Really

Obama changes direction

2012-01-29T10:52:00.001+12:00

In my experience as a manager you are stuck with certain employees in which you are not able to get rid off due to office politics and culture of organisation. So what i had to do was assign the work that needs to be done to people that could get it done. Also need to be able to fund it with resources.

The new task unit headed by Eric Schniederman seems to be what Obama is doing as he can't trust the SEC to do the work that is needed to be done. I really hope this task force works and if it does then people will see that their will be consequences for bad actions and doing stuff that will wreck our futures.

One of the big problems Obama face in economics is picking really smart people with good intentions. As in my experience it is the smart people who are able to twist debates around to suit their intentions and if you have a few people like that in a room the psych effect of group pressure starts working on you. Obama needs some radicals with good intentions to change this dynamic. And don't worry if they know more about specifics then you just go with your gut which is hard when you are brought up on rational debates and good arguments.

That is one benefit of the Republicans is that it seems they don't need logical arguments to implement policy.

To the TPTB it is good that you are willing to take some losses to some of your minions and hopefully it is a sign of that you realise that you are at more risk now then you have ever been. And it doesn't matter how much paper assets or power is against you name as once tipping point has been found, gang in trouble.

First post for 2012

2012-01-26T13:24:00.000+12:00

Stopped posting for awhile and have taken the blue pill as its more fun killing dragons in skyrim then it is worrying about how the world is turning to shit.

Starting to get a reality check as kids have to start school next week and it looks like silver is making a major move upwards. Bought over some more cash so will make some more purchases soon. The spot price doesn't really bother me anymore as after MFGlobal the TPTB just just playing with themselves with paper prices. Just buying physical silver.

What motivated me to post is the only thing connecting me to the Red Pill is me following Ron Paul. The republican primary really show me how screwed we going forward. When conservatives chose Gingrich to be the leader. How is a person who has not been able to manage three marriages able to manage the most powerful country. I think the TPTB have chosen Obama buy the actions of the contendors. Reality is that Ron Paul is the only real competition but TPTB won't let him win.

There are now different levels of people the people who understand which means they recommend Ron Paul or the people that are still ignorant or reality facing us. Its really that simple now and if they are paid to say otherwise then that is worse.

I know I still have a lot to learn but what is happening to us but it is amazing how the TPTB have kept so many people distracted for an understanding of what is happening to them.

I have lost faith in Obama, I thought he would do the right thing for his daughters and maybe he is because I don't have all the information that he has. But it sure doesn't look like it from here.

Sometimes I think I may be deluded and just getting reinforcing information from sources like Zero Hedge and Turd. I was totally wrong about Apple when majority of my points are still valid. I think I could be a few years out which means that call was totally off but not as bad as Vince Young call.

I pride myself in being able to predict stuff and getting first four in Melbourne Cup gave me confidence again. Totally positive that physical silver prices will blow out just don't know when. I though the financial reset in which I think it is already happening its just that its taking a long time to happen. like the van falling of the bridge in inception. But what layer are we in now.

Okay rambling finished, this was a good exercise for me to get back to reality.

I don't believe that electing Ron Paul will solve the worlds problems but at least he admits to understanding the problem. Amazing I can't see it being solved as the main factor is attitudes of people that need to changed and I can't see that happening unless there is a major disturbance to their reality.

Only way it can be solved is live simply that others may simply live. I am not even sure that I am willing to do that.

Ron Paul GOP 2012

2011-12-31T13:06:00.000+13:00

End of the year and one of the most significant people in waking me up has a chance of winning Iowa in the GOP primaries. Since the main streem media is now controlled by TPTB a good sign to to tell who they consider dangerous is how they treat them in the Media. Especially the pundits on both sides of the "left right divide".

I don't support a lot of Ron Paul's beliefs but know that his honest and not significantly controlled by TPTB. He also understands the real problems facing our future and I would rather have someone understanding the dangers we face then one contributing to further damage our future or even worse not understanding the dangers we are facing.

The only issue I have with Ron Paul is that he doesn't look or sound presidential. This is okay with me but not sure about his supporters. I have been reading a lot of daily kos, redstate and little green footballs lately and its seems that most hate comes from Republicans. Its funny to me how people worrying about racism, gay rights and abortion when what is currently happening is human rights are being curtailed by TPTB. What is the use of all these other rights when you main right of freedom is being lost.

The main benefit though is that more people will become awake as the media will now have to confront Ron Paul and what he has on his side is reality based arguments. I have always argued that if you have reality on your side its is much easier to argue positions.

One other factor that I have come to realize is when people stop sharing sacred values that civilization becomes a free for all and then a breakdown of society occurs. Ron Paul is trying institute a sacred value of following the constitution and I am sure if majority of actions start following the same rules it will be a major step in the right direction.

I was also happy that Martin Armstrong has endorsed Ron Paul. Armstrong is still one of the most accurate commentators out their. I have started reading Steve Keen who's ideas are more like me that any other commentator I have watched so far.

I have started purchasing physical silver and since I have started purchasing the spot price has reduced around 20% which I am happy about. It will mean I will be able to buy more physical silver. I believe the MF Global disaster will be a milestone in history when documenting the decline of western civilization.

Its amazing to me in that I have had one of the best years of my life but feel like that I am now the coyote in road runner that is running on thin air about to fall down. A better example is that scene in Inception where the van has crashed over the bridge and its on its descent. Question is which reality are we in?

Wealth of Country using Big Mac Index

2011-12-23T03:24:00.000+13:00

I haven't posted for awhile as have been concentrating on Family obligations and buying physical Silver. After a recent discussion about values of currencies, I was interested in working which is the best currency and country to live in.

As living in Australia and being able to buy four large chickens for less then one hours work at minimum salary so I thought it would be hard to top Australia. So was thinking how could I do this. I have always liked the Big Mac index to compare currencies against each other but though it might be better if we use the minimum wages of the country and see how many big macs they could buy using the minimum wage for one week.

Below is a rough guide I got based on information from wiki.

Country	Minimum Per Week	Price Big Mac	No Big Macs per week
Russia	1082.5	75	14
Brazil	155.5	9.5	16
Argentina	375	20	19
India	2000	84	24
Greece	167	3.44	49
Hong Kong	895	15.1	59
US	275.5	4.07	68
Mexico	2183.48	32	68
Japan	24282	320	76
Canada	389.5	4.73	82
Germany	319.25	3.44	93
UK	231.04	2.39	97
New Zealand	494	5.1	97
France	335.9425	3.44	98
Sweden	345.5	3.44	100
Australia	570	4.56	125
Denmark	462.5	3.44	134

I was surprised at Denmark having highest total until reading about them, which states that they are the most equally distributed in terms of income. So it makes sense that the poorest in Denmark would be able to eat a lot of big macs as their weekly salary wouldn't be far off from the Rich in Denmark.

I like this type of analysis as if we use average salaries then the income inequalities of places like USA have to much influence on the stats so when we focus on the minimum salary, it gives a better understanding of a significant number of people and the general health of country in my opinion.

I didn't put in poor countries like e.g South africa total is less the then three big macs in a week. Also Fiji is around 20 which I am happy about. If we had a comparison of buying a coconuts then Fiji would do better but that's why Big Mac index is one of most efficient comparison tools that I know off.

The biggest surprise to me was Russia, Brazil and Canada.For some reason I thought Canada would be better.

Anyway stats confirmed what am seeing on the ground and am very happy to be in Australia while we wait out the Financial reset and still don't have a good feeling on how things will turn out when this happens. For me the biggest factor on how bad things will be is the price of oil in local currencies.

Ray Dalio Martin Armstrong #occupywallstreet

2011-10-25T12:13:00.000+13:00

On the weekend I listened to an excellent podcast from Martin Armstrong which just confirms that we are in an economic collapse. I am amazed that in the last month my outlook and view have been changing with more good information.

As my philosophy is that I will continuously change my view, if I find better information, examples and logic that supports the change. Joining the #occupywallstreet movement has given me a platform to test my understandings of whats happening in the world and also hopefully add some awareness so that we get closer to reality.

One of my favorite posts since I started blogging was my understanding of the powers that be it was a fascinating learning experience for me in creating that post and it affected some of my understanding of what is happening around us. I am really pleased that a lot of that information was confirmed by a study in new scientist. My views have changed a little since then but I won't post it until I have a better grasp on how the machine works.

Which brings up to the second interview that I read that has given me hope. I believe that Ray Dalio model is showing that we are in real trouble so he is trying to start conversations in getting ways to fix the machine, so that we can live in a sustainable world. His view is “Nature is a machine. The family is a machine. The life cycle is like a machine.” His constant goal, he said, was to understand how the economic machine works". His method to fix our mess is for people to first understand what the machine is and the parts of the machine. As you first have to understand how the machine works before you can come up with ideas how to fix it. Otherwise you will be just addressing the defects that the machine is producing.

His interview also is strengthening my view that machine is now out of control as the people working in the machine are not maintaining it and are more interested in the goods produced by the machine.

I think the first thing for me to do is to create a blog post on what I think the machine is, then I will be in a better situation to bring awareness to the machine.

This just brings up one of the major factors that got us into this mess, was the people in power who didn't realise how the machine worked i.e derivative market are the ones that cause a lot of the financial mess we are in.

Its like what I have told my family its like the ocean liner has gone off the waterfall and we are on our way down, What can we do?

This is really really hard but we have to do it, man the more I think about the future, the more dire it looks to me. To many greedy people and not enough resources.

#occupywallstreet cartoons

2011-10-24T10:04:00.001+13:00

I created another youtube for #occupywallstreet in which put a lot of cartoons against my nice positive music. You need to also have fun when you are risking yourself because that's what we are fighting for is to have a good life going forward.

#occupywallstreet Best News Sources

2011-10-17T12:45:00.001+12:00

I have been really committed to the #occupywallstreet movement since its first week and am amazed at the progress, as it is growing exponentially. Amazing how the LA protest started with only a few people waving signs over a freeway and has turned into a real model of how members of the movement, local politicians and police can work together.

For me one of the main aims of the movement is to shine light on activities by TPTB are doing to create an unsustainable world. The first part is to actually get a significant number of people to believe that their is a group of people that have to much power and are not wielding that power in a sustainable way. We are nearly reaching a tipping point on that awareness.

I also suggest don't get distracted by the minions of TPTB unless your answer will shed more light to the abuse that you are arguing over.

Okay good sources for information to get new sources of information to disseminate are

Digg
Reddit
Do a search on topsy for occupy
On facebook like all the "Occupy ?CitiesName?
On Google+ do a search for "occupy wall street" then add people to an occupy circle
Daily Kos

I really believe that we are building a movement that can have a significant affect on the direction on our movement. Good luck

Signs from occupy wall street #occupywallstreet #ows

2011-10-13T19:30:00.002+12:00

I have been following the #occupywallstreet as see it potential vehicle out of our mess. I consider myself a member of this movement so have created my first youtubes. One in relations to signs from occupy wall street and another about riging from the oligarchy.

The most amazing thing about this movement is the awareness by people is increasing exponentially. A significant number of people now believe in TPTB only they call them the 1% and how all parties are the same and how information from corporate media is being manipulated.

Below are my first Youtubes..

Tribute to Steve Jobs and #occupywallstreet

Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T15:10:00.002+12:00

Thanks Man for all the things that you have added to my life.

You give me more strength to try and change our world so it will be better for all our children.

"The number of those endowed with human life is as small as the amount of earth one can place on a fingernail. Life as a human being is hard to sustain as hard as it is for the dew to remain on the grass. But it is better to live a single day with honor than to live to 120 and die in disgrace"

You lived your life with honor.

99% member Destroys Fox News Reporter #occupywallstreet

2011-10-04T15:02:00.001+12:00

Yesterday I was getting a bit down trying to convince liberal people and conservative people to join the 99% and accept each other. The I came upon the following youtube which was won of the best I have watched in how handle a hostile interviewer.

Then after searching who is Jesse LaGreca I found that he was a fellow kossak named MinistryofTruth. I am also happy how Daily kos users have taken up this cause in their diaries.

What also motivated me was an open letter and warning from a former tea party movement adherent to the Occupy Wall Street that can be found here

Martin Armstrong OccupyWallStreet

2011-10-03T13:07:00.003+12:00

A really interesting article from Martin Armstrong on the occupy wall street movement.

The main point is that its not Wall Street who the occupiers should be protesting against but the Market Manipulators or who I like to call "TPTB". Amazing in that it gives me understanding on who are TPTB and like the occupiers we all have different views but have a gut feeling that there is something wrong and so far the best bet is people at wall street is the closest to the TPTB

Quote from article

They are the Market Manipulators that constructed time bombs out of mortgages
and ensured the rating agencies would bless them as AAA so they could sell them to everyone. This is just the tip of the iceberg. This is NOT Wall Street! This is a dark back ally that feels safe because
they control the press, the courts, the Justice Department, Congress, and local police. They line the
pockets of politicians to run for office. They stack government with their own people in unelected jobs.
In the end, it is not corporate greed, it is the greed of Market Manipulators that are simply a parasite
that feed upon the system and anyone who dares to expose them, and they will attack with a vengeance
using the police powers of government and label what they say as conspiracy theory to discredit their
accusers.

Yes America "Do not go gentle into that good night / Rage, rage against the dying of the
light" of freedom and liberty as Dylan Thomas put so elegantly. But rage wisely. Do not be fooled and
attack the decoy. If you want reform, know who your enemy truly is! It is not Wall Street. It is the
parasites that feed on it

Amazing, I actually think that this movement may actually have a chance at real change but the question is that it may already be to late. Like I tell my family its like the ship has already fallen over the waterfall and we are just changing the deck chairs while waiting to crash.

Updated
Just listen to a podcast from Martin Armstrong which is actually one of my favourite podcasts of this year and strengthen my views that he knows what he is talking about.

#occupywallstreet I believe

2011-09-30T12:21:00.001+12:00

For the first time in a long time, I am starting to believe that we may be able to solve the worlds problems and its mainly through the movement being created by #occupywallstreet. As I blogged before #occupywallstreet could be potentially the biggest risk to TPTB by people. The other main risks being the financial meltdown and nature.

We are going in the wrong path and our leaders are being controlled by the wealth of the 1%. I don't blame the leaders as it is a process of natural selection that has got them to where they are, where greed by the 1% has been the selector. The majority of our leaders are also part of the 99% and are doing just what is natural to them.

For me #occupywallstreet is the beginning of a movement that may be able to reduce affect of 1% in selecting our leaders which will hopefully address in real ways our environment and prosperity

The following is a link to occupy together which may be a hub to all the occupy movements

Update:
A few days ago I checked facebook for occupy groups and couldn't find any now there is a lot for each city around the world with growing members. This movement is really growing, the interesting thing will be how TPTB will try and co-opt it. From what I can see the first way will be to try and label it as a leftist movement when its actually a 99% movement for majority of people not just one brand of politics.

occupy wall street social media

2011-09-26T09:44:00.002+12:00

I have been following Occupy wall street and its been very interesting how it being covered by the media especially the social media.

I see these demonstration as potentially one of the most dangerous for TPTB and so naturally it has shown to me how much power their media has. My first understanding was limited to newspapers and the main tv channels. Which is demonstrated by them not covering this event even when protesters are being abused.

What is more interesting to me is how social media is being controlled by TPTB first example is in twitter how #troydavis was not a trending topic but other topics in relation to the event are. Best way to confirm this is to open up three different twitter searches and see how many new tweets are being updated. The next example is #occupywallstreet which has been having large number of new tweets but its not being shown in trending topics.

I know a lot of people access you tube clips by looking at most viewed you tube but the following clip of wall street protesters being maced is not even in the top ten when its has easily the most view in the last few days

For me its its a good test how much influence TPTB have over your media source by how much coverage there is on the current protests in wall street. This event has also resurrected my faith in Daily Kos and confirmed my views on Zero Hedge and RT as more reliable news sources.

Latest Destablizations

2011-09-23T10:23:00.003+12:00

Just had to post something as this week seems that there are so many things going wrong, especially in the US.

First a potentially innocent man (Troy Davis) being executed by the state of Georgia. This is will have a significant affect on perceptions of fairness and justice.

The second is Obama is going to Veto Palestine being recognized as a state in the UN. This reaffirms the Middle East view of Obama is just like all the previous presidents and in my opinion can be a significant factor in more problems in the Middle East

Obama stating that he will increase the taxes for richest people in USA. This will cause a significant affect by the richest people in USA who have a significant amount of power. I still haven't got my head around what affect that will be.

The Federal Reserve Bank is trying to create a stimulus when majority of what was baked into stock prices was a QE3. So far their has been a sell off of everything stocks, commodities, gold and silver.

Real signs of how media has been controlled by TPTB when "Troy Davis" was not a trending topic in twitter and lack of reporting on occupy wall street.

How the demonstrations in Wall Street has been servery curtailed and seem to have less rights then what demonstrations in Middle East countries with dictators. I think what is happening with this small demonstration is what if affecting me the most. It can also be the most dangerous for USA going forward if it becomes mainstream.

Everything happens in cycles and usually when things go wrong a lot of things go wrong at the same time. I have got a feeling that this week will be seen as a significant week in history when documenting the regression of western society

Troy Davis Really

2011-09-22T10:58:00.000+12:00

I have been following the story of Troy Davis as I have always been interested in stories of Black people not being treated fairly. This is a suspect case in which 7 of the nine witnesses has recanted their story while the one of the witnesses that has kept his story is the one who lost the same model of the gun on the night of the shooting and is the first person to finger Troy davis. The first accuser has also told other people that he is the one that did the murder.

I found it fascinating that there is so much hype over this death of a potentially innocent black man when the reality is so many innocent men have been killed over the last year. i.e

Person that doesn't have enough insurance to get medical treatment to treat his illness.
Soldiers still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan
Death due to bean counters knowing that it will be cheaper to pay the random death then fix the problem with drug/machine/activitiy
Death through people living in a climate of fear instead of climate of cooperation

People find it hard to understand about other innocent deaths while the execution of Troy Davis just brings up old would of old injustices in the south. I am also disturbed that with so much doubt they can at least change the consequences to life imprisonment.

Obama confidence men

2011-09-22T03:42:00.000+12:00

There is a new book about Obama reign in the white house called confidence men. It really paints a bad picture of what has happened in Obama's first term.

First I was a big supporter of Obama but got disillusioned after his appointments especially the economic team. In my experience its your team that is the key to your performance and if you have to deal in big picture thinking you need your team to be able to handle the details and get things done.

For me the key was Rahm as I didn't like his influence on Obama but understood the need for him to get into power. I am also sure a lot of the choices for people were because of bad advice from Rahm

From the book the problems so far has been

Larry Summers hijacked the administration's economic policy and the White House let him
Summers lost 3.5 billion of Harvard money in betting on derivatives, enough said
The whole economic team knew the stimulus was doomed to fail and let it go
One biggest problems I have with Obama is how he worries about GOP positions who just want to see him fail. Stimulus should have been more
Paul Krugman was the voice inside Obama's head
I follow Milton Friedman and Martin Armstrong and the reality for Krugman is looking at his batting record which is not good. So Obama is taking economic opinions from bad advisers and using an unreliable econominist as a sounding board. Not good.
Tim Geithner went behind everybody's back to save the banks
Geithner just main priorities seems to whatever Goldman wants. So huge conflict of interests to whats best for USA compared to whats best for international companies
The White House has a SERIOUS women problem
White house was run by economic advisors which are used to be in male environment so expect there to be problems. One of best women advisers is Elizabeth Warren but she is not there anymore. I can tell that Michelle is a significant partner to Obama so don't think the problem is with Obama.
It took Obama seven months to realize he needed to fire Rahm
I am guessing Rahm is a close friend so just showing loyalty to him, my issue is he shouldn't have been chosen in the beginning
Obama allowed himself to be pushed around by his subordinates Summers and Geithner in particular and drawn into long policy debates instead of focusing on policy questions.
The biggest problem with having really smart people in your team and you believe in best arguments in getting solidifying your views is that your views will change to the best arguments. I have seen this happen so many times in Politics. Biggest issue is if you are going to select people that are smarter then you in particular subjects then make sure that the person has similar beliefs to you

The Reality is that Obama has got rid of a lot of his bad economic advisors. During the last week is first time I am starting to believe in Obama again in terms of him identifying that we are in a class war and starting to take necessary action against TPTB. Since the beginning of this blog my main worries have been the environment and the Israel/Palestinian conflict and in the last five years its also been the world economy

This is my advice for Obama.

Print a lot of money and use it mainly on new Green Jobs
Regulate the Shadow Economy
Regulate interest rates for Loans and credit card debts to less then one percent
Focus on USA shareholders not International Companies Shareholders
Remove any person that has dual citizenship working for Government
Default on overseas debt if need be or get them to accept a significant haircut.
Reduce the power of overseas lobby groups
Significant Taxes on Lobby Groups
Policies that offer significant financial benefits for people to be less selfish and more compassionate to their fellow neighbors
Policies that offer significant financial benefits to working as a community to solve problems
Policies that offer significant financial benefits for being honest and severe financial consequences for people who are found to be not. Including activities portrayed in media
Significant taxes for corporations that send costs/profits overseas.
Keep the MIC strong as that is key to being able to do the above

The biggest issue facing USA is Israel and until this is solved the above will be meaningless. In my opinion Israel has lost its moral compass and is not acting like a good neighbor in a sustainable world. So you will need to convince them to change their ways and accept a two state solution. As their path currently on a path that is destructive for all of us. As the economy trying to feed the MIC to be able to defend Israel is eating up all the worlds resources.

You have started with a positive move in terms of fairness in the Financial confidence for common people and the next step should be accepting Palestine as member of the UN.

PAGE Pan Asia Gold Exchange

2011-09-01T14:25:00.003+12:00

I have just been reading about PAGE which is the Pan Asia Gold Exchange. The mission of PAGE is to create an over the counter (OTC) gold market in china and then integrate it with the world market. PAGE is located in Kunming, China.

Below is a good interview on how PAGE will affect gold prices going forward.

The biggest difference between China compared to the western world is that they can create 20 year plans while western countries are really dependent on election cycles which makes it hard for long term plans as new party will always say that the last party plans were wrong.

The biggest advantage that the USA has is the US dollar being used for transaction in oil. For me I see the opening of the PAGE as one of the milestones in reducing US advantage and having more trade in Renminbi.

One of the main markets for PAGE will be the middle east. They are well know for being Gold bugs and when deciding between COMEX which is supposedly training at one phycial to 100 compared to one to one this is a slam dunk for organisations moving from COMEX to PAGE

Internation trade in PAGE should begin in end of fourth quarter or beginning of 2012 and that's when I can see a real move in the Gold and Silver prices.

It also seems that China deals with developing countries in doing trades in local currencies instead of dollars has increased nearly 700% over the last year and they are also starting to get significant domestic demands for their products. So it seems that China is significantly reducing its risk when the western financials systems collapse.

I have always wanted a way to get into Chinese currency and it seems that this is going to be the simplest method that Chinese are going to use to let foreigners invest in Chinese Currency.

What does this mean for Pacific and US. The more I look into this the more I think Australia is not going to be badly affected as I thought, which is good for the Pacific. US is screwed though as they need a total reset in terms of values and financial system. PAGE will be seen as one of key factors in that move to a financial reset.

Steve Jobs Steps Down as Apple CEO

2011-08-25T11:21:00.004+12:00

Sad day today as one of my favorite leaders of all time has stepped down as CEO of Apple. This was expected as he has been sick for awhile and the timing is good for Apple as new products are about to be entered into the market.

My experiences with Steve Job's products are my favourite device of all time was the the video Ipod, favourite computer was a macintosh and I always wanted NeXT operating system and an iphone. Most amazing product seen in real life is an Ipad.

Steve Job's, Bill Gates and Andy Grove have had the biggest influences in my IT Experience and I thank all three for their contributions to Society.

I think its good timing anyway so that he can spend more time with his family as we face the financial and natural problems facing our world.

The Block final show affect on property prices

2011-08-22T13:40:00.000+12:00

I have been a regular watcher of the Block on channel nine and also very interested in housing estate bubble in Australia. When I first came back to Australia last year I was amazed at the number of houses being renovated. I also believe that housing industry has a significant impact in the Australian economy.

First off I am of the belief that world economy has already reached the tipping point and we are in the process of a financial reset which will affect all countries including Australia. I am not sure how this is going to affect Property markets only that their will be a major change.

What I am sure is that after 3 million Australians watched the block last night, they watched months of resources and effort going into renovations and still they were not able to meet the reserve price. This will have a significant affect on peoples psychology, first that it is another confirmation that property prices are declining and property market is moving lower but more importantly to the housing industry that renovating a house has little impact on property prices.

The person who bought Polly and Woz house seemed to me to be to close to the person running the auction, so I really don't think it was a normal buyer. What amazes us is that the house/block we own and am currently living is larger thane all the houses combined but valued at one third of the price. Also it would take us less then one hour to drive to that location in Richmond.

If I was a betting man I would say this is the tipping point that will be shown to pop the bubble in Australian Housing market. If I was a potential buyer I would put the money in Physical Gold and Silver and rent which I have been saying for more then one year on this blog.

Its never to late to change befliefs

2011-08-20T01:01:00.000+12:00

It has been an interesting week, my wow subscription for a month has ended so can come back to reality and it has been good living with the blue pill.

One part of me I have always wanted was the ability to change my beliefs if I had better information that contradicted some of those beliefs. This was the case this week when I started researching Milton Friedman's you tube clips. I also went back and read Martin Armstrong's articles.

This experience has really changed my views and I can now have a better view from the other side as I was always had left leaning view but now agree with the majority of Friedman and Armstrong's points that I consumed during the last week.

The man point I disagree with friedman though is the concept of not taxing corporate organisations. I understand the concept that organisations are people but the realty in large corporate corporations some of those shareholders don't live in your community, so they don't pay taxes on income from the organisation that have any benefit to the community where the organisation is functioning. This is a major case for global corporations.

This is not a good time to take the red pill but it really seems that a lot of other people are now taking the red pill and are actually seeing that mess that the world is in.

Its interesting to me that Armstrong has the same view as me that what has happened is that TPTB are no longer in control and what is happening is
"When you pull the curtain back, you suddenly find smoke and mirrors with nobody in charge and the whole thing is really just a runaway train and there is no conductor. That is much more dangerous than some enlightened group with a plan"
That has been the gut feeling that I have had is that the people in charge has lost they ways and now we are in a runaway train that is going faster and faster.

To me the biggest problem for the western world is that a tipping point has been reached in people being to selfish, being less honest and value system has changed negatively for group benefit.

As I am homeschooling my boys I have just taught them natural selection and its going to be interesting so see what survives from this crash. For me it would also be interesting research to see how birth control has skewed the current population of decision makers and small families concept of collaborative effort.

Google Motorola Mobility

2011-08-16T11:42:00.001+12:00

Google purchasing Motorola Mobility is seen a a defensive move in terms of patent wars.

Motorola, Inc was an American-based, multinational, telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was split into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011. Motorola Solutions is the profitable part of the company.

I have had a mobile phone since the late nineties and my motorola Razr was one of my favorite phones.

Most articles that I have read has said that this is a good move by Google and it will be interesting to see what happens going forward. Hard to predict the worth when my gut keeps telling me that an economic meltdown is coming and not sure how patent's will be worth going forward.

An another factor in western decline is how the enforcement of copyright and patent laws has not added value to society but holding back innovation. So the 12 billion that Google spends on Motorola could have been used to employ more people in new green technologies.

London Riots Whats not being reported

2011-08-09T11:17:00.005+12:00

As Financial markets are crashing as the first stages of a financial reset, its the London riots that have got me out of Alterac Valley to post whats happening in London.

I watched an interesting skype interview where the Australian person said how when she came back to London last October she couldn't believe how attitudes have totally changed under Cameron's government. The austerity measures has caused a lot of resentment and poverty has really increased. What has happened is the welfare state had increased their expectations of being happy and once austerity measures have taken place those expectations are now not being met and jealousy starts to creep in. So instead of taking their frustrations out on their xbox 360 as they can't afford the new games they get to do it in real life. They also have total lack of respect for the TPTB.

People saying that these kids are just thugs and criminals are missing the point of what is happening. Why are the attacking journalists its because they see the journalist as part of the powers that be, not actually reporting truth but reporting what advertisers and government wants them to do. I wouldn't be supprised the people involved in student riots are also part of these riots.

Listening to another skype interview which seems to be reporting more truth then normal reporters which said that the crowd started cheering when the police came after looting for two hours. Meaning they wanted to confront the man. These kids are generation of "don't give a fuck" so attacking police to them is the same as destroying property which they see as bringing them down compared to what they were used to, under a different government.

Media trying to put another spin on the story so when comments like "Well the bankers looted this country so what is wrong with young looting shops" are being aired the interview is being cut off. And they wonder why media is also being attacked in the riots.

Western countries can't afford a welfare state anymore, there has to be a reset, and for a tree to grow they need to cut off some branches and to me this is part of that process.

Updated: Below is an example of how media will try and change story.

Current narrative is that all the looters are young teenagers when I am guessing their is a significant number or looter are made up of the 50% unemployed black youths in UK

Microsoft Skydrive First Impressions

2011-07-22T09:05:00.001+12:00

I have just reset my account with Microsoft Live so that I can check out their Microsoft Skydrive and I really like it. I also see that Microsoft has put the ability to edit documents on the Web.

With 25GB of free space and a 100gb size limit it really will be useful as another backup. We have eight people in our house ranging from 12 to 75 and they are all using five computers connected to wireless. I am going to show this option to all our family as an online backup option. All we need now is software to be able to automatically manage this.

This brings up to the amazing situation in which we have used up our 50GB limit for the month and now applying for 150GB through our internet service. My first PC I bought only had 30Mb compressed and getting stuff off bulletin boards took ages. How times have changed

Xbox 360 and now the Skydrive its good to have positive feelings about microsoft again

oil population food the main cause of collapse

2011-07-01T15:58:00.002+12:00

As we are facing one of biggest risks to society, I am interested in how we have got to this position. The current situation is that there are to many people to support based on current resources that we have.

The risks are that financial systems are facing collapse, increase in natural disasters and food/water security. This has been caused by more people needing more resources to meet their increasing expected needs.

For me the reason why there are so many more people in this world is the access to more food because of petroleum and mass transport. World population growth really started to move vertically around the 1920's when availability of cars from Henry Ford and petrol became more readily available.

First oil/gas is very important to food production in terms of farming the land, fertilizer and processing goods from lands in large Farms. Transport is needed to move the goods from area of low population density to large population density.

Before the 1920's more food was produced locally and because of cheap access to oil and vehicles it meant that people did not have to live close to where food is produced. This led to larger urban areas and less chance of drought wiping out populations as food could be moved easily between large populations. It also meant people had more freedom to relocate to different areas.

We are now at a stage of Peak Oil. Peak Oil has reached us in around 2006 and is around 70 million barrels a day. So the amount of barrels of oil being produced will only get smaller going forward. Oil is the driver of financial growth in all major western countries. Majority of economic principles that are currently being used is on the assumption that future growth will pay off current debts to sustain us. This concept is what is going to cause the financial collapse of countries that are dependent on oil products for future growth i.e transport, services, agricultural and manufacturing. The reality is I can't think of many communities that are not dependent on oil except maybe the highlanders of Papua New Guinea.

As populations are still growing vertically there won't be enough fuel to produce food and transport the food to them. The issue is not only the growing population of people, but their expectations have also increased to goods and services that require significant amount of fuel to produce. No longer interested in eating bread or rice but food from restaurants and fast food takeaways. No longer interested in sitting around and talking but wanting to go to events and indulge in tv and computer based activities.

Yesterday we bought three chickens for the cost of less then half an hours work for normal worker. The ability to do that just doesn't seem right, so there is something totally out of whack. I wonder in ten years time the effort it will take to raise those three chickens and then pluck them. I have three boys that play sport and spend around three to four hours a week driving them to their sporting events. Its amazing to me to compare the amount of fuel based activities/products/services we consumed in Fiji compared to now in Australia.

The world is telling us through natural disasters that it can't take excessive plundering that we are doing to its resources. The economies of the world are starting to show how they cannot pay the debt needed to live in a fuel dependent life. There are even more so called developed countries that have populations whose food security is now being threatened.

So where to for now. How can we have a controlled withdrawal from oil without causing great wars and famine. Really if we want all of us to survive we are going to have to really cut down on the use of oil where the main use will have to be for food. Financial consequences seem to be one of the best deterrents so their has to be large taxes for activities that use oil besides producing and transporting food. I can't see it working though.

So in the end it just might be better just to let it fail and let God decide.

Sometimes I think I am crazy thinking these things and it might be better to just enjoy things while life is good. But my gut is saying we need to save the planet.

Should the Greek's Default

2011-06-28T17:06:00.000+12:00

Interesting times in which the Greek Government is going to decide if they will default on outstanding debts or get more money.

In the end a significant number of countries are going to default. So if I was Greece, I would accept whatever terms is given to me so that they could give me more money. Whats the use of defaulting now when I can default later but have more money to play with, while waiting for other countries to default. In the end Greece will claim sovereignty and wipe all the overseas debts. Iceland seem to be going okay defaulting on their overseas loans.

What worries me most is that we seem to be the end of the Keynesian economics which has been good for the majority of people but bad for the environment. So I can see when this all unravels their is going to be much harder life for a lot of people. I like keynesian economics better then pure market based economics as pure market based approach leads to more social unrest. Its better for society to keep the losers in the economy well fed and occupied then starving and cold.

So the real question for TPTB is how to keep people well fed and occupied when they are running out of resources to keep people from revolting. For me the problem is that a tipping point has been reached as a significant number of peoples expectations to be docile requires so much more resources. The acquiring of these resources is destroying the earth.

Really there are not many choices as the earth is sick and can't sustain the current needs of the people. You have to change expectations of the people, get more resources with less environmental impact and reduce the factors that are eating those resources.

How TPTB will do this will be interesting as the current method of printing more money to address issues only leads to more resources being needed and expected

Increase Website Performance

2011-06-21T16:00:00.001+12:00

As I have I am interested in website design again I was looking at ways to increase website performance. The best information I found was best practices for speeding up website at yahoo

The main factors of increase website performance are

Minimize HTTP Requests
Use a Content Delivery Network
Add an Expires or a Cache-Control Header
Gzip Components
Put Stylesheets at the Top
Put Scripts at the Bottom
Avoid CSS Expressions
Make JavaScript and CSS External
Reduce DNS Lookups
Minify JavaScript and CSS
Avoid Redirects
Remove Duplicate Scripts
Configure ETags
Make Ajax Cacheable
Use GET for AJAX Requests
Post-load Components
tag: content
Preload Components
Reduce the Number of DOM Elements
Split Components Across Domains
No 404s
tag: content
Reduce Cookie Size
Use Cookie-free Domains for Components
Minimize DOM Access
Develop Smart Event Handlers
Choose link over @import
Avoid Filters
Optimize Images
Optimize CSS Sprites
Don't Scale Images in HTML
Make favicon.ico Small and Cacheable
Keep Components under 25K
Pack Components into a Multipart Document

The amazing thing for me is I thought I could be considered a website developer but I don't understand half the factors I have listed above in improving website performance.

Julia Gillard Karma

2011-06-20T14:20:00.005+12:00

Its nearly one year since the Anniversary of Gillard dumping of Rudd. I understand that Gillard is not spiritual so she may not believe in the idea of Karma. But result of latest Nielsen poll on Saturday showed support for her Labor party at 27 percent the lowest first-preference share for a major party in the poll's 39-year history. The same poll of 1,400 voters showing 60 percent prefer him as leader to Gillard's 31 percent.

I think what has happened is the Australian Labour Party has lost its way. Just using my Family as an example we have been in Australia for the last six months and my kids who were attending high school can now no longer attend school because we don't have the right visa. This is the same high school that me and my brothers attended and they are now using our old house as the school music studio. When the school was in need we gave them my brothers room to be a classroom. Now my boys are not able to attend that school until immigration finishes processing our application. My boys grandmother and my mother is a fifth generation Australian and their grandfather is an Australian Citizen. Why should it take one year to decide if their grandchildren can go to school or not.When has it become acceptable to take more than one year to process a visa. This in itself creates bad Karma.

On the weekend my two boys captained their U/14 and U/12 Australian Rules football team, attended Youth Group and Church services. So they are fitting in well into Australian life, they are just missing out on School, which I think is important.

Julia Gillard main emphasis is supposed to be in education and Karma Gods don't like it when you don't stay true to yourself. Especially when it affects my kids.

tf metals report

2011-06-15T11:31:00.000+12:00

My favorite blogger has just created a website called tf metals report. I started reading him because of his accurate predictions on Silver from Zero Hedge. The main saying on his site is "The end of the Great Keynesian Experiment is upon us" and site is how to help people prepare for when the financial collapse occurs.

Its a good site and hope it will enlighten more people in trying to understand what is about to happen in the world economies and how to prepare accordingly.

Bill Simmons Grantland

2011-06-10T10:53:00.001+12:00

Bill Simmons has created a new website called Grantland. I have been following Bill Simmons since around 2001 where he came into my radar writing an article comparing sports to my favorite film Rocky 3. I actually used to blog about his articles.

Things are different now as there a so many different things wanting our time. The reality is for us to watch something you have to take into account that you are giving up part of your life to do this activity. So when choosing a DVD, TV show, video game, youtube or article on the internet, it has to be special. Like the reality is I wouldn't read half the stuff I write on this blog.

Bill Simmons for me is my favorite writer on the internet. He is not good at picking winners in sporting events but he is good identifying good talent and subjects to write about. His best effort for sports journalism though has to be the 30 for 30 series and I am sure this effort will be okay to. The main question is will punters be willing to give up parts of their life to experience Grantland?

Google Guitar

2011-06-10T00:39:00.000+12:00

In Google's main page has a playable logo shaped as a guitar. Its actually one of the seamless complicated experiences that I have had on the web. What was amazing to me was how fast the application loaded and how accurate the experience is when playing the google guitar. It sounds how i would expect a guitar would sound and strings vibrating like a guitar, I hardly get impressed anymore and this did impress me.

Google explain how it has been created in this blog post

israel palestine refugees killed

2011-06-07T11:46:00.000+12:00

Yesterday Israel killed 23 Palestine refugees and seriously injured hundreds of people trying to walk back to their land that was stolen from them around forty five years ago. The people had no weapons and were walking toward the fence when they were snipered.

How the above was allowed to happen and main media news is how Weiner text pictures of himself say's how the western world is really screwed. What ever happened with the concept of collective good, fairness and sanctity of life. These meme's were a key part of Jewish life and western development and to see how Israel has become one of the worst examples in corrupting these meme's is really disturbing for me.

The biggest issue Israel will face is when the power shift's and refugees return back to their homeland. As it will hard for people to act fairly when they have seen their families members killed in cold blood.

Something is really wrong when the people known for fairness, social responsibility and humane treatment are now acting so ruthlessly and inhumanly.

Muscle Core Exercise

2011-05-30T14:53:00.012+12:00

Muscle core is important as it keeps you body stable and balanced. In sports its the base in which majority of actions are performed from. So muscle core exercise is very important in majority of sports and general daily exercices.

Core muscles are the muscles found at the obliques, abdominals, lower back, and the glutes. These four areas of the body are the ones that usually frame the posture of a person and makes up base for actions like kicking, tackling and sprinting.

The benefits of exercising core muscles are

Prevents injuries
More control over power activities
Maintains balance/stability
Improves posture
Improves coordination of movements
Improves breathing techniques

The main muscle core exercise is the Plank

The other main exercises for the core are
Bicycle maneuver
Captain's chair

Crunches on exercise ball

Reverse crunch swiss ball

Bridges
Oblique Twist
Lunge with Twist
Supermans
Hamstring Stretches

The reality though for muscle core exercise you should add a swiss ball. As the body responds to the instability of the ball to remain balanced which engages more of the core muscles. Those muscles become stronger over time to keep balance. As there are so many muscles involved with core muscles its very hard to specifically try and exercise each muscle thats why using a swiss ball is much more beneficial

If you want to try and exercise each of the core muscles below is list of all muscles that make up the core muscles.

Stomach:

Transverse abdominals: These are the deepest of the stomach muscles and are also considered as the most important for a strong core. The main job is to create a strong core link between upper and lower body

Exercises
Vacuum Exercise
Plank Pose
Scissor kick

Obliques: These muscles are positioned slightly to the sides of our waists and link all the way up to the rib cage. They will help with the core and movements involving twisting and tilting at the waist

Exercises
Captain's chair
Bicycle maneuver
Side Plank Raises
Swiss Ball Oblique Crunches
Knee Pumps
The Killer Twists
Dumbbell Side Dips

Rectus Abdominus: The 6 pack: which sits on top of the other stomach muscles and down the centre from the rib cage to the pubis bone. Its main job is to keep the pelvis in line which in turn protects the spine

Exercises
Bicycle maneuver
Captain's chair
Crunches on exercise ball
Reverse crunch swiss ball

Back:

Erector Spinae: These are in fact very small muscles that run up your whole spine on both sides. Main job is to keep you upright but they also help with the twisting and bending of your trunk.

Exercises

Hip:

Iliopsoas: Also known as your hip flexor muscles. Help raise the upper leg upwards.

Exercises
Hanging Leg Raise
Lying Leg Raise
Swiss ball knee tuck (refer above clip with swiss ball)
Lying scissors kick

Stretch
Hip Flexor Lunge muscle stretch
Iliopsoas stretch

Gluteus Maximus: Your bum muscles basically and one of the biggest muscles in your body. It plays a major part in moving the legs during running, walking etc and is very important for good posture, which in turn is essential for a strong core. These muscles tend to be very weak on most people and therefore should be worked on.

Exercise
Lying hip extension
Step ups
Prone Leg Lift
Squats
Deadlift
quadriped hip extension

Gluteus Medius and Minimus: Main jobs are to take your leg out to the side and to rotate the whole leg outwards.

Exercises
Side-lying hip abduction
Hip Hike
Straight Leg Raise
Glute Stretch

Legs:

8. Hamstrings: These are definitely not considered part of the core muscles, The tighter your hamstrings the bigger the negative influence on your core strength. A very important muscle to stretch.

PNF Hamstring Stretch
Supine Hamstring Stretch
Top stretching exercises

So to build a better core you will need both exercises to strengthen and stretch the muscles in the core. The more I read about core strength the more I can see the importance of muscle core exercises in athletic performance.

Cyrenaic Syndrome in todays world

2011-05-29T10:18:00.000+12:00

The Cyrenaics were an ultra-hedonist Greek school of philosophy founded in the 4th century BC, Cyrenaic Syndromes is people whose main goal in life is the avoidance of pain and suffering while the main purpose in life is pursuing pleasure primarily in the sense of bodily gratifications

The current world we live in was mainly built on the Socrates principle of virtue. So people promoting individual and collective well being.

Looking at society today you can see how a tipping point has been reached where there are significantly more people looking for physical gratifications and avoidance of pain compared to collective good.

The best example of this is how people don't want to suffer through the pain that is needed to fix the world's environment and would rather avoid that by

Dismissing that climate change is not true
If its true we can't do anything to change it
Ignore it by doing other activities like watching and participating in sports, movies, internet, playing games or members of organisations

I have just spent twenty years of my life working for the collective good and now back in Australia, I can't believe how easy it is to have access to food, entertainment and activities that avoid pain and makes me happy. I am the happiest and healthiest I have been in such a long time. Myself and kids are very happy compared to our previous life, but this life is not sustainable going forward and you can see this around the world in terms of natural disasters and financial collapses.

I can really see how hard it is for people to try and wake up from this type of behavior because as it feels so natural and good.

In the end what would you do if you were told you only had a few years to live, would you make the most of it or try and find a cure?

Cameron Pedersen Needs to Start

2011-05-29T09:34:00.001+12:00

In supercoach one of the main gambles I have done is to put Cameron Pedersen in my team even though he doesn't seem to have job security. So I am pretty biased in this post for selfish reasons but doesn't mean its not true.

North Melbourne have been struggling and have even been beaten by Brisbane Lions. How can you create a good side if you don't have bad consequences for bad play and good consequences for good play.

One of the oldest strategies in Aussie Rules football is if you team is going badly you drop non performing players and pick the players that are doing well in reserves. Don't try and be to smart about it, people losing their positions for bad performance and picking people for good performance is one of the best tools a coach can have. If you screw that up by not being fair and picking the best performer's in the reserves then players start having to think to much of what is required to lose you sport and gain your spot. Keep it simple

Cameron Pedersen has been killing it in the reserves and deserves to be picked in the main side. The football god's don't like it when you screw with one of the main principles of Footy.

Does Scottie Pippen belong in the Top Fifty

2011-05-28T19:40:00.000+12:00

After Scottie Pippen has just commented that Lebron James is a better basketball player the Michale Jordan, I think it gives me opportunity to evaluate Scottie Pippen's true worth a one of the best players of all time.

I have always considered Pippen as similar value as James Worthy to Magic Jonhnson, Manu Ginobli to Tim Duncan or Kevin Mchale to Larry Bird. So never really understood why he was in the top fifty players of all time when he wasn't the best player on his team. I would consider him in the top 200 though.

The real argument of Pippens worth is the years without jordan which was between 1993 to 1995. Pippen had good statistics but a lot of players outside Top fifty have had better statistics for one year. But the true value of the player is that he wasn't the most important player in the team during that period or why would Jerry Krause try and trade him for Shawn Kemp in 1994 so that he could put Toni Kukoc in his position.

What would motivate a manager to trade a top Fifty player in his prime?

Climate Change 2011

2011-05-26T12:33:00.000+12:00

I read an interesting survey that was shown on tv that says that nearly 30% of the public in Australia don't believe in Climate change in 2011. I have written a post about all natural disasters in 2011 which shows that this year is totally different to others years in the number of natural disasters we have had this year.

Climate change is defined as a long-term change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in the average weather conditions, or in a change of the distribution of events around that average (e.g., more or fewer extreme weather events).

Due to the power of words the biggest problem people have had with changes the earth has had is the syntax of calling it global warming. When really it should be a word that reflects how we have not treated the earth badly and because of the treatment the earth is changing in a negative way for us people.

I have seen lobby PR people on TV and internet argue against Climate change but I think this is important that it is so serious now that we all have to understand that we have exploited the worlds resources and now have to understand that our quality of life will have to be harder for us going forward if we want to live sustainable. Saying jobs are more important then addressing climate change is short term thinking that is being fueled by live for now meme.

One thing after coming back to Australia is that I have seen how people follow the rules much more then twenty years ago. The trick to this has been making the consequences of bad action very expensive in terms of fines. So when I talk about significant consequences I mean consequences that affect them financially because the reality is that financial incentives is one of the biggest human causes of climate change.

Climate Change 2011 where to for now

Significant consequences for people/companies that promote the idea that there is no climate change due to human influences for financial benefit
Significant consequences for people/companies that use products/services that increase the chances of climate change.
Significant benefits for people that develop/create technologies/products that have positive effect on climate change
Standardized formula's of identifying what products/service effect on climate change which can be used to determing benefits and consequences of peoples actions
The value of sacrifice for the common good to be promoted in the media and education.

There are going to be things that we will need to do that will have negative effect on climate change but they will have to be much more expensive to produce.

Amazing I have just talked myself into a carbon tax as a method of reducing climate change for 2011.

NBA Finals Bulls vs Thunder

2011-05-17T17:00:00.000+12:00

In one of the best NBA seasons ever I am picking Chicago bulls vs OKC Thunder for the NBA finals in 2011. I follow Chicago and Celtics. I posted how perkins is beast and have just read a really good article on Kevin Durant.

I think perkins will be the key against dirk while Russel will focus more on playing basketball then shooting. Then hope Chicago wins the Final.

What are inside 50 statistics for AFL

2011-05-17T14:00:00.000+12:00

One of the main statistics being used by AFL teams are the inside 50 statsitics and then the conversion of the inside 50 into scoring opportunities.

So what is inside 50 statistics in the AFL?
In a football field there are 50 metre arcs that determine the inside 50 stat. The inside 50 stat is the entry from "outside 50" to inside 50 that counts. Not the possesions within the 50, once the ball goes out of the fifty and comes back in then it can be counted as another inside 50 statistics.

Ted Hopkins is one the best AFL statisticians and his comments on inside 50 are Shortly after the drawn
grand final, many pundits were willing to back St Kilda’s steely resolve for one more
week. But Hopkins wrote that the Saints would struggle in the replay if it continued to rely on its fortress
strategy. “If the Inside 50 count is anything like last week (St Kilda, 35; Collingwood, 62),” he wrote, “this time around the Saints will get run over in a stampede of opportunity".

So the question is how to do you get more inside 50's and for me the key are the centre bounce clearances and a teams half back line.

Google News Settings

2011-05-17T09:36:00.000+12:00

I just found out about google news settings in which you are able to control were you getting the majoity of your google news feeds. The options are you are able to refine where google is getting its news from in terms of websites, blogs and press releases.

I use google news a lot to get the latest news on a certain topic. Best option I use is all article being displayed over the last 24 hours but the new google settings can help refine my searches.

Microsoft Skype Going Foward

2011-05-11T10:36:00.000+12:00

So Microsoft buys Skype for nearly 8 billion dollars after trying to buy Yahoo for 48 billion dollars. Yahoo is now worth half around 24 billion now and I wonder how much Skype will be worth in two years.

Ebay bought the company for around three billion dollars in 2005 and by 2007 Ebay realised it had overpaid by around one third of the original price. Microsoft purchased skype at a price that is 32 times skypes operating profits.

We use skype to talk to family in Fiji and other countries and for work it was used to save cost of overseas phone calls. The reality is that our use of skype has really fallen off and major contact is through facebook and gmail chat.

The move by Microsoft is classic move by executive management in which they have run out of ideas so think that a major purchase or upgrade will be the silver bullet the fixes their malaise. You can make good arguments in Microsoft purchasing Skype but for me they purchased it for the wrong reasons

As now Skype is part of Microsoft so stop being an independent product when facing Google and Apple which is a negative for skype going forward. As I am sure they will focus more energy in getting products that will compete with Skype.

The type of services that skype provide is the future of mobile oral communication but I am not sure if its going to be Skype that provides those services.

free e cards

2011-05-09T09:45:00.000+12:00

We have just spent mothers day here so I am interested in free e cards. So checking the different sites that offer free e cards

123 Greetings
The best site I have checked in which has upcoming events and most popular e cards with a wide range to select from. The site is a bit congested but compared to the other sites I have checked it best in getting what you want to do

Blue Mountain
Automatically plays clip and ask for google gears functionality so did not go any further.

Hallmark
You need to be part of subscription to use their e card so did not go any further

As we don't have much income in the house. What we did in our household is create a gift card for my wife and mother. The gift card includes our names and three blocks of 20 minutes in which they can assign jobs for us. So far my wife haven't assigned jobs for us but y my mum has assigned jobs for all six of us in the Gift card and mine is going to take longer then 20 minutes e.g retrieve information from hardrive of computer that has broken down.

I think it would have been much better if I just sent free e cards.

flash mob dancing

2011-05-08T17:03:00.000+12:00

A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment and/or satire. Flash mobs are organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails

Flash mob dancing or silent disco is when a flash mob is created for people to meet at a certain location and then dance to their portable music players.

An example of a well know flash mob dancing was the April 2006 silent disco in London. At various London Underground stations, people gathered with their portable music devices, and at a set time began dancing to their music. It was reported that more than 4,000 people participated at London Victoria station.

Sometimes flash mobs can be dangerous an example is flash mob at basketball court in venice beach that ended up in a shooting between gang members.

The use of twitter and facebook groups has added a totally new dimension in how a large groupd of people can organise a meeting very quickly and openly. Flash mob dancing or silent disco sounds like a lot of fun.

Silver prices crashing

2011-05-06T14:08:00.001+12:00

Silver prices seem to be crashing as its has dropped around 33% in the last few weeks. Below is silver prices for the last year which is pretty amazing as you don't see a major fall like that unless there are fundamental reasons.

My papers have still not be processed so I still can't access my funds so hope prices will crash further so that I can take advantage of the prices. What caused the crash for silver was the Chicago Mercantile Exchange raised margin requirements five times in more then one week.

Really people who know they are are playing in a rigged shouldn't complain its the people that don't know that I feel sorry for.

The real game is physical stuff so buying real silver and real assets not financial instruments that can be easily manipulated. I think this crash is good for the people who want to protect themselves in the future by buying physical silver. Funny my gutt was telling me that $40, 50 was to expensive to buy in the last few weeks but when I get access to my funds, the using majority will be in physical silver whatever the price as the fundamentals of economies and people attitudes are still for negative for both the planet and economy.

college admission myths

2011-05-06T12:40:00.000+12:00

Its been nearly thirty years since I have graduated from University but am still interested in college admission myths that was detailed here

Myth No. 1: Getting rejected means you're just not [insert school name] material.
There are to many application to be processed e.g. Harvard, for instance, saw 34,950 applications of which 2,158 go in. So scarcity rather then pure merit drives the process.

Myth No. 2: You're going to earn based on where you learn.
Found that individual characteristics like aptitude, working hard and leadership are more important the only exception is minority students and students from families with less education overall earn better because of social capital they confer. .

Myth No. 3: Affirmative action rigs the process.
Race-based affirmative action decreased especially after the Supreme Court ruling that it cannot be an overriding fator for admissions at Public Universities. Being an athlete or a family member who attended the school has a better chance of rigging the process.

Myth No. 4: Once you choose a school, you're stuck for four years.
1 in 3 students transfer during their collegiate career, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. While it's slightly harder to get in as a transfer student (on average, 64% of transfers are accepted, while 69% of first-year admissions are). So hopefuls can wipe their high school slate clean and start afresh. Who says there are no second chances?

solid state drive failure

2011-05-03T12:07:00.002+12:00

I have been a fan of solid state drive's but am now concerned about solid state drive failure from an article on the coding horror blog.

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data with the intention of providing access in the same manner of a traditional block i/o hard disk drive. SSDs are distinguished from traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), which are electromechanical devices containing spinning disks and movable read/write heads. SSDs, in contrast, use microchips which retain data in non-volatile memory chips and contain no moving parts. Compared to electromechanical HDDs, SSDs are typically less susceptible to physical shock, silent, and have lower access time and latency. SSDs use the same interface as hard disk drives, thus easily replacing them in most applications.

Normal failure rates for Hardrives is around one third of hard drives fail within the first five years

But for solid state drive failure the rate is much higher based on personal experience

Below is experience of Portman Wills who purchased 9 SSD drives in 2009 and they have all failed

Below is his experiences with Solid state drives

Super Talent 32 GB SSD, failed after 137 days
OCZ Vertex 1 250 GB SSD, failed after 512 days
G.Skill 64 GB SSD, failed after 251 days
G.Skill 64 GB SSD, failed after 276 days
Crucial 64 GB SSD, failed after 350 days
OCZ Agility 60 GB SSD, failed after 72 days
Intel X25-M 80 GB SSD, failed after 15 days
Intel X25-M 80 GB SSD, failed after 206 days

As the benefits of SSD are just much the key is having good backups. So when purchasing an Solid State Drive expect it to fail within two years.

What is amazing in researching this post is how the old drives where able to last so long due type of movements that are needed for reading and writing to disk. Below is an example of an HD with moving parts.

Solid state drive's is still a new technology and I am sure the failure rate will get better with new versions. I am interested how this affects the smartphones as haven't heard to much about their failure rates.

Osama Bin Laden Dead

2011-05-03T07:37:00.001+12:00

Watched live as president Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden is dead. Obama in a different speech took majority of the praise for making the decision to make the hunt for Bin Laden his number on priority and ordering of special operations team to get Osama without informing Pakistan officials.

Reason not to inform Pakistan officials was a good one as now we know that Osama was staying in an old Pakistani intelligence safe house surrounded by senior military officials. For me I thought that he was already dead or in Pakistan. Not sure how the military officials in Pakistan will react internally but expect positive response in the Public media. US gives pakistan 1.6 billion dollars in military aid in 2011 and more then one billion in economic aid. This brings up question was Pakistan hiding Osama or keeping him to be used as an ace for TPTB.

This is being portrayed as a major win for Obama and adds to momentum of the white house correspondents dinner in which Obama came out well and his main competitors in the 2012 elections took a real beating.

In terms of threat of terrorism I am sure another bogeyman will be publicised so that some people wont be able to sleep well at night thinking they may be the target of terror attacks. Where the real terror should be their declining property values and prices of gas and food.

The press release that Osama was buried at sea for Muslim is actually being condemned by muslim clerics as Sea burials can be allowed, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship. Reason being is muslims should be buried with their head pointing to Mecca. I actually don't believe he was buried in sea but needs to be portrayed like this so that the relatives' don't claim the body. You just don't get rid of the most wanted man in US history after a few hours.

I am happy that for all the people that lost their lives and limbs looking for Osama can now have more peace. Osama Bin Laden Dead and for me thats a play in the right direction.

where to for now - retirement benefits

2011-05-02T11:45:00.000+12:00

Instead of blogging about problems in the world I though I should also focus on how can we get out of it.

I have just read this article that on average a career as a California prison guard is better then going to Harvard and getting a degree. The main benefits of a California prison guard are a starting salary between 45 and 60 thousand dollars and then can make one hundred twenty thousand dollars in overtime and bonuses. They also get seven weeks of vacation in which 5 weeks are paid. But the condition that made me write this post is that Prison guards can retire at the age of 55 and earn 85% of their final year's salary for the rest of their lives. They also continue to receive medical benefits.

What does it say about a society where the prison guards have better benefits then getting a college degree in one of the most prestigious colleges in the world.

Where to for now, first the most money should be going to the people that increase the economy in real terms or ones that make quality of living for current inhabitants better. What is destroying a lot of businesses and state governments is retirement benefits. The retirement benefit that you will get a significant percentage of you salary paid to you after retirement.

This concept of large retirement benefits as not being sustainable can be best understood after watching this youtube clip. The clip explain's how simple growth of 7% means that after 10/12 years you will need the total amount of all proceeding costs to pay for it, then after another 10/12 years the amount needed matches all preceding costs to pay for it. So you really doubling you costs every 10 to 12 years. This is not sustainable as the major cost in most businesses is human resources.

Once retirement benefits have become unsustainable the company will go broke or have to renege on the pension plans. If its a state government then its nearly impossible to renegotiate teachers, policemen and state services pensions without having a significant political backlash so they are screwed.

Really the only way to save state governments and large US businesses with significant pension plans is to to debase the dollar. So that pension's and the salary in which pension's are calculate no longer have the same negative affect in their costs.

What has also made things worse is in trying to have sustainable pension has created this huge pension funds that worry more about getting bigger returns than actually increasing economic activity. Example in Fiji the national "pension fund" invest in real properties and activities that create business and was a real help to the economy in Fiji before the coup. In US a significant portion of pension funds invest in stock market and financial instruments, so besides not being sustainable the pension funds are actually assisting in the decline of peoples economy in which pension is supposed to look after.

The problem is the people making the decisions for retirement packages know that they wont be held accountable when the issues we are currently facing occur. The reason being is the majority of the decisions are based on next business cycle instead of thinking long term

I personally believe that once you retire you, are left with whatever savings that you have made up to that date. Government can give limited pensions for people in need. Reality is if you don't have have enough money you don't retire. We go back to communities looking after each other instead of expecting government to do it. Also funds that you have saved for retirement work in your local community instead of helping overseas companies create products that are competing with your community.

The biggest challenge in all this is people's perceptions have to change they have to understand that benefits that occurred before is not sustainable and they will have to contribute to society when they reach retirement age. We also need to go back to concept of respecting elders and looking after each other

Jake Locker replaces Vince Young

2011-04-30T08:14:00.000+12:00

Vince Young 30-18 is being replaced by Jake Locker. Interesting times as Reggie Bush is about to be cut, I was the one that spent countless blog posts in saying that Vince Young should have been drafted over Reggie Bush at Texans.

Have to remember that Vince Young was offensive Rookie of the year in his first year and without VY the titans were 15-18. Will Jake Locker have better results?

Vince Young problems was not to continually improve and believing his own hype but the biggest mistake was being on the Madden Cover in which he has never recovered from.

His history at Titans can now only be considered as a coach killer. Rirst Norm Chow then Jeff Fisher.

Texans curse was not to choose Vince Young and this is their chance to redeem that mistake and if they are lucky they will also be able bring Reggie Bush into the Team. There has never been as much hype as the Bush/Young draft debate in Houston and by employing VY it will be a way the texans can end their curse and hopefully end VY madden curse.

Prince William and Kate Middleton

2011-04-30T06:56:00.000+12:00

I watched some of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding and was really impressed. The colours in the church, uniforms was amazing. I am from culture that has chiefs and titles and people that have different roles in society. We also respect the Royal Family but as most commonwealth nations, our respect has digressed in the last twenty years. But I think this event has a significant change of people's attitude for the time being.

First I believe that William and Kate's relationship is genuine and think they will have a lasting future.

Its good to have some tradition as with constant change people lose their bearings and become lost. The whole wedding was really well done and we thank Prince William and Kate to let us be part of it.

Highest Paid Sports Teams 2011

2011-04-27T14:06:00.002+12:00

Interesting article on Highest paid sports teams in 2011. The majority of teams in the ESPN list are are soccer teams.

The top paying sports teams are

Soccer - Barcelona
Baseball - New York Yankees
Baketball - Lakers
Cricket - Royal Challengers Bangalore
NFL - Washington Redskins
Ice Hockey - Detroit Red Wings

The results are average salaries for players not total worth of a team so basketball teams would rank higher then NFL teams because NLF have more players .Below is the list of Highest paid sports teams broken up in their respective sports.

Highest paid Soccer Teams

Team	League	Average Annual Salary
Barcelona	La Liga	$ 7,910,737
Real Madrid	La Liga	$ 7,356,632
Chelsea	EPL	$ 6,020,741
Inter Milan	Serie A	$ 5,999,643
Manchester City	EPL	$ 5,863,585
Bayern Munich	Bundesliga	$ 5,780,358
AC Milan	Serie A	$ 5,647,633
Manchester United	EPL	$ 5,106,214
Liverpool	EPL	$ 4,935,847
Arsenal	EPL	$ 4,758,252

Highest paid Basketball Teams

Team	League	Average Annual Salary
Los Angeles Lakers	NBA	$ 6,540,690
Orlando Magic	NBA	$ 6,367,114
Denver Nuggets	NBA	$ 5,990,174
Utah Jazz	NBA	$ 5,829,643
Boston Celtics	NBA	$ 5,236,922
Houston Rockets	NBA	$ 4,972,115
Philadelphia 76ers	NBA	$ 4,954,303
Dallas Mavericks	NBA	$ 4,882,757
Atlanta Hawks	NBA	$ 4,665,981

Highest paid Baseball Teams

Team	League	Average Annual Salary
New York Yankees	MLB	$ 6,756,301
Boston Red Sox	MLB	$ 5,991,203
Philadelphia Phillies	MLB	$ 5,765,879
Chicago Cubs	MLB	$ 5,001,893
Chicago White Sox	MLB	$ 4,732,926
Minnesota Twins	MLB	$ 4,509,480
Los Angeles Angels	MLB	$ 4,469,134
New York Mets	MLB	$ 4,401,752
San Francisco Giants	MLB	$ 4,377,716
Detroit Tigers	MLB	$ 3,914,823

Highest paid NFL Teams

Team	League	Average Annual Salary
Washington Redskins	NFL	$ 2,913,048
New Orleans Saints	NFL	$ 2,845,831
Minnesota Vikings	NFL	$ 2,826,007
Chicago Bears	NFL	$ 2,719,637
Seattle Seahawks	NFL	$ 2,697,114
Dallas Cowboys	NFL	$ 2,679,093
Oakland Raiders	NFL	$ 2,653,532
Green Bay Packers	NFL	$ 2,592,050
Detroit Lions	NFL	$ 2,476,803
San Francisco 49ers	NFL	$ 2,446,040

Highest paid Cricket Teams

Team	League	Average Annual Salary
Royal Challengers Bangalore	IPL	$ 4,506,667
Kolkata Knight Riders	IPL	$ 4,448,333
Kings Xi Punjab	IPL	$ 4,065,833
Mumbai Indians	IPL	$ 3,997,500
Deccan Chargers	IPL	$ 3,993,333
Chennai Super Kings	IPL	$ 3,583,333
Delhi Daredevils	IPL	$ 3,392,500
Rajasthan Royals	IPL	$ 2,152,667

Highest paid Hockey Teams

Team	League	Average Annual Salary
Detroit Red Wings	NHL	$ 2,957,955
Boston Bruins	NHL	$ 2,742,614
Chicago Blackhawks	NHL	$ 2,725,130
Philadelphia Flyers	NHL	$ 2,683,696
San Jose Sharks	NHL	$ 2,673,712
Vancouver Canucks	NHL	$ 2,639,423
Ottawa Senators	NHL	$ 2,627,971
Montreal Canadiens	NHL	$ 2,520,660
New Jersey Devils	NHL	$ 2,481,458
Calgary Flames	NHL	$ 2,480,500

The major movement in currencies will affect the above totals and will be interesting that once China revalues the Yuan if there will be any Chinese teams in this list. Again NFL and NBA are looking at changing how players will be paid so look for there annual salaries to go down.

I am also interested in getting the same statistics for Rugby and Australian Rules football when collating highest paid sports teams 2011. So when I get that information will include it in this post.

Adsense track ad clicks

2011-04-27T12:51:00.001+12:00

Since installing adsense, I have been trying to identify how can I track what pages and ad is being clicked on for this blog. After searching different methods the best free way to track ad clicks is using Google Analytics which is described here

To track the ad's you will need a Google Analytics account and then access the old interface of Adsense. Once you click the option "Integrate you adsense with Google Analytics" just follow the instructions. There is also a youtube clip that explains the process.

Once everything is completed you will be able to track ads being clicked in the adsense option in Google Analytics under "Content"

Adsense minimum payment

2011-04-27T10:50:00.001+12:00

This blog is averaging around $10 a month in adsense income so am interested in what is the adsense minimum payment from google.

After a lot of searching below is the list of the minimum payment thresholds by reporting currency.

Thresholds:	Tax Information Submission	Verification	Payment Method Selection	Payment	Cancellation
U.S. Dollars (USD)	$10	$10	$10	$100	$10
Euro (EUR)	N/A	€10	€10	€70	€10
Great Britain Pounds(£ GBP)	N/A	10	10	60	10
Swiss Francs (CHF)	N/A	10	10	100	10
Danish Kroner (DKK)	N/A	60	60	600	60
Swedish Kroner (SEK)	N/A	70	70	700	70
Norwegian Kroner (NOK)	N/A	60	60	600	60
South African Rand (ZAR)	N/A	100	100	1000	100
Japanese Yen (JPY)	N/A	1000	1000	10000	1000
Australian Dollar (AUD)	N/A	15	15	150	15
Chinese Renminbi (RMB)	N/A	80	80	400	80

The problem for me is my reporting is in Australia dollar currency and the minimum is $150 even though the Australia dollar is stronger then USD by nearly 7%. So at this rate it will take me one year to get a payment from Google.

Below are minimum payments for adsense alternatives

Advertising Network	Minimum Payment
Chitika	Min Payment $10
InfoLinks	Min Payment $50 through PayPal
Adbrite	Minimum Payment $20
Bidvertiser	Minimum Payment $10

I still haven't received a payment from Google so my understanding of adsense minimum payment could be wrong.

Ubunto Linux Increases User Base by 10,000

2011-04-26T11:43:00.000+12:00

A major win for Linux and Ubunto in which German insurance giant LVM Versicherungen convert 10,000 PCs to use Ubuntu Linux across the company's operations.

Microsoft Windows licensing has always been a headache and reality is that there never has been much improvement in office or the windows version that justified the continuous upgrade and license fees.

As online java applications get much more powerful the need for developing a system for an operating system is getting less important. The perception of linux has also changed now to more business friendly.

As more people are moving towards other operating systems, I think this movement of 10,000 window seats to Linux will be milestone in Linux history.

highest gas prices

2011-04-26T10:25:00.000+12:00

So what countries have the highest gas prices as Oil prices yesterday rose above $124 a barrel and violence continued in the oil- producing Middle East along with post-election unrest in Nigeria.

Based on list which compares gas prices around the world Uruguay and United Kingdom nearly spend double the world average on gasoline prices where people in Iraq and Iran spend negligible amounts on gasoline.

Below is is ranking of how much countries spend on GAS which the main factor affecting change in prices are subsidies and taxes.

Amount	Weighted Average
Uruguay:	1.95
United Kingdom:	1.92
Israel:	1.87
Argentina:	1.75
Japan:	1.74
Finland:	1.74
Iceland:	1.72
Netherlands:	1.69
Denmark:	1.66
France:	1.62
Italy:	1.59
Sweden:	1.54
Brazil:	1.51
Korea, South:	1.51
Germany:	1.49
Korea, North:	1.46
Turkey:	1.44
Norway:	1.21
Spain:	1.2
Ireland:	1.18
Greece:	1.18
Sri Lanka:	1.08
Haiti:	1.05
Jamaica:	1.02
Cuba:	1
Mexico:	1
India:	0.98
Canada:	0.95
Australia:	0.93
Pakistan:	0.87
South Africa:	0.82
New Zealand:	0.79
United States:	0.77
China:	0.66
Russia:	0.54
Nigeria:	0.44
Egypt:	0.43
Libya:	0.41
United Arab Emirates:	0.41
Saudi Arabia:	0.39
Kuwait:	0.34
Venezuela:	0.2
Iran:	0.08
Iraq:	0.05
Turkmenistan:	0.03

Highest gas prices by city are as at march 2011

City	Price (AAA)	Price (GasBuddy.com)
San Diego	$ 3.97	$ 3.91
San Francisco	$ 3.96	$ 3.93
Oakland	$ 3.95	$ 3.90
Chula Vista	$ 3.95	Not available
Riverside	$ 3.94	$ 3.87
Bakersfield	$ 3.94	$ 3.84
Los Angeles	$ 3.93	$ 3.91
Irvine	$ 3.93	Not available
San Jose	$ 3.92	$ 3.90
Fresno	$ 3.91	$ 3.83

US cities with the lowest gas prices are

City	Price (AAA)	Price (GasBuddy.com)
Aurora, Colorado	$ 3.26	Not available
Tucson, Arizona	$ 3.26	$ 3.28
Tulsa, Oklahoma	$ 3.28	$ 3.28
Denver	$ 3.28	$ 3.27
Colorado Springs, Colorado	$ 3.29	$ 3.30
Wichita, Kansas	$ 3.31	$ 3.32
St. Louis, Missouri	$ 3.33	$ 3.31
Kansas City, Missouri	$ 3.34	$ 3.35
Boise, Idaho	$ 3.35	$ 3.35
Spokane, Washington	$ 3.36	$ 3.35

So the country with highest gas price is Uraguay and the city in the USA with highest gas prices is San Diego.

lower blood pressure naturally now

2011-04-22T14:47:00.001+12:00

I had blood pressure of around 169/115 and am in a bit of pain now. So what are best ways to lower blood pressure now.

The most import advice, I just read is to breathe slowly for 15 minutes 3 or 4 times a week has been found to reduce blood pressure by 9mm without any side effects. So what you "Breathing slowly" in this context means breathing ten times per minute as compared to the usual 14 to 19 times per minute.

The procedure for breathing slowly for reducing blood pressure naturally is take a deep breath and let it out slowly. When six seconds have passed, suck in your guts to expel as much air as possible from your lungs. Take a deep breath and then repeat for 15 minutes.

In my research, I also found a lot of different ways of reducing blood pressure naturally which is listed below.

1. Watch Your Weight: In over weight people, a 10 percent reduction in total body weight will sometimes normalize blood pressure.

2. Get Physical: Go for a brisk 30-minute walk 6 days a week.

3. Meditate/Yoga It reduces stress and strengthens the mind and body.

4. Butt Out: All forms of tobacco dramatically raise blood pressure.

5. Shake Off Salt: And sodium-rich foods such as soy sauce and canned soups.

6. Leave the Bar: 1-2 drinks a day is OK--even stress-relieving--but more can cause health problems.

7. Reject Refined Foods: Shun the sally, sugary, pre-made, preserved, fried and fatty.

8. Swear Off Sodas: Soft drinks can deplete potassium.

9. Find Fiber: Think veggies and whole grains.

10. Forgo Fat: Choose white fish and skinless chicken and turkey. Skip cheese, bacon, red meat, gravy and desserts.

11. Howl for Whole Oats: Eaten daily, oats lower hypertension.

12. Defeat Diabetes: Diabetics who control their condition reduce hypertension risk.

13. Prefer Potassium: This crucial mineral is found in many fruits, vegetables, dairy foods, fish and supplements.

14. Make It Magnesium: It's in leafy greens, legumes, whole grains and supplements.

15. Value Vitamin C: The less vitamin C in the blood, the higher the blood pressure in hypertensive patients.

16. Boost Bioflavonoids: Available in fruits, vegetables and supplements, bioflavonoids enhance vitamin C's effect.

17. Embrace Vitamin E: Evidence suggests that vitamin E also magnifies vitamin C's blood pressure-lowering effect.

18. Get Milk: Hypertensive patients seldom drink enough milk--and they are usually low on calcium. Broccoli, spinach, tofu, goat milk and calcium supplements are alternatives.

19. Fish for Omega-3s: Stress essential fatty acid-containing foods or supplements of fish oil, flaxseed oil and primrose oil.

20. Seize the Soy: Studies suggest that the isoflavones in soy, tofu, tempeh and miso make arterial walls more elastic.

21. Think Zinc: Zinc may reverse hypertension that has been caused by too much cadmium.

22. Have Some Hawthorn: An enzyme that can cause arteries to constrict is blocked by this berry.

23. Look for Linden: This blossom is often combined with hawthorn for blood pressure.

24. Target Taurine: This amino acid--available in protein and as a supplement--balances sodium and potassium in the blood, lowering blood pressure.

25. Crave Carrot Juice: Studies show it cleans arteries.

26. Cook with Cayenne: The capsicum in cayenne slows arteriosclerosis, which can cause hypertension.

27. Don't Pass on Parsley: It's a natural diuretic, which cuts blood pressure.

28. Go for Ginger: Ginger offers hypertensive benefits to some.

29. Evidence shows that garlic lowers hypertension 2-7 percent. Onions help too.

30. Single Out Psyllium: Take this soluble fiber with plenty of water. Other sources of fiber include peas, beans, apples, pears and citrus fruit.

31. Don't Knock Noni: This Polynesian fruit is also known as morinda citrifolia and Indian mulberry. We call in Kura in Fiji and I have used it for other ailments as well.

32. Spice It Up: Try basil, black pepper, cinnamon, chili powder, cloves, curry, dillweed, dillseed, fennel, horseradish, marjoram, nutmeg, oregano, rosemary, sage, tarragon and thyme. Their antioxidants may help--some directly lower blood pressure, and all substitute for salt.

33. Grasp Grape Seed Extract: Research at the University of Alabama suggests grape seed extract can lower blood pressure significantly.

34. Fall in Love with Lutein: Eat your spinach--or your kale or collards or mustard greens--or lake lutein supplements.

35. Go to Gotu Kola: For insomnia and lowering blood pressure.

36. Indulge in Aromatherapy: Aromatic bath or massage oils temporarily lower hypertension. Try 5 drops each of lemon balm and lavender essential oils in warm bath water.

37. Jilt the Java: Too much daily coffee-and even tea-can raise blood pressure.

38. Dark chocolate reduces hypertension

39. Listen to relaxing music

40. Drink a cup of green tea with lemon to increase its benefits

41. Seek help if you are a heave snorer as good sleep deprivation increases blood pressure

42. Now, Go to Bed: High blood pressure patients deprived of sleep experience significant increases in blood pressure, especially during the evening.

After collating the list its amazing how a lot of the natural remedies to reduce blood pressure now also helps in other ailments.

I am not going to give up my bacon though as their are quality of life issues.

Computer Availably 99.9%

2011-04-22T13:46:00.000+12:00

In my experience whenever I hear an IT professionals talk about 99.9% availability in any area. I immediately question their credibility and inform who ever I am with that what we are being sold is not facts but a sales gimmick. Its' also the same type of comment saying that financial system has to be accurate to the last cent.

This sort of language works well to executive management who think having perfects systems are key to success. Once they have been sold the product the effort of getting out of the product is to expensive and when that 0.01 percent of failure is recorded it is discounted as some other factor.

I am writing this because amazon cloud services has just had major failure and it was thought to have 99.9% computer availability with some of best backup systems in the world.

This reminds me of when 9/11 occurred the companies that were able to get their systems up the fastest where the ones that were more cowboy then ones that followed strictly to audit guides by large auditors.

I miss having been told all the things my auditors i.e PWC would say about how not secure or missing procedures in our IT department. That is why this issue disturbs me so much in how IT has to do all this extra risk management stuff when we could be focusing on other things because our executive management are being offered another silver bullet to handle issues that think will solve all their problems.

But reality for a lot of bad IT solutions its just another way to show shareholders that they are doing something constructive to fix their company.

I have totally got off topic just wan't to say that when you hear people saying that this solution will give computer availability of 99.9% question it.