Some pics (entrance of our community with playground)

Ben Bernanke hated by everyone now?

Ron Paul receives cheers from the trading floor and Ben Bernanke... well he is just a puppet on a string for the dumbest president ever, gotta stay on the president's level when answering some intelligent questions of course. This is amazing (economy problems explained below this post):

Gold +$800 // Oil +$95 // Euro Dollar 5 year chart(from 1:1 to 0.68) // 1.47 in euro terms

This was the "interview", Bernanke is lying and you can see it at the end.


Some extra information to understand the crisis:

The FED doesn't show the M3 anymore which is a measure of the money supply. They just stopped showing number to the public. No one knows how much money has been printed, oops, I mean created. When money is created inflation rises. Prices become more expensive and people loose purchasing power. The same amount of income buys you less goods or services, even though you earn the same amount as last year you are getting poorer in REAL terms.

To check inflation you have the consumer price index (CPI). Inflation is the rise in prices of day to day goods. A low inflation is good for the economy +/-2%, a high or negative in/de flation is bad for the economy. The problem is that the government takes all goods and services that rise, out of the CPI which means the CPI doesn't represent the real inflation. The CPI is manipulated by the government to le the people think that inflation is under control (about 2%)

The debt that the US government has, is owned by foreign countries. If they stop buying that debt (and that won't take too long before they cease to do that), the US government will have to devaluate the dollar. All foreign/imported goods are going to get more expensive. Think Mercedes, BMW, French Wine/cheese, ... Combine that with the price rise of all other American goods due to inflation and the collapse of the Us dollar.

Americans have a incorrect view that a lowering dollar is good for the ecnomy and for the US consumer: Products made in the US and sold in dollars will be very cheap to foreigners when the US dollar further declines/collapses. US companies will want to sell their products outside the USA because they will be able to get more money(in $) for their products. This will lift inflation in the US even more .... Us consumers will have to compete against foreigners for US made products.

Foreclosure Tsunami

The number of Valley homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure has shot up 566 percent so far this year, a result of the housing market’s slowdown and rising interest rates on a variety of risky mortgages.
Through October, there were 7,139 foreclosures, according to the data research firm Information Market. That compares with 1,072 foreclosures for the same period last year.
Last month alone, 1,396 Valley homes fell into foreclosure, compared with 934 in September.
Additionally, in October, 3,438 homeowners fell behind on their mortgage payments, and lenders took the first step toward foreclosing by filing a notice for a trustee sale. During September, 2,830 of those pre-foreclosure notices were filed in Maricopa County.\

Below a picture that puts the foreclosures in perspective:

Listings (huizen te koop) are shown with green signs, foreclosures are represented by gavels (zwarte schuine streepjes). This is a suburb of Phoenix (El Mirage).

Source: http://www.housingdoom.com/

Quote of the day

In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.

Ellen DeGeneres

That's F****** frightening

Killing a few hundred thousand of people who did no harm to anyone, children, women, families, citizens like you and me, and not feeling bad about it...

Article:
Hiroshima bomb pilot Paul Tibbets dies aged 92

US: The pilot of the aircraft which dropped the world's first atomic bomb used in warfare, Paul Tibbets, died yesterday aged 92.Mr Tibbets flew the B-29 bomber Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.He insisted almost to his dying day that he had no regrets about the mission and had no problem sleeping.

It was the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare."I knew when I got the assignment it was going to be an emotional thing," Mr Tibbets told the Columbus Dispatch in a story published on the 60th anniversary of the bombing. "We knew it was going to kill people right and left.

But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as quickly as possible."

He said in a 1975 interview: "I'm not proud that I killed 80,000 people, but I'm proud that I was able to start with nothing, plan it and have it work as perfectly as it did."You've got to take stock and assess the situation at that time. I sleep clearly every night."

Americans have a very weird moral standard. They are horrified when you tell them that people eat "horse meat" but killing human beings, a few thousand here and a few hundred thousand there, no one gives a s***...

Use bombs for military targets not for killing citizens, would be rational reasoning. Their reasoning for killing hundred thousands of citizens was there was going to be a bloody invasion.

WTF!!!

The USA is the one and only REAL expert in bloody invasions LOL.

Geneva Convention:

Some of the central principles underlying laws of war are:
Wars should be limited to achieving the political goals that started the war (e.g., territorial control) and should not include unnecessary destruction
Wars should be brought to an end as quickly as possible
People and property that do not contribute to the war effort should be protected against unnecessary destruction and hardship

Holidays

Monday the 12th of November we have a holiday: Veterans day.

[object]">Veterans Day is an American holiday honoring military veterans. Both a federal holiday and a state holiday in all states, it is celebrated on the same day as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.)
Veterans Day is largely intended to thank veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to United States national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served - not only those who died - have sacrificed and done their duty.[1]
The holiday is commonly misprinted as Veteran's Day or Veterans' Day in calendars and advertisements.

November 21st we have an early release. We' re not sure how "short" that early release day is. We don't have any school on Thursday(22nd Thanksgiving) and Friday(23rd) too:

In the United States, Thanksgiving is a four day weekend which usually marks a pause in school and college calendars. Families and friends gather for a reunion, a day of thanks, and a festive meal.
Thanksgiving meals are traditionally family events where certain kinds of food are served. First and foremost, turkey is the featured item in most Thanksgiving feasts (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes facetiously referred to as "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, turnips, yams and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. Often guests bring food items or help with cooking in the kitchen as part of a happy, communal meal.
In keeping with the holiday theme of giving thanks, during the socializing or meal, people talk about what they are thankful for or tell about experiences during the past year which have caused them to feel grateful.

The solution for the Belgian problem

Let's sell Brussels to the European Union for 2 500 000 000 euro, which would erase the debt of Belgium. With no debt load, let's split up the country so the eternal money flow in the "Wallonian" abyss finally stops.

Belgian Politics: Do or Die day

As usual the Flemish parties will give in and there will be no vote in the commission...that is a 99% probability.

That's what I would call a LOSS LEADER

Toshiba's $99 HD DVD player

Quote of the day

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.
Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

When it takes over 150 days to form a government ...

do you think those parties are fit to work / operate together for the next 4 years?

Looks I was not the only one...

Ron Paul receives 4.2 million dollars in donations in 1 day !!!

Ron Paul Raises More Than $4.2 Million

By JIM KUHNHENN (AP)

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, aided by an extraordinary outpouring of Internet support Monday, hauled in more than $4.2 million in nearly 24 hours. Paul, the Texas congressman with a libertarian tilt and an out-of-Iraq pitch, entered heady fundraising territory with a surge of Web-based giving tied to the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day. Fawkes was a British mercenary who failed in his attempt to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. He also was the model for the protagonist in the movie "V for Vendetta." Paul backers motivated donors on the Internet with mashed-up clips of the film on the online video site YouTube as well as the Guy Fawkes Day refrain: "Remember, remember the 5th of November."Paul's total deposed Mitt Romney as the single-day fundraising record holder in the Republican presidential field. When it comes to sums amassed in one day, Paul now ranks only behind Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, who raised nearly $6.2 million on June 30, and Barack Obama. Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said the effort began independently about two months ago at the hands of Paul's backers. He said Paul picked up on the movement, mentioning in it speeches and interviews."It's been kind of building up virally," Benton said.T he $4.2 million represented online contributions from more than 37,000 donors, fundraising director Jonathan Bydlak said Monday night. Paul has been lagging in the polls behind Republican front-runners. But he captured national attention at the end of September when he reported raising $5.2 million in three months, putting him fourth among Republican presidential candidates in fundraising for the quarter. Paul as of Monday had raised more than $7 million since Oct. 1, more than half his goal of $12 million by the end of the year, according to his Web site.Paul advocates limited government and low taxes like other Republicans, but he stands alone as the only GOP presidential candidate opposed to the Iraq war. He also has opposed Bush administration security measures that he says encroach on civil liberties.

I've donated for RON PAUL

I can't vote so I have to help him in some other way.

It is the first time in my life I donate for a political campaign. It was my moral duty to support a "future" President that has at least twice the IQ than the one that sits in the Oval Office right now.

The fact that they had an initiative on the internet to get as much money as possible on this november 5th, helped me to pull the trigger. I am always in for some fun. WEBSITE LINK

The biggest company in the world is now called ...

PetroChina, it is the first company to exceed 1 TRILLION dollars of market cap (market cap = number of shares * value of shares).

That was close ...

Arizona nuclear plant normal after pipe bomb found

HP rip off

Hewlett-Packard is a real rip-off company. I ordered a HP C3180 for $70 on amazon a few months ago. To my surprise I noticed the ink cartridges are a meager 5ML, yes you read it correctly FIVE ml ...
A cartridge costs about $13, if we assume the cartridge itself costs $3 to produce. They charge $10 for 5 ml, which converts to $2000 per liter (1/4 of a gallon).
HP ink is now officially MORE expensive than gold and platina.
Luckily I bought 85 ml for $13 using the internet (incl shipping, no taxes) to refill my cartridges...

Quote of the day

Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy.

Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977

Showing the face of King Tutankhamun to the public

As a World Studies teacher, this is a major event.
In Egypt tourists can look look the young pharaoh King Tutankhamun in the eye. From today on the mummy will be showed in a climate controlled coffin of plastic at his Pyrimad in Luxor, Egypt.

LINK: Click on these words on the right hand top under "video": Bekijk de beelden van de ophaling van de mummie.
It will take a few seconds to load.

The way they take him out of that coffin is so amateuristic ... if the first one drops the body, he breaks in a gazillion pieces...

To refresh your memory: The story of Tutankhamun

Chinese Stock Market Crash

China Mobile, China's biggest mobile operator, has a market cap of $380 billion. More than Vodafone, America Movil en NTT Domoco … COMBINED...

PetroChina, China's biggest oil company, has a market cap of $450 billion. More than Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP. Exxon Mobile is the only one that has a larger market cap.

Bank of China, China's biggest bank, has a market cap of $360 billion. That is a HIGHER market cap than Citigroup and Bank of America, COMBINED...

Baidu.com, China's biggest search engine, has a book value below $10, however the latest quote is $410 ...

I am not sure which event will trigger a market crash in China, but I'm pretty sure it won't take too long...

Played top 10 PTT club rated player / Arizona rating 26

Last Monday I played this player, he is rated number 10 in the Phoenix table tennis club and number 26 in Arizona with a 1914 rating. I played him twice, he changed bats and rubbers between the two matches. He plays with MarkVm2 forehand and short pimples-out backhand. I played very well and beat him with 3-1 twice: 11-9 11-5 4-11 11-5 and 6-11 11-5 11-6 11-4. He said he played J-M Saive 10 years ago in a tournament in Florida. Will try to play a higher rated player this wednesday.
Interesting graph:

New Belgian TV show: We are from Belgium

We Are From Belgium

It is a Belgian TV show about people who move to another country. The first couple won the "green card" lottery and they moved to Florida. Their story had a lot of similarities with our story. They sold everything and departed with 4 pieces pf luggage. They gave a goodbye party and they had a nice house with a pool in Florida.

Halloween movies

Panorama visits the Walloons

LINK

Quote of the day

Does Wal-Mart sell wall stuff?

Jessica Simpson

Halloween pics (part 2)

Halloween Pics (part 01)

Ron Paul on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Quote of the day

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?
Charles M. Schulz

Halloween

Tomorrow Wednesday, October 31st, it is Halloween. This is a very important day for the Americans. We'll be trick or treating with Naomi, Skyler and Zane. A lot of pics will follow tomorrow. We don't have a day off but in 3 weeks it is Thanksgiving and then we'll have 2 days off.
PS: To remember the dead, in Mexico they all go to the cemetary and have a big party on their grave. This lasts past midnight, pretty scary.

Shanti and Co in Disneyland

You can make the pics go faster by pressing the + button on the bottom left hand side.

Opened a Custodial account for Naomi

We have opened a custodial account for Naomi. This is an account where the content belongs to her but the account will be managed by an adult. We make the investment decisions, the money will be available to her when she turns 18.
I have made the first deposit and invested it into this fund: Merk Hard Currency Fund. It is fund that invests in NON dollar denominated bonds and saving accounts. Foreign currencies: euro - swiss franc - canadian dollar - ... .

It is a similar account to our accounts which means that a free European wire transfer to a German account will put money into the US account. A euro amount will be transferred to USD with an 0.2% exchange rate cost which is the lowest we could find.

Naomi went to a Halloween party

Quote of the day

I'd love to buy another home now but am stuck with the over inflated one we bought a year and half ago.

forum: 85239.com

Housing, expect at least a 0.25% rate cut from the FED

Another Horror Story: Pulte Homes (=one of the biggest builders in the USA)
10/26/2007 11:10 AM

A month ago I went on national television and said not to buy real estate, that you would lose money.
Wednesday night Pulte (PHM - commentary - Cramer's Take) confirmed that thesis. There isn't an area in the country that is doing well. It's just that some areas are doing more poorly than others.
That conference call Thursday morning was another unreal number. During something like that, you sit there and think of the positives: didn't lose as much as they thought, cutting home prices and in some areas you sell more.
But you also think about how it doesn't matter how low you go in others, particularly the dreaded Inland Empire, which I talk about ad nauseam because it has surpassed Fort Myers, Fla., as the worst area in the country; no sense of bottom anywhere, and areas they thought had bottomed just dropped again. How about the fact that each month was worse and that having a down payment on a $300,000 home is now beyond the reach of many Americans?
I listen to this stuff and I see the price of corn and the price of oil and I think, "This is what is trumping relief from the Fed?" I listen and I think, "Does President Bush bother to hear any of this stuff?"
It is so bad. So dreadful. Now, you know my view: Few of these companies survive or thrive and they can't be owned for anything other than 100 basis points worth of cuts and short squeezes.
Meanwhile, they are still building houses, houses they can't sell. It never ends. Sure, they have cut back, but they aren't cutting back in a way that will come near denting inventory in this environment. They can't control themselves; they have to build to monetize the land.

Go read the transcript of that conference call. You will come away shaken. Just shaken.

Jim Cramer

Quote of the day

Over the last three months we have seen a rolling collapse of speculative debt and real estate across half the global economy, yet friends still come over to my desk at the Telegraph, with that maddening look of commiseration on their faces, and jab: “so when is the sky going to fall then, eh”?

Well, excuse me. The sky has fallen.

Quote of the day

"When a man you like switches from what he said a year ago, or 4 years ago, he is a broad-minded person who has courage enough to change his mind with changing conditions. When a man you don't like does it, he is a liar who has broken his promises."
Franklin P. Adams

$ 2 400 000 000 000

2.4 TRILLION dollars is quite a big number for that war, so far away from home. With an opponent that can't even launch a rocket if he would wanted to.

U.S. CBO estimates $2.4 trillion long-term war costs

Reality TV ...

This one is from a year ago (THIS is a MUST SEE, very very funny)

Peter Schiff vs Dumb Guy Realtor IQ 70 with no econ 101 class

mild correction lol, "artificial lending standards" lol

Looks like nothing has changed since we left

Riots in Brussels

Post for my team members of TTC Temse

I browsed the official site of the vttl and saw we didn't have any fines just yet, so that means Guy is still in charge of the secretary work :-)I checked out the results from teams and players on the web. Most of the teams are in the top half so we are doing very well this year. As I am now officially "transferred" to PTTC, I still feel like a TTC Temse member of course. You wouldn't expect me to find the personalities of a Kurt or a John or a Hugo here. But it seems they play everywhere :-) Except we don't have beer and showers here. The Phoenix table tennis club/players were very helfull the first few sessions. So there is still hope for you guys, if you want to transfer to a different club, maybe I can arrange something for you. Some negatives of playing here: the 45 minute drive, the waiting for your turn can take 30 minutes, no showers, no beer and no bar.

Enjoy:

Quote of the day

Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults.
Socrates

It's no surprise but a recession is unavoidable now

TIP 1
TIP 2
TIP 3

Mozart at work

Anecdote: When he was 12 he played his first matches in the highest Swedish table tennis leaugue. The first person he beat was Dennis Petterson, his comments regarding his loss:" How can you beat someone you can't even see..." Waldner was 1m40 at that time.
Extreme achievement: He won every tournament on earth but his biggest achievement was probably reaching the semi finals of the Olympic Games in 2004. He was 39 years old ...

Free fall

This one needs no comments.

3rd Table tennis visit

Last week I went to PTTC (Phoenix Table Tennis club) on a Wednesday. The drive was a lot more relaxing than the first time. It is a 45 minute drive, and especially the last part when you drive into Phoenix is ... . You don't want to enter the wrong neighbourhood there :-)

Played about 8 matches, won 7 and lost a 3-2 ( last match). That is the second time I don't win the last match. Doing nothing to lift my heart rate is finally ringing a bell signal. I will try to ride my bike at least twice a week and play table tennis once a week.

Yesterday, Monday I played again in downtown Phoenix. Won 6 games, no losses.( all 3-0, 1 with 3-2) I didn't try the "famous" king table yet, don't want to play there when I am not 100%. This was only the third time I played here after a 6 month break. It will take at least 5 sessions to play on a decent level, in a few weeks I will try and play on the kings table lol.

I saw Panno Dok (2059, number 8 in Arizona) playing there against Zagula Adam(1960, number 16 in Arizona). Look forward to play a top 10 player of a place that is 10 times bigger than Belgium.

Quote of the day

I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

A. Whitney Brown

Naomi's English

Naomi is really funny at this time, she talks some king of weird Englutch. She combines English and Dutch words in the same sentence.

for example:

Wanneer school was done heb ik getalked met Jaden.

Jaden haar hair was gecut.

Real funny.

Her English is a lot better than we had expected and she likes her school. The U.S. education is on a BUSO/BLO/BSO level so everything will be fine.

Anyone in the market for a depreciating asset?

I don't think they added that comment 2 years ago...

Quote of the day

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.
Aristotle

Peter Schiff rents too

Join the club

New link SUPERSIZE ME

This is a new link where you can view "supersize me", click on the lower part of the page "watch film now"(100 minutes).

It is the closest way to get an idea of the food and health habbits here, without living here...

It was one of the most exciting documentaries I ever saw.

Summary: (from wikipedia)Super Size Me is an Academy Award-nominated 2004 documentary film, directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. It follows a 30-day time period (February 2003) during which Spurlock subsists entirely on food and items purchased exclusively from McDonald's, and the film documents this lifestyle's drastic effects on Spurlock's physical and psychological well-being and explores the fast food industry's corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit. During the filming, Spurlock dined at McDonald's restaurants three times per day, sampling every item on the chain's menu at least once. He consumed an average of 5,000 calories (the equivalent of 9.26 Big Macs) per day during the experiment.
Before launching this experiment, Spurlock, age 32 at the time the movie was filmed in 2003, ate a varied diet but always ate vegan evening meals to appease his girlfriend (she is a vegan chef), was healthy and slim, and stood 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) tall with a body weight of 185.5 lb (84.1 kg). After thirty days, he gained 24.5 lb (11.1 kg), a 13% body mass increase, and his Body Mass Index rose from 23.2 (within the 'healthy' range of 19-25) to 27 ('overweight'). He also experienced mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and liver damage. It took Spurlock fourteen months to lose the weight he gained.
The stated driving factor for Spurlock's investigation was the increasing spread of obesity throughout U.S. society, which the Surgeon General has declared "epidemic," and the corresponding lawsuit brought against McDonald's on behalf of two overweight girls, who, it was alleged, became obese as a result of eating McDonald's food. Spurlock points out that although the lawsuit against McDonald's failed (and subsequently many state legislatures have legislated against products liability actions against producers and distributors of "fast food"), much of the same criticism leveled against the tobacco companies applies to fast food franchises, although it could be argued that fast food is not physiologically addictive in the same sense as nicotine.

Belgium: The eternal welfare state

This article can only be found in Dutch but it was one example how the low-life people/Walloons abuse the system: LINK.

Serge Regnier aka the bull of Marcinelle, has 27 kids with 3 wifes. None of the family members work (4 adults) but the family receives over $11000 welfare from the government PER MONTH. ($5600 child support, $4500 welfare because they don't work, $1000 disability welfare).

No wonder taxes are 50%+ in Belgium?

Pics from our backyard (Saturday morning)

We have an orange tree in our backyard:

We bought a tomato tree: The first harvest:

Lisa's spices:
Toschi with our bird feeder:
Ramses enjoying the Arizona climate:

Toschi hypnotizing the camera:

Another Friday, another teacher party at our home

This was the last course, pie that friends brought over. This pic was taken after the home coming game at around 10:30.

Quote of the day

Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Our family and the Supersize me culture

The movie supersize me is of course a generalisation of the fastfood culture. It is not what every American does, a lot of Americans eat and live healthy.

How do we handle the "supersize me"?

We mostly eat out too but we don't drink soda, we don't visit fastfood hamburger shops, we don't eat pizza and we eat mostly "European size" meals.

We eat out 4 times a week because Lisa finishes her work at 6:00. We eat at either Subway (sandwiches), Quiznos (soup + sandwiches), Panda Express or Taco Bell.

In the fastfood restaurants they don't have orange juice...go figure. So we either take our bottles with us and don't order drinks or we take plain water.

Our favorite place is Quiznos, where we eat at least twice a week. Our normal order consists of 1 salade, 1 big sandwich and 1 soup, for the three of us.

We have never visited Mc Donalds or Burger King during these last 3 months.

Saturday or Sunday we go shopping in Phoenix, we always eat at Sweet Tomatoes. It is an all you can eat vegetable buffet, price is $7.5 per person. They also have many soups and some desserts.

When we have something to celebrate we go out and eat at the Red Lobster.

PS: It looks like the "Supersize me" link doesn't work anymore, it worked 2 days ago, I will try to find a new one.

Greenspan sees dramatic drop in Chinese stocks

LINK

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Wednesday he feared a "dramatic contraction" in Chinese stocks but said the global economy may be able to shrug off a drop in asset prices.

"It is clearly unsustainable," he said "There's going to be a dramatic contraction at some point."
The main Shanghai index has nearly tripled in past year and is up 56 percent so far in 2007.

I already mentioned the unsustainable rise and overheating of the Chinese stockmarket and economy here.