggests for a moment that there might be some democratic crumbles left - and then this referendum is washed away as, by chance, some other politicians are willing to further follow that endless Merkel-Sarkocracy of piling debts on debts on debts for the sake of what they call competitiveness and a united Europe; in case anybody refuses allegiance peace and freedom of and in Europe are supposed to be history! What an intelligent threat.

Apropos competitiveness: I regularly feel sick when I hear Madame Merkel praying this "...Greece must regain its competitiveness...!" What a nonsense! How come anybody can talk such b...s...? When last - since ancient times - has Greece ever been competitive? And if so, what industrial output would that refer to? Until 1974 Greece was run by a Military Junta! Forgotten? It had this beautiful, regulated and then floating/falling/fixed currency called Drahme which bought you nothing but may be an inexpensive holiday, some olives and if you needed some sheep! Nothing wrong with that; it covered a tax heaven-like ship emporium and similar set-ups and anything serious was imported against so-called hard currency. Basta!

And then, just in time, the banksters' new man heading the ECB, Europe's Worst Bank, reduces interest rates further even though inflation is climbing sharply with the line: "...The remit of the ECB is maintaining price stability in the medium term". And further (Bloomberg):

The ECB lowered rates partly because “what we’re observing now is slow growth heading toward a mild recession,” Draghi said.

He must have listened to Mr. King, just recently. Obviously mainstream allows any kind of merde noir.

It is hard to carpe such a diem; I know; keep trying!

being different is not that difficult

2011-11-03T15:41:00.000Z

about China: where? whereto?

Very interesting: Yang Lan tells you a lot about China, its society, social media, the country's and people's transition. 80% of the children in the cities go to college; an aging population; the youth is questioning basically every thing.

Carpe diem!

a non affordable Expo...

2011-10-27T07:19:00.000+01:00

now offering affordable luxury

"a warm welcome to the Highlands"

Do you remember the above photo of the main entrance to the Highland Housing Fair or Highland Housing Expo as it was renamed on its way to become a brilliant success? That's how it started, that's how it went on and that's how it ends: Expo's Funky Town in the bin:

Inverness Courier, 17-10-11: Luxury housing fair homes now selling as "affordable"

THREE of the prestigious houses built for Inverness’ controversial housing expo are being marketed as affordable homes as organisers try desperately to sell the 24 remaining properties before April.
The terraced houses, which feature Ikea kitchens, Neff appliances, ground source heat pumps and solar panels, are valued at £200,000 but are being marketed on an 80/20 shared equity basis, leaving the purchaser to find £160,000.
If the move proves successful, expo organiser Highland Housing Alliance is likely to try and sell more of the homes in this way.

I bet, once three more units are sold it will be then described as the greatest success in Scottish history of what once will have been a world's first and the globe's market leading event or some kind of other beloved exaggerations that have accompanied this disaster all along.

And how do you define "luxury", by the way?

Carpe diem!

More from the Inverness Courier:
Affordable Homes at 300,000?
Expo homes in running for design awards
Housing Expo to mount sales drive in bid to recoup 6m
- (...just decide what headline you would like to give this one!)

the not so passive conference

2011-10-26T14:58:00.000+01:00

on PassivHaus Standard and Methodology

organised by

and

Monday and Tuesday this week saw us participating in the third annual UK PassivHaus Conference in London. While it was held at what one must define as the most extreme opposite of a PassivHaus, The Barbican Conference Centre, the event and discussions per se offered lots of food for thought:

The logo of the Passiv Haus Institute
its website offers some challenges

Fabric first

It now seems to have become the general understanding that it makes more sense to design and thoroughly calculate a building's envelope to the possible highest specs, first and then think about how to provide what and, more importantly, how little energy will be needed to run it. In simple terms, before we think about building new power stations we should try to follow ways of not wasting energy.

The Barbican per se and the conference's presentations offered the chance to understand how to do better, much better and why we must learn from tradition and the mistakes we made in order to secure our future.

MVHR

Amazing how much time was spent questioning air quality provided by mechanical ventilation including heat recovery systems (MVHR) and/or the dubious threat to possibly die in an air tight house caused by lack of oxygen - well, may be I am exaggerating that last bit; but just a wee bit.

a simple schematic

Apart from the fact that traditional houses and those built to PH Standards do have in common that windows and believe it or not even doors are openable, why would fresh air through an open window be any cleaner or healthier than air mechanically filtered entering the same building in controlled volumes through purpose build ducts?

I should add that in my first house, a glazier's refurbished old workshop, I had an early version of an automated ventilation system including heat recovery installed in 1983. It was a French system and in order to follow that stupid routine of not liking what the French and/or Germans and/or English, always vice versa, do come up with (see further down) I should confess: even though it was French it worked fine.

Why did I install it then? Well, if you refurbish an old house and try to make it air tight in order to keep the warmth in - yes, we did discuss and try this in 1983 already - it makes perfect sense to swap moisture and used air for pre-warmed fresh air. Sorry, but that's basically S1 Physics, isn't it?

In S2, maybe, air tightness might be discussed, which mentioned in connection with selling a house might shrug innocent people off; so one of the presenters tried to replace the term by using draft-free environment; fine, however by definition air tightness includes draft freeness, while vice versa it is not the case. Hence, a more positive term remains to be found, but then we should hurry, please, as the customers might overtake the crawling process of inventing new descriptions for old realities.

Appropos Germany

It seems to be a hard nut for many to get over the fact that this PassivHaus Standard could have something to do with Germany, with those Germans. It is a fact, and as I had to live with it I know what I am writing about, that the German Government(s) were among the first, if not the first, to not only realise that energy might become a challenging issue but they have for very nearly thirty years consequently and constantly implemented ever tougher laws and bylaws of how to make constructions and appliances more energy efficient. No wonder the "others" now have to chew on the fact that most working and price worthy solutions, in this case for PH related products, components and technologies are offered by German companies. It is that simple.

By the way, listening to the cramped and constrained efforts of all officials trying to avoid any German ties with all kinds of PassivHaus issues was very close to being offensive; not so much in my eyes as a German living in the UK for a decade, now, I am used to such rubbish especially of those who at the same time indeed own Audis or a German kitchen, etc., but much more so in the heads and translations of German speaking visitors from the Continent. Britain allegedly stands for non discrimination acts and blames others of not sticking to the rules; well, here we are!

UK supply chain

One could say in a globalised world where most if not all of our daily consumer products are produced where they are made the cheapest, sometimes the most efficient, often the "dirtiest" way, this subject of an UK supply chain for PH components could not be of any relevance: may the best, i.e. the best working solution and value for money win.

Not so in this case: with generalised reference to import and transport cost the request for an UK supply chain for PH components e.g. windows is constantly mentioned, most probably by the same people that drive an Audi, a Mercedes, BMW or Toyota and buy Chinese toys, PCs and shoes! I will come back to the industry of automobiles further down.

Meanwhile, think about this: forget the advance in understanding the PH Standard and the advance in know how, training and experience from long years of actual application, it is a fact, the Continental market is huge. Most probably, the window manufacturers in question produce and deliver thousands of windows a day, mostly to very high specs, much higher than the average UK window, and on top of this they manufacture a smaller, yet comparably substantial number to PH standards. Don't forget: in addition their means of production are high tech manufacturing robots which represent heavy long term investment, the companies' purchase power for raw materials is gigantic, per unit margins are kept to a minimum and transport to and from their facilities are their daily bread covering the Continent from Portugal to Russia and from Italy to Norway.

Now, who would think that any UK supplier can just pick up here and be competitive in a wee UK market that is still discussing the possible disadvantages of e.g. MVHR? Or whether or not recycling and waste water management should be part of the building regulations. I think that should be common sense and should not be used to dilute energy efficiency of any building envelope.

So that successful launch of that part of the UK supply chain remains to be seen. It seems a bit unlikely, as a true Scot would put it; I say, it is economically impossible: either the price or the windows' quality and variety will have to suffer unless protectionism or currency related influences would run the show

In this blog I often refer to China: I do not bash China, I might criticise China, but mainly I adore China for its flexibility, its will to succeed and for always doing their homework. But then, China very much frightens me; many could not care less, which frightens me even more.

Now, imagine China had felt it was too proud to just produce and copy what the market needed or wanted and then too proud to use the much better machinery and tools that they were often even given for free but then soon were able to import upon their own decision. Where would China be today?

No! I believe, the tactic should be quite the other way round. Get what is best value for money, wherever it comes from, learn, understand, teach, use, copy, adopt, adapt and improve! Like Fabric first, we should make a market for the most appropriate Standard: that is the way forward for any industry while the customer will be very grateful.

Customer

This species felt almost like not existing over those two days; from my personnel experience over the last five years attending shows and conferences all over the UK the customer has changed.

They have learned, they google two words and are flooded with information, they travel, they visit, they discuss, they all feel energy costs closing in on them, but in the end they also might drive a ... as I said, I will come back to that.

Real estate markets have changed; the idea that one's dwelling is a lucrative short term investment to climb up a money making ladder has become a very difficult one. While land to build on might be of pretty reliable value, a house that costs a fortune to run proves itself an unaffordable and unwanted burden. Driven to the extreme this could end up to where one will have to sell a house for its land's value minus demolishing and recycling cost. Think about that!

No, I did not leave the red line; a house build to PH Standard, certified, is futureproof. It will hardly loose its value as the standard sets a clear energy consumption figure: 15kW/m2a or even less. So anybody interested in one will know exactly what kind of quality he will get and what it will cost him year by year to come.

Futureproof Asset

With defining energy consumption levels, materials, technologies and tradesmanship are becoming part of this definition. One won't go without the other. Hence, the overall quality including life expectancy and durability are improved; indeed this is setting new standards were the customer or client will be able to compare like with like on the basis of a set energy consumption figure. King customer will love that. And really, once the mortgage companies will be prepared and willing to understand those differences they will finance traditional builds with a surcharge, only.

miscellaneous

It was also very interesting to learn that there are differences in the door-blower test routines of the UK and Continental procedures; I will look into this much closer. I know from experience that we all need to be sceptical when confronted with too-good-to-be-true U-value calculations; whatever you compare, values, technologies or procedures, only, it should have a common base otherwise any discussion is a waste of time or simply humbug.

Automobile Industry

My first car was a 1967 MG B, spoke wheels, leather, chrome; then we loved British cars, the variety, the design, everything. German cars were boring, looked old and ugly.

What is left of that famous British car industry? Some brand names, now put on Indian, Chinese and again, I beg your pardon, German companies' makes - the rest is history. The industry did not follow what the market, the customers wanted and/or needed, it avoided investments for the sake of short-term share-holder values and called for the government when it failed.

Today the leading car manufacturers are either Asian or German manufactures. There is a severe chance that the British Construction Industry will be following the British Automobile Industry. Trying to protect one's market share by aiming at suppressing competition and innovation and neglecting customers' demands is a certain recipe for disaster.

By the way

when I don't blog, eat or sleep I work with HANSE HAUS (UK), a German off-site manufacturer of highly energy efficient components for all kinds of low energy houses, including, of course, PassivHaus certified turn-key Passive Houses. Here is the German website, here our English one.

Above a Passive House on our show area in Oberleichtersbach, Germany. Below a video, showing the eight essential hours of making a house thoroughly prepared by taking advantage of the latest off-site technology wind and watertight.

Should you miss the phrase "leading" or "best" or "first" in front of our name please don't worry, we know where we stand while we walk the walk!

Carpe diem!

#PassivHausUK: thank you and well done, hope to see you next year in a PHCC*

* PassivHaus Conference Centre

those were the times, ...

2011-10-22T06:42:00.000+01:00

my friends, when we gave for children...

Now we give for banksters that speculate on hunger, decease and death.

Carpe diem

The Banksters' Planet

2011-10-21T13:29:00.000+01:00

The network of corporate global control

an ETH, Zuerich, study

Abstract
The structure of the control network of transnational corporations affects global market competition
and financial stability. So far, only small national samples were studied and there was
no appropriate methodology to assess control globally. We present the first investigation of the
architecture of the international ownership network, along with the computation of the control
held by each global player. We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure
and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions.
This core can be seen as an economic “super-entity” that raises new important issues both for
researchers and policy makers.

We all knew it, we know it, we are taught that money makes the world go around. 143 companies control 40% of what you see above, these are the first 50:

Table S1: Top 50 control-holders. Shareholders are ranked by network control (according to the
threshold model, TM). Column indicate country, NACE industrial sector code, actor’s position in
the bow-tie sections, cumulative network control. Notice that NACE code starting with 65,66,67
belong to the financial sector.
Rank Economic actor name Country

1 BARCLAYS PLC GB
2 CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES INC, THE US
3 FMR CORP US4 AXA FR
5 STATE STREET CORPORATION US
6 JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. US
7 LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP PLC GB
8 VANGUARD GROUP, INC., THE US
9 UBS AG CH
10 MERRILL LYNCH & CO., INC. US
11 WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT CO. L.L.P. US
12 DEUTSCHE BANK AG DE
13 FRANKLIN RESOURCES, INC. US
14 CREDIT SUISSE GROUP CH
15 WALTON ENTERPRISES LLC US
16 BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORP. US
17 NATIXIS FR
18 GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP, INC., THE US
19 T. ROWE PRICE GROUP, INC. US
20 LEGG MASON, INC. US
21 MORGAN STANLEY US
22 MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. JP
23 NORTHERN TRUST CORPORATION US
24 SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE FR
25 BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION US
26 LLOYDS TSB GROUP PLC GB
27 INVESCO PLC GB
28 ALLIANZ SE DE
29 TIAA US
30 OLD MUTUAL PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY GB
31 AVIVA PLC GB
32 SCHRODERS PLC GB
33 DODGE & COX US
34 LEHMAN BROTHERS HOLDINGS, INC. US
35 SUN LIFE FINANCIAL, INC. CA
36 STANDARD LIFE PLC GB
37 CNCE FR
38 NOMURA HOLDINGS, INC. JP
39 THE DEPOSITORY TRUST COMPANY US
40 MASSACHUSETTS MUTUAL LIFE INSUR. US
41 ING GROEP N.V. NL
42 BRANDES INVESTMENT PARTNERS, L.P. US
43 UNICREDITO ITALIANO SPA IT
44 DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION OF JP JP
45 VERENIGING AEGON NL
46 BNP PARIBAS FR
47 AFFILIATED MANAGERS GROUP, INC. US
48 RESONA HOLDINGS, INC. JP
49 CAPITAL GROUP INTERNATIONAL, INC. US
50 CHINA PETROCHEMICAL GROUP CO. CN

In green GB companies, in blue US co-operations; the land of the major rating agencies.

Any questions?

Carpe diem!

DC's concept for a foundation...

2011-10-21T08:08:00.000+01:00

of a wise builder?

PM DC, 1:44 into the above video:

...I know that you can't see it or feel it right now. But think of it like this: the new economy we are building it is like building a house; the most important part is the part you can't see: the foundations. Slowly but surely we are laying solid foundations for a stronger future. And the vital point is this: if you don't stick with it it won't work.

A lot of can'ts, Mr. Prime Minister, but I like your metaphor: it is like building a house, isn't it:

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

That's Matthew 7:24-27, known as "The Wise and Foolish Builders".

Yes, the foundation is very important; yet, in your speech it remains unclear what shall be build on this solid foundation: is it going to be a traditional construction, then, what would be new?

We need to tell the truth... you say, so is this new economy on what you describe as a solid foundation going to be like a Passiv Haus? Future-proof, healthy, comfortable and affordable?

I doubt it facing such basic but untackled problems like deficits and unemployment while I miss the strengthening or in some cases even rebuilding of the basic elements such like education, tuition, training, manufacturing and rational R&D into what will be the true elements of our future as well as setting any new standards for what you tell me I can't see or feel right now, Mr. Cameron.

All I see is more cuts and more debts or the same vice versa, trying to save banks, banksters, governments and incapacitated politicians just to preserve what can't be sustainable; is this all and again related to tradition or where and when will we see or feel any kind of learning effect coming in that will take us all forward?

Carpe diem!

CCS: ...and now, the end is near...!

2011-10-20T19:34:00.001+01:00

BBC: Longannet carbon capture scheme scrapped

Again, there is this totally inappropriate idea of picking an industry, e.g. CCS or Electric Automobiles and then declaring the obscuring aim to become a so-called world market leader instead of doing ones homework, first and foremost; the end result reads as follows:

"If there was a completely unlimited resource then we may have been able to surmount the technical problems at Longannet," Mr Huhne said.

Scottish Power's coal-fired plant at Longannet had been the only remaining site in the UK government competition for the funding.

"However, almost four years after launching its funding competition, plans for CCS in the UK have descended into farce."

"It is vital that this money is not recycled into the Treasury but used for carbon capture and storage projects.

£1,000million pumped carefully into the up-dating and up-grading of the British construction industry, its training and teaching facilities would do more; much more; without inventing the wheel again and without an unlimited resource, Mr Huhne.

Carpe diem!

Pretensioning the B(l)ow!

2011-10-20T17:27:00.000+01:00

UK's bubbling model...

The chart seen on www.querschuesse.de shows the UK's monthly trade balance in reference to food!

August 2011: minus £1.436bn!

First eight months of 2011: minus £11.648bn!

We are depending more on more on imports e.g. of meat, a minus of £3.601bn in 2011, alone!

Same for such simple and relatively easy to produce dairy products! A minus of £1.391bn in 2011!

Wheat and animal feed minus £1.382bn in 2011.

Since 1995 we are net importers of oil with a dramatically falling output of North Sea oil.

Great Britain shows the classic bubble economy of a degenerated Anglo-Saxon model under permanent erosion of any kind of industrial output in relation to its GDP while running out of all kinds of resources; see oil and gas.

Along with the high import volume an ever increasing inflation is imported, the currency is weak even compared to US $ and the failing Euro.

Not my words, but a description of the UK's situation in the German blog above. Now, you might not like Germans, Germany or German cars, but what about the truth?

Inflation, even after tweaking all statistical possibilities, is up: 5.2%. In reference to food even +6.4%:

Another Catch-22 situation one should think as once Mr. King (Governor of the BoE) would decide to fight inflation by raising interest rates the government and the banks would have to declare bankruptcy; however, don't worry, inflation is the globally preferred idea to make debts look smaller.

As such inflation must grow faster...

as debts grow faster!

Don't mention the stability and value of the Pound, though!

"The UK fails to feed its population, Mr Neo and Mr. Lib "what are your answers?"

Carpe diem!

"The customer" was his success

2011-10-09T09:49:00.000+01:00

Steve Jobs: where can we take the customer?

He is not even mentioning that share-holder-value rubbish! No wonder...

Carpe diem!

Mister King, what took you so long?

2011-10-08T15:51:00.000+01:00

A mere three years later

...it seems our professed intelligent leaders finally understand what they might be up to, just three years after Lehmann and well 20 years into what is an unregulated bonanza of Globalism run into the ground by Mr. Neo and Mrs. Lib! What we all are up to, they still have no clue! Some examples?

So the Governor believes in more debts will quantitatively ease the banksters problems, well done Mr. King! Just picking out one sentence ...

In addition to countries like ourselves, like the United States, like some countries in Europe we need to re-balance our economy; we need to slow the amount of domestic spending and boost our trade position to see our exports be the source of growth so that we are relying less on borrowing from abroad than we have been.

This tastes like a 50 year old soda. Apart from the strange construction of the sentence where an introduction like in addition to... ourselves... we need to ... obviously sees him badly prepared and/or terribly nervous the rest is pure rubbish; wishfull thinking, daydreaming in a world that has definitely moved much faster than Mr. King's enlightenment will ever keep up with. His is closely followed by Mr. Osborne's...

... the bank of England has made an independent judgement, ...it [>QE 2] is... a response to the deterioration in the international economy and it is also a response to the severe strains in the Eurozone...
...it will keep interest rates down, it will help boost demand, and that will be a help for British families..."

The most peculiar sentence of Mr. Osborne you will hear is "...the British Government has earned credibility with plans to deal with Government debts...". Media, journalists, bloggers, wake up?

Yesterday, the theguardian explained QE, Quantitative Easing:

QE involves electronically creating money, which the Bank uses to buy assets – mainly government bonds, known as gilts – from investors in financial markets. That pushes down long-term interest rates – a bonus for the economy – and gives the banks more money to lend out. The Bank doesn't actually print banknotes, it just credits investors' accounts. Its governor, Mervyn King, hates the phrase "quantitative easing" and prefers to call it credit easing.

Well, give me a break! QE 1 in 2009 was limited to £200 billion with hardly a penny of that reaching Mr. Osborne's families. If it did anything it retarded the race into depression by a fraction which now three years later a ludicrous 1/3 of QE 1 won't, rather can't do!

Here is a totally different judgement:

Much closer to reality, to the truth, to what we are up to and how banks and banksters are interconnected. The really frightening fact - as you hear - is: we do not even have a plan!

But back to the Governor whose mainstream sauce got me started on this subject again; how can one get away with talking pure nonsense and at the same time being three years, more likely 20 years late?

What kind of miraculous ingredients will he and his friends have to come up with when cuts into domestic spending, among others severe cuts into education, teaching, training, health and general infrastructure shall boost a trading position that is long gone anyway? Gone to China and it is China that invests in education big style!

Export: something all the countries in debt spirals are fancying, they all pray for the export miracle to happen: but in an unsound parallel it is regarded a clever free-market must and a share-holder-value's boost to export all those jobs that are regarded as cheap, dirty, stupid and/or not lucrative enough. So who was it that now makes all the toys, PCs, shoes, T-shirts, phones, stereos, suits, all the china, many cars, soon more trains and airplanes and then all and anything? The answer is China!!

Export: that is why they all take part in the race for a weak currency. Obama would love to see a strong Euro, so downgrading anything in Europe is based on his and his mates' hope this might get the Europeans sorted and the Dollar finally down. And it's China again...piggybacked on the greenback while spending its mountains of green paper on buying itself into all kinds of resources, from land to energy and beyond.

He who laughs last laughs best; he will definitely be a king.

And mainstream takes it all!

Carpe diem!

P.S.:

From Daniel Hannan's telegraph comment:

daughter's heroine

2011-09-30T06:22:00.000+01:00

I chose my mum to be my heroine because she is hardworking,
trustworthy and has to put up with me, my brothers and sister.

as seen in Charleston Academy; Inverness

Trustworthiness: would it not be nice to be able to rely on this virtue? The people of Japan did when they were told by their ingenious and omniscient politicians how brilliant their nuclear power technology, those highly trained managers and technicians were and how safe it all was and is:

TOKYO—Government officials failed to distribute to thousands of people pills that could have minimized radiation risks from the March nuclear accident, government documents show.
The disclosure is the latest evidence of government neglect of emergency procedures in the chaotic days after the disaster, in which an earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

WSJ ASIA: Japan officials failed to hand out Radiation Pills in Quake's Aftermath

Not even the most simple of all measurements they were capable of initialising. What ignorance, falsehood and stupidity? Failure across the board with no consequences for the failed.

Don't you expect the governments of Euroland to have any clue of what they started when they imposed the EURO upon us and even less when it comes to handle the current crisis out of which there is no way by inventing new dubious ways of accounting (for) ever more debts, every day. That's treating ill patients with more illness; or more debts with more cuts; or trying to safe a dying City from Financial Transaction Tax while betting on a deceasing currency watching what was to be a globalised world and celebrating that nonsense of "we are not part of it"!?

Glad to say: the basics never change; the escape into what is a young sister's and daughter's basic trust into her mum was and is the last resort. Parents: proud as can be; and responsible!

Carpe diem!

more:

Truth or Paranoia? Activists Claim Parts Of Tokyo Are More Radioactive Than Chernobyl

6 months into Japan's cleanup, radiation a major worry

in God we trust on knife's edge

2011-09-27T09:22:00.000+01:00

arabianmoney: UK most indebted nation in the world reveals new study

It is not only a race for the weakest currency - to play along the praised export route while we trust in God; it also is a negative race towards who built up the biggest debts. And that is even less funny:

A new study from brokers Tullett Prebon called ‘Project Armageddon’ has established the true scale of borrowing in Britain which amounts to a truly staggering £5 trillion or $8.3 trillion.
...
Once pension fund liabilities and PFI contracts are included the total public debt is £2.46 trillion or 167 per cent of GDP. To that you have to add the £1.34 trillion in financial sector bailouts. The total public debt is therefore £3.6 trillion or 244 per cent of GDP or £135,000 per UK household.
...
Then there is £1.2 trillion in outstanding mortgage debt and £210 billion in unsecured mortgage credit. Together public and private sector debt amounts to £5 trillion, or 340 per cent of GDP.
...
‘Project Armageddon’ is actually pretty thin on predictions as to where this debt mountain will take the UK, apart from flagging up the inadequacies of current government policies, namely that they rely on the resumption of high rates of economic growth that are impossible with 70 per cent of the economy laden with debt.
...
You are left to draw your own conclusions about the merits of holding sterling-denominated assets with this sword of Damocles hanging over the economy. And the investment conclusion about the UK is surely don’t go there!

Of course, e.g. Germany's debts calculated on the same bases as above are also something like €8 to €10 trillion. But that makes the ice on which we all stand no thicker; the conclusion can hardly be leaning back watching Euroland implode or the Dollar's Greens grow over while hoping for the Pound's Phoenix-like recovery.

There is a huge risk, I bet it being only a fraction off from 100%, that with these currency turmoils happening the Pound will implode as well - that might be even a good point to get rid of those astronomical debts and restart the game, may be our only chance: so in the eve of these things happening I recommend to do anything possible to strengthen and support national economy and purchase power, attract and create jobs and - that is the most important point - invest big scale into all kinds of education and training very fast and very furious. Why not print money for all the before, now, instead for the moribund banksters and insolvent economies and their never-come-back-spirals?

Cuts are definitely the wrong way forward and cosmetic corrections, only, at this point; it needs investment into our all future not cuts into old, rubbish balance sheets.

Our leaders are too beautiful, too young and far too much lobby- and shareholder value-oriented to understand the big picture; it is time that even the most ignorant should by now have grasped that there is no debt relief pill where debts are beyond r/belief.:

The Euro will implode and/or be something totally different, soon. The Pound no different! Shortly before that Big Ben will show an even bigger declination, the clock will be much longer and as it happened in all hard times before our hope and trust in God will be much bigger.

Carpe diem!

no wonder cuts are in

2011-09-20T08:39:00.000+01:00

knife, fork, scissors, flames,
have no place in children's games

A couple of centuries ago, when I was born, I heard the above saying again and again, still I cut myself and had to learn, that flames are hot: all by myself!

Modern world's mainstream and cheap Lidl scissors in girly designs for the 18+, only, transformed cuts to be fiscal elements of ignorant politicians and political economists.

Carpe diem!

smoke gets in your eyes

2011-09-20T06:06:00.000+01:00

"Deniers are the messengers of the good news."

Worthwhile listening to Professor Naomi Oreskes on "The Merchants of Doubt" and her comments on Climate Change and why we all rather hear the good news.

So, there ain't no easy way out; this time.

Carpe diem!

change is upon us!

2011-09-18T09:48:00.000+01:00

He who will not economize will have to agonize.

Confucius (551 - 479 BC)

Admitted, I have not blogged much lately; our problems don't seem to change, nobody comes up with any kind of sustainable solution for any of those irrevocable troubles but while the daily routine rushes by things seem to turn in slow motion circles or shall we say spirals?

The death of the Euro is a slow process as is accepting and more so understanding Climate Change; slow is the Gulf Stream, some examples?

January 2003

January 2011

__________________________________________________________

August 2003

August 2011

__________________________________________________________

September 2003

September 2011

I am not a climate expert, but I am not colour blind either. Fresh from Wikipedia:

One of the greatest influences on the climate of the UK is the Atlantic Ocean and especially the North Atlantic Current, which brings warm waters from the Gulf of Mexico to the waters around the country by means of thermohaline circulation. This has a powerful moderating and warming effect on the country's climate—the North Atlantic Drift warms the climate to such a great extent that if the current did not exist then temperatures in winter would be about −10 °C (−18.0 °F) lower than they are today. The current allows England to have vineyards at the same latitude that Canada has polar bears. A good example of the effects of the North Atlantic Drift is Tresco Abbey Gardens, on the Isles of Scilly, 48 kilometres (30 mi) west of Cornwall, where Canary Island date palm trees grow - possibly the nearest of their kind to the Arctic Circle, at 50° latitude north. These warm ocean currents also bring substantial amounts of humidity which contributes to the notoriously wet climate that western parts of the UK experience.
The extent of the Gulf Stream's contribution to the actual temperature differential between North America and western Europe is a matter of dispute.^[23]^[24] It has been argued that atmospheric waves that bring subtropical air northwards contribute to a much greater extent to the temperature differential than thermohaline circulation.^[23]

The above pictures you can find here and here, freely available, lots about Ocean currents, but mainstream has more interesting slow stories, e.g. Climate Change and the deniers' rubbish oracles led by what the Americans might face as their next best Republican President! Here is an Open Mind summary on the situation.

be prepared!

Al Gore is back, did you watch his new initiative? It is worth it.

Apropos slow, the death agony of the Euro enters into its next round; the ESM, the European Stability Mechanism is here, and here is the key of which country has to bear how much:

source

Those countries are all virtually insolvent, but being ill does not prevent one from becoming iller; I know, it should be "more ill" but "iller" sounds similar to "killer" and a killer this ESM is. Same for the Eurobonds, the last resource of a dying species.

There is really nothing wrong with not having joined the EURO and now not being involved with this ESM; but then the EURO's failure will not feel like the UK was no part of it and the Pound will suffer, promised.

Here is a video, sorry, in German, only, on the ESM and its conditions; as I said, a killer:

I am sure any normal independent court would call this contract null and void and the initiators criminals. Here are the details in English.

But all this will not avoid the deterioration of the global markets; what begun with the financial markets caused by banksters will be now accompanied by markets either collapsing into deflation or exploding into peak scenarios causing all kinds of destroying issues. GEAB N°57:

"While the US iceberg is ramming the Titanic, the crew leads the passengers in search of dangerous Greek terrorists who may have planted bombs on board!" In propaganda terms, it’s a known recipe: it’s a diversion to allow, first of all, the rescue of the passengers one wants to save (the informed elite who know very well that there are no Greek terrorists on board) since everyone can’t be saved; and then, hide the problem’s true nature for as long as possible to avoid a revolt on board (including some of the crew who sincerely believe that there really are bombs on board).

Apropos Confucius: China is on track, no doubts! The latest has become the only global player against all its vast challenges, but it is on track! The media comments on the latest Chinese ideas of investing into what are hollow PIIGS' bonds of even more hollow European economies are dreadfully ignorant, stupid, some are pseudo-clever by intention. Yes, mainstream, it is you I call stupid; don't you see this?:

Join the dots, Beijing-watchers say, and China's strategy becomes clear: It wants to use its economic leverage to make friends who may be more forgiving in disputes over trade and human rights, and ensure doors are open for its goods and corporate investments in the European Union, its main export market. (source)

B...s...: it is worse! China is swapping green rubbish currency for hard-core influence, know-how, resources and ever more addicted markets. Better than trading debts for more debts.

Carpe diem!

shareholders' values shoeboxes

2011-09-17T08:33:00.001+01:00

BBC: Architects say new houses
are 'shameful shoebox homes'

This is a bit like asking for the number of wheels when shopping for a car:

"In the UK people buy homes based on the number of rooms. In the whole of the rest of Europe pretty much, and certainly North America, you know how many square metres you are buying when you buy it - and that's not available to UK consumers."

The article matches my experience; a good example was the Highland Housing Expo where 3/4 beds were put into so-called bedrooms that one could hardly enter into through doors stopped by those huge beds from opening. No room for any furniture unless from a doll house, en-suite bathrooms smaller than in any prison with sinks too small to wash one hand in.

Excellent for profit and the shareholders' values but not build for people to live in named customers.

Here is a comment on the above BBC article: no need to hide, Snowknight, you are hitting some of the nails on their heads:

Compared to housing in Switzerland and Germany British housing is sub standard. The insulation is a joke, damp cold rooms which cost a fortune. Good quality low energy homes can be built for £100,000, but banks and building companies are not interested at all. Shabby houses mean more money need as after 10years renovations are required! Good houses 75 years nothing!

Carpe diem!

bank recapitalisation, i.e. bailout #?

2011-08-13T07:56:00.000+01:00

The book is worth reading, same for Simon Johnson's blog The Baseline Scenario. Yet, as for many economists if not for all the "turning in circles" is becoming a regular form of commenting as, really, this current crisis is now boiling down to the classical Catch-22 situation. I commented on Simon's blog post Should we expect another round of bailouts where he supports not another bail-out but "a full-scale recapitalisation program" for the banks...

“A full-scale bank recapitalization program is required, along with management changes at almost all major European financial institutions.”

Simon,

I disagree; this “full-scale bank recapitalisation” you suggest will be nothing else but another bailout!

Why would any private third party recapitalise any bank, if the bad debts (and any trailing Bad Bank) wouldn’t be taken over by who else but the tax-payer and how would you recapitalise and sort out e.g. the ECB, the Worst Bank next to the FED, I guess, sitting and whining on stacks or call it bombs of worthless PIIGS bonds?

And, what you call “management changes” – I suggest you replace the “almost” by the term “all” and add a “complete” – is what James K. Galbreith put into simple words in March 2009 , already – nobody listened, the Banksters got bigger and even more successful, since:

…as long as the old management is in place, there are no incentives to cooperate in the evaluation you need to make.

There was clearly a systematic failure. But that does not mean there was no criminal energy around.

When a bank is insolvent, the incentives for normal banking practice disappear. They become perverse.

“Perverse” might sound inappropriate, but it hits the nail on the head of a trade that lost its function, purpose and dignity – long ago.

One more point: even bailing out the banks again would not take us anywhere if at the same time this EURO problem wouldn’t be solved. It is a Catch 22 situation; call it a Gordian knot which according to the myth needs one hard swing of a sword to cut it, only; but then there is the Dollar, the YEN, China, peak everything and anything.

All in all it is going to be one long da.. hard touch down!

...

There is not much I could add at this point other than there will be no easy or simple solution for what Mr. Kohl and friends created when they played gods of all currencies and installed a completely immature EURO and at the same time there is no easy way forward for our world that is peak-almost-everything including coming up to 8 thousand million people living beyond its, our habitat's means on a finite and insolvent planet.

Carpe diem.

our culture of denial

2011-08-11T09:53:00.003+01:00

...obviously comes with peak Man. Sigmund Freud would agree, even more so his daughter Anna:

The concept of denial is particularly important to the study of addiction. The theory of denial was first researched seriously by Anna Freud. She classified denial as a mechanism of the immature mind, because it conflicts with the ability to learn from and cope with reality.

Two examples:

Should you dislike the combination "climate" and "denial", may be it is easier to understand paired with the latest on Britain's Riots. There is lots of denial again and the fact that David Cameron has been brutally ill-advised by his marketing boys, at least, I would like to believe he did not come up with that stupid idea himself; this, his, mission about this "Big Society" is pure rubbish and always sounded to me like the sales pitch of a "double glazing window sales man" trying to distract from the truth by all means avoiding reality.

Obviously, I am not alone:

British politicians have espoused neo-liberal dogma for the best part of 30 years. A dogma based on consumerism and selfish individualism over shared responsibility.

And Britain, after 30 years, is a society more divided than at any other time since World War II. The haves have grown in wealth while the have-nots have grown in number.

... Social dissonance is no coincidence. Cameron's nebulous ideal of "Big Society" - that communities are stronger than the government in sorting problems out - has yetto prove of worth.
And so, in a time of austerity and a global recession lasting years, when people see their opportunities narrowing, services cut and the disappearance of the things they have for decades been told to expect, this is what happens.

Graeme Baker, NZHerald's news editor

The Big Society concept is not big enough to deal with the chronic problems that scar so many of our cities (and also some of our rural areas – extreme rural poverty is a growing problem). Throughout Britain, not just in London, not just in England, our society is virtually broken.

We have lost religion, we have lost economic power, and we are now in danger of losing social cohesion and social responsibility. This goes well beyond party politics. It will take, at least, a generation to put the pieces together again. The task will be doubly difficult against the background of a prolonged global financial crisis.

The key component in renewal must be better education. A decent education is something that far too many young people in Britain are still denied, despite the mind- bending sums of public money that have been spent on the education service in the past 20 years or so.

If better education is the key to progress, to self respect and to aspiration, it is still of no use if it just leads to frustration because our society cannot provide enough meaningful work, and, equally important, the motivation to undertake such work.

Harry Reid, Herald Scotland

And in case you need a reminder on that great picture marketed under the term Big Society (BBC):

David Cameron says it is his "mission" in politics to make the Big Society succeed - amid claims it is being wrecked by spending cuts.

This Big Society issue needs much bigger ideas than cuts (the worst are those and any into eduction) with a huge emphasis on Society. We will never hear a "mission accomplished" by David Cameron the way things are dealt with now.

So, should you see him, tell him!

Carpe diem!

next winter might be a cold one...

2011-08-10T21:06:00.002+01:00

...saw Germans putting up snow poles in the Highlands last night...

Carpe ~~diem~~ hiems!

Hey, architect(s)!

2011-08-09T13:04:00.009+01:00

What about change (-ing sides)?

While the word's currencies and finances tumble we are looking for recruitment?

Unbelievable? No!

Passiv Haus

We are looking for (an) enthusiastic architect(s), fluent in English and (hopefully soon in) German, to join our HANSE HAUS team based in Oberleichtersbach, Germany.

To apply, you must be a highly proficient AutoCAD user, with fast and precise drafting skills. You must have strong technical construction knowledge. Experience of drawing coordination with engineering consultants and statutory authorities would be an advantage. Good communication skills, in English and (soon) in German, are required as it will be necessary to work closely with the rest of the HH team, clients and consultants, both in Germany, the UK and probably beyond.

This is a full time position with accommodation, 30 days holiday and some return flights to the UK per annum; while the salary is negotiable it is depending on experience and on you meeting the challenge of the position's tasks.

To apply for this job you must be a UK citizen, have EEA right of residence or already have a valid UK working visa > e-mail

HANSE HAUS, in case you did not know, is a leading supplier of off-site pre-manufacturered highly energy efficient constructions; we regard Passiv Haus Technology as the leading way forward towards sustainable and affordable living.

It might help if we shared similar humor; mind you, the above is no joke!

Carpe diem!

the truth, here in German...

2011-06-29T09:08:00.001+01:00

... nothing but the reality!

;

Dirk Mueller, one of the few speaking it out: the Euro (Greek) rescue packages is money irresponsibly wasted, peculated tax payers' money that nobody will ever see again in a situation that in normal circumstances, yours and mine, would be called "delay in filling bankrupcy", an act heavily enforced by penalty; this is all neglected for the sake of the banks, the banksters, who write the blueprint and dictate the conditions and are busy taking shelter.

Greece will default once all the Greek bonds and related CDS - and those of the directly related PIGS and friends- will be in the safe tax payers' hands such as the government owned insurances and all kind of public and Bad Banks led by the wonderful ECB and its national fellow players.

All governments are slaves to the banksters, the very same who started it all. James Galbreith put it right, already in 2009 - nothing has changed but got worse for the masses.

Carpe diem!

Greece: a twofold problem...

2011-06-28T16:55:00.001+01:00

... and a reset solving it, only!

Here is a link to watch a CNBC video with Michael Spence talking about Greece: he sees Greece's problem having two parts:

sovereign debts
lacking competitiveness

No surprise after discussing this for many months; he obviously wants to keep the logical rest of his analysis a secret; may be he wants to be invited back for coffee to be interviewed again; he should have added that certainly all the PIGS or GIPS (or into what ever you mix them) and many more of those in total 17 Eurozone countries face the same twofold burden; in fact Germany might be the only country being still competitive - however, the German sovereign debt problem is getting bigger with every cheque and guarantee signed and with every junk paper the ECB prints money against. In addition Germany's competitiveness will be hit hard, abruptly and brutally once its so-called European partners will be sick to the back teeth with austerity, cuts, unemployment, no-future chances, sell-offs and still more people demonstrating 24/7 against what more and more will be named "The rich Krauts' revenge!".

Michael Spence also mentions a possible sabbatical for Greece from the EURO; that wouldn't change a thing; only once the majority felt like taking one or two or more sabbaticals we might as well turn times back, press reset, to 1979, the year when the very successful EMS was introduced.

I believe this reset is necessary; it is strongly advisable, I hope it will come soon! If it then takes us back to 1979, good! If the reset comes too late it might throw us back further; ante 1958 (Treaties of Rome); hopefully not beyond?

Carpe diem!

Peter Columbo Falk...

2011-06-24T21:15:00.002+01:00

everything was iconic, his car, his coat, his cigar, his look, his questioning.

Rest in peace, inspector.

Carpe diem!

at the end of a day's work...

2011-06-22T20:28:00.007+01:00

...Inglisssh becomes Work Laenquish!

I know, I have posted this long ago, but with all the in-efficiency and un-sustainability around me today I thought I need to have to rough laugh!

This Gentleman is Europe's Commissioner for Energy! So, should you need some... feel free to ask him... may be not in Inglisssh but in Swabian!

Carpe diem!

p.s. You think, if it wasn't so serious, it'd be very funny?
Correct!

it is so basic...

2011-06-22T17:52:00.001+01:00

beware of cuts in training and education!

Want an example, read this: eight faulty wheels lost since 2009:

I find this unbelievable, dreadful, and incredible offensive; not only because our children might sit in one of those buses or you, or her, him, could be hit by the occasional wheel meeting your windscreen the odd moment. No!

Being part of this society in 2011 anno domini one would think that we have done and are doing enough to avoid such idiotic, simple, yet possibly mortal mistakes to where they become almost declared extinct; what about schooling, training, educating, warning, combined with some brains, some basic thinking? Yes, we did start in caves, but then we made tools that helped us on to where in the end (?) we flew to the moon and challenge nature and even life from all kind of angles.

It seems, now, with post-peak-manhood we seem to be producing stupidity, apathy and lethargy and the ever so efficient I-am-not responsible-crab; we seem to protect our children and in fact everybody to the very edge where the right of self-determination is dissolved by what is called Health and Safety but ends up in a flood of regulations that per se strangle real responsibility in what one is and one does, one wants and one gets.

Now, what did we get here? A "... faulty wheels warning"? It should rather be called "Beware of idiots". Idiots, because not the wheels were faulty! Idiots, because they very obviously did not know what they were doing and what is really frightening probably still have no clue of how to work, use or take advantage of common tools such like wheel-spiders, torque spanners, modern impact wrenches, and whatever is needed to fix a wheel to a bus. Any vehicle! Do we have to start from scratch again?

So, MBPs, MSP, etc. pp.! There are better things to cut or cut back on; it is definitely not education, schooling, training. The call for responsibility for what one is and what one does should also be preserved; I doubt this new "Curriculum for Excellence" is the way forward, but that is another blog some time later.

No, sorry, I am not offensive; it is me who is offended by this level of stupidity and cretinism. It does not help when you have to read in the same article:

And in the audit process there appeared to be a genuine attempt to find out what had gone wrong rather than cover up.

Hello!? Cover up? In the end this is sold to us as a success story. In 2011! In the UK! By man? Help!

Carpe diem!

passiv or passive: House or Haus

2011-06-22T15:40:00.000+01:00

Many of you have heard about the advantages of "going passive" when it comes to building your new home, house, office, nursery, hospital, workshop, etc.

But that "many of you" does by far not mean "enough"! Here is some more on the subject:

Carpe diem!

all quiet on the western...

2011-06-22T12:30:00.001+01:00

... and the same old tricks

...fighting to keep the Euro alive.

More and more people try to challenge me on what I said long ago and keep saying: the Euro is history , it is an awfully horribly dying species. That alone is not really a challenge! Not just because last night a high ranked German Diplomat said to me "...but if you are right it is going to be a disaster!"

Yes!

And No, I am not following Nostredam.

Ever since the beginning of the crisis nothing, nothing was done to solve the real issues, not even analysing what the crisis' basic reasons are. It is almost like forbidden to talk about Germany's export bonanza being based on Greece's turmoil and the PIGS's high unemployment rate or their diminishing GDPs; admitted, that is cutting it short, but instead of real analysing and acting there is just more paper printed and IT returns pressed hectically to create QE number x, y, z - don't you dare call it QE3!

Bad Bank concepts flood the balance sheets with the ECB leading the gang to be the Worst Bank of all; guess why the ECB did not agree to have the banks taking their share in Greek losses? Schaeuble's idea to have the banks participate was not a new one but it did not happen other than under a voluntary agreement! What a joke, Ladies and Gentlemen? No wonder, you hear no bank shouting "Here!"!

So, what might take longer than expected, all those life prolonging shots and tricks, will end in a revival of a trustworthy currency? Well, give me a break.

Here, for a change, is something a wee bit more funny: did you know "The English are basically Germans"?

Well, at least I made it to Scotland!

Carpe diem!

while we play stupid games...

2011-06-22T11:34:00.003+01:00

... called Euro, Greece, Terrorism or Nuclear...

our human footprint is killing the remains of our habitat. We might not be past-peak-oil but we are definitely past-peak-manhood! Our front gardens are looking good, fresh cut grass, fertilised, nice roses in full blossom; meanwhile the surrounding rest of the planet becomes pretty hostile, the oceans will be amongst the first to go.

A very interesting report on the state of the ocean.org.

Carpe diem!

p.s.:

dogs bark elsewhere...

2011-06-22T11:11:00.002+01:00

... certainly not in the Highlands:

Watchdog refuses to probe council role in housing fair bailout

27 of 30 remain unsold... funny; and there are no complaints from those who are bailed out? Reminds me of those birds flocking together, or was it dogs?

Carpe diem!

Expo's Funky Town

2011-06-14T06:42:00.001+01:00

... one year later... things are really happening here.

It's sheer pandemonium!

August 26th, 2010: highland housing expo!

August 27th, 2010: eco, friendly, green and credentials...

January 19th, 2011: new year: old news

Carpe diem!

a must-watch video: 4:11...

2011-06-09T07:02:00.025+01:00

... minutes, only.

"Caution...

(Open Mind)

Have a nice day and think! Think independently, make up your mind, don't just follow but follow your common sense. Don't just believe, think! Don't just follow the Attenboroughs or Hessels, think and then think further.

Ideas such as the Euro, Globalism, IT or war come and go; the essentials stay the same.

Carpe diem.

the truth lies in the video...

2011-05-08T11:48:00.001+01:00

...so let us all try to have a glimpse of what we are told was Osama Bin Laden's private life, in Pakistan, in this heavily protected, no web offering, five year long home, right next to a military complex...

Don't turn up the speakers too much, there simply is no tone; and it seems not seamless, that video proof.

Hope the sharks were able to verify what they were given for lunch!

Carpe diem!

You only die twice!

2011-05-05T09:01:00.048+01:00

OBL and his second end!

In what we regard as medieval times the victors carried the most wanted enemy's head around on a spear, put it on the market square, celebrated, danced and rejoiced.

It might have been a cruel method but it followed reality; no specialists à la Madame Tussauds and no IT professional were involved.

Today us wimps expect the good guys to do the dirty tricks, clean up the evidence and tell us the story.

Very main that stream!

Carpe diem!

the closer you get...

2011-04-11T07:11:00.000+01:00

...the earlier you'll die!

Two brave Japanese driving towards Fukushima Power Plant.

We are damn close!

Carpe diem!

banks are doing fine...

2011-03-22T20:14:00.000Z

... what about the rest?

Seems like lending is up on the downside. More here (in German).

Carpe diem!

Sir Attenborough

2011-03-20T20:52:00.002Z

"It is a finite planet!"

"...so now our destiny is in our hands!" I couldn't agree more, however, that does not make me an optimist who would believe that this bunch of peoples will find common ground to base the survivial of the human race on.

Realism begins with not denying the obvious and there are just too many out there who are just doing exactly that..

Carpe diem!

the march has begun

2011-02-18T07:45:00.010Z

... but Egypt and friends are just the beginning.

Official unemployment in Northern Africa, Arabia and Iran

source: GEAB

With no jobs (real unemployment is more like three times the above rates), no value-added chains, no production base, climate change and the banksters' commodity bonanzas, i.e. soaring food and energy prices, the way north sounds like the only attractive option.

The case for urgent action in the global food system is now compelling. We are at a unique moment in history as diverse factors converge to affect the demand, production and distribution of food over the next 20 to 40 years.
The needs of a growing world population will need to be satisfied as critical resources such as water, energy and land become increasingly scarce. The food system must become sustainable, whilst adapting to climate change and substantially contributing to climate change mitigation.
There is also a need to redouble efforts to address hunger, which continues to affect so many. Deciding how to balance the competing pressures and demands on the global food system is a major task facing policy makers, and was the impetus for this Foresight Project.

The above you will find in a foreword of Professor Sir John Beddington CMG, FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government, and Head of the Government Office for Science for a report on "The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and choices for global sustainability"; well worth reading, not only in reference to the above but in its repercussions for our own future.

Global warming has caused the more temperate regions of the earth to become uninhabitable. A group of several thousand Africans migrate across the dry oceans to Europe. But this so-called promised land is overpopulated already, sparking severe racial and nationalistic tensions.

Above summary of The March, a 1990 UK drama might have included dry oceans and exaggerated the climate development; however, incapable politics and unleashed banksters make a drama reality which will hardly limit itself to several thousand African migrates.

19-02-2011

... and why Sterling should take shelter:

Proportion of the population under 25 years old in Arab countries and Iran
Source: Le Temps, 02/11/2011 - GEAB

About half of the Arab population is under 25 years old; in extremely difficult circumstances with soaring food and energy prices, low wages (if any), rising unemployment, reduced to a wasting away farming industry this young Arab generation will fight fundamentalists taking over; they want democracy; that might be the nice side of the picture. But with no infrastructure in place and old bonds and hardliners hardly giving up easily it might take a generation (≈ 30 years) to establish reliable democratic structures.

Meanwhile the once-was-superpower's influence is fading away fast leaving behind a powder keg filled with oil and Israel with a burning fuse as just that superpower's protection for the last resorts of despotism will just not do its job leaving behind more uncontrollable chaos.

With Russia watching and China being prepared the time of the Petrodollar is coming to its end.

Pound Sterling! You should just watch and be prepared for the very moment when it will be time to take shelter under what ever EURO there is for the simple task to weather out the storm! May be as soon as tomorrow!!?

Carpe diem!

Peter Alexander

2011-02-13T18:52:00.002Z

... they come and they go! Some stay!

See you there, Peter!

Deliver us, oh Lord ...

2011-02-11T06:01:00.000Z

deliver us ...

Der Spiegel: Cartoonist Jean-Marc Reiser

Amen...

Carpe diem!

euro's suicide, round III

2011-02-09T11:31:00.002Z

Getting ready for OE x + QE y + ...

With Axel Weber out of the race for becoming ECB president and Ireland and Portugal printing more EUROs to pay their (bankster's) bills the flood gates could not be open(ed) any wider for the next rounds of Quantitative Easing... and the ongoing competition for the weakest currency showing the highest inflation. There could come a time where paying back EURO debts will be cheap...

Carpe diem!

... going to Chicago

2011-02-08T07:05:00.000Z

... music helps, blues heals!

Carpe diem!

we better stay home, Tony!

2011-02-07T06:32:00.004Z

Haunted by ghost of Gitmo!

The Independent called it "security fears"; the Guardian the "fear of violence" while Reuters added the word "torture".

Carpe diem!

update (sent by Eelviz Pestley)

Sometimes the truth is no words...

Golden days come and go...

2011-02-07T05:53:00.002Z

I 've still got the blues for you...

Use to be so easy
To give my heart away
But I found that the haeartache
was the price you have to pay
I found that that love is no friend of mine
I should have know'n time after time

So long
it was so long ago
But I've still got the blues for you

Use to be so easy
Fall in love again
But I found that the heartache
It's a roll that leeds to pain
I found that love is more than just a game
Play and to win
but you loose just the same

So long
it was so long ago
But I've still got the blues for you

So many years since I seal you face
You will my heart
there's an emty space
Used to be

(SOLO)

So long
it was so long ago
But I've still got the blues for you

Golden days come and go
There is one thing I know
I've still got the blues for you

See you there, Gary!

Carpe diem!

Indignez vous! Outrage yourself!

2011-02-06T08:25:00.005Z

... but don't just cry out!

The above photo of Stephane Hessel was part of an article in the Welt-Online on the bad spell of capitalism (in German). However, my point is the photo does not do Stephane Hessel and his latest plea for getting involved, for outraging yourself!, for indignez vous! any justice; so here is a better one that shows him more like he wants to tells us something that he believes is an important essence of a long and very experienced life. His experience, his life: Stephane was born in 1917!

His latest book, rather a tiny wee brochure is well worth reading; hard to find a good English online translation, here is one, and here comes a video in German on him and what he stirred up:

Here is an interview in French, some more articles in English you will find here, here, here and here; the last one being the only serious one I found in the English media. Why is that?

It is remarkable what he says and writes but it is also remarkable that it is difficult to find his original words in proper English; it begins with the fact that translating "Indignez vous!" is far from being "cry out!" It is his very strong plea to every one of his fellow readers to outrage himself, to make up his opinion, to phrase same, then get involved and change what is necessary to be changed: much more than the simple: "cry out!"

That explains why what Stephane Hessel says is not openly discussed, hardly anywhere; imagine, the students would not just cry out and shout but phrase, become involved and changed what is necessary to be changed.

Stephene Hessel: "To create it is to resist. To resist, it is to create!"

Carpe diem!

cutting our nose...

2011-02-06T07:16:00.001Z

... to spite our face!

Highland Council needs to cut expenses!

Investments into education are regarded as just that: expenses!

So cutting our future might safe or save what...?

If you think that makes sense then don't bother! If not, please sign and discuss and indignez vous!! That is for all of us, whether for your own children or in responsibility for our society's children!

Support Highland Classroom Assistants Petition
Online Petition: Highland Council is proposing to axe all 350 Classroom Assistant posts from primary schools in the Highlands. We believe this will have an ...
www.gopetition.com/petition/42573.html

Carpe diem!

I shut up, listened and watched...

2011-01-28T06:44:00.002Z

why not just try to do the same!

It is really worthwhile to lean back and follow Paul Nurse. And I recommend for once you do not switch off your brain until this is finished:

And still, you should not switch off that brain of yours!

Carpe diem!

green wind for energy

2011-01-23T07:29:00.030Z

Sustainable Energy from Druim Ba

source: Druim Ba Sustainable Energy

Some kind of future his catching up with our area; so far we only watched such future going up from very high and very far, thankful for it not coming any closer. That changed when plans arrived for a huge wind farm that would alter our landscape, hardly making it any nicer.

Will it help to make future any better?

From the DBSE brochure:

On a purely technical basis, the site could accommodate 37 turbines.

A Scoping Report was submitted to the Scottish Government in the spring of 2010, for a wind farm with 31 turbines with generating capacity of 3MW each and a maximum tip height of 155 metres.

As a result of consultation with various consultees, the scope of the project has been reduced to 28 turbines and a reduced tip height of 150 metres maximum.

Interested in all kinds of energy generation, owning a (small) wind generator and depending on an highly efficient CHP-off-grid supply I am always trying to look at such a project from an angle as neutral as possible; it is difficult but clear figures and numbers on a spreadsheet help to keep that angle.

In an earlier post titled new thinking I said:

To question the efficiency of a wind generator asking from what point during its life span the 300ft cast-iron pole based in >1,000 tons of concrete will net generate electricity is seen as an anti sanctum.

That was two years ago! This time it is 28 times 500ft and much more concrete and iron, still you won't find anything answering that pretty simple question. One would think it would be the most straight forward calculation the want-to-be-wind-farming-company would present to its critics. An overall and detailed foot-print calculation putting input and output into relation from birth to death, from first scratch to the final recycling and regenerating process 25 years later; such a calculation could then be presented and steal most of the campaigners' thunder - if it was in favour of the technology producing carbon free energy.

Kiltarlity residents rally to fight plan for wind farm, a legitimate process (update 09-02-11: see what they have to say); however, in the majority of all cases these activities look like lame yogurt-knitters fighting bloated capitalists and vice versa. Pretty much useless when reduced to birds or bats, to "don't want" or "don't like", only, and even less entertaining where one democratic voice wants to eliminate the other:

A meeting led by campaigners against the Druim Ba wind farm will be held at Kiltarlity Village Hall on Saturday from 11am. It is understood that Druim Ba representatives will not be allowed to speak at the meeting.

Seeing what it could look like should rather force them to speak and explain.

source: Druim Ba - Say No

Not allow the representatives to speak matches the picture of the underdog having a sit-in and a yogurt while listening the green energy blues:

The invitation to discuss the project is found in the project's description and even its name: "Druim Ba Sustainable Energy"; so to take it by the word and investigate the project's true sustainability must be the prime aim prior to challenging the project's feasibility; the result could range anything from "Yes, it is!" to "No, it is not!" but any serious campaign could only be based on the above calculation which would then be put into proportionality e.g. with our society's or be it government's targets, the habitats, the environment, may be its costs, ROI, pay-back-time, its disruptiveness, influence or even beauty - or ugliness.

Anything else, a campaign for the campaigners' sake or a non-sustainable shareholder-value-first project are pure entertainment or sheer propaganda!

Apropos...

propaganda: the many words that you read and hear around those catchwords like green and sustainable, renewable or carbon-neutral while lacking numbers and thorough calculations often even proper thinking enhance the feeling of one party trying to pull a fast one on the other. It reminds me very much of the many bubble words that were made about the Highland Expo.

politics: some time ago the collective decision was made that energy generated from wind should become a major part of our grid supply; obviously the collective decision did not include to calculate the technology's footprint - why?

Carpe diem!

update 25-01-2011
P&J: Revised windfarm plans kept under wraps by developers

update 09-02-2011
The Druim ba - Say No website

P&J: Windfarm Protesters storm Village Meeting

Next exhibition:

Abriachan Village Hall, Wednesday 9th February, 2011, 2 - 8 pm

China's economic lessons...

2011-01-21T05:26:00.000Z

by far too complex for our leaders, no matter what couleur!

I came across Robert Reich's blogpost titled "The Real Economic Lesson China Could Teach Us". It is well worth reading; I am in agreement with what he writes and explains; alone, his conclusions are ending half way into yesterday, only.

China is eating our lunch. Why? It has a national economic strategy designed to create more and better jobs. We have global corporations designed to make money for shareholders.

In reality China is not eating America's lunch, breakfast and dinner, only; it is also having luxury five-course meals three times a day European style; no wonder it faces obesity problems.

For many years, already, it is obvious that China follows a national economic strategy; not much to do with obesity but with ensuring China's direct access to all kinds of resources with an emphasis on land and energy; I keep mentioning this, alone, nobody seems to really care and understand what the enormous amounts of green bonds, green as in greenback, that some see rotting and molding in Chinese bank deposit boxes are buying them; China's global investment bonanza has already won the race against an ever more hollow Dollar (and EURO) and against the publicly discussed and most amusing fact that the US (and Europe) will never in a million years be re-paying its debts.

"He who laughs last laughs best" must be an old Chinese country lore!?

All this is backing up the Yuan, a currency that most of us still never saw or touched but which will be the one and only key-currency owned by the one and only super power in the foreseeable future. Chinese national debt is said to be 14% of GDP - sensational in a world where every other country is in high two or far advanced into three digits debts.

Robert Reich sums it up:

Here’s the real story. China has a national economic strategy designed to make it, and its people, the economic powerhouse of the future. They’re intent on learning as much as they can from us and then going beyond us (as they already are in solar and electric-battery technologies). They’re pouring money into basic research and education at all levels. In the last 12 years they’ve built twenty universities, each designed to be the equivalent of MIT.

Their goal is to make China Number one in power and prestige, and in high-wage jobs.

Yes, and the rest is falling behind, far behind; share-holder value tin gods and global strategies for Mr. Neo and Mrs. Lib help(-ed) China long term and accelerate(-d) the sellouts of America and Europe. Distractions that will make the "Made in Germany" or "...US" or "...UK" an essential criteria for defining goods in the antique malls; in short: one producing wealth while the rest produces debts.

The dark ages have left China for the West and the East.

Politicians of the darkness, don't you worry; it needed independent intelligence both of which your profession doesn't allow for.

Carpe diem!

new year: old news

2011-01-19T10:20:00.006Z

All the best for another year of more of the same: unsolved but mixed problems! Take it easy!

On the Euro and the Yuan;
China and Grangemouth;
Affordables, efficiencies
and the Scottish Expo!

The Euro's main function now during its finale seems to be to assist the US $ in paving the path for the Chinese Yuan to become the world's sole key currency. Sounds odd?

Nothing odd about China's intelligent moves to install themselves as the one and only superpower while the decadent rest watches and applauds. And really, for all their investments they use that green paper covered in rot and mold while most of their investments into e.g. deprived harbours in Portugal, Greece or Scotland are covered by petty cash:

The operators of the Grangemouth oil refinery have struck a deal with China's largest oil and gas producer to safeguard the future of the facility.

At the weekend, it was announced that Scotland and China had sealed a major green energy deal, worth $10m (£6.4m).

Petty cash that opens a flood gate - for China:

It will see technology pioneered in Scotland used at a new renewable energy conversion plant in China.

Combined with technology transfer: clever deals, China! I would like to see that "technology pioneered in Scotland"; to me it rather seems like Grangemouth needs an urgent upgrade itself to possibly understand that 20 or 30 metre high flare flames from burning off flare gas 24/7 could be considered as an substantial waste of energy, not to mention an enormous carbon belcher - obviously it is not any financial problem: we, the stupid customers using stupid gas pumps or desperately in need of energy to fight the cold in our eco-houses will be paying the bill: anyway!

Oh: and two flames are heating up that frosty sky above those human ecotopes at least twice as efficient!

Those Low Energy Home Tenants sitting in eco-friendly homes representing all those stupid marketing credentials while facing sky high power bills would probably love to have their share in those Chinese flames of Grangemouth.

"Some of them are switching the heating off altogether because they cannot afford to keep it going. To build eco-houses that people cannot afford to live in is just not right."
The development, a mix of flats and two and three bedroom houses, was built by Tulloch Homes Express just over 12 months ago.

The properties are fitted with under-floor heating powered by an exhaust heat pump system which recycles hot air. In its 2010 annual report Cairn boasted that the homes would provide tenants with low heating and water bills.

By the way, I commented on the article; must have been lost for many days or could it actually be the case that the Inverness Courier does not want to lose an express client?

This is old news, again an unsolved but an ever increasing problem; the modern society's version of "biting the hand that feeds one..." called progress, growth, prosperity and a human life!? In Germany it is currently called "dioxin crisis", you could also name it "Haiti" or "banksters" or just "peak globe"!

click to enlarge

That last August, remember? I dared to write about our visit to the Scottish Housing Expo, a lot of criticism, some asked me why I would be so grumpy? No mention of me being unfair, wrong or untrue. Here is an update on its sales:

Sales of properties at the site of Scotland's Housing Expo have been mixed almost five months after the event finished in August last year.

Albyn Housing Society said it had sold 10 of its 11 homes at Balvonie Braes in Inverness.

The organisation added that there was interest from someone in its remaining property.

Highland Housing Alliance, one of the expo organisers, has still to sell all of its 27 homes.
The event, showcasing eco-friendly and energy efficient designs, was held during the whole of August.

Backed by Highland Council and the Scottish government, the expo attracted 30,000 visitors.

This "backed by ..." you can find here; a +two million package with mixed sales and modern cladding:

No, I am not a grumpy old man; not yet, just an old, slightly mixed sarcastic realist.

Carpe diem!

coming up to seven billions

2010-12-30T08:31:00.000Z

Good news, there is growth everywhere...

7 Billion, National Geographic Magazine from Jamie Lee Godfrey on Vimeo.

Carpe diem!

snow over easter...

2010-12-17T13:12:00.004Z

Possible captions:

Global warming fall-out now reached Easter Islands!

First we ran out of wood,

so we used stone,

now snow!

Virtuality will be the last resort

for our moai.

As seen in Bavaria*!

* true!

Carpe diem!

Happy Christmas from Nigel Farage

2010-12-15T10:53:00.005Z

Greece is on strike, Spain will be down graded, Belgium and Portugal are sha(c)king; Ireland is forced into saving (more and more), UK students meet Charles while Berlusconi is paying €500k per vote to stay in power; this all allows Merkel and Sarkozy to run the show, order more paper and China to buy what's left.

Carpe diem!

let the eyes of vigilance never be closed

2010-12-15T08:29:00.009Z

"How do you stop a snowball after it hit you in the face?"

I do not know Julian Assange, I am not related, I never met him; yet, I have the strange feeling it could have been me. Fox News want him executed but there are others, even Americans... that know better ways to discuss this latest distraction of what is a world in chaos and turmoil.

I agree with most of what (U.S.!) Congressman Ron Paul had to say and I disagree with the way Sweden and the UK are dealing with the matter making American dogsbodies of themselves. Blair was stupid and ignorant enough to get us into unwinnable wars, as among others WikiLeaks' documents confirm; idiocy goes (a)round (the world) in circles.

This is all far from handling a democracy and its values in any intelligent and honorable way.

Carpe diem!

snow rumors on tyres

2010-12-13T09:49:00.003Z

... or snow tyres' rumors?

BBC

Last weekend's best joke!

Some motorists who fit winter tyres to their car to cope with snow are being charged higher insurance premiums, it has been claimed.
AA Insurance Services says some people have been told to pay up to 20% more.

Winter tyres should be much safer in the snow, but some insurers have been counting them as a modification to the manufacturer's specifications.

I find it very funny (at times) to watch the UK's desperate need to be different than all the others, at least invent any possible wheel again but name it differently even for technologies and products that have been around for long and can hardly be improved by making them British!?

This is all far from being efficient and living an intelligent and sustainable life.

"The confusion may be through call centres, where that information is not getting through," says Malcolm Tarling, of the ABI.

Oh well, "... not getting through" what?

Carpe diem!

we should get mad, shouldn't we?

2010-12-10T19:32:00.000Z

Carpe diem!

... a sleaze ball named Julian Assange!?

2010-12-10T13:06:00.006Z

Murdoch's Fox News: The O'Reilly Factor (video):
There are traitors in America...should be executed or put into prison for life!

What information that has not been made public, yet, justifies discussions like the above? What is there that makes America - and/or the Banksters (??) - so nervous?

Propaganda goes back a long time!

Carpe diem!

how heavy the snow is!

2010-12-09T08:32:00.000Z

...give me a break! Heavy blanket?!

As heavy snow blankets the country, STV viewers can keep
abreast of the severe weather conditions via our website and news broadcasts.

Our part of the country is covered with 30 or 40 cm of snow; no time to measure its weight and call it "heavy"; in the end it is just a normal winter's dress one would expect to blanket our country like so many others. The difference is most of those other countries just know how to deal with ice and snow while we seem to believe in global warming being a one-way-road and snow ploughs being a tool of the past.

With the North Atlantic Drift slowing down Western Europe would be in for a more continental climate which will have more extremes on the menu for us - it is that simple, that global and that un-heavy!

Carpe diem!

a genius never dies

2010-12-08T18:39:00.002Z

Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

See you there!

going passive, the future of construction...

2010-12-04T11:36:00.000Z

making it fast, efficent and sustainable!

Simple answer on a simple question:

Carpe diem!

the older you get...

2010-12-03T20:46:00.006Z

... the more friends are leaving you!

Peter Hofmann died November 30th, 2010.

See you there, Peter!

fish net will have to be something else, soon

2010-12-03T17:06:00.013Z

The Spatial Expansion and Ecological Footprint of Fisheries (1950 to Present)

Using estimates of the primary production required (PPR) to support fisheries catches (a measure of the footprint of fishing), we analyzed the geographical expansion of the global marine fisheries from 1950 to 2005.

This approach enabled us to assign exploitation status across a 0.5° latitude/longitude ocean grid system and trace the change in their status over the 56-year time period.

At the end of the line there will be no fish:

The decline of newly exploited areas since the late 1990s, which corresponds to a decline in global landings [7], implies that the era of great expansion has come to an end. With a limited room for expansion, and excessive appropriation of primary production in many regions, the only way toward sustainability of global fisheries goes through reduction of PPR.

So we will have to find new applications for fish net...

Carpe diem!

hallelujah, school buses on snow tyres!

2010-12-03T16:27:00.002Z

... and it just took another winter!

One evening a year ago our parents' council discussed the problems with school transport, mainly related to bad weather conditions; well, usually just normal weather conditions taking the season called winter into account.

The proposal to ask the bus contractor to install snow tyres was washed away by the local politician, indeed the local councillor, as being a condition to be included in the next contract term's agreement, only, as it had never been part of the current contract. With other words, as it was not ordered one wouldn't get it or: life is "mostly sunny!", anyway.

Politicians?!?

So pushing all common sense plus those ever so destructive Health and Safety rules away our kids had the pleasure to sit in totally unsafe buses; okay, only when those made it up or out of the snow piles and across the ice patches which covered our roads for the first three months of 2010.

A mere eight months, early frost, heaps of new snow and may be the one winter on tyres blog post later those school buses show up on snow tyres!!

Victoria, victoria!

Common sense prevailed! Or would you think that a clever politician improved a contract?

Carpe diem!

the miracles of modern construction...

2010-12-03T13:04:00.002Z

... based on fabulous marketing?

SupaWall® panels are extremely thermally efficient and have been tested by the National Physical Laboratory who confirmed a U-value of 0.12 W/m2K. When typical cladding is taken into account the U-Value is 0.11 W/m2K
...
As an option, the 50mm polyurethane insulation on the cavity face of the timber frame can be omitted, giving U values with and without cladding of 0.17 W/m2K & 0.18 W/m2K respectively.

We have calculated this wall construction several times; the best we come up with is an overall U value of 0.17W/m²K which is describing the best case scenario; the mentioned "typical cladding" is typically vented, so it does not really improve the U-value but rules the humidity level between the two walls which seems to make the dew point critical. Also, as the stone cladding needs to be attached to the wood construction, usually by stainless steel pins, the thermal bridging effect would further strain any U-value calculation, the correct one or its phantasy's version.

So what makes it 0.12? What did we miss?

Any suggestions?

Carpe diem!

the transfer-union transferring debts

2010-11-29T06:31:00.006Z

MISH'S

This could also be signed with...

"...your best chaps of Euroland,

The Ponzis!

You need to read the IrishTimes article twice to understand how those €85bn are put together...

Under the terms of the deal the State will contribute €17.5 billion of the required funding, €12.5 billion of which will come from the National Pension Reserve Fund and €5 billion from “other domestic cash resources”.

The European Financial Stability Mechanism will contribute €22.5 billion, the IMF €22.5 billion and the €22.5 billion from the European Financial Stability Fund.

So the "Irish National Pension Fund" and "other domestic source"are in fact making good money in supporting this package:

The European Union has approved an €85 billion rescue package for Ireland which, if drawn down in its entirety today, would attract an average interest rate of 5.83 per cent.

At least, no need to worry for Irish pensions!

Carpe diem!

the truth is in the jar

2010-11-10T06:58:00.000Z

Whoever claims copyright on the below should tell me more:

ATTORNEY
Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS
No.

ATTORNEY
Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS
No.

ATTORNEY
Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS
No.

ATTORNEY
So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS
No!

ATTORNEY
How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS
Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar!

ATTORNEY
I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS
Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practising law!

Don't you laugh, the obvious is da.. serious!

Carpe diem!

euro's suicide, round II

2010-11-10T05:51:00.006Z

With Irish and Greek yields soaring EURO's suicide is back on track:

source FT

Yields on Greek 10-year bonds spiked to 11.34 per cent on Friday, approaching the historic highs of last May when the country had to be bailed out by the European Union and International Monetary Fund to avert a sovereign default.

Not to forget Portugal; so much for the outcome of the rescue package; nevertheless the ECB now has €64bn in hands to buy more of the same junk. No reason to be criticising the FED and its $600bn package doing just the very same; they all hang on the drip called Ponzi™ with the US hating the EURO crisis as it gives them a huge problem in trying to devalue the greenback and inflate the market; times of easy Dollar adjustments like Ronald Reagan did it are long over with.

China buying into EUROland spending its Dollarpaper will retard the lingering illness and increase its influence on the losers while at the same time German's export bonanza goes on using the same Irish, Greek and Portuguese currency that is in its final throes.

Don't anybody worry: the G20 will sort it out; this week, here on this planet; stay tuned!

Carpe diem!

and the winner is...

2010-10-27T06:23:00.002+01:00

China!

"Paid for by citizens against government waste": waste?! 40 or 50 years too late.

Carpe diem!

the lateral gearbox

2010-10-27T06:08:00.000+01:00

If round doesn't sove it, think square!

Carpe diem!

Do you know Liu Xiaobo?

2010-10-14T12:03:00.003+01:00

Last Friday, October 8th 2010 the democratic activist Liu Xiaobo received this year's Peace Nobel Price. This is where he lives, a prison in Jinzhou, North-East China:

Der Spiegel

British media as most international does not cover much about the country he lives in and really not much about him - all in comparison to the country's size, its influence, its role, its power; the usual headlines are related to the suppression of journalism, shut down blogs and a bit more about the US trying to convince China to appreciate its currency, the Renminbi, better known as Yuan. Here is the reason why:

Unbelievable $1,600,000,000,000 (some sources even say 2,5 trillion) and no debts, no interest on debts, no sovereign bond crunch but pure investment potential, isn't it? The difference makes it twice as much!

China is pouring another $7bn (£4.4bn) into Brazil's oil industry, reigniting fears of a global "land grab" of natural resources. (The Independent)

And the UK is trying to cut some £5bn and close down a number of quangos just because sovereign debts, bad banks and interest payments are killing us; they question our creditworthiness while at the same time our industrial base is shrinking following the US model of neo-liberalism for the last 40 years. Yet, China is back on track:

This is all we (can?) do:

Question: Do you miss Mrs Merkel?

Answer: Germany does not really want to applause its hardest competitor China while it is copying same in taking advantage of an artificially depressed currency (€) allowing it to boost Exports and create another economic miracle; however, this time this miracle is neither sustainable nor will it last very long.

The trend is back to normal, a downward spiral for the US and the rest of the world while China invests in anything possible - including land which you hear and read not much about. China's severe protectionism not only covers for example its currency but also its land which is state owned, so one might be able to lease it, but an individual will never own it. So even China itself goes shopping for land and more elsewhere:

While much of the developed world is baulking at its debts in the aftermath of the financial crisis, China has continued a global spending spree of unprecedented proportions, snapping up everything from oil and gas reserves to mining concessions to agricultural land, with vast reserves of US dollars. (The Independent)

What will be the impact on the Pound once the wars on labour, resources and markets are united in what will be one global trade war sparing no currency and no asset? We might well see a soaring Pound, that's not optimism and won't last that long either, but one or two or three currencies out there will be loosing the war for the weakest one and will (have to) play the counterparts of what will be a crushed $, € and/or ¥. So we better prepare ourselves for rough times to come pretty soon where imports will include a big portion of inflation and challenge our industrial base; rather, what's left of it.

Der Spiegel

By the way, this is Liu Xiaobo! Why "by the way"? Just because I think that Liu will share the same experience as the Dalai Lama did when he was rewarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1989: nothing changed and China moved forward.

Carpe diem!

coca-cola zero: aspartam: E951

2010-10-09T10:32:00.001+01:00

Max Keiser and his latest idea:

...and here is another reason why this seems a good idea:

Carpe diem!

like a dog without a bone...

2010-10-09T06:22:00.000+01:00

Into this house we're born,

into this world we're thrown...

Take a long holiday, let your children play...

There is a storm coming up; nobody will tell you as nobody knows, wants to know or wants you to know:

There is a storm coming up, we will call it an unprecedented one but it will simply be the storm accumulated by the endless and interdependent crunches we caused, cause, watch, and fail to solve even one single one of.

There is a storm coming up which will be our generations' perfect storm and manifest our failures perfectly for the future generations to learn from: hope will die thereafter!

Riders On The Storm lyrics
Songwriters: Krieger, Robbie; Densmore, John; Morrison, Jim; Manzarek, Ray;

Riders on the storm, riders on the storm
Into this house we're born, into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone, an actor out on loan
Riders on the storm

There's a killer on the road, his brain is squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday, let your children play
If ya give this man a ride, sweet family will die
Killer on the road, yeah

Girl ya gotta love your man, girl ya gotta love your man
Take him by the hand, make him understand
The world on you depends, our life will never end
Gotta love your man, yeah

Riders on the storm, riders on the storm
Into this house we're born, into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone, an actor out on loan
Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm, riders on the storm
Riders on the storm, riders on the storm

Carpe diem!

$ € £ ¥: it is forlon hope!

2010-10-03T11:13:00.005+01:00

I know it seems like currency related topics are taking over, even this blog that would rather discuss solutions to our lives' sustainability issues than what is forlorn hope, anyway; but I should, at least, mention today being a special day for Germany and the rest of Europe.

As expected China does not miss any chance to stay on top of the game and therefore will help Greece with a €3.6bn fund designated to buy Chinese ships. Interest will be ultra low, so Greece will be able to undercut international shipping rates running the latest state-of-the-art-ships even more. China gets its money back which is nothing else but those USD bonds which the US are printing, printing and again printing - in what obviously are totally uncontrolled but desperate processes (from 3 minutes in the video becomes really painful for Madame Inspector General for the Federal Reserve Coleman!):

Yes, the video dates back to 2009, March; but yes, the ECB, the BoE and the BoJ are all busy sucking up (their own) bonds, approving dozens of Bad Banks while pressing return, return, return - nothing else but the modern, though very green alternative, of printing money ponziing the scheme!

That wouldn' bother me too much; what really bothers me is the fact that while some countries seek their rescue in printing, others print and at the same time implement cuts that threaten social peace while all the custs of this world won't catch up with what is thrown into black holes and banksters' pockets.

This could all be cut short: new banks, new money, corrected rules, all said already long ago! Alone, now it needs new currencies as well! So, what's next? The longer we wait the more damage will be done.

The human races' stupidity to not being able to keep pace learning while progressing is closing in on the worst case scenario.

But then there seems to be one country on the edge of a continent, far away, one human race, that understood the rules and regulations of what it was allowed and invited to play with faster and better than all the others combined: China! The one and only global player which has now, watching its rivals' disintegration, decided to spur domestic demand to stabilise economy.

The rest is putting funny text over aging generations' hymns.

Carpe diem!

it is the race to the bottom...

2010-10-01T21:50:00.001+01:00

Finally some experts and insiders are taking this currency war for what it is, a race for cheap labour and a war on jobs! From 2:45 it starts to become interesting - but you read most of the arguments earlier in this blog.

It is a matter of time, only, until the Pound will be effected. Latest when one of the PIIGS fails or Germany can't sign the next cheque it will become dramatic, really volatile and totally unpredictable. Of course, they will try to delay this as long as possible because once they fail German export will be collapsing. The big players have taken all precautions possible, the rest will have to shrink and fight for survival.

Carpe diem!

trade war or tradewar?

2010-10-01T13:11:00.008+01:00

Following yesterday's video on Peter Schiff and his "so funny" look at repaying debts I received a video (Newsy) on a number of experts discussing the possible consequences for the US economy caused by the Levin/Yuan Bill; it being bark or bite?

All true, but late, very late, somehow too late, isn't it? Paul Krugman puts it into the right context but then even he is coming in 76 minutes past twelve with his wisdom.

Trade war? Fine! In its "cold" and unlimited form this goes on ever since the ones that are now called Neo-Libs have started to globalise what was global anyway but controlled; true, often over controlled, i.e. protected by rules and rights, by duties and customs, export and import regulations. With other words, the Neo-Libs shot way beyond what was supposed to describe "open markets" but eliminated all controls; they banned protection leaving everything and anybody unprotected and highly praised the "free markets' society" as the master of all religions.

There is some parallelism in the procedures and methods to how the biggest nonsense..., the EURO, was born and imposed upon a bunch of economies that couldn't be any more different and had proved so ever since 1949. Still, the EURO was a means to a similar end.

In what one could describe a joint-venture like community of interests the Neo-Libs joined up with the guardians of those emerging markets that offered the most liberty, i.e. possibilities. Above all China (PRoC) with its reddish-brown regulated paper currency and negligible social rights and cost offered all of that and more and was/is paradise for transferring jobs boosting global payers' margins; at the same time they allowed know-how, formerly utmost protected and safe guarded, to cross all borders and contracts at will but by purpose! Here is an example of how openly China follows its aims today! There are many more examples from toys to clothes, PCs to mobiles, airplanes to trains. And then there is the military expense.

Don't anybody think that this is to criticise China or blame it of being unfair or suchlike! The opposite, think about the path China took the last two, three, four decades - sure, invited and supported by those who trade(-d) in coffin ships, that sold our assets and souls - but with China taking every single opportunity to climb the stairs unflinching and fearlessly mutating from what once was a farming Red China into the number one work-bench, exporter and financier of the world; if one digs deep enough one will find China amongst the top three, max five, in any of the races for any kind of resource from energy to ore and food to water, not to forget: land.

So a bill accusing China of predatory currency policy is the one and only globalism joke; I hear China laughing but thinking while not expecting to be paid back. It is all very old news and if anything it underlines the impotence of a desperate world power choking on its accumulating failures and its professional and/or ignorant and/or seduced politicians competing for a warm seat.

If the problem was to be really addressed it had to be a global approach to same setting global rules - something that neither Brussels wants to address in reference to the EU and an imploding EURO nor the US and its Neo-Liberal intelligence dislodged far from Joe Blow.

That's how near or far we all are from globalism.

Carpe diem.

debts? paying back!? joking?!

2010-09-30T10:49:00.007+01:00

Peter Schiff about everything and the US debts in particular which are not expected to be paid back, ever! Even China knows!

So how strong will that bill be that the Senate now has to pass on the Yuan and it needing appreciated? It's old news, both, the video and the Yuan but China today is really shivering, hardly laughing like the audience in the above Peter Schiff video, about 40 minutes into the talk, when Peter makes jokes about good old Madoff and the Government's' Ponzi schemes versus what seems like naive China. Seems!

Go and talk to your bank and tell them "You must be joking! You - want your money back?! Kidding me??"

Carpe diem!

the biggest nonsens in monetary history

2010-09-29T07:13:00.000+01:00

Last weekend a conference was held in Berlin: "The EURO ante collapse"; it was completely ignored by the German, the European media; "Russia Today" odd enough, was the only programme reporting about it; here are two videos which will tell you why mainstream was switched off. On the conference's website you find more details.

Here is Professor Wilhelm Hankel explaining the problem, again, only covered by "Russia Today":

No coverage avoids disruption; mainstream is under total control, any and everywhere; a modern and more sophisticated form of what needed a Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in former times!

Carpe diem!

stoned!

2010-09-28T11:36:00.000+01:00

This is beyond any believe; we write the year 2010 in some places of this world.

I feel sorry for them, you and me!

Carpe diem!

it's either out ... or out ...

2010-09-26T12:36:00.001+01:00

... but who, how and when?

Nigel Farage in an interview with Michael Mross on the EURO, it having been a mistake, the timing of its exodus and the undemocratic European Union:

Carpe diem!

san quentin...

2010-09-25T10:34:00.003+01:00

... have a nice weekend, and if you don't know what to do to stop thinking about crap replace smokes and drinks by good music!

Carpe diem!

Ohhh, ...

San Quentin, you've been livin' hell to me
You've hosted me since nineteen sixty three
I've seen 'em come and go and I've seen them die
And long ago I stopped askin' why

San Quentin, I hate every inch of you.
You've cut me and have scarred me thru an' thru.
And I'll walk out a wiser weaker man;
Mister Congressman why can't you understand.

San Quentin, what good do you think you do?
Do you think I'll be different when you're through?
You bent my heart and mind and you may my soul,
And your stone walls turn my blood a little cold.

San Quentin, may you rot and burn in hell.
May your walls fall and may I live to tell.
May all the world forget you ever stood.
And may all the world regret you did no good.

San Quentin, you've been livin' hell to me.

unprecedented pressure

2010-09-20T14:20:00.002+01:00

on planet Earth ... but why it is good news as well!

Johan Rockstrom, Executive Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Stockholm Resilience Centre, gave a TED talk in July 2010:

The drama is, of course, that 200 countries on this planet have to simultaneously start moving in the same direction!

Carpe diem!

the american dream has turned into a nightmare...

2010-09-19T08:11:00.001+01:00

...what about (y)our dreams?

From self love to the Tea Party (19-07-2010):

Carpe diem!

was it not us to be(come) world market leader...?

2010-09-17T10:24:00.000+01:00

I do remember, it was Gordon Brown's idea, see the Telegraph here. Another one of those brilliant examples of politicians' talk the talk never getting into walk the walk. Another example? CCS!

I am very sure China runs a number of think tanks, this morning one decided to shake up the automobile industry, the one outside PRoC, here is the WSJ article:

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is preparing a 10-year plan aimed at turning China into "the world's leader" in developing and producing battery-powered cars and hybrids, according to executives at four foreign car companies who are familiar with the ministry's proposal.
The draft suggests that the government could compel foreign auto makers that want to produce electric vehicles in China to share critical technologies by requiring the companies to enter joint ventures in which they are limited to a minority stake, the executives say.

So they do it again like they did it with trains, airplanes, ships, lawnmowers, chainsaws, computers, mobiles, toys, clothes and so on and "we" again don't like it...

The plan is "tantamount to China strong-arming foreign auto makers to give up battery, electric-motor, and control technology in exchange for market access," says a senior executive at one foreign car maker. "We don't like it."

Hey, you senior executive, that won't make any difference! We all know that none of these vast Chinese markets ever was meant to be a free market for all to join in under equal rights, conditions and options! The Red Party and the Renminbi will ensure that this is a proper regulated cul-de-sac like so many before and you do what you are told!

Nice, you could almost become jealous of such a strong government and those red cars.

Carpe diem!

smart meter rubbish

2010-09-16T08:35:00.000+01:00

BBC:Smart meters 'may not cut energy use'

Research by a University of Oxford scientist found that the devices alone were unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in the demand for energy.

Indeed, who ever expected a meter hanging on a wall, smart or stupid, to reduce demand? Would you safe gas if the pump meter at the gas station was smart, which it most probably is?

Citing Italy and Sweden as exampled, she said: "They are not being rolled out with the aim of giving customers better feedback, except that the households will get an accurate bill whereas in the past they might have got an estimate.

No, they are rolled out to safe somebody being paid to collect data in situ; accurate, in time, remote monitoring of what is consumed simply helps to charge in time and accurately - it helps the supplier and you pay the cost and ensure profit! That's what is smart about the meter; the rest is bullshit.

"But in [the UK], it is part of government policy that smart meters will be rolled out with real-time electricity displays."

Real time displays: if that display besides the consumption figures gave you the on-time price for what you are or are about to consume that would help; however, you would have to watch it when and while you switched on the washing machine or put the kettle on? That could be at one o'clock at night or seven o'clock in the morning, when we all have our tea... during that time the imported electricity will be most expensive anyway, so you might have a cup of water for breakfast which, no doubt, soon will be monitored by a smart water meter. The suppliers are what's smart here, that's for sure.

No, smart meters do not reduce consumption! Who ever believed or believes in that fairy tale fell or falls for another trick of another trade; don't worry, you are in good company, the government does it again and again.

We should understand and know what we get for our money; the rest is just daffing.

Carpe diem!

the export power house's think tank

2010-09-15T13:12:00.001+01:00

...warns the US ... and the rest of the world.

Ding Yifan, a policy guru at the Development Research Centre, said China could respond by selling holdings of US debt, estimated at over $1.5 trillion (£963bn). This would trigger a rise in US interest rates.

China's authorities seem split over how to respond to moves on Capitol Hill for legislation to punish Beijing for holding down the yuan. The central bank has ruled out use of its "nuclear weapon", insisting that it would not exploit its $2.45 trillion of foreign reserves for political purposes. "The US Treasury market is a very important market for China," it said.

These lines are part of an article in today's Telegraph on a Chinese think tank warning the US in case of a trade war to be the loser. It is almost as if the author is on a yellow payroll: or just naive: his lines read as if there was a democratic government in place in China right next to a totally independent Central Bank. Both is definitely not the case.

It is also misleading to talk about $1.5 or even $2.45 trillion as if those were stacked in a big bank's treasury box. China has made extensive use of the huge surplus it worked so hard for by collecting hard currencies and defend its fancy paper money glued to the US currency's heels. Globalism allowed for one of its major participants to pay with rice and paper and suck up $s and €s; no wonder China's foreign investments jumped from $5.5bn in 2004 to $56.5bn in 2009 and is expected to reach $100bn in 2013; beware: those are the official figures not covering what China does not want us to know! And there is plenty of that.

China's path to lead the way can be phased as follows: phase I, the time when China sucked up labour and offered cheapest products is dealt with, that is not to say it ever ended; phase II was to suck in know how and equipment under the cover of intensifying phase I; the neo-lib masterminds of all continents celebrated their bonanzas of soaring shareholder values by letting Chinese factories manufacture what then was sold with dream margins to the rest of the world. At the same time know how was not only given away, it was thrown at any Chinese face, interested or not!

Now China is entering phase III where the infrastructure and the resources are in place to run the show, become world market leader in producing more or less any of the mass and most of the future relevant products. High tech or low tech, anything. Just one example: railway.

And while Japan is desparate to devalue its currency (BBC) the Yuan is money to play with: play money..

Carpe diem!

the burial of 10 (US) industries

2010-09-10T06:34:00.002+01:00

... Huffington Post...

is naming ten US industries that suffer the most and will never be what they were before the crisis started. That's a huge job loss but then we - I include the UK - obviously have too many jobs anyway; how else will one explain the many, many jobs we let go or even actively displaced to China and elsewhere for the sake of some share-holders' benefit.

By the way, a great part of those "ten (US) industries" the UK is about to lose as well, some (>Auto) is gone already, some might not know or only believe, yet.

Carpe diem!