That's Service for You!

Useless, hopeless: rip-off: as usual!

Yes, it is raining in Scotland...

 

We have a new car! Well, it is 24 years old; 22,000 miles on the clock! Almost untouched, a collector’s item, a top of the (old) line 300E 4-matic, a mind-boggling £35k in 1989!

4-matic was Mercedes’ even more sophisticated but then more complicated answer on the Audi Quattro technology. It is obviously a human misconception that we all need to re-invent wheel after wheel after wheel, but then…

4-matic details...

Picking it up and taking it home - the first 800km trip for the car in 10 or 12 years, it did very well except for a somewhat retarded automatic gear changing when arriving at home - was a good idea.

Then,  I made an expensive mistake: I thought it sensible to have the gearbox checked at the local super specialist, the one and only MB dealership in a 200km circle. Booked it in for 0800 on a Friday morning and agreed to have it hooked up to the service system, read out any messages with a special eye on the 4-matic system, change the transmission oil and filter – just that, no more, no less! While on the phone we agreed I would arrive at 0800, sharp, wait for the works to be done; as usual i-pad and i-phone plus endless mails and a coffee or two would give me some “office-time” in a corner seat.

While the registration had already given her, a thoroughly telephone-marketing-trained question-and-answer-machine-lady, all relevant details, plus postal code, name and even date of birth (mine) she went through all the data at least three times; in times of Tempora and Prism, the hunt for Mister Snowden from HongKong to Moscow and the brewing 52 years in prison for a Mister Manning you would have thought that with the postal code alone they would be able to read your mind forward and backwards, but … unexpectedly my experience with the same workshop, different people and different ownership about nine years earlier when they were not able to find an electronic mistake on an almost brand-new G400 and our more or less constant spare-part orders (we dare owning other exotic Mercedeses…), obviously was not part of their data-collection-bonanza. Ten minutes into that repeating process of personal data …

… I should have noticed that I was on an entirely wrong trip! Her answer on my polite request to watch the computerised test and check, more specifically to see that readout with the car hooked up to the DTC, the data link connector, was: “No way!” Health and Safety would not allow any third party in the workshop, too dangerous, one could be hurt 2… 3… 4… finally: “…but we can print out the read-out data and discuss it with you in the office”. And "Yes, our staff knows those cars, very good really, has worked many times on same...".

This time that H&S crap should have – finally - rung all bells, after all I am in construction (!!); and I should have thought about that “… could be hurt…” line much more seriously!                    

mercedesclass.net

07:56, I arrived in front of the same lady’s desk – us old (!) German borns are terrible when it comes to punctuality. Repeating all data two and three times and then asking what was wrong as if I had not given all details before, ended with the sentence “Okay, the car will be ready by five o’clock… do you need a lift?” Well! ”No!”

I was lifted stante pede! Lifted into that orbit of bad memories and that ugly experience with the same shop, different actors, nine years ago; that same arrogance of altering anything their way and of how best to rip one off. “No! I will stay, it is a defined job and was booked to start at 0800 with me waiting.” “Basta!”. “But checking the old car thoroughly will take some time… we do not know the outcome, yet, it might take some...!”.

Well, I stayed …

less than 1% of all W124 built came as 4-matic

09:45, eight or ten e-mails later found the car just “lifted” with the transmission oil making a mess instead of running into a collection tray; all eyes on the workshop intruder walking right into the workshop did not stop the intruder taking a good look at the underside of his 24 year old new car. Except for the oil all over the place... looking very good, the car! The workshop? Discussable!

10:30, I had long returned to the same chair to do some more e-mailing, the technician came in to tell me that a test drive had revealed the same odd behaviour of the car; he would have to check the pneumatic and hydraulic pressures in the gear and transfer box and no, the car would definitely not have any diagnosis connection to read out any mistakes… Oh (!?); so (?!)  … back to waiting.

11:40 the same technician explained that he had not been able to check those pressures, confirmed again that there would be no diagnosis option for that kind of old car, that I would have to book it in again as he would have no more time…

12:10 the car was parked in front of the show-room.

12:35 I was presented with the invoice; the fault had not been found, a bulb had been changed and two different but unknown quantities of oil of unknown quality had been changed costing £67.50 plus one filter; the morning was summed up with the detailed report-line: “REQ OIL CHANGE AND CHECK AGAIN”.

Brilliant; LAB cost was discounted 40% at £225.72, obviously from 376.20, which, generously calculated, from 9:30 to 12:10 computes to an hourly rate of £141.08. Okay - discounted to so much more favourable £84.65.

Completely frustrated I left this centre of excellence trying to add up this £1,700+ bill from nine years ago and the above £385.99; that old invoice had said “Fault not found” after the car had been parked three days in the same workshop with 17 hours invoiced. Once home I "googled" that diagnostic capacity of the W124 series... and guess what...!!? Correct: the workshop lacks the equipment or the capacity to use it; definitely the car does not!

You might ask why I did it again? Well, meanwhile the ownership had changed, there could have been room for improvement and getting a lot better; I tend to trust people, naively, d'accord - but then it got much worse: at least last time I did not inherit a dent:

Thank you,  ...!*#*'!

I wanted to return immediately to make a real fuss... and made my way, but then...?

And why do I like those old cars? It is more that I dislike today's electronic plastic bombers Mercedes-Benz (and others) build for us, their customers; they just too obvious are made to boost shareholders’ value by promising the blue from the sky look wise and also performance wise but only until guarantee and warranty are done with. It needs electronics and software service and updates to help those wanna-be classics to become real vintage cars – but that is not driving new business so our throw-away-society shan’t leave room for anything sustainable. As BMW has admitted they build cars to last a life time - and that life-time is defined by BMW to be six years; thereafter it is time for the customer-idiot to invest into a new model and re-start depreciation from five or even six digit purchase prices to neglectable chump change five or seven years down the line.

Yes, and some days sheit happens! Lots of! I would not recommend that workshop unless you want to stick with one of those plastics until guarantee lapses...

Carpe diem!

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

...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!

passiv or passive: House or Haus

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!

while we play stupid games...

... 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.:

Expo's Funky Town

... 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!

Sir Attenborough

"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

... 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!

green wind for energy

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

going passive, the future of construction...

making it fast, efficent and sustainable!

Simple answer on a simple question:

Carpe diem!

fish net will have to be something else, soon

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!

the miracles of modern construction...

... 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!

smart meter rubbish

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!

be prepared `a la China

China follows that old warning "be prepared", something that Europe definitely has unlearned; or, may be Europe is still just not old enough to understand.

Meteoric growth and scant domestic energy reserves mean that action is urgently required. Energy efficiency must be taken into account right from the planning and construction stage and the energy requirements of new buildings must be significantly reduced.

With German assistance, China is aiming to improve the energy efficiency of its buildings. At a meeting of the "German-Chinese working group on energy efficiency in buildings", the German Federal Ministry of Building, the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD), the Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (dena) - the German Energy Agency - and the Chinese state-controlled Center for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (CEEB) adopted wide-ranging cooperative activities and a new working programme.

The Chinese state's control obviously is not discussing global warming, whether its man-made, coming or going; China has decided that they better prepare for energy becoming even more expensive while their population and economy is growing. So not only do they invest in all kinds of resources but at the same time they are covering the consumption end.

Hello? Anybody out there seeing the consequences? China is - here too - boosting its competitiveness!!!

Carpe diem!

eco, friendly, green and credentials...

Following the coverage of the Highland Housing Expo you will have heard a lot about the designs, concepts, and most materials  being eco-friendly and also all kinds of references to "green credentials" that have been added or included..

Any idea of what that is? Any measurable parameters? What are the specifications? Is it measured in kg, metres, kWh, colour intensity or leagues or miles, may be seconds?

cre·den·tial 

noun

1. anything giving evidence that someone is entitled to or deserving of credit, confidence, etc.
2. a document that serves as official proof of a person's position, authority, etc.; specif., letters of credence

transitive verb credentialed -·tialed, credentialing -·tial·ing

to furnish with credentials

Environmentally friendly (also eco-friendly, nature friendly, and green) are synonyms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies considered to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment.^[1] To make consumers aware, environmentally friendly goods and services often are marked with eco labels. But because there is no single international standard for this concept, the International Organization for Standardization considers such labels too vague to be meaningful.^[2] 

Where there is no "single international" Standard and nobody measuring a thing it all boils down to pure marketing rubbish!

Here are some more bubble texts which you should read, take in and think about their consequences:

eco-minimalism

sustainable design

a mix of affordable, energy-efficient accommodation

a breathing home

dynamic living space

dynamic breathing permeable insulated roof ...

...directly through the insulation...
...heating and cooling the air passively

environmental buffer

passive solar gain

carbon-neutral living space

key-design features

absorb and store the free heat

a sustainable modern approach

passive solution

passive systems

heating by south facing windows

pragmatic sustainability

driven by sustainable sourcing

thermal mass ... entirely breathable

a living structure

a simple envelope

with the future in mind

fully recyclable solid timber

natural ventilation

house of two boxes of honest industry

a solar buffer space

basic mechanical ventilation

making it happen

find an environmentally friendly way to travel
...

I admit, those phrases are taken out of context; but most contexts ain't make them any better; but worse.

Carpe diem!

highland housing expo!

going by Wikipedia: "expo" may refer to:

• Expo (exhibition), short for "exposition", and also known as World's Fair

"a warm welcome to the Highlands"

Before we went to visit the Highland Housing World's Fair I had been wondering why the media cover of this once-in-a-life-time event was so sparse and why when ever I came across an occasional comment e.g. on Twitter it mostly referred to "nice pictures" taken during that "fabulous day out" mixed with those empty phrases like "fantastic", "interesting" and "worthwhile". Here is the exception to the rule: "ir-is.html">auchterness"

Well, now I know.

Getting this exhibition started had its pains; anything from "wrong location", "bad timing", "illegal site", "no interest", "too expensive" to the usual yet ambitious exaggerations like "...the fair will be the first of its kind in the UK and will be an innovative development of 55 homes which will be at the cutting edge of modern design and sustainable building techniques".

It might be the first but the rest of this official line was and is wishful thinking; hollow words but occasionally those bounce back. The catalogue says: "52 fantastic houses designed with the future in mind". Whose?

There is no accounting for taste, so why discuss it; but the quality of craftsmanship is measurable and any figure appointed to what I saw would be sub-terrestrial; it is an insult to any craftsman's pride. By no means should that expo be taken as a showcase of what Scottish craftsmanship can achieve and I dare include Scottish architecture in general, today and in future. (No wonder snagging lists come in endless series...)

cutting edge? no, lots of cut edges!

As one being interested in energy (construction plays a major role), its generation, consumption and conservation I took a look at the official consumption figures of the various houses; reading the latest fantasy novel offers more realism and truth. You will find all figures here. Same goes for U-values like 0.12 for a wobbly sandwich "filled" with glass wool accompanied by the line "we are the only ones approved to build to Passive House Standards in Scotland...".

wrapped in "sustainable" rubber

Total rubbish those figures; those are misleading the customers, building control but also politicians that far too easy tend to immediately put those fancy headlines on their flags not knowing what they are talking about (example? "wood is carbon neutral!" - but the terms "draught proofing" and "Zero Carbon Housing" ain't any better!).

It is obvious that there is a lack of control and thorough examination to separate what is pure marketing b...s... and what has de facto been built standing up to scrutiny. To make matters worse the houses are tiny, family unfriendly, the bedrooms even smaller; whoever drew them up obviously sleeps in 3/4 sized beds and is short.

The rest, sorry, was no better; it seems like "kitchens" and "windows" as well as "bathrooms" had been contracted out to one major supplier, each; may be that cut cost and made those a fortune but it did not follow the idea of an "expo" where you (normally) would want to demonstrate what is possible (tomorrow) and show an eye-opening and mouth-watering variety.

And one last thing for now: may be I am the last species of its kind but even if that was the case I would still believe that a customer wants to learn and understand and not "be sold for stupid"; that's German for "taken as a fool"! Instead of placing trained and knowledgeable staff able to answer any questions and give background information the positioned secondary pupils, nice, beautiful and friendly, repeated stereotypically, at best, what the fabulous but meaningless posters and leaflets said, anyway and only.

Flower House, finally now open, five days to go...

If you don't have questions but want to have a look, may be where the flowers are, hurry up.

Carpe diem!



Also, 27-08-2010: eco, friendly, green and credentials


Update 29-01-11

BBC: Housing Expo "Ghost Town" resident loves her new flat

Figures released by Highland Council on Friday showed August's exhibition of the energy-efficient homes made an operating loss of £514,000.

Almost £651,000 was spent on expo, but ticket sales amounted to £137,000.

Ms Meikle said she had been on a waiting list for an affordable property for four years.

The Inverness Courier: Housing Expo to mount sales drive in bid to recoup £6m

Cash from each sale is to be returned to the public purse as part of an agreement with the Scottish Government, which underwrote the controversial housing scheme with £6 million of taxpayer's money.

The Highland Council: Scotland's Housing Expo - Socio Economic Study

...
Visitor numbers peaked at weekends and during the last week
...
There were many visits by groups of professionals from different parts of Scotland
...
Visitors particularly interested in learning from the Expo included a leading property specialist from Australia and a reporter from the Chicago Tribune
...
The average visitor stayed at the Expo for just under 4 hours

Average socio economics at its best...


Gmab!

the summer is over

Black Forest

Back in the office; the disastrous every days' global news with 75% on climate and weather catastrophes and the rest on wars and bombs limit my expectations; not pessimism, but sober realism.

Not surprisingly EUROland is still hanging in there; soon the € will return making the headlines as none of the immanent problems have been solved; really, not even addressed but are due worsening. Against all negative figures and American kludge the $ will get stronger; difficult to see what will happen to the £ - my best guess is it will get stronger against the € as the £problems are just such while the €problems are unsolvable and an accumulative disease. Wonder how China will cope with doing the splits between its announcement of appreciating its currency while exports need to keep growing fast; it might comfort the big party that their $assets will be very profitable and help buying out the remaining resources for their own good while they watch the real estate bubbles pop.

The US are approaching Double Dip; not funny, Japan and Europe are following right behind, the question will be who will be able to develop an upturn after what very likely will be a long and deep second dip; its line magnified will look like a bouncing ball loosing its momentum while moving downhill. But then, one country alone won't make it anyway.

Upwards it goes with many other figures; unemployment same as CO2; food and commodity indices are influenced by falling yields and high(er) demands which will mix some hard to digest inflationary figures in what will be deflation for mass products and all assets from housing to shares; some call it stagflation - I believe that is just trivialising what will cause the scissors between poor and rich open ever faster and wider.

On top of all the human race faces an unseen change of its biotope; no matter what it is called the human influence by its mass and the unlimited consumption of limited resources is causing massive disruption and destruction. Anchored deep in the alleged human intelligence the deniers of any human influence - caused by +seven billion energy wasters - are democratically allowed to have their say and frivolously (and ignorantly) dispute what the armies of scientists of all faculties come up with on a global scale.

Any optimism left will see hard times with no good news coming in; the bad news about us finally acknowledging that the endless number of ongoing and unsolved and as such unsolvable crunches is just one big overall crisis will hopefully be the first good news. I wonder how long we will have to wait for that to happen.


Carpe diem!