Václav_Havel RIP

Václav Havel

5-Oct-1936 - 18-Dec-2011

ECB with new boss and lower rate

QE is on the way.

The European Central Bank lowered its benchmark interest rate Thursday, as the new president, Mario Draghi, acted quickly to address a looming recession and acute tension caused by the sovereign debt crisis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/business/global/european-central-bank-cuts-rates-hoping-to-avert-downturn.html?_r=1

Peter Schiff Speaks for 1 Percent at Occupy Wall Street

Stive Jobs RIP

"What will be will be, the future is our to forge..."
                              "the captain"

I never liked Jobs as technical person, but he was truly great businessman,
except last several mounts when he behave very irresponsibly.

The fall of Byzantine empire

Friend referred me to two movies about the fall of Byzantine empire.
One of the movies truly sucks :)

However, the other was very good. Unfortunately, the movie is in... Russian and have no subtitles.

If you know Russian, watch it. You will find lots of parallels between late Byzantine empire, Venice, Turks and today's big countries such USA, Germany, China and so on.

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Here is the link:

Гибель империи. Византийский урок.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3hROzmN5MQ

And here is the embed:

Empires falling... (EUR/CHF, Greece...)

Swiss Franc Collapses as Central Bank Announces Pseudo-Peg
http://realitylenses.blogspot.com/2011/09/swiss-franc-collapses-as-central-bank.html

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While US Equity Futures Rally 5%, Greece 1Y Gov Bond Yield 97%
http://realitylenses.blogspot.com/2011/09/while-us-equity-futures-rally-5-greece.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RealityLenses+%28Reality+Lenses%29

Behind Detroit's Notorious Ruins

Reprinted: Nixon closes the gold window

Today the fiat money experiment is officially 40 years old.

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We posted this almost one year ago:

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Historical moment: Nixon closes the gold window,
and with other words declares bankcrupsy of USA. On top he impose 10% tax on foreign imported goods.

Bernanke is Mugabe

cartoon via link

... historical meagatonage

via atomic-annhilation

Some videos

Marc Faber: Fed to Resume QE When U.S. Stocks Prices Fall

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An interview with GATA Chairman Bill Murphy

Aaron Russo Interview.

I watched this interview 4 years ago.
Aaron Russo pass away, but the interview is as actual now, as it was back then.

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Uncle Jay explains... Osama

Experimental electric car

Looks like to build electric car is not that difficult, nor that expensive. This car along with about 3 more was built in University of Transport in Sofia, Bulgaria - http://vtu.bg/ .

For this particular car, they used some Renault as a base, kept existing manual transmission and removed the air conditioner. The battery used in this car are "normal" lead batteries, one under the hood, and four more in the back.

The car is equipped with solar panels on the roof which are used mainly to charge the 12V car battery, but theoretically may help charging the main batteries.

Due to high price the car does not have super capacitor, nor "bust" function.

The engine without the batteries costs between 1000 and 2000 EUR.

This particular car can "travel" 100 km.

Another interesting thing is that even the transmission is manual, you usually do not change the shifts, but almost always use 3th shift. 4th shift is used on highway, and lower shifts only if road is really bad.

In additional of this car, they built some with automatic transmission and lithium-ion batteries.

Side view:


Side view:


Back side where batteries may be seen.


Under the hood - small engine, big battery

Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan...

Friend of mine point my attention to this very interesting article for Afghanistan in 1950's and 1960's, with even more interesting pictures:

Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan...

Readings

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Just Another Day in the 'Hood with the Hoods
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2011/04/gold-daily-and-silver-weekly-charts_26.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JessesCafeAmericain+%28Jesse%27s+Caf%C3%A9+Am%C3%A9ricain%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Silver - Top or Not?
http://www.safehaven.com/article/20764/silver-top-or-not?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+safehaven%2Fall-articles+%28Safehaven+-+Most+Recent+Articles%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Alarming Stat of the Day
http://timiacono.com/index.php/2011/04/26/alarming-stat-of-the-day/

Uncle Jay Explains: Apr. 25, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGbZjSJB06Q&feature=youtube_gdata

Sandy Springs, Georgia: The City that Outsourced Everything

Greece Bond Yields at Record High following Default Comments

After the disturbing news from / for Belorussian central bank, here you are another disturbing news:

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/04/greece-bond-yields-at-record-high.html

The yield on Greece ten year bonds jumped to 14.40% today and
the two year yield is up to 19.60%
?!!?!#$@#$@

Belarus central bank halts sales of gold for Belarus roubles

From the article:

Belarus' central bank has stopped selling gold to local retail customers for Belarussian roubles (BYR), it said on Friday, after demand for precious metals soared due to expectations of a currency devaluation.

The bank did not explain its decision.

http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFLDE73E16O20110415

The article is more important than you think.
I don't know how many Belorussians buying gold, but stopping selling gold could mean that the Belorussian Ruble went into event horizon of the inflation collapse, and hyper-inflation is on the way.

I suppose some day we will get same article for USD and EUR.

How the Stock Market Works