What would Freud say?

Professor Allan Reiss of the Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research at Stanford University says that video games stimulate the parts of men that so many other activities just cannot reach: the need to conquer, stomp on, dominate, crush, destroy, maim, annihilate, and turn to ashes and dust.
Women, apparently, understand video games, but their neurology doesn't house the same desire to conquer, stomp on, etc., etc.

"These gender differences may help explain why males are more attracted to, and more likely to become 'hooked' on video games than females," Reiss was quoted in the Daily Telegraph. "I think it's fair to say that males tend to be more intrinsically territorial. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who historically are the conquerors and tyrants of our species--they're the males."


"Most of the computer games that are really popular with males are territory and aggression-type games," explained Reiss.


It is so heartwarming when science confirms what so many secretly feared.


CNET NEWS

The Main difference

The big difference between the USSR collapse and the eventual USA collapse is that the first was what most russians and the states under russian's influence wanted.
While USA is a strong federation among states that WANT to be Americans and to be ONE Nation.
What could cause the second would be a financial problem, not ideology.
So I really wouldn't compare the TWO.

The EASY Mortgages

By PETER S. GOODMAN and GRETCHEN MORGENSON
Published: December 27, 2008
“We hope to do to this industry what Wal-Mart did to theirs,Starbucks did to theirs, Costco did to theirs and Lowe’s-Home Depotdid to their industry. And I think if we’ve done our job, five years from now you’re not going to call us a bank.”


SAN DIEGO — As a supervisor at a Washington Mutual mortgage processing center, John D. Parsons was accustomed to seeing baby sitters claiming salaries worthy of college presidents, and schoolteachers with incomes rivaling stockbrokers’. He rarely questioned them. A real estate frenzy was under way and WaMu, as his bank was known, was all about saying yes.

Yet even by WaMu’s relaxed standards, one mortgage four years ago raised eyebrows. The borrower was claiming a six-figure income and an unusual profession: mariachi singer.

Mr. Parsons could not verify the singer’s income, so he had him photographed in front of his home dressed in his mariachi outfit. The photo went into a WaMu file. Approved.

Our DEAR SMS

TEXT messaging is a wonderful business to be in: about 2.5 trillion messages will have been sent from cellphones worldwide this year. The public assumes that the wireless carriers' costs are far higher than they actually are, and profit margins are concealed by a heavy curtain.

Senator Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin and the chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, wanted to look behind the curtain. He was curious about the doubling of prices for text messages charged by the major American carriers from 2005 to 2008, during a time when the industry consolidated from six major companies to four.

So, in September, Mr. Kohl sent a letter to Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, inviting them to answer some basic questions about their text messaging costs and pricing.

All four of the major carriers decided during the last three years to increase the pay-per-use price for messages to 20 cents from 10 cents.
The decision could not have come from a dearth of business: the 2.5 trillion sent messages this year, the estimate of the Gartner Group, is up 32 percent from 2007. Gartner expects 3.3 trillion messages to be sent in 2009.

The written responses to Senator Kohl from AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile speak at length about pricing plans without getting around to the costs of conveying text messages. My attempts to speak with representatives of all three about their costs and pricing were unsuccessful. (Verizon Wireless would not speak with me, either, nor would it allow Mr. Kohl's office to release publicly its written response.)



Randall Stross is an author based in Silicon Valley and a professor of business at San Jose State University. E-mail: stross@nytimes.com.

Al direttore generale Trenitalia

Spett. direttore generale,

non ho il dispiacere di conoscere il suo nome, in quanto abilmente celato e tenuto nascosto, onde evitare "fastidi" di coloro che nel 2008 non hanno ancora capito che la societa' "Trenitalia" e' un'associazione a delinquere legalizzata, per cui la parola progresso ha il solo significato di "aumento del biglietto ferroviario".
Infatti ad un degeneramento generalizzato della rete e del servizio, corrisponde un prezzo molto al di sopra della media europea, con cui peraltro non si dovrebbero comparare i treni italiani, in quanto molto piu' vicini alle infrastrutture indiane e dei paesi africani.

La beffa del caro prezzo e' poi aggravata dal fatto che il prezzo del biglietto base non ha alcun valore, in quanto non corrisponde alla disponibilita' di treni.
Mi spiego meglio con un pargone.
Il prezzo del pane comune e' di 2 euro.
Peccato che il pane comune non esista, ma il prezzo reale e' di 4 euro e piu', prezzo che il consumatore deve pagare per avere a sua disposizione il pane.

Cosi' per i treni.
Il 90% dei treni disponibili e' IC Plus, a meno che uno si adatti a viaggiare al mattino alle 5 o alla sera alle 21 e sappia quando parte, ma non quando arriva.
E' vero che ha un prezzo politico, ma dormire in mezzo alla campagna su un trano senza riscaldamento o, peggio, rischiare la propria vita, forse non e' auspicabile.
Per quanto riguarda i treni IC plus lo sono di nome.
La sporcizia e' tale che, per terra si rischia di inciampare nella monnezza e la vista finestrino e' inesistente, in quanto i treni sono coperti da una sporcizia multistrato che copre il treno completamente.
I sedili sono rotti e viaggiare risulta molto diagevole in quanto spesso si ha un fastidioso pezzo di metallo conficcato nel sedere, per cui, o si viaggia in piedi o ci si contorce e ci si piega verso il sedile adiacente.
Io non ho il coraggio di testare le toelette, mi basta la zaffata di profumo che ricevo passando accanto.

Il mio consiglio e' che lei si prenda una vacanza, magari in Germania, magari in treno e faccia un piccolo paragone prezzi-qualita' con trenitalia.
Lo sa qual'e' il suo vantggio?
L'Italia NON e' un paese democratico, e' una dittatura a tutti gli effetti. Se lo fosse persone come lei sarebbero in galera, perche' un paese democratico avrebbe galere a sufficienza pe ospitre la marmaglia che ci dirige.
Dal mio canto mi limito ad inviarle il mio piu' completo disprezzo e quando arrivera' la fine potra' dire: E' anche merito mio!

The shoe of the year 2008

The Baydan Ducati 271 shoe is the SHOE of the year for 2008.

This is the most famous shoe in the world.
Journalist Muntazer Al Zaidi recently donated his to President Bush who was on a visit to Iraq, the Country to which Bush has been exporting democracy in recent years.
Muntazer now finds himself in prison, facing a sentence of up to 15 years, in other words seven and a half years per shoe. The court case is due to begin next week. He will be charged with attacking a foreign Head of State during the course of an official visit.
Support has come from all over the world for Muntazer, who is being seen as the victim of a judicial error.
The Turkish Company Baydan is busy producing 500,000 pairs of Ducati 271 shoes for all those people that especially wish to bid a special farewell to georgedoubleyoubush.
We too have not held back.
One Italian company is currently distributing their own model of shoe, bearing the name of the journalist Muntazer on the Arab market. Muntazer’s brother, Thargam al Zeidi, has not taken it very well. He announced that he intends to take the company to court for infringement of copyrights.
Any “Made in Italy” item that a journalist could throw at Berlusconi would become an instant success worldwide. The throwing of objects at Berlusconi could provide a much needed kick start for our exports.
I understand that this would be difficult because the journalists can’t even get close enough to him to ask him a question.
They wouldn’t even dare to throw a feather at him, which is a pity because "Berlusconi shoes" would sell like hot cakes all around the world and would be worth at least an additional two points on our Gross Domestic Product.
Muntazer’s shoes were destroyed by the Iraqi security services for fear that they may contain explosives. This was a big mistake, it was only a gesture of affection. Let’s give our own politicians some shoes. They are facing a long walk in the New Year. The shoes will be very useful to them. Here are some suggestions for the 2009 winter-spring season.
Napolitano: an old Hungarian boot
To Berlusconi: a pair of seven-league boots to ensure a safe escape in 2009
Veltroni: brownish-pink, PDwithoutanel-coloured booties for the matinee, as well as a pair of slip-on sandals for the afternoon at the beach
D'Alema, Violante and Fassino: little red shoes and a tutu, perfect for their last tango in Arcore
Brunetta: a pair of platform shoes
Calderoli: Lega-green galoshes for pigsty workers
Carfagna: a pair of glass slippers to be worn on the next date
Gelmini: black, thigh-high leather boots, and may be a matching whip.
Bassolino: downhill ski-boots for the refuse dumps in Campania.
Start a collection of old shoes instead of simply littering them.
They could soon be very useful.


Liberally taken from Beppe Grillo

Comparing two "collapses"

Interesting and in one sense unavoidable comparing USSR to USA.
I wouldn't talk about collapsing in the case of USA.
I would rather talk about "decline" and if there is a right comparison it is with the Roman Empire.
The USSR collapsed because the system was unable to provide an average living standard to his people, while the USA, or the Capitalistic system, was able to achieve it.
It is without any doubt that the lifestyle of the two Nations is very different.
If this would be the only reason I would compare USA with Rome and the fact that the Roman Empire existed as long as the Romans had a healthy lifestyle.
When it degenerated, when people forgot that money comes working and working hard, there began the decline.
And that is not only unavoidable, that is RIGHT.
Because the USSR or the USA do NOT have the Monopoly of the World, because people sooner or later want their share of the cake and are going to get it, in one way or in the other.
If a Nation fails to understand this simple principle, will disappear.
This is the LAW of History, the LAW of Nature.
This is what we call Justice.


Energy Bulletin

Quality pays off more than quantity

The Broghammers are a prolific family.
Together they can count on six children (in reality the younger is 23).
Two on Mrs Broghammer's side and four on Mr. Broghammer's side. But as the parents are different, so the offspring’s.
Mr. Broghammer has no children anymore, while Mrs Broghammer has just two, but feels like she had twenty.
Is is a matter of education.
"A mother is something who is there when children need her".
And her children perfectly understood it. They are there at Christmas, Easter, their birthdays, before the Summer holidays.
Just in case the mother would help a little bit with life expenses.
They are NEVER there on Mother's day.
That is a VERY anachronistic day.
Who cares about commercial festivity?
(Valentine day is different, it involves couples and not family).
So that the Broghammers will have a happy Christmas with the restricted family.
It is quality, not quantity that counts...
A little advice from Mrs Broghammer: make independent children, but not too much...

Space Solar power?

The advantage of space-based solar power is that satellites would enjoy nearly continuous sunshine, which is the main disvantage of Earth-based solar power, very inconstant, it isn't available at night or when skies are cloudy.
But I still think that it would be cheaper, at least for now, finding the way to store energy for later use instead of launching stuff into space.
It is nice dreaming, but it has limits.

New in 2008

VOD replaced cable subscriptions.
The secret was widespread integration into TV-connected devices that are either inexpensive (such as the $100 Roku Netflix Player) or already in people's homes.

Pocket gadgets got cheaper.
The two most wanted electronics were without any doubt Netbooks and pocket camcorders. The successful trick was the price.
Consumers sacrificed quality to cheap and mobile.

Mobile.
No thinner devices, but hardware applications.
Now a days a smart phone is as smart as the applications that are in it.

2009: a "pleasurable" year

Scientists are developing an electronic "sex chip" that can be implanted into the brain to stimulate pleasure.


It works by implanting electrodes in the brain.
Precisely in the area of the brain just behind the eyes known as the orbit frontal cortex - this is associated with feelings of pleasure derived from eating and sex.

"There is evidence that this chip will work. A few years ago a scientist implanted such a device into the brain of a woman with a low sex drive and turned her into a very sexually active woman. She didn't like the sudden change, so the wiring in her head was removed."
The technology is not yet ready and could be used causing deep brain stimulations.
It opens the doors to a huge number of possibilities.

New Year, new Laser

Researchers at Princeton University in America have discovered an entirely new way to generate laser light.
They found an unexpected beam whih needs less power.
The advantages: it is less sensitive to temperature changes, runs well at lower currents, which makes it suitable for the next generation of medical devices and industrial sensors.

The Library of the future: Digg

Hey all –

We’re super stoked to announce that we’ve created Twitter feeds across several Digg topics, so you can get popular stories delivered right to Twitter. This provides another way to customize the types of stories you receive from Digg. The Twitter feeds will update as stories become popular, so when, say, a new story about green technology gets promoted to the Digg homepage, the Digg environment Twitter feed will post to your stream. These feeds were created using the Twitter API and are kept active by the likes of you


List of Digg feeds

Wii under the tree

An estimated one million Wiis were sold last week in America - the most games machines sold in one week ever... PS3 and Xbox360 nowhere to be seen!

Christmas preparations

The Broghammer family IS NOT like the MASS.
It is its main concern to point it out: we are different.
So that to better distinguish itself, the Broghammer family has to ACT differently.

Let's take Christmas as an example.
ALL people around have a Christmas tree, the Broghammers have Santa Claus.
All people have gifts under the tree, since the Broghammers do not have a tree, why bother to make gifts?
The only exceptions will be two nice (sober and simple) envelops with two checks that Mr. Broghammer will write (he is the one who is precise and NEVER makes mistakes, so not to waist a check)and Mrs. Broghammer will sign.
In order to do that Mr. Broghammer uses a ruler and calculates the centimetres from the beginning to the end of the handwriting, not forgetting the height, so that the number of letters which composes the name of the receiver or the sum of money written, is fairly distributed on the allowed space.
We usually write checks without decimals, so, being the name of the receiver much longer than the sum of money the space among the letters in the latter will be much bigger than the one in the name.
In order to achieve an harmonic balance, Mr. Broghammer mentally calculates where to begin and where to end.
I must say that, on the contrary of what people may think, sometimes writing a check IS NOT easier and faster than buying a gift.
All people run to buy presents and Panettone and Pandoro.
The Broghammers go on with the usual sober life.
Besides they are ALWAYS on a diet, why stopping at Christmas?
The usual exception will be that MRS Broghammer will bake a special Christmas cake.
It is really special, because, in spite of the fact that the recipe is always the same, the quantity of flour, butter, raisins, can change, because Mrs. Broghammer NEVER uses a scale and relies on her own sight, which can vary a lot depending on the fact of using a pair of glasses or not...
And that highly depends on where she left them the day before.
If she doesn't remember, she doesn't find them and why bother anyhow?
At Christmas you usually expect surprises, or don't you?
Besides she knows that her children are ALL very polite (with the exception of the son in law sometimes) and they WOULD NEVER say the cake IS NOT good.
As for Mr. Broghammer, as we say in Italy, has a "good mouth" and a good appetite (due to the perennial diet) and EVERYTHING or ALMOST is tasty and excellent in his opinion.
Especially the things his wife does, because they have that special virtue that goes under the name of "CHEAP" (compared to the factory made)...

It was like this since history can remember, why should it change?

"Bailed-out bankers may be paid no more than 200% of what the average country banker (in Vermont, for example) makes in the comparable position including CEO.
* Bailed-out banks can't have corporate planes (or rent jets for their executives).
* Bailed-out banks need to show a plan for resuming lending (similar to the green requirements for car makers).
* Bailed-out banks need to show a plan to return to profitability and repay us or they will be forced to repay immediately. "


Will they?
I am almost sure they won't.
Unless there is a real revolution, which won't be so soon.
The greediness of the few is much bigger than the tolerance of the mass.
Or I would say than the memory of the mass.
I bet that when the majority will have AGAIN access to credit, the happy motoring, the happy housing, the happy spending WILL begin again, so that a new bubble will be born, just to leave space to a new deflation and a new crisis.
Bur THAT is the way the world goes on: the mass that works and the few who enjoy.
It was like this since history can remember, why should it change?

Family's gossip

The main subject in my ex ex husband's (it is not a typing mistake, I had three husbands and he being the first, is the one who deserves two ex) family is inheritance.
My daughter knows everything about the family law (what concerns Wills and so on).
If you need a lawyer in this matter, you should first consult her.
And she finds it such an interesting matter that she loves to discuss anybody's inheritance.
When she meets somebody she likes to see their genealogic tree and discuss about all the possible chances.
Dying with a Will or without.
Being direct descendants or not.
More than anything having something to leave or not...
For what concerns her, I am sure she won't even let her successors the money to pay for funeral expenses (but she wants to be cremated anyhow).
I think the main reason people like her are so keen of inheritance is that, producing and saving nothing themselves they like to dream about other people's money and what they would do with it...
As for me, I put a stone on inheritances long ago.
As my mother always said there is a curse on our family: whatever we should and could inherit always managed to go to somebody else.
We are not the "Inheritors Type"...

You never have a second choice to make the first impression

These are some suggestions not to loose the chance to make a good first impression.
Remember: it is not important what you are, it is important how you look.

1: Respond within 24 Hours

The people who run the most successful companies are the most responsive.
Even if you don't have an immediate answer, acknowledge receiving an e-mail or voice message within 24 hours or less, and let the person know you're considering the request or taking action on it.

2: Greet People with Enthusiasm

Pay attention to people and their requests.
Let them think you are actually happy to talk to them.

3: Make Eye Contact

Look into the eyes. You have nothing to hide. It will help to make a powerful and lasting impression

4: Leave Smart Voice Messages

Few words, well said. Precise and clear.

5: Respect Contacts

If someone gives you a card, it's an invitation to begin a conversation not to fill their in-boxes with solicitations.

6: Mind Your E-Mail

Say what you have to say in few words.
Time is money, yours and others'.

7: Remember Small Touches

Nothing is more successful than a few handwritten notes.
It gives a touch of "personal" and "special".

Business is usually competitive, much more in difficult periods.
It pays thinking sometimes how YOU would like to be treated, to know how to make the best first impression.

Oil scarcity

The oil price is the perfect example of the Philosophical Empiricist' theory's value.
There is no objective reality, the world is the way WE are.
The quantity of oil is huge or little not depending on the quantity of "underground" availability, but on the demand.
I sometimes would like to see the moment in which some people will be invited to "Drink" their oil.
I do not know if that moment will be in my lifetime, but may be it will.
Every alternative energy is cheap if compared to the satisfaction of being "free" from addiction and dependence to oil.
If we were able to live before, why wouldn't we be able to live after?
Speculation on its price was not, in my opinion, a good move.
It made it clear how much our economy depends on it and how much they can play with it.
At least, I hope "they who can" will see it.

About "Germans"

Mr. Broghammer looks like a peculiar creature here in Italy, but he is perfectly normal in Germany.
There what we see as "obsession for perfection" is just normality, to the point that nothing has any sense if it is not "Perfection close".
They defined the "Allies" as "Geniuses" since they were able to "spot" Germans" tactics.
But there is nothing easier.
In order to reach perfection every German keeps records of what he does, also of what he does "wrong".
And in order to be perfect records, they are easily found.

To cheat thieves I have a special way that till now has saved part of my belongings because I keep them in so many places that the average thief cannot find all.
My daughter is a masterpiece in deceiving thieves.
She keeps her jewellery in the most unexpected places, like shoes or under the bed.
Of course that is done with simple lack of order, but it proves useful in case of robbery.
The side effect of my tactics is that, having a poor memory, I never remember where I hid my belongings, so that when I need them I know I have them, but I do not know where.

Since I married Mr. Broghammer we have improved a lot.
My belongings are still scattered around, but Mr. Broghammer keeps a record of the places on his hard drive.(in perfect German style)
What thieves need today is just a little computer skill (which luckily they usually lack) and the trick is easily knocked off...
I still beilieve that my daughter's way is the best: what you do not find the others will not find too...

What's "New" in the "Old"

10. Inca Skull Surgeons Were "Highly Skilled"
Dangerous skull surgery was commonly and successfully performed among the Inca, likely as a treatment for head injuries suffered during combat, a May study found.


9. Ancient "Lost City" Discovered in Peru?
Stone ruins discovered in Peru this past January could be the ancient "lost city" of Paititi, according to claims that sparked serious but cautious responses from experts.



8. New Pyramid Found in Egypt: 4,300-Year-Old Queen's Tomb
Long buried by deep sands, the once five-story-tall pyramid is a testament to a pharaoh's reverence for his mother, experts said in November.


7. Alexander the Great's "Crown," Shield Discovered?
An ancient Greek tomb once thought to have been that of Alexander's father is more recent than thought and may contain treasures belonging to Alexander himself, experts said in April.



6. Mystery Pyramid Built by Newfound Ancient Culture?
The Huapalcalco pyramid in central Mexico may be the work of a previously unknown culture of ancient people, the Huajomulco, archaeologists said in December.



5. Rare Egyptian "Warrior" Tomb Found
Feathered arrows lying near a well-preserved coffin suggest that the mummy inside, when alive, may have been a mercenary for an Egyptian king, experts said in February.



4. Stonehenge Was Cemetery First and Foremost
From the start 5,000 years ago, the site was a burial ground—perhaps for prehistoric rulers—and it remained so for centuries, a May study said. ALSO SEE: related photos and maps.



3. Maya May Have Caused Civilization-Ending Climate Change
A satellite program designed to improve environmental policies in Central America found evidence of ancient, self-induced climate change—offering lessons on how to combat today's warming.



2. Great Pyramid Mystery to Be Solved by Hidden Room?
A sealed space in Egypt's Great Pyramid may help solve a centuries-old mystery: How did the ancient Egyptians move two million 2.5-ton blocks to build the ancient wonder?



1. Portal to Maya Underworld Found in Mexico?
An underground labyrinth filled with stone temples and pyramids, found in August, likely relates to Maya myths of the afterlife, archaeologists said.


More...

LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor).

The modern research of our origins is manly based on the etymology of modern languages so as to reveal fundamental things about their evolution.
It is commonly believed that there was an early RNA world, where early life on Earth was composed of ribonucleic acid (RNA), rather than deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
RNA is particularly sensitive to heat and is unlikely to be stable in the hot temperatures of the early Earth, so that it must have found a cooler micro-climate to develop.
Later they discovered the more thermostable DNA molecule, which they independently acquired (presumably from viruses), and used to replace the old and fragile RNA vehicle.
They could so leave the small cool microclimate, evolved and diversify into a variety of sophisticated organisms that could tolerate heat.

It might be a technical problem

"HONG KONG — Chinese authorities have begun blocking access from mainland China to the Web site of The New York Times even while lifting some of the restrictions they had recently imposed on the Web sites of other media outlets.

When computer users in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou tried to connect on Friday morning to nytimes.com, they received a message that the site was not available; some users were cut off on Thursday as early as 8 p.m. The blocking was still in effect on Saturday morning.

But the Chinese-language Web sites of BBC, Voice of America and Asiaweek, all of which had been blocked earlier this week, were accessible by Friday. The Web site of Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, was blocked earlier this week and still restricted on Friday.

Chinese officials had few explanations for the restriction on The Times’s site. “Concerning your particular question, we’re not really familiar with the details,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, who declined to give his name. “Web site maintenance is not within the job purview of the Foreign Ministry.”

Tang Rui, an official with the government’s International Press Center in Beijing, said he also had no specific information. “It might be a technical problem,” he said, declining to elaborate."
Knowing China and chinese products, I would believe it...

Home, sweet and dear home....

My home is very dear to me, in every sense.
But nevertheless I wouldn’t like to loose it.
Lately, with this climate changes, the risks of having a fire or a flood or a falling tree, have upgraded so much that having an insurance is unavoidable if you want to sleep at night...
I guess that this is valid for apartments too.
In a home you ALWAYS risk some damages, especially if the plumbing is old or not perfect.
Not only you need an insurance, you need a GOOD insurance that can cover all the eventual risks.
Something like Breckenridge Home Insurance. They even offer discounts, if you agree on a higher deductibles.
(The deductible is the amount YOU pay upfront in case of damages).
This isn't as bad as it can look.
Paying a little percentage is ALWAYS much better than the full amount, and the insurance for it will be very affordable.
You can also agree in not pretending housing in the case your home isn't fit anymore to live in for a certain period.
If you have relatives or friends who can have you as a guest (just in case)this could be a good way to lower your insurance bill.
Another thing you should keep in mind is that sometimes it is worth to pay little bit more for a replacement insurance that will cover ALL your possessions at the value of "AS NEW", instead of the cheaper cash value policy that will pay you just the depreciated value of your belongings.
If you want to try how much is going to be your insurance (any type) at Liberty Insurance, you can use the free calculator on their website.
May be you can find out that peace of mind is not so expensive, after all...

Capitalism is definitely dead

What's the use of saving to feed the others, without any revenue, or interest?
No Capitals, no Capitalism.

What will happen now?
The Magicians in US tried the last trick.
If it doesn't work, it doesn't matter.
Nobody will be blamed.
What is worst than the worst?
What do you have to loose when you have nothing to loose anymore?

One thing must be said: either they are crazy or they are terribly brave.

If you want to bailout do it with style

And surely that was the reason of the party with " 4-tons of Beluga caviar, $250,000 bottles of vintage Dom Pérignon served over precious gems, a 36-hour fireworks display, an additional loan of $200 billion to cover the costs of the gala, and a private concert for each attendee with rock legend Rod Stewart."

"I'm glad we were all humble enough to recognize that we couldn't do this on our own," said AIG CEO Edward Liddy, sitting in a hot tub filled with Cristal and seven dozen endangered-quail eggs. "Having come so close to disaster, it is crucial that I eat these 24-karat-gold-leaf-wrapped chocolate truffles to boost stockholder morale and show all the critics and naysayers that we are carrying on just as we always have."

If somebody feared that something WAS going to change, fear no more: Class is something you never loose....

Global is here to stay, either you cope with it, or you die for it

"By the early 21st century, when so much American manufacturing had been swapped out to Asia, there was no business left except sprawl-building -- a manifold tragedy which wrecked the banks that financed it, and left the ordinary people mortgaged to it with ruinous liabilities."


"We have to, so to speak, get to place mentally where we can face the kinds of change that are now necessary and unavoidable. We're not there yet.
The economy we're evolving into will be un-global, necessarily local and regional, and austere."

We have to begin again, but that doesn't mean we have to begin from scratch.
The intelligent change is discarding what is wrong and keeping what is right.
The intelligent beginning is realizing where we are, what is happening around us, seeing what happened and trying to do better.
That is what goes under the name of "Evolution", and it is possible just "acting" in the right or wrong way is not that important.
The best usually comes out of the worst.

Yes, I agree:

"The American experience for a few generations has produced an adult population with very childish instincts, increasingly worse each decade"
More than American experience was that kind of comfortable lifestyle in which the "others" did and the average American mostly "enjoyed".
Safe job, safe environment, safe holidays, safe pension, and mostly saint weekend golfing or surfing or skiing.
That usually doesn’t let you grow up, because you do not need to.
Why bothering, when life is easy?


"We still think that "the path to success" is based on getting a college degree certifying people for a lifetime of sitting in an office cubicle. "

We have to realize that in times of evolution you cannot be useful to the society if your IQ is like the one of the machines you are supposed to use, may be even lower.
The average intelligence now has to be considered the IQ of an average PC.
That is what you have to compete with.
Muscles do not count anymore.
So, it is partially true that a college degree is for nothing.
Let's say it is not a discriminating point anymore.

What I cannot agree with is: "The economy we're evolving into will be un-global".
It would be a big mistake.
If you try to avoid a problem it comes back even bigger.
Competition is something you do not win just ignoring it.
Competition is what makes you better or, makes you dead.
Global is here to stay, either you cope with it, or you die for it.

Finance like cooking: beware of the sauce

A good cook, when he has old meat or old fish that smell, prepares a good and strong sauce.
The meal turns out pretty good, nobody understands the basic (the expired meat or fish) and the cook is a genius.

Derivatives are created for the only purpose to cheat the customer.
He doesn't understand what he is buying, and since he doesn't understand and the reality is well disguised, the Financer is a "God".
Just like the cook, as long as you do not finish in a hospital.

We need more honesty than complicated derivatives

Since the word honesty is an abstract concept, we need some international monetary standard like gold, which has a substance, a weight and is NOT CREATED by human
That is, whose quantity cannot be manipulated.
We need stability and since there is nothing anywhere able to guarantee this, it looks like we need something that cannot be corrupted or changed or doesn't have any motivation to "adapt".
What could better represent what we are looking for than gold?
When they begin to talk about "bad money" being better than "good money" and "mortgage to buy" in the hope that house values would continue to rise and eventually turn a profit, I tremble and see the beginning of the end.
I mean the end of any solution, because we have already reached the end of the road.

It all began some years ago.
There was a new way to see economy and finance.

It was what we call in Italy the "Catena di San Antonio".
It works this way:
One begins and finds six who pay a certain amount.
Every one of those six finds other sixs who pay, then anyone finds other sixs.
It all goes on pretty well, especially for the ones at the top.
But sooner or later the bottom has an end and everything falls.
There is no money for anybody.
Lucky the ones at the top who already transferred their big profits somewhere untouchable.

ALMOST EVERYTHING in USA worked and in some cases still works like this.
It is the best business model beginning from diet pills (do you remember Herbalife?) to the most sophisticated finance.
Primitive, but still working.

Well, going back to my gold.
If anything would have a safe guarantee, we would see more honest people.
Crime of course wouldn't disappear, but many more wouldn't dare.
And the basic principle of mathematics would be more than enough.
We need more honesty than complicated derivatives.

Business Plans for a better Future

In the war of "Business Plans for a better future" I found:

"The root problem with both of their approaches, as far as urban and suburban transportation at least, is their failure to recognize that the real problem is due to the curious notion that the automobile has to be self-contained, and that it somehow has to carry its own energy supply along with it."

And

"It strikes me that a better design concept is one that is based on a PASSIVE VEHICLE (lightweight, cheap, safe, very-long-lived) pushed about by an intelligent, modular, active guideway system."

and

"Moving to an active, intelligent guideway also brings with it a whole array of other revolutionary advantages... you eliminate traffic snarls, traffic law violations and accidents. You eliminate driver error, drunk driving, and vehicle breakdowns. "

and

"Distributed intelligence in the guideway system allows us to eliminate the need for a central control system... improving reliabilty and allowing the system to be enlarged and modified in an incremental and modular way, rather like a LAN, the Internet, or the worldwide telephone system."

Congratulation Mr. Gordon Peterson! I guess you just described the Railroad infrastructure.

Nights in Rodanthe

If you look at this movie for nights in Rodanthe you will certainly be deluded.
I remember one and not so much of it.
What you will find is the perfect example of the perfect mother who sacrifices her private life and love for her children to the point that life will sacrifice her.
All movie is in waiting for the Real Love, which looks close, but will never realize.
Real Love is what makes you waiting for it.
Too bad sometimes is just that: waiting...
But then, it is much better a dream of a reality than the reality of a dream...
What is better and more pure, more sublime, than a love that dies before it becomes reality?

What happens if you borrow your future?

"We have consumed our future surplus. This is essentially why the Coming Depression will not end in 2009 or 2012--we as a nation have consumed our future surplus via stupendous deficits and the stupendous interest payments which must be paid out of future surpluses."


And what are we doing? Consuming on borrowed money (better, on printed paper)

But the human race won't die.
We will just embrace a new economy: the economy of starvation.
That is what happens when you borrow from future generations to maintain an illusory lifestyle.
That can be synthesized with two bubbles: the .com and the Real Estate.
Borrowing on a never ending demand (of Internet bandwidth and houses) and the following increas in price, when the price failed to increase the whole investment fell.
It was a limited time bubble and treated as an unlimited time investment.
We bet on a future that didn't realize.
We bet on dreams, the dreams of a wealth based on borrowing, reselling and consuming, while the reality is producing.
This simple, magic word could change the whole course of our destiny.
But nobody dares to say it: it is one of those words that do not bring votes.

Free Fall

"For the next 12 months I would stay away from risky assets. I would stay away from the stock market. I would stay away from commodities. I would stay away from credit, both high-yield and high-grade. I would stay in cash or cashlike instruments such as short-term or longer-term government bonds. It's better to stay in things with low returns rather than to lose 50% of your wealth. You should preserve capital. It'll be hard and challenging enough. I wish I could be more cheerful, but I was right a year ago, and I think I'll be right this year too. Nouriel Roubini"

Do nothing and you won't be saved.
Do something and you won't be saved the same.
If Capitalism comes to an end so does the Capital.
And very likely it WILL HAVE TO.
When the State won't be able to pay its debts, the debts will disappear.
And with them the value of the money.
That is what happened in the last few years.
It was a slow procedure.
But it is like a falling rock, the more it falls, the faster it goes.
We are in Free Fall

The Broghammers' coffee time

I guess Italy is the only place in the World where you can have up to 20 types of a different coffee.
And this IS one of the specialities of the Broghammer family.
In principle our way of living is quite boring, especially in winter.
What makes it so special is the way we live it, new, unexpected, and surprising.
Every day in its boring ordinarily way can be a surprising event.
We begin with the morning coffee.
It is Never the same.
We can use the same coffee machine, but the outcome can change enormously.
Of course it depends on the one who makes it.
Mine is usually more milk than coffee.
Sweeter and smaller. I use MY middle size cups.
Mr. Broghammer uses huge cups where he pours litres of coffee which have in common with it mostly the colour, a few drops of boiled milk and a big smile" Honey I made a wonderful foam".
Well he really is a master in foams.
The coffee cup looks like a beer mug, one of those they serve at "Muenchen Beer Fest".
I always say he could compete and has good chances to win some kind of a Guinness for the "Cappuccino foam".
I guess the cappuccino, together with the lasagne is (or at least was) one of the Italian main attractions for Germans.
So much that our "Cappuccino" became in the 60s "Kappuccino".
Lasagne didn't have to change the name, it was enough the taste.
Germans had tears in their eyes when they talked about Italy.
That is why they do not come here anymore.
You cannot find a decent dish of lasagne anywhere and as for the Kappuccino, Lavazza and Nescafe invented a home machine that makes the coffee as good as in any Italian bar.
Why bother to come to Italy?

Prescriptions for a New Economy

It is interesting to see how, in crisis times, everybody has the right prescription to heal the economy.

"Build to order should be the distinguishing specialty of the North American car industry which is located in the heart of the world's greatest car market. You should be able to get the exact car you design on the Web within a week of placing your order. There's no way in the world that overseas manufacturers could compete with that." Tom Evslin.

A little bit on the dreaming side, I guess.
We are so used to translate from the real world to the virtual, that we REALLY believe it is possible to do the opposite.
And then:
"Dealer inventories will shrink down to one of each kind that you can test drive on your way to placing an order. Dealers would be able to deleverage their own balance sheets without the requirement to finance huge lots of new cars or the lots themselves (not sure what we do with all the real estate along our state highways once it isn't full of new cars). Manufacturers won't have to carry finished product inventory either. "
I really thought the big problem in the car industry was the eventual huge number of unemployed people...What if it doesn't work?
What if people do not want, do not trust American cars?
What if people prefer Japanese or European cars?
And of course, tailored car means more expensive (or somebody knows how to make it cheaper?)
It would work if people were there ready to work when needed.
But people eat everyday and their families too.
The rent (or mortgage) comes once a month.
And if they are not needed for six months?
And if you need double the next six months?

"There's no way in the world that overseas manufacturers could compete with that. "
You are wrong, I guess Ferrari can do it, but do not look at prices...They are not what you would define "mass market products".
The others,You can bet, they wouldn't even try.
"Personally, I think we need cars more than banks."
Yes, that is a possibility.
But it all depends on the number.
We need one car and not three.
As for the Banks, I think we need them too.
What we do not need is THIS KIND of Banks.
As much as we need honest, working people and not criminals, we need Banks we can trust, where we put our hard saved money, we can have a small interest on it and we can have BACK our money when we need it.
Once ALL this looked so natural and easy.
Now it is a dream.
Where is our past?
Where is our present?
Where is our future?
What we need is not new roads, we need SAFE roads.

The Broghammers' telephone

The telephone is a technical device both the Broghammers hate.
They belong to the 3% of people in Italy who do not own a cell phone.
Mrs. Broghammer's mother was so ashamed of it that she offered to buy one for them.
And she didn't want to hurt her daughter's feelings and even offered the right excuse to own one "So you will always be in touch with everybody!".
That (she didn't know) was the point.
The Broghammers DO NOT WANT to be in touch with anybody anytime.
Mrs. Broghammer's daughter calls every day (on the normal phone) to tell how the weather is in Genova, how many degrees and what they forecast for the next day, in which she will have one thing more to discuss besides how the weather is: how it was supposed to be.
Now that she is a mother the conversations are of course longer.
She has to reveal the timetable of the meals and baths and whatever a new born child usually does.
And the lenght of the telephone calls will automatically upgrade with the child's coming into this world with voice and sounds and steps.
In order to avoid so (and for other reasons too) the Broghammers will go to live in Germany.
"The telephone calls from Italy to Germany will be so expensive, they will last a few minutes and be not so often...." says smiling Mr. Broghammer.

But in Genova they are exactly the opposite.
They spend 80% of their time on the telephone.
In Italy there are four main cell phone companies.
They both have four cell phones each, in order to get advantage of ALL the special offers of ALL the cell providers....
Not only.
Mrs. Broghammer's son in law KNOWS practically EVERY offer of mobile and fix telephone companies.
He WAS SO CLEVER to find a special offer on international calls.
You pay a fix amount a month and you can call in EUROPE, as long and as much as you like.
And, not to miss it, he already SUBSCRIBED, since NOVEMBER.
Well, young people, they do not miss a chance to fuck old people!

Christmas gets closer

Christmas gets closer and there is a small problem in the Broghammer family.
Well, as a matter of fact, it is mainly a Mr. Broghammer's problem, but it reflects on the family's armony and consequently it is also a Mrs. Broghammer's problem.

Mrs. Broghammer has become a grandmother since November 3 of a nicely spoiled little bratt in Genova.
The grandson's mother is the daughter of Mrs. Broghammer from her previous marriage.
And everything would be perfectly fine if the daughter hadn't married.
She could have had the child and so on, as millions of other girls.
But she loves traditions and the classic way to produce children.
"How dramatically boring!" says Mrs. Broghammer who usually begins with the children and eventually goes to marriages.
But that is: the Hippy Revolution, was just for nothing.
Once they married for love and made children for the same reason, also without husband.
Now they marry for convenience and make children because they have to.

Well, going back to the Broghammers, this young girl not only married, but choose also a very peculiar husband who is nice in his peculiar way.
Too bad his peculiar way IS NOT the way Mr. Broghammer likes.

The result is that whatever he does or plans to do is wrong and eccentric and stupid.
To that you add the fact that this young man has a friend who is very FOND of IT and is always brought as EXAMPLE of a genius in IT...
That is something you should never do, at least when Mr. Broghammer is there.

Well, to make short a long story, we have to spend TWO days with my daughter in Genova and Mr. Broghammer is sure it will be just Christmas day!!
I still do not know how to break the shocking news to him and have to study something...

Broghammers' Christmas presents

As I pointed out in my previous posts, the Broghammers are a sober family in normal times, and a more than a sober family in recession times.
So, the obvious consequence is that Christmas must be just an excuse to buy things that they would buy also without Christmas.
The only difference will be investing in some nice (original and sober) paper to wrap the useful presents.
Since our office needs badly some technological improvement I guess that most of the presents will be computer stuff.
Of course the shopping will be done mostly online AND in places where we are SURE to have the best prices and eventually some website with discount coupons and online promotion codes for stores that have what we need.
For Mr. Broghammer what about Dell computer deals and specials?
I think that a Inspiron 530 desktop, wouldn't be such a bad idea.
It is just $649 (after the reduction of $270).
But you must buy it before 12/14, which doesn't let me much time...
It is a little bit complicated, but if you are mathematically clever in sorting out the right date, you can find good bargains.
For example you just have two days, but it is worth trying to get it.
I am talking of XPS 630 Desktop which comes at $1299 ($474 off) together with a 20" flat panel display and has Quad-Core processor, 4 GB memory!
Mr. Broghammer could eventually buy for me a new Inkjet printer.
This could be the chance to take advantage of online coupons and internet promotions for inkjet cartridges, laser toner and ink refill kits at 4inkjets.com.
If we really want to save a lot, we could even think of buying a new laser printer, so that we can save on the refill...
A good idea and perfectly in line with our saving policy, would be a Platinum Special Edition Computer Concealed Triple Gusset Briefbag by Jack Georges.
It is true, it is $445, but it is much less than what it would normally cost, and...it is so special and chic, and carries your laptop with subtlety, making sure you are not a target for laptop theft, which in the end would mean a bigger saving (if you think what a laptop costs...)
And besides...it is Christmas!

The Duchess

Women's only I would say.
But I bet most women will just love it.
Gorgeous clothes, mansions, love, intrigue, maternal love, all in one and doesn't last as long as a woman would like.
It could go on with grandchildren and be a saga.
But this great woman who even loves the children her husband fathered with other women, the children she cannot bring up, the friends who cheated her, is the hero (and she is not even unattractive, on the contrary).
I hardly believe that she is a little bit human; I mean the usual humanity, not what we would like humanity to be...

The Broghammers prepare for Christmas

No big trees.
Big trees would mean big or small presents under them.
The Broghammers are a sober family.
They never waste money, least in recession times.
They invested some time ago in a nice set of wooden candles with a Santa (also in wood) that came at a convenient price in a Shop in Dresden.
The candles are small and consume very little energy.
In order to save more energy, Mr. Broghammer put a watch on the switch.
It switches on at 5.30 PM and off at 7.30 PM.
We decided for 7.30 because it is in a window which faces the main street.
This street is frequented in business hours only and it is an outrageous waste of money and electricity to keep it on when there is practically nobody who can see and enjoy it...
The watch is the one we use for watering the garden when we are away, so not further cost to the technical device.
"Everybody should learn from us" is the usual saying of Mr. Broghammer and of course Mrs Broghammer agrees.
She always agrees when the subject is related to saving.
And what is better saving of energy than something the only thing you have to do is wrapping or unwrapping and connecting to the switch?

We are not in "29" and also not in "11"

"While Wii sales more than doubled from the 981,000 units Nintendo sold in November last year, monthly PlayStation 3 sales dropped. Despite it commanding a much stronger software line-up, Sony saw PS3 sales decline from 466,000 last November, to just 378,000 this November. The company's previous generation platform also dropped considerably, moving just 206,000 compared to 496,000 units during the same month last year.

On the portable front, over 1.57 million Nintendo DSs were sold in the U.S. last month, almost four times the amount of PSPs sold by Sony.

Total hardware sales amounted to $2.91 billion for the month, up 10% from November of 2007.

"The expanded supply of Wii systems at retail was clearly evident in the sales figures this month," Anita Frazier, analyst for the NPD Group noted. "The 360 realized a nice unit sales bump over last November and the PS3 year-to-date unit sales growth is impressive."

Is devaluating currencies the right way out?

It would just be going where we are headed a little bit faster...
Printing money has the same effect, but in a hidden way.
If the offer is more than the demand the natural consequence is inflation and inflation means currency devaluation.

"Currency devaluation proved effective in ending the Great Depression. In 1930, Australia was the first to leave the gold standard, immediately devaluing the aussie by more than 40%, and the economy quickly recovered. New Zealand and Japan followed suit in 1931, each with the same result. By 1933, at least nine major economies had enacted a devaluation of their currency by removing it from the gold standard, all of whom emerged from depression."

Currency devaluation is the only way to save capitalism.
To gratify the ones who invested and to convince the ones who didn't to do it in the future.
If you want capitalism survive, you have to have "capitals".
And you have "capitals" if they bring a revenue.

"Only debt would remain the same. All other assets would immediately be worth more (in nominal terms), whether it be a home, a stock, an ounce of gold or a used car. Bank balance sheets would immediately improve, as many loans would be moved from non-performing to performing status. Banks would be paid with devalued dollars, but they made millions creating the mess. "

"Businesses would instantly become more profitable, and workers' pay would increase, allowing each to pay their debts more easily, even while sending more tax dollars to Washington, without raising tax rates"

"Wouldn't you like to wear $1,000 suits and smoke $100 cigars?"
The problem is that a $1,000 suit will be just the value on the label, if you care to read more carefully you will certainly find:

Made in CHINA.
It is the same old story, one thing is the price and another is the value.
What I see is:
People will earn more and consequently pay more taxes (at least in Europe, the more you earn, the more you pay) with the difference that in reality they will EARN the same and PAY more.
House will cost more, the house maintenance will cost more, the house taxes will be more, and in the end... the houses value WILL always be the same.

We have to find the right balance between price and value.
What brought us to this was that the value was less than the price. And devaluating would be going into this direction...
People went out of the depression not thanks to the currency value, but with their honest daily work...

Internet Predictions for 2009

The biggest threat the Internet is facing is Security.

1) In 2009 and in a very near future I forecast a huge cyber attack that will leave few computers unharmed.
"Internet security is broken, and nobody seems to know quite how to fix it."
It is the natural consequence of building insecure systems using inadequate tools and practices, connecting them with insecure protocols, not controlling them at all, and then expecting that they will do things they are not designed to do.
It is the natural consequence of real world entering virtual world.
Crime follows money and when the big money is online, also big crime is online.
And online offers so many privileges to the ones who know how to create them.
Anonimity, fast acting, dealing with machines who do not think, but just follow paths they were programmed to.

2) A huge breech on privacy will be the second threat on the Internet in the very near future.
No one will be safe online.
Information that was previously difficult to generate will be almost trivial.
Our privacy will have to face the more and more pentration of "search" in our life.

3) Regulation of the Internet is unavoidable.
P2P is under haevy threat.
In Italy filtering and blocking is already mandatory,
France and Germany are already preparing filtering/blocking laws that should even be mandatory.
The journey through the wacky world of deep packet inspection will beging in early 2009.

4) More and more the first news will be on the Internet sooner than on the Media.
Mobile will be the password, and private mobile will be the key.
Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and other mobile and other social networks will be there first.
Classic journalism will be dead sooner than the end of 2009.

5) War will begin as a "cyber" war.
"Chinese hackers have penetrated the White House computer network on multiple occasions and obtained e-mails between government officials, a senior US official told the *Financial Times*.
On each occasion, the attackers accessed the White House computer system for brief periods, allowing them enough time to steal information before US computer experts patched the system.
US government cyber intelligence experts suspect the attacks were sponsored by the Chinese government because of their targeted nature. "
Hacking will have more and more a political color.

Like frogs

Sometimes I think people as frogs in a saucepan.
They began in a warm Luke water, almost nice and soporific.
With one degree at a time we have reached the boiling point.
But nobody sees it.
We are all numb to the point we do not realize we are boiled alive.
A few degrees more and we will be ALL gone.
Information is almost under control.
The Internet is following.
They talk about Car2.0, as if the car industry was someway similar to the Internet.
Everything that is new and successful is "Like the iPod".
I didn't see anything new in it, apart from a nice design and some new functions.
I didn't see any revolution, any "killing” new" business plan.
You can download music, but the difference is that you do it "legally" "paying".
Where is the revolution in that?
I thought Napster was far more a revolution.
At least you could see it almost as a "revolution".
The "fuck off" revolution against the few that control the market, control the society, control the politic, control our life.
Is it a revolution paying 0.99 per title, instead a full CD?
I would call it a "sale" or a "price reduction" or a "let's try to finish with this illegal downloading".

What nobody sees, because he doesn't want to see, is that this kind of "a few that earn" and "the mass that consumes" doesn't work anymore.
What they do not see is that ten cars for one person is a goal which is not only unreachable, but unwise.
It was much better when there was one car for every family, and may be not for all, and that car lasted a few years and the streets were drivable and the towns were liveable, and the people didn't make many debts for buying things they didn't need, they instead used their legs and their brains to think and NOT to be instructed passively on what they would like to eat, to use, to wear, to live.
It was much better when life belonged to us and not to the "few".
I do not want to be a boiling frog, I want to be a human being...

Mamma Mia

If you are a nostalgic of old faces and old songs, this is the movie for you.
Without forgetting the incredible blue of the Greek sea and the charm of a wonderful Greek island, with its simple life, primitive plumbing and shabby chic buildings.
They have it all: love, past, present, future, sex, nostalgia, typical American wedding.
At the end the only one who doesn't get married is the only one who is supposed to, for whom the wedding is planned.
Happy and I would like to say unexpected end, but I was sure it would have finished that way: three middle age men and three middle age women...

Debt drowning?

If this could be of any psychological help, you are not alone.
It looks like lately many a blokes have lost control of the financial side of life and made a little too many debts.
They ALL want a new start.
But, as usual, BEFORE a brand new start, there must be an old settlement.
You usually cannot say good bye to debts, unless you pay them.
So, what to do?
Easier said than done, but do not despair. There is always a solution, you just need to find the best one.
You can chose a Debt Settlement, for as much as 50% of what you owe...Doesn't it sound great?
Of course 100% would be better, but it is just IMPOSSIBLE.
You could be debt free in six-thirty months.
What do you have to do?
Just contact the Debt Settlement Services, fix a meeting and discuss.
They will provide free consultation and explain how much you can eventually save.
They will discuss the matter and you bet, they know how to...
Well, it is not exactly like in the Godfather movie, they do not usually use those ways, they are more on the legal side...but that doesn't mean they cannot provide you a very good settlement.
Besides, it really pays to give it a try.
You can avoid bankruptcy, which would not allow you a new start.
They will be able to lower the due amount, giving you a decent drop in your monthly payments. You will save money in interest rates and more easily pay what you have to.
Bankruptcy means a severe damage in credit ratings and very often the beginning of the end.

But if you are not far behind in your credit card bills and haven't messed up your credit, what you need is just a debt management.
Which in a few words is : you need someone to take care (better care) of the financial side of your life BEFORE you get to a further , more serious point.
What is exactly a debt management?
Imagine a company that will negotiate with your credit card companies to lower interest rates, stop the late fees and then combine the totals into one low (affordable, they will create a budget) monthly payment which will be possible to pay out over three years.
Three years to finally get freedom and good sleep at night.
The good sleep is something you can have immediately, after you transfer your burdens to them.
So, drowning?
There is a big hand helping you...

Detroit can go on sleeping

Interesting article today on The New York Times.
It refers to an interesting business plan I posted some time ago and presents it as the Future iPod in the car industry.
This is what I posted:

Imagine the cars' infrastructure run as a Telephony network.
The operator sells the cars (electric) at a good price (or even gives it for free, just like a telephone).
They could because the profit wouldn't come from the car, but from selling electricity, may be by minutes.
The country would be covered by a network of "smart" charge spots. Drivers could plug in anywhere, anytime, and would subscribe to a specific plan—unlimited miles, a maximum number of miles each month, or pay as you go—all for less than the equivalent cost for gas.
Of course you could have plugs in homes, offices, shopping malls.
Or the car driver would just have to exchange the exhausted battery with a fresh one.
Also this hardware would be free, you just pay the consume.
This doesn't only work on paper, it is potentially profitable, too.
Behind this idea there is Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road and Project Better Place, the world's first global electric-car grid operator.
This is an interesting plan and catching too.
But I see a big difference with the Telephone network.
In this case, once you build the network the consume is at zero cost for the Operator, while the Cars' network will consume electricity which still has to be produced someway.
The second thought is that it wouldn't be cheaper than the existing oil .
We shouldn't forget that the big winner in the oil business is mainly the State.
How would they suck the same money?
They would certainly have a big part on this electricity, bringing either the profit to a minimum or the cost to the same level as oil.
The only winner would be the air, and that is not irrelevant.

I was talking about Italy and Europe, where the State has reached a heaviness in taxes on ALL what we do and the easiest way is of course taxing CARS and houses.
So, either we dream of a place where the State won't suck anymore. or suck less, but then it would spend less, or we just imagine how and when those taxes will be transferred to something else.

That said I do not think that spending tax payers money saving a dinosaur is a good idea.
If you want to help people give the money directly to the unemployed, saving some bucks on the salary of the managers and in keeping offices and factories that are useless.
If you want to create jobs, look (intelligently) to the future and a good idea would be investing money and create new jobs building new infrastructures, which anyway are essential.
Then, without any hurry think what would be the best future for a nation, in terms of pollution but also in terms of a good life.
You will come to the conclusion that we have more than enough cars, oil or electric, that besides the air pollution there is also the noise and traffic pollution.
We have precious things called legs that should be moved more, for example walking to the next station, where we can board the next public transportation, sit on it, enjoy a nice talk or reading the newspaper or why not? Surfing the Internet in search of the next "killing" business plan....

The dawn of the "one man company

Making videos for YouTube — for three years a pastime for millions of Web surfers — is now a way to make a living.

This is exactly what I predicted some time ago.
The dawn of the "one man company", thanks to the Internet.
Which is the four Cs:

1) Content

2) Connectivity

3) Community

4) Commerce

Is it better a reality of a dream or a dream of a reality?

"A Japanese research team (who else?) has successfully processed and displayed images directly from the human brain, they said in a study to be published in the US magazine Neuron.
While the researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have only reproduced simple images from the brain, they said the technology could eventually be used to display dreams."

It works this way:

When you look at something, the retina converts the image into electrical signals directed to the brain cortex.
The trick is catching the signals and recontructing the image.

Providing this IS REALLY possible, I do not like it.
Dreams are what they are because they are dreams.
The moment they are on a screen they become reality.
Is it better a reality of a dream or a dream of a reality?

The four Cs

What is Web2.0?

1) Content

2) Connectivity

3) Community

4) Commerce


Content is the Driver.
Without content any mean is for nothing.
What is the voice without words or the paper without ink?

Connectivity is the Way, the transport of everything.
Ideas, voice, commercials.
Without connectivity the Internet wouldn't exist.

Community is the Social.
Social web, social communities, social everything.

Commerce is the engine.
Without means (money) the Internet as all other Media wouldn't be so widespread.

Unprecedentedly free? Or permanently tethered?

From essentially zero, we've passed a watershed of more than 3.3 billion active cellphones on a planet of some 6.6 billion humans in about 26 years.
This is the fastest global diffusion of any technology in human history -- faster even than the polio vaccine.


"We knew this was going to happen a few years ago. And we know how it will end," says Eric Schmidt, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Google. "It will end with 5 billion out of the 6" with cellphones. "A reasonable prediction is 4 billion in the next few years -- the current proposal is 4 billion by 2010. And then the final billion or so within a few years thereafter.


"Eventually there will be more cellphone users than people who read and write. I think if you get that right, then everything else becomes obvious."


"It's the technology most adapted to the essence of the human species -- sociability," says Arthur Molella, director of the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. "It's the ultimate tool to find each other. It's wonderful technology for being human."


Maybe. But do our mobiles now render us unprecedentedly free? Or permanently tethered?

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Meet the Broghammers

Of course the Broghammers have different tastes in movies (as in many other things).
What they do (different and opposite to what the usual couples do)is competing in pleasing one the other.
I admit I am the one who fights with lesser strength, so that I am the one who usually looses.
That means we mostly look at movies I LIKE.
But that doesn't mean they are low quality.
They are just my taste.
Unless of course I am fed up and want to look at something else.
That is when Mr. Broghammer looses, and we happily look at something he likes.
Too bad I fall asleep quite soon and he, very nicely I must admit, sacrifies himself and stops, so that we usually see MY FAVORITE movies and half of his...

One of the favourite of Mr. Broghammer is The Godfather.
We bought the Premium Tapes, but since they were not good enough, a few years later we bought the DVDs.
I guess this is one of the movies I saw around ten times and I know almost everything of it.
I happen to be the cousin of the Demaria who sold a property called Fleur du Lake to Mr. Coppola, where he made the Godfather number 2.
It is the place where Michael used to live.
I was there when they prepared the place and still have some nice pictures.



I think it is a mixture of his love for Italy and its recent history (mafia and co.) that fascinates my husband.
May be it is also the fact that I WAS THERE with the fact that it is a very good movie, well all together he loves it so much.

As for me, I really do not have favourites.
There are some that I like, some that I like very much and some I cannot stand...
Luckily, one thing we do not lack is the number...

Online Censorship

It looks like censorship is on the rise not only in countries with oppressive government regimes, but also in Western countries like UK and Australia.

“Online journalism has changed the media landscape and the way we communicate with each other,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “But the power and influence of this new generation of online journalists has captured the attention of repressive governments around the world, and they have accelerated their counterattack.”

The protection of children is a must, but it should come first from the parents, who should in one way or the other, control what their children do online.

From pornography to limiting free speech the road is short.
"Should any private organization have a say over what is decent and what you are allowed to see? Should the government?"

What are the limits of freedom?

Does exercise help sex performances?

"REGULAR exercise is good for a man's sexual prowess, according to new research which focused on swimming rats.
Australian sexual health expert Dr Chris McMahon said what was good for the functioning of the penis was also good for the body's broader vascular system.

"If you exercise these aged rats, who are probably parallel to aged men in their 60s and 70s, you can improve the way that their blood vessels work," Dr McMahon said.

"Theoretically, you can improve vascular health, cardio health, increase longevity and quality of life."

No wonder who says it is a MAN.

Does US own the Moon?

"Nearly 40 years after the U.S. flag was planted on the moon, a global rush to the final frontier has some pondering property rights out there.

India, Japan and China are now circling the moon with their respective spacecraft – to be joined next year by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Then there's the Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million competition for the first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon, travel some 1,640 feet (500 meters) and transmit video, images and data back to Earth."

This could lead to a new frontier of Real Estate.
Looking at the mess US did of Earth Real Estate I think it would be rather unwise to do the same there....

WE ALL have to change, in order the ALL will change, so that ALL can go on to be the same..

When we say something has to change we ALWAYS mean "the others" have to change.
No more crooks, bankers, corrupted politicians, just have to go out of the scene and here comes a brand new team, ready for the "change" so that in reality nothing really changes, so that we can go on living as we always did, a little bit better may be.
But the "Bengodi" country doesn't really exist.
We tried to make one out of the existing world, it lasted a little while, long enough to think it was possible and now, when it is clear it is something like a "virtual mirage” we cannot believe it.
Well, why not going on this way?
A few Bail outs, a little help here, a bigger there, so that the picture of a smiling society can go on shining on our horizon.

But, as sad as it can look, it won't work.
Machines do not work if you do not feed them, and energy is getting expensive and rarer, while appetites are getting bigger.
As much as you try to correct and adjust mathematical laws, they go back to their original simplicity and beauty.
One plus one is always two and one minus two makes always minus one.
And if you do not have one, but just half you cannot go on consuming two.

Or you can say time and materia are the same.
They exist because men exist.
Once you die, no materia, not time exists anymore (at least for you).
But that doesn't help the fact that while you exist, they both exist and if the solution is dyeing, I do not think it is a good solution...

I think the only way out would be what won't certainly be.
The acknowledging that WE ALL have to change, in order the ALL will change.
So that ALL can go on to be the same...I mean in order to provide a future to ALL...

The threat of a matriarchal society

Men are at risk of being "feminised" by thousands of "gender bending" chemicals that are changing the behaviour of humans and animals, according to a report.

Scientists are warning that manmade pollutants which have escaped into the environment mimic the female sex hormone oestrogen.

As terrible as it can sound, I do not see a big problem in it...

How to be a real Geek

This is what you cannot avoid if you want to be considered a Geek.

1) True nerds should be able to identify even the most esoteric connector in their sleep.

2) They should be able to run All their Essential Apps on a USB Stick.

3) They should be able to straighten the Pins on an Older CPU.

4) They should know the 13 Basic HTML Tags

5) They should beat Quake in Under an Hour

6) They should get Around the Content Filter on Public Computers

7) They should recite pi to 23 Decimal Places

8) They should replace the Controller Board on a Hard Drive (if your computer has one)

9) They should be able to benchmark their Computer

10) They should be able to Rip a DVD to h.264

11) They should be able to Overclock their PC and Tune Your BIOS

12) They should be able to Use Remote Desktop

13) They should be able to Build their Own Computer

14) They should be able to Securely Erase their Data So it Can't be Recovered

15) They should be able to Get into a Windows Computer without Password


16) They should be able to Hide Porn

17) They should be able to Explain What E=MC^2 Means to a Liberal Arts Major

18) They should be able to Use a DSLR in Full Manual Mode

19) They should be able to Mooch their Neighbor's Wi-Fi

20) They should be able to protect their own Wi-Fi

21) They should be able to Wire their Home with Ethernet Cable

22) They should be able to Know the 6 Most Important Linux Commands

23) They should be able to Stream Movies, Music, and Photos to Any TV in their House

24) They should be able to Install and Configure a Virtual Machine

24) They should be able to Run Multiple Monitors Like a Pro

25) They should be able to Hack Firmware on a Router

26) They should be able to Avoid DRM on everything

27) They should be able to Download Flash Video and Bend it to their Will

28) They should be able to Get Around In DOS

But if you cannot do all what I listed and even cannot understand what I am talking about in some cases, do not worry.
Being a Geek is not that important.

The other side of the Recession: IPhones in Wal-Mart Stores

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will become the second mass-market retail chain to start selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone, with two store representatives saying the world’s largest retailer will carry two models of the Web-surfing handset this month.

“A $99, Apple-branded cell phone is inevitable,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Brothers in San Francisco. “One of the key things Apple needs to do to drive broader iPhone adoption is to build a more complete product line” with low- end, mid-range and high-end products, Wu said in a Dec. 5 note.


Apple, based in Cupertino, California, rose $2.59 to $94 on Dec. 5 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have declined 53 percent this year.

When security could be too much security

Sometimes, security gets a little out of hand.
Suggestions not to run into problems:

1) Be sure NOT to wear any piercing.
It happened to someone to be obliged to remove her nipple rings supposed to disguise some kind of implanted boob lasers.
And that would be nothing if it was not necessary to use pliers.
May be this could be a suggestion for Al Qaeda to develop some kind of poisonous nanodarts that can fire out from those piercings and kill everyone on board.

2) Be sure your name doesn't resemble one of the terrorists'.
Usually the process to get your name removed from the watch list takes at least a month and a half, so you can be sure you'll miss your flight.

3) Don't ever be tempted to steal some cutlery from the plane.
Those nice an harmless butter knife that look so cute and small?
Well, it happened to a pilot.
If they forbade him, you can bet they will you.
And f for some reason you loose the one you really loved?
You have good chances to buy it back on eBay.

4) No crutches, sorry.
If you happen to need them to walk, you should walk and not board a plane.

5) No liquors, no water and of course no Baby Food.
If you happen to have a child you should just stay home.

6) No terrorist T-Shirts.
No Arabic words on them.
That is Bad Propaganda.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

An old movie (1975) that, thanks to a magnificent (and quite young)Nicholson, you can still enjoy (a lot) looking at.
Crazy is all what doesn't comform to our actual view of what is being sane.
We are Nuts and so we can do what we like...
And he really does, whatever he can, in his limited way, what he likes...
At the end of the movie one could think that he has a much better way to treat nuts than doctors and nurses.
McMurphy (Jack Nicholson )is the false crazy who believes in himself (and he succeds in making the others believe in him too)and in life.
His optimism is contagious and probably the best cure against any illness of any kind, including mental illness.
A great movie, because of the main carachter, who conveys the essence of McMurphy to perfection.
A story which is so close to reality you do not believe it is a story anymore...

In the war between Capitalism and Communism the ones that win are, as usual, the bad guys.

History repeats itself.
Or better, life never changes, because man is what it is and the theatre of life is the way it is.
The strong wins and the weak looses. No change up there, I am sorry.
Once in a while we reach the point of no return, a few heads fall, just to let the "New" bad guys to enter the scene and the "Old" bad guys who didn't want to exit, to disappear.
Everybody is happy, because "Things are changing" "Justice wins".
But what really wins is the unchangeable, inevitable, inexorable, law of nature.
The longer survival is guarantee to the one who (as Nature decrees) is stronger.
No pity, no mercy, no morality.
Those are words that do not exist for Nature and Life.
Those were words created to give some sort of comfort to the weak.
Just like the hope that somewhere somehow, a New life will pay Justice to the ones who deserve it.

Meet the Broghammers on Sunday

We have, like the upper middle class in Italy, a large kitchen (large means large enough to eat) and two dining rooms, one for the family (it's cosier to eat in the dining room)and one for guests.
In the family dining room we have a round table for six and in the guests' we have a big 17th century table for 12 people.
We never have more than two guests, and it you sum the two of us, we just need a small table in the kitchen.
The fact is that we never eat in the kitchen or in one of the dining rooms.
In summer we eat on the terrace, because we like to look at Birds' private life and in Winter we eat in front of the TV on the room at the last floor.
That makes very uncomfortable launches and dinners and breakfasts, but we love this way.
Life wouldn't be nice if you weren't able to complicate it a little bit.
Besides, our meals are mostly frugal, since we are ALWAYS on a diet.
What changes is the type of diet.
I think I have tried all of the available.
The one that works better is the "Empty Fridge Diet", where you are obliged to feed out of available fruits and cookies.
But if you combine it with the "Empty Cupboard Diet" you have an apple and you can be sure you will get thin, at least as long as the Fridge stays empty.

Being me Italian and he German we should have a big variety in food, but we mostly agree to the average and most common and vastly world's spread which is a Pizza or, when you really want to cook something special a dish of spaghetti carbonara.
That is what I choose when I want to show.
It's easy, fast, and high calories.
So you have the excuse to eat just it, because something else would be too much.

Useless to say that my mother didn't want to live with me...
How come, everybody asked?
They didn't know how my mother enjoyed eating a healthy, good, meal, at least once a day...

Does Mr. Obama Know?

"If he tells the truth (if he knows it) now he'll be crucified, but at what point will he be crucified for concealing the truth?"

Nobody expects miracles, but everybody does.
It doesn't matter how he will do it, it matters that he will.
Or that he will try to.
When you have to choose between two, and you already know that one of them won't be able, you choose the other hoping that...

"Does Mr. O know that global oil production appears to have peaked at around 85 million barrels a day, with poor prospects of ever getting beyond that?"
If he does, or he doesn't he cannot change it.
What he tries to do, and everybody should try to do, is finding alternative ways.
If not, the change of life style, of energy consummation will come by itself.
Can you, as a President of USA, just say: "We are obviously in a transitional period between the old profligate energy economy and the new economy of relative scarcity. " and "We have no idea how disorderly this transition will be, but there is certainly potential for tremendous instability in daily life"...
I think he can't, because it would be like saying: there is no way out that I know or nothing I could eventually do.
Pack your stuff and wait for a decent future, if it will ever come...
Can an elected President say that?
Can an elected President just say, the situation is bad, I am sorry, there is not much to do...

That is not what people want to hear, that is not what they voted for.
And he will do what people want him to do.
Saying half truth and half lies, trying his best (or what he thinks is his best) and hope.
Just like 100% of the World.

Meet the Broghammers

Today my husband (Mr. Broghammer) is unreachable.
My Christmas present arrived this morning.
It is some kind of Music and Video player.
I didn't want it, but my husband wanted it for me.
That was enough.
It is since early morning (after the mail arrived) that I can hardly communicate, since he has this new device on and in (his ears), so that no other sound can reach his brain, not even the familiar sound of: Lunch is ready!

But now I know that on our first trip I will be able to choose among a good selection of his favorite music and entertain myself.

This morning, in my forced isolation, I decided that I will write about our family on my blog.
It will be for all the people who like to hear about the others, when the others are, like us, peculiar in some way.

We are not the average family, at least not the average European family.
I am Italian, my husband is German.
I decided for it because I thought: if it works for a car (quite well) it will work for us.
I mean, if the mixture of Italian design and German technology works, it should also work in family life.
And I was absolutely right.
I hate all what needs more than five minutes to learn how to be used, my husband loves all what takes more than a week to learn how to be used.
I hate perfection, he cannot live without it.
The product is something in the middle, which is, as my Latin ancestors said (in medium est virtus) is something close to what you need to survive.
Let's say I usually produce very nice to look at things, while he produces ugly stuff that works perfectly.
And in life you need both: something that pleases your eyes and something you can use.

The Industrial Revolution

"The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, production, and transportation had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human society; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way."

It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries.
The introduction of steam power fuelled primarily by coal, wider utilization of water wheels and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity.
Historians agree that the Industrial Revolution was one of the most important events in history.
Nevertheless the first consequences weren't what one could imagine.
Cheap production thanks to the use of machinery instead of human work produced less jobs and lowering of income for most of the population.
It was thanks to the spreading of the revenues that brought a higher living standards, the consequent consummation of the machine produced goods that produced a higher production and higher consuming.
The consumistic society lasted as long as the balance producing-consuming was pair.
With the globalisation a new Industrial revolution unbalanced the markets.
If we want to find the guilty we just look to the ones who produced that imbalance.
Producing in China and reselling in the West can last as long as in the West the richness is produced in some other way.
If not, the consumers are unable to consume.
In other words: if you do not have a job or an income you won't consume even the cheapest of product.
Globalisation will produce the right consequences the moment we will be able to find again the balance producing-consuming.

Expensive, but 250 times faster than the average PC

Four thousand pounds is not what you could call cheap, at least for a PC, but if you see what kind of revolution it brings, it is not even that expensive.
It could help to process scientific results much faster, allowing scientists to find more easily cures for diseases or processing results of brain and body scans much more quickly.
Till now you could reach the same results with supercomputers, massive systems made up of thousands of machines taking up entire rooms.
"These supercomputers can improve the time it takes to process information by 1,000 times.

"If you imagine it takes a week to get a result [from running an experiment], you can only do it 52 times a year. If it takes you minutes, you can do it constantly, and learn just as much in a day."

The only thing the normal user needs is time.
Soon, when they will begin mass production, the price will fall and the supercomputer will be available to the "man on the road".

Buy to rent could be a profitable investment right now.

If there was a moment in which it was convenient investing in Real Estate this is it.
We will have a good inflation, since the State will borrow more and more to rescue the economy, but for this reason (the reason it is the State who is the borrower) we can be sure that the interest rates won't grow.
On the contrary of what one could think, (just for mathematical reasons) that a high inflation would bring high interest rates, we will see the opposite.
And what is going to happen to the hardly saved money?
Not only that it will bring home nothing, but on the nothing's sake it will also loose its value.
In this disastrous situation, I myself, do not see any better investment that in a home.
It could bring a good ROI either as a saving of the rent or as the income from renting it and you can bet that after a period of high inflation, you will keep the value of the money invested in it.
To that you can add the fact that most people want to get rid of their homes fearing to loose the money they invested and the subsequent fall of the houses' price, and the result is: buy and you'll be soon happy you did.
The only restriction could be buying in a place where you are sure the demand will grow in the near future.
For example, what proposed by Austin Real Estate, that is Round rock tx homes for sale, in my opinion could be the right choice.
"Round Rock, 20 miles north of Austin, is one of the fastest growing cities in the country."
This itself would be the right reason to invest there, but you can add to it the fact that it is also a touristic place and has numerous family style amenities of the area.
You could think of a seasonal renting use of your property.
That means more opportunities to make a good profit out of your investment

The Graduate

I guess yesterday wars the third time I have seen it...
The film is always the same, but it looks different to me.
It is a forty years backward look.
It is "How we were" and what we "hoped" and how we saw the "future".
Luckily it is ages apart from what we are and what we hoped to be.
It is a society that has grown a lot, not always in the right direction, but in many ways yes.
It is a society that has widened its view of life and the part that has not will have to in a very near future.
How much easier life looked then, in that movie at least.
No worries for a job.
Richness and a granted future, so that the main concern is who am I going to marry and what is going against my will...
Love, of course, wins, but leaves quite a few unanswered questions.
And a few quite granted answers.

Democrats Set to Offer Loans for Carmakers: the verge of a "no future" future

This is a quite interesting article on the The New York Times today.
I am not even considering the need or the fact that in my humble opinion it is a wrong move, I am looking into it and seeing a very interesting aspect, which goes unseen by most of the people.

In 1989 in Europe we had the final step towards the end of the Communist ideal of a society.
"The communist point of view is an unrealistic and inefficient way of ruling today's world".
Of course it began some years before, with the scarcity of money and subsequent scarcity of power.
People live and work for survival, not for ideals.
Even in China they are embracing a new way to rule, much closer to capitalism than to Communism.
Let's summarize it in this way: they take from both what is more convenient without thinking and choosing for people's sake...

What I found more interesting in the article I mention is:

"the money would most likely come from $25 billion in federally subsidized loans intended for developing fuel-efficient cars."

and:

"The auto companies will have to submit to strict government oversight to make sure that the bailout funds are used to carry out the reorganization plans they delivered to Congress this week. The auto company chiefs testified this week that they were willing to accept such regulation."
This is a step toward a communist vision of the society, where the State helps in exchange of rules and especially for rescuing and creating jobs that wouldn't have ANY reason to survive without the State's help.
This didn't bring that far the DDR.
They thought it could bring proselytes, votes and richness.
It brought poverty, un satisfaction and the end of the ideal of Communism.

I do not think there is an ideal way to guarantee a safe and profitable job to all.
I think that surviving is a tough job and it is getting more difficult since the slice of the cake is getting smaller with globalisation.
I think that helping the car industry to survive on the condition to keep it as it is a dream and an unnecessary step.
I think that the public money should be spent more carefully and on the sake of the people's future and NOT on the sake of a party's future.

I think we are on the verge of a "no future" future.

If people wouldn't trust, how could they be cheated again?

"shit happens and all the regulation in the world can't prevent or predict it"... (Tom Evslin)

I do not agree.
Shit happens daily and we should be used to it.
Where I disagree is that we WERE used to shit happening somewhere else than in a Bank.
That is the reason why so many people trusted their own bank.
And they were right to do so.
Because USUALLY Banks were supposed to be, if not entirely on the customer's side, at least not against him.
Nobody will ever convince me that this situation was not known and forecasted long ago.
As usual the man on the road is like the faithful husband or wife, they are ALWAYS the last to know.
Because the idea of being cheated by somebody they trusted for many years is unthinkable.
There was a time in which banks and Institutions were ruled by honest people and things like what happened, couldn't happen.
At that time thoughts like "you are in more danger from the unknowable than the knowable risk; the past is an extremely misleading guide to the future." were out of any question.

Regulation is not good.
What would be good would be that the responsible would pay for what he did.
If the customer was sure that he would have to deal with trustable people (like it was some years ago) we wouldn't need any regulation.
And Regulation won't bring back the trust, because as we say in Italy, the rules are made to be broken.
We have so many SMART people, they do not care about rules, they welcome rules if they can give trust to investors.
Otherwise, if people wouldn't trust, how could they be cheated again?