daughter's heroine

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

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

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

"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!

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

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 #?

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

...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...

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


Carpe diem hiems!

Hey, architect(s)!

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!