24th December Pics

UFC 79 Nemesis (preview)

Oh my, this Saturday is gonna be a VERY special night. Ultimate fighting is the fastest growing sport on the planet. UFC has become the big kahuna, after buying PrideFc.

This is the top 3 fight card:

Hughes - St-Pierre

Liddell - Wanderlei Silva

Machida - Sokoudjou

There definitely will be fireworks that night. The whole event is pay per view ($40), I can't wait to see those fights for FREE on Sunday morning at http://www.mmashare.com/

Not for the faint of heart: (you are warned)

MIT

I am always on the look out for new information regarding economics, because I really DO believe knowledge is power. I was able to find most MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) courses on the internet: LINK

I downloaded the economics program and studied the content and the tests.

To recap one of the questions of my final that I posted a few days ago: LINK

I was amazed they had this question in the Quiz:

Apparently the "war" and the "excess money supply" problem are important themes to them as well.

Quotes of the day

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.
Bob Hope (1903 - 2003)

Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners.
E. Joseph Cossman

Unwrapping presents, pre-party (pics)

Quotes of the day

When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, "Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?"
Quentin Crisp

The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882)

I'm still an atheist, thank God.
Luis Bunuel (1900 - 1983)

HLN

I just browsed the hln.be website the other day and one of the headlines revealed the winner of Expeditie Robinson 2007 (US: Survivor). Aaaaaarrrrrrrrgggghhhhhh, no exciting final episode for us. Luckily our favorite won.

Whoehaha that's one funny episode

Quote of the day

"It's not risky to buy securities at a fraction of what they're worth."
Warren Buffett

Exam questions Economics

One of the questions of my Economics final (12th grade):

What happens to the value of a currency when the government spends more than it takes in and "creates" more money. (what happens to the equilibrium? what curve shifts?) Use a demand and supply graph.

no extra comment :-)

2008 Predictions

5 predictions for 2008:

2008 will be the year the Chinese stock market bubble bursts.

2008 will be the year that USA's biggest mortgage company Countrywide Financial will go bankrupt.

2008 will be the year that the European housing market will start a deep fall/crash.

2008 will be the year Agfa-Gevaert (BEL 20) turns around.

2008 will be the year that currencies reflect the strentgh of their economies... Chinese Yuan and Japanese Yen will rise +20%.

CNBC top 10 moments of the year 2007

This is a must see. CNBC's top 10 moments of the year.

I really enjoyed the "What's in Warren's wallet?" and "Cramer: Wake up Fed!".

LINK

Quote of the day

We live in a Newtonian world of Einsteinian physics ruled by Frankenstein logic.

David Russell

Real Estate round up

Comments from a "realtor":

How to help the real-estate market

Here is a moderate solution to the real-estate market:
There are more than 58,000 homes on the market. If each and every person who does not need to sell his or her home, or can wait to sell, takes his or her home off the market, the market will correct very quickly.

What we would see is all the homes that the banks have had to take back or the short-sale homes. After a few months, we would have a strong housing market. In fact, if many Realtors would educate their sellers about this, everyone would be happy.


The inflow of money to a state or county is heavily depending on property taxes. When prices drop, property taxes drop... result:

Mass inmate release possible in California

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering the early release of more than 20,000 low-risk prison inmates from the nation's largest prison system as a way to save money amid a worsening budget crisis, a newspaper reported Thursday.

On the front page, for the masses:

Stock of our "usual suspect":

Countrywide Financial

Hilarious

Quote of the day (revisited, now with LINK)

Does Wal-Mart sell wall stuff?
Jessica Simpson

In fact they do: LINK

Has the world gone mad?

After the re-election of Bush Jr, I thought I had seen it all but ... this is just total insanity.

The biggest dictator of the last decade Putin recieves the "man of the year award" from Time magazine.

He kills opposition forces or arrests them when they have a meeting. He takes over a perfect legitimit business (Lukoil), puts the CEO in jail. Kills thousands of Muslims in suburbs, ...

What is next:

Bush receives the "smartest president of the world" award?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (president of Iran) receives the "most democratic president of the world" award?

Chavez (president of Venezuela) receives the "most tactfull president of the world" award?

Obese

When I was eating my 12 inch Sweet Onion Chicken Teryaki sandwich at Subway INSIDE a Walmart in Chandler, I was watching people leaving walmart. I was wondering how can Europe and the US "produce" people that are so totally different in size.

Being here for 5 months, let's take a look at what factors can be accountable for such different sizes in people.

1. Sizes: A cup of coffee is 0.2 l, a small drink is 0.33l, ... to recap they have NO small drinks. A large drink is 1 l ...

2. There are no alternatives for soda: It is very difficult to drink anything else then soda's when you go out to lunch. Orange juice or other healthy drinks are not available.

3. Americans have a distorted view of what a normal human being looks like. Let's take the Vitruvian man of Leonardo Da Vinci. It is not the ideal man but how a normal man looks like, well you won't find them here.

4. When you are fat in Belgium (and I mean REAL fat) you would be ashamed, eat less and have a social stigma. That is not the case in the US, you have a social stigma of being skinny here when you look like we do... A student once called me "Hey, skinny teacher", well, I will not comment any further LOL.

5. In the US work and life are interconnected. In Belgium life and work are 2 seperate entities. Americans work much harder and longer hours, they don't have the time to take 45 minutes to prepare dinner.

6. Unhealthy food is darn cheap. 0.79 for a hamburger at Mc Donalds, 0.99 for a burrito at Taco Bell, ... Vegetables and fruit is very expensive compared to those "fast food" dinners.

Bills

Now the weather has cooled down to about 40 F in the morning to 70 F in the afternoon, let's take a look at our bills.
in $ per month:
Gas: 23
Electricity: 180 (was 300 in August)
Water: 63
Collecting waste: 7

Triple quote of the day

For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off.
Johnny Carson (1925 - 2005)

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

348 000 000 000

Holy c* it's contagious...

E.C.B. Makes $500 Billion Infusion

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank on Tuesday pumped 348 billion euros ($500 billion) into the financial system, easing conditions in credit markets grappling with a global lending squeeze linked to the United States housing downturn and traditional year-end demands for cash.

Quote of the day

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)

After stalling the Belgian Government negotiations for almost 200 days...

CDH (after discussing it with their cartel partner PS)decides it wants to be an opposition party.

WHY DO THEY NEED ALMOST 200 DAYS TO FIGURE OUT
WHAT EVERYBODY ALREADY KNEW FROM DAY ONE!

What took them so long?

Congressman calls for Cheney impeachment hearings.

Table Tennis Tournament

Last week I played in the Valley of The Sun Open at our club.
I played - 2000 (ratings in the Us have a number pretty similar to the ELO system in chess)and - 1900 on Saturday. Because I didn't have a rating I wasn't allowed to advance to the single elimination. I won 3 matches and didn't loose any in the -2000 category. I won 2 matches and lost one in the -1900 category.

On Sunday I played in the Singles Open and Open Doubles.
Groups of 5 players. I won 3 pretty easy (all 4-1) and lost 1. I lost 4-2 against Xiaozhou, number 2 in Arizona, rating 2216(number 1 of our club). Played extremely well, was 2-3 down and 9-7 up and f* up 2 easy spins.
I was placed 2 of my group and advanced to the next round.
Played against Potaychuk, number 3 of our club and number 7 in Arizona, rating 2081. Played extremely bad, was 10-8 ahead in the first set and then I played really bad. Lost 4-0, sad.

Those two players went on to play the final...Xiaozhou won.

Corporate supported messages

Couldn't have said it any better.

Best political joke of 2007

Well, it was the truth anyway.

More than 6 million dollars

for Ron Paul's money bomb. This is the biggest single-day primary fundraising record, the "old" one was for John Kerry ($5.7 million in 2004).

That should be headline news in every democratic country, let's keep an eye on the US media today.

This is the Yahoo! 2008 election page. 8:52 EST, and no news of the Ron Paul money bomb... even Iran and North Korea report news of opposition parties faster...

Slowing economy will hit Pinal County hardest

Article link

Guess where we live?

Luckily schools don't go bankrupt, however they are paid by property tax dollars...

DVD

As you know we don't have cable. We DO have a state of the art DVD player and a nice full HD 1080p 40 inch Samsung LCD tv. So what do we watch in the evening or during week-ends?

We are big fans of the BBC "Walk with" series. We have the whole collection. The most famous ones are the Walking with Dinosaurs but they also made "prehistoric beasts", "monsters", etc.

We watched some rented DVD's the last few weeks: Disturbia, Ocean's 13, The Bourne Ultimatum, Alpha Dog, Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix, ...
We rent them for 1 dollar per day from a machine in the local retailer. They don't make any profit on the DVD's but you have to go back to the machine to bring them back, so the retailer makes up that loss because you buy some other stuff too.

We are big fans of TV-shows, we watched Heroes (Series 1), 4400 (Series 3) and 24 (Series 5)

We watched the first episode of the Sopranos but we didn't like the show at all.

We bought some DVD series for the holiday period: House MD (Series 1 and 2), Dark Angel (Series 1), The Office (Series 1 and 2)

In Belgium the only two tv-shows we really liked were "Expeditie Robinson" and "Peking Express".
Luckily I found the episodes of Expeditie Robinson 2007 on the internet: LINK
The new Peking Express hasn't started yet, we can hardly wait.

Elections / Forming a Government in Belgium

Why do we even have elections in Belgium? Nothing is gonna change.

Now they want the big losers of the elections in a government. A "three party coalition" in Belgium means ALL parties united in a government because every party is already a cartel of several parties.

A three party coalition would mean:
Liberals, Catholics, Flemish seperatists, Socialists, Communists (spirit) and that is only the Flemish side.
In Walloon you would have: Liberals, Catholics, Rascist French nationals (FDF), Socialists...
And maybe I have forgotten a few.

The formation of the Belgian government will now be handled by the biggest loser of the 2007 elections: Verhofstadt, because our king Albert aka TremorKing told him to do so.

In Belgian elections, winners are losers and losers are winners. No point in having elections anymore.

Maybe Di Rupo will be the next premier. That would be a whole lot of fun.

Quote of the day

If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

James Madison
(the fourth President of the United States (1809-1817)

As the West coast wakes up (+UPDATE)

Ron Paul has received almost 2 million in donations, this night alone(10 hours)...

Me thinks there a lot of people who think that Bush is a retard and think the war is/was not a very good idea.

Just my 2 cents.

UPDATE:
14:38 minutes and over the 3 million mark, that is 50% higher than November 5th.
The total for the day could come in close to 6.5 millon. That would make the news, or probably not. Ignorance...

Banks are doing fine

CITIGROUP

The company said the SIVs' assets have been reduced by more than 40% to $49 billion from a total value of $87 billion in August, while "maintaining the overall high credit quality of the portfolio."

SIVs are funds that use money borrowed under short-term agreements -- typically commercial paper -- to buy longer-term, higher yielding debt investments, which have included subprime mortgage-related assets.

A 40% decline from August --> December ...

Luckily they didn't "mark to market" their SIV's or losses would have been even bigger. Hence, an asset that nobody wants to buy is worth 0 ; nada ; zero ; nul ; nihil!



Don't panic, there is no housing crash, everything is fine.

When will we see the first run on the banks?
When will Countrywide Financial go bankrupt?
What bank will go bankrupt first?

Visitors

We are expecting two (groups) of visitors in the next coming months. They will be visiting us in February - March. The weather should be excellent during that period.

The weather is not that good in Maricopa right now. When it was still 35 celsius at the end of November the temperature has steadily dropped to about 10-15 celsius.

No cable helps our family life

We have cut our cable tv a few month ago. The effects on our family life are very clear now. It is the best thing we have ever done. We make time for playing games, watching some DVD's, etc. The constant "pressure" of having the tv on all day is gone. We should have done that a long time ago.

Naomi

Naomi is very happy here in the US. She likes to go to school, remember she is in a special Charter school. It is a school that is paid for by tax dollars but has a private "school policy". If you don't behave you are kicked out. That is not possible in public schools where the administrators have to follow the (long) procedures and board policies.
Her English is exceptional. If you have a computer and you have a webcam you can always contact us in the morning (Az time). You will be amazed with Naomi's English.
She has a friend (8 years)in our street, where she hangs out with during week-ends and after school.

Quote of the day

Television is for appearing on - not for looking at.
Noel Coward (1899 - 1973)

Ron Paul Do or Die day

The RON PAUL blimp

I've won a 1 million dollars

This time I wasn't the 1 million th visitor of a website ...

Very weird that I have to contact microsoft through a person who uses a yahoo e-mail address.

We are still alive and well

After this hectic week(s) it is time to update the blog again. Next week is Finals week so we had to create finals and so on. Very very busy.

I will adding some comments about the "usual subjects": the economy, Ron Paul's journey, The great leaders of the US, Naomi, misc, etc

Real estate never goes down, they don't make anymore land, location, location, location, there is no housingbubble, it's a great time to buy...

Source: realtor: link
December 1st 2007 and the decline continues in Maricopa. The price per-sq ft is at $93 and is the lowest in 2-years. Talk about a "corrective market." Investor "sell offs" and foreclosures have really hit this city hard. Many people now own homes that are mortgaged for much more than they are worth. Prices have not been under $100 per-sq ft ANYWHERE in the Valley for a very long time. If you are O.K with the drive from Maricopa into the Phoenix area, Maricopa remains the place to make a home deal and get the biggest house the least amount of money. There is a 16-month supply of resale homes on the market. For those not familiar with this city, prices are now over $60 per-sq ft less than they were in this city 20 months ago. Sellers and buyers alike could use some help from lower interest rates. Another solution to stabilize the market would be for 25% of the sellers to take their homes of the market and reduce the high inventory. (whoehaha LOL, this is too funny) Maricopa is much more affordable than nearby Ahwatukee and Chandler AND REMAINS THE PLACE TO MAKE A DEAL.

NOVEMBER '07 - 998 Homes for sale; 61 sold (6.1%); 16.4 months inventory
avg. 2,069 sf - price $193,045 - on market 95 days - price per-sq ft $93

OCTOBER '07 - 1,007 Homes for sale; 60 sold (6.0%); 16.8 months inventory
avg. 2,195 sf - price $201,405 - on market 85 days - price per-sq ft $92

SEPTEMBER '07 - 984 Homes for sale; 61 sold (6.2%); 16.1 months inventory
avg. 2,284 sf - price $230,114 - on market 87 days - price per-sq ft $101

AUGUST '07 - 960 Homes for sale; 60 sold (6.3%); 16.0 months inventory
avg. 2,095 sf - price $211,655 - on market 96 days - price per-sq ft $101

JULY '07 - 958 Homes for sale; 64 sold (6.7%); 15.0 months inventory
avg. 2,184 sf - price $221,052 - on market 91 days - price per-sq ft $101

JUNE '07 - 915 Homes for sale; 68 sold (7.3%); 13.5 months inventory
avg. 2,219 sf - price $232,051 - on market 82 days - price per-sq ft $105

MAY '07 - 875 Homes for sale; 60 sold (6.9%); 14.6 months inventory
avg. 2,118 sf - price $232,394 - on market 103 days - price per-sq ft $109

APRIL '07 - 831 Homes for sale; 47 sold (5.7%); 17.7 months inventory
avg. 1,962 sf - price $229,157 - on market 110 days - price per-sq ft $117

No qualified buyers? No problem let's get them qualified

This is an advertisement of a homebuilder addressed to realtors with clients (homebuyers) that don't qualify to buy a home.

Most of the homebuilders have their own mortgage company... so after selling people homes they couldn't afford in 2004-2005-2006, what are their plans for 2007 and 2008?
You guessed it right, they are going to sell homes to people who can't qualify for a loan by giving the realtors tips on how to raise the credit rating of their clients, so they become qualified (for a home they wouldn't orhterwise be able to afford).

Oh my, this is one big mess. Those homebuilders deserve to go bankrupt.
I think I hear Gold $1000 coming.

Quote of the day

No Presidential library for this man. NASA needs to put his brain in a jar so future Americans can actually see what an idiot mind looks like.

Source: A forum, subject: the interest rate "freeze" of the Bush administration

Bush FREEZES rates ... NOT

Well,
This "freeze interest rate plan" is to make it look like Bush is doing something, when instead all he does, is getting hopes up for some ... and then crush them.
Let's take a closer look at the conditions that will get you eligible for the magic interest rate freeze:

* Mortgage had to be issued between January 2005 and July 2007

* ARM must reset January 2008 to July 2010

* You must not have more than 3% equity in your home (Oh, my... if you put money down on your home, no interest rate freeze for you!)

* Home must be worth more than the mortgage (LOL)

* You must have income

* You must prove that you can make the payments

* You must not be more than 60 days past due

* Program is voluntary with the lenders - government has no authority or legal status


It is clear and obvious that not a single home bought between '05 - '07 in the USA fits these criteria!

Way to go.

Buy 1 get one free

Born with Heart OUTSIDE body

Incredible

Quote of the day

Last night I dreamed I ate a ten-pound marshmallow, and when I woke up the pillow was gone.

Tommy Cooper

Well, that looks like a modern religion...

Sudan police throw teacher in jail for teddy bear named Muhammad

A British teacher faces a jail sentence in Sudan for insulting Islam by letting her class of seven-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad as part of a school project.

219 mph in a LAMBO on a Phoenix Freeway (350 km/h)

Weather in Maricopa

Last week was the first week we had "cooler" weather. First time we had to wear a sweater to go to school.

This Friday we had rain ALL day, I can assure you when it rains in Maricopa/Arizona IT POURS. Our pool almost flooded.

Frightening

LINK

Click "now" on the right hand side.

Thx to GM for this amazing link.

(Pics) Naomi at a party

Quote of the day

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
J. R. R. Tolkien

Home for sale

In our street there is a similar home as ours for sale. The owner just lowered the price a "full" $10 000 to $389 000... But no potential buyers are showing up, it may have something to do with the fact that the same home is for sale 30 yards further with a list price of $279 000... Just my two cents.

A graph for that home owner: