What went and is wrong easily explained

The certain thing most of us understand is that the actual situation IS NOT what we would like it to be.
What happened?
In a few, easy, understandable words:

The top 1% now owns some 2/3 of the world's entire productive wealth.
And they surely want AT LEAST going on owning it.
May be even more.
There is no end to human’s greediness.

As profits rise (from rising productivity) then the profits flow not to wages (which remain flat to down 1975-2009 for all but the top 10% upper-caste professional class) but to those who own the capital.

That explains why most of us (99%) earns less and pays more.

The advert/media-driven desire ( fed from the people who profit from it) to borrow to fund the "good life" is hugely profitable to the money-center and investment banks, which expand rapidly into mortgage securitization, derivatives and consumer credit to the point that they come to dominate corporate profits.
While the Plutocracy and State functionaries benefitted (via stupendous capital gains for the former and vastly richer pension promises for the latter), the private-sector middle class is in essence the bag-holder: when the newfound 'wealth" in housing and stock market gains vanish, it is the middle class wealth which is destroyed en masse.


That explains the financial crisis we are living.

What to do?

The worst is going on this disastrous road believing in a possible "recovery".
That is exactly what the "1%" wants us to believe in the hope that the current situation can go on a little longer.
To some of us keeping the Status Quo could look like protecting our careers, income and status.
It would just give to the 1% the chance to go on granting great wealth and control of productive assets; political influence flows from that.

In a "democratic" country people have the huge power of voting, to stop ANY situation like this.
That is why media propaganda is so brainwashing and owning media and TV has got so important. (in Italy we have a clear example of the power of media, which are concentrated in the hands of a few)
Another weapon in the hands of the few is education.
This is the subtle way to create semi "slaves" easily brainwashable.
The "American dream" has been largely used for this purpose.

My conclusion.
History teaches that everything begins, has a pick and ends.
Following human nature, man is a vicious creature.
He wants more and more.
There is no end to greediness.
But there is an end to "slavery".
When people have an empty stomach the brain begins to work better.
It is the "survival instinct".

Yes, in the end, life IS democratic.
Because the moment you are born, a survival fighter is born in you.
Whoever is in your road deserves to be fought and won.
No matter how powerful he is...

Don´t pay more for what you can have for less

Moving small furniture or heavy tools has got so expensive that sometimes it costs more than the goods you have to move.
A few years ago, for example, my husband got a job in London.
We decided to rent a furnished apartment, nevertheless the things we had to move were more than a few suitcases and still not enough to justify a real moving.
The best solution was renting a van, that we managed to fill with all the stuff we thought "very useful" for our future life in London.
I must say that on the price a big amount was the insurance, even though we rented it just for a few days.
But now you can have good prices on Van Insurance depending on the use you are going to have of your van.
They talk about 70% less...
Of course it is a different matter if you use your van for a commercial use.
If you use a van for transporting goods or passengers for reward, hiring a van, or use of the van for paid driving instruction, then you require commercial van insurance for its use.
The transporting of goods can include the delivery of items such as plants or moving goods from a supplier to your shop.
Although you feel your van isn't used for commercial use, some insurers can provide insurance only for transporting light goods which can help you to save money.
This is what Net Insurance is for.
Providing you an insurance that fits with all your needs and covers everything for the lowest possible amount of money.
As one of the country's largest independently owned van insurance brokers, over the years they have formed excellent relationships with many of the UK's leading insurers. The policies they offer are individually tailored to meet the demands of the policyholder.
They offer an immediate quoting service and provide an immediate call back within minutes from a van insurance specialist.
You can also have an online quote, and they assure the Cheapest offer or your money back.
Well, I think it pays off to enquire, may be you will be pleasantly surprised…

Sun, I love you

The solar energy is one of the many examples of how a restricted number of monopolists rules the world to the point they do not allow progress because it would mean no profit for them.
Let’s take Saudi as an example.
(I am quoting Rubbia´s words, Rubbia is a Nobel Prize physician)
The amount of energy that could be produced with the sun in that region is 1000 times bigger than the amount produced by the oil which is extracted there.
We consume in one year the oil produced in 1 million years.
The solar energy is there and will be there forever (or almost), while oil will finish soon.
One would think that the main investment in countries like Italy should be in solar energy production.
It isn’t.
Why?
Because solar energy would mean a distributed production, no power for the monopolists, no taxes for the State.
And we have to consume oil, to pollute the Globe, because a bunch of crooks HAS to make money out of it.
We have to create sick people in order to have a "healthy" economy...

The secret of doing something the best you can is very often just not doing it...

After you have uplinked and downloaded, you have been inputted and outsourced, after you come to know the upside of downsizing, the downside of upgrading, and you still are making less money than what you would expect, that is the time to look for help.

Ever thought of telemarketing?
Or Appointment Making, Lead Generation, Database Cleaning,Customer Maximisation, Sales Training, Market Research?
Luckily there is somebody who is an expert in those tasks and obviously does it better than you.
Why not outsourcing to the right company?
Why not concentrating on what you produce, and producing it as best as you can, leaving the hassle to marketing it to somebody else?
I guess that the secret of success is in doing things well, better than the others.
And in order to do so, the one who makes them should be an expert in the field.
Why wasting energy and money trying to do things that somebody else does better?
The secret is finding the right marketing company, the one that will ensure that you’re selling your product face-to-face with key decision makers and budget holders in industries you want to target.
In a few words: produce and relax.
With the right marketing you won’t need to stalk your customers: they will be looking for you.

iPhone easy hijacking

If you receive a text message on your iPhone any time after Thursday afternoon containing only a single square character, Charlie Miller would suggest you turn the device off. Quickly.

That small cipher will likely be your only warning that someone has taken advantage of a bug that Miller and his fellow cybersecurity researcher Collin Mulliner plan to publicize Thursday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas.
Using a flaw they've found in the iPhone's handling of text messages, the researchers say they'll demonstrate how to send a series of mostly invisible SMS bursts that can give a hacker complete power over any of the smart phone's functions. That includes dialing the phone, visiting Web sites, turning on the device's camera and microphone and, most importantly, sending more text messages to further propagate a mass-gadget hijacking.


Though Miller and Mulliner say they notified Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) about the vulnerability more than a month ago, the company hasn't released a patch, and it didn't respond to Forbes' repeated calls seeking comment.

The iPhone SMS bug is just one of a series that the researchers plan to reveal in their talk. They say they've also found a similar texting bug in Windows Mobile that allows complete remote control of Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people )-based devices. Another pair of SMS bugs in the iPhone and Google's ( GOOG - news - people ) Android phones would purportedly allow a hacker to knock a phone off its wireless network for about 10 seconds with a series of text messages.

more...

The Killer application

If the new system, Wolfram Alpha keeps its promises, it certainly will change the Internet forever.
The biggest repercussion would be that a giant like Google will not be a giant anymore.
This is the power of the Interne: you are king today and tomorrow nobody remembers you.
Wolfram Alpha will not only give a straight answer to questions, it will begin a conversation.
The right answer would already be a miracle. How many times we search for one thing and we find a complete different one? (which sometimes it is even not too bad, if you have some time to spare, you might be involved in a world you didn’t even know existed...)
"The real innovation, however, is in its ability to work things out "on the fly", according to its British inventor, Dr Stephen Wolfram. If you ask it to compare the height of Mount Everest to the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, it will tell you. Or ask what the weather was like in London on the day John F Kennedy was assassinated, it will cross-check and provide the answer. Ask it about D sharp major, it will play the scale. Type in "10 flips for four heads" and it will guess that you need to know the probability of coin-tossing. If you want to know when the next solar eclipse over Chicago is, or the exact current location of the International Space Station, it can work it out."

This is even too much for me.
I am the average internet user.
I just would like that if I look for the nearest pizzeria it won’t bring me to New York...that is still too expensive for a daily meal...

The Smart Software and writer´s security

How to create a PDF file within five minutes?
It isn’t difficult, if I can do it, you also can, let’s say WE CAN.
How?
Of course using the right pdf software.
But speed is not all.

You can:

Create PDF documents from Microsoft Office Suite, from word documents, excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint slideshow presentations, Internet Explorer or any other applications that can print.

Additionally you can also:

convert pdf Files to Word Documents

And dulcis in fundo:

Password protect your documents to protect your privacy.

Any additional hint? Is there a way that it could be improved?

But why PDF?
Because adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) is a format which was created by Adobe Systems Inc to enhance document exchange.
For the simple reason that documents in PDF are independent from computer and display resolution and can be read on any operating system (Windows, Apple , Linux).
How many times you receive something by email and cannot read it, because your computer cannot display it?
PDF files support links (internal and external), forms, JavaScript. PDF documents also have different levels of encryption (view, print, select…) and even DRM.

America´s economy for dummies

Subject: Derivative markets, an understandable explanation

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit . In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi's drink now pay later marketing strategy and as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar and soon she has the largest sale volume for any bar in Detroit .

By providing her customers' freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral. At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders transform these customer loans into
DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS.

These securities are then traded on security markets worldwide. Naive investors don't really understand the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics.
Nevertheless, their prices continuously climb, and the securities become the top-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses.

One day, although the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the bank (subsequently fired due his negativity), decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's. Heidi demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Therefore, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.

DRINKBOND and ALKIBOND drop in price by 90 %. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %. The decreased bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment extensions and having invested in the securities are faced with writing off her debt and losing over 80% on her bonds. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 50 workers.

The bank and brokerage houses are saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock negotiations by leaders from both political parties. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by a tax levied on employed middle-class non-drinkers.

Finally an explanation I understand .....

George Margolin

Money

They invaded Iraq to control oil, they invaded Afghanistan to control drugs.
Money has the same color and doesn´t smell...

Reading History

Once more: Historia Magistra Vitae.

If we have a close look at history and see it as humanity’s life, we can see how we have periodical cycles, where we have periods of prosperity and high civilization, followed by periods of "frauds, swindles, sociopathic trusts, and predatory corporations preying on people trying desperately to make an honest living".
The last ALWAYS ended with a bloody revolution or war so that "freedom" "democracy" "human rights" were again declared as essential for human’s life.
Then these feelings get paler and become just mere words, without any meaning.
It is at this point that we have a new "revolution".
In a few words, the world is made by good people, bad people and a majority of "plain" people.
It takes some time before the "plains" see the "wrong", but when they do, that is the end.
Then, when prosperity, democracy, freedom are back, they just relax and become again the majority of "plains" they used to be.
Dante called them "ignavi" and very little has changed since then.
History is a teacher, because man will never change.

The ranks of the unemployed, foreclosed, disentitled, and hopeless ...

Somebody will ask if this blog is written as publicity for Kunstler, but it is not.
It just happens that when I read his weekly posts I ALWAYS have something to say.
As for today:

"What bothers me is that, sooner or later, the conduct of Goldman Sachs will lead the growing ranks of the unemployed, foreclosed, disentitled, and hopeless into the hands of a savage right wing seeking mindless vengeance, for instance, against "the Jews," (as represented by Goldman Sachs), or brown-skinned people (as embodied by a vilified president)."

The only (big) difference I see with Hitler´s times is that those "unemployed, foreclosed, disentitled, and hopeless" are JUST around 10% of the population, or slightly more, when at "those times" they were the majority.
The feeling is exactly the same, the outcome very different, because of the number...

The leather suitcase

My mother never spent too much money in presents for me.
I always got a little bit more than needed, but not too much more.
In my family saving was the meaning of life.
The conditio sine qua non.
You could live as long as you didn’t need too much, didn’t eat too much, didn’t spend too much.
Those were the first things you learned and you were expected to live by that standard.
This was my mother, this was my grandmother and this was probably my grand grand mother and so on...

But once, for my fifteen birthday, I got a wonderful luxurious present.
Something I wouldn’t have expected, something I wouldn’t have thought I could afford, something like I never bought and will never buy.
It was a beautiful, expensive leather suitcase, made with the most expensive Italian leather, something made for lasting all your life.
And it really did.
"this will be your friend, in every trip you will take, it will be a part of me who will travel with you".
My mother traveled very little and just when she was very young.
Then the war came and after the war a husband, and after the husband two children and after them, she, who dreamed of traveling all her life, didn’t feel like traveling any more.

But she traveled with me, everywhere, in everyplace where I went.
How are the people in England? And in the USA? And in China?
She thought that they must have been special, so different from us Italians.
How could I tell her that wherever I went, there was a little piece of Italy.
There was the Pizza, the Espresso, Spaghetti and Tiramisu.

"There are good and bad people, there are nice and ugly things"
"You never tell me about your trips, what you see and what you do..."

I never felt the need, because she was always there, in that beautiful leather suitcase...

What makes a good writer?

I do not think you are a good writer if you know how to write.
As you are not a good musician if you know how to play or a good painter if you know how to paint.
A good writer is somebody who is able to write what the others like to read.
Well or badly written it doesn’t matter too much.
It matters how you tell the story.
It can be a long story or just a few lines.
A good writer is the one who is able to make a picture.
A picture that the reader can see and likes to look at.
A good writer is somebody who tells a story from an interesting point of view, is the one that gives you, with a few words an idea of what he wants to say, or better, of what he sees and feels.
Writing is the way of communicating with words, like painting is communicating with pictures and colors and music is communicating with sounds.
Let’s imagine there is a woman with a red dress and long curly hair.
Number one will just say: there is a woman with a red dress and curly hair, this tall and this thick and so on...
Number two will say: in the middle of the crowd I saw a woman in a red dress, her hair was curly and shining in the sun light...
Number three will say: I had a glimpse of red and a feeling of déjà vu.
I saw a woman in a red dress and it was like a memory hidden in my soul becoming real, a glimpse of red in a big crowd.
I was twenty again and it was the first day of Summer...

The only real valuable thing in life is your education

Ever thought about achieve a university degree online?
Getting older usually means getting wiser and appreciating more what you thought unnecessary or useless when you were younger.
One of those things is education.
When one is young he behaves like life is nice to live, not to think about.
And living, on a young point of view is mostly enjoying and looking for easy goals.
A job now looks very often more fitting than a career tomorrow.
But when tomorrow comes the same person regrets that he didn’t approach the working field with better credentials.
Because a better education degree means being able to work less and earn more.
Means also to understand better certain jobs and having better results.
There is one word that is the secret of success and self esteem and that is : satisfaction.
Very often the best reward is in feeling to have done a good job, the best possible.
That is worth a KMoney, much more than any materialistic reward can provide.
Culture is the way to it and there is no age limit to reach your goals.
Now, with the Internet it got even easier, because you do not have to physically attend lessons.
What you need is to find the right school, choose the right online degree program, decide what you want to become, and of course working hard, you’ll be able to achieve your goals.
You can also actually improve the job you’re doing, reaching success with a
Master of Business Administration.

What you learn in class could have an immediate impact on your organization’s bottom line.
And you can start today, right now.
It is never too late, but it is never too soon too.

Talking about trains´ punctuality...

Well, not everything concerning our train infrastructure is so bad as it looks.
The accidents for the "Ferrovie dello Stato" have the perfect timing, on the contrary of the trains.
In Viareggio it looks like the number of deaths is not going to stop, while the search for responsibilities is on a dead binary.
The numbers of accidents go on, on perfect schedule, in all Italy.
The last one is the death of a working man killed by a Eurostar on the Campo di Marte, station near Florence.
Luckily, after half an hour, the trains that had already a good delay of several hours (not due to the accident)could leave for their destination...

The Myth of Infinite Growth on a Finite Planet.

This is the kind of illusion that drives the Masses.
What goes under the name of "American Dream" which is the promise ANYONE will have his chance of glory admitting he believes in it.
In this "finite" world nothing is created, nothing is destroyed: everything changes.
We should be used to Up’s and Downs by now.
Nothing can go up unless it is down...

Light is everything

My eyes need light, my all being needs light, the more the better.
I have a colorful house and everybody likes it, but the colors are bright and warm because my house gets a lot of light.

And in the night?
I love warm lights. I hate the artificial, Neon or LED lights.
It is true, you can save on electricity, but everything looks different.
A warm, classic light is what MAKES a room, believe me.
If well chosen and well positioned it gives charm and style to any room.
I am a fanatic of home decoration, I spend more on decorating my home than myself.
I have a house who doesn't look its age, while my face and body do...
But I love to live in a comfortable and cozy place.
I feel good surrounded by nice and pleasant things.
Nice colors, nice furniture.
But, as I said, after many years, I found out that the right light makes a huge difference.
It gives the right shadows to the right spots...
And for the outside?
Well, in that case may be something like Kichler Landscape Lighting is the best choice.
Because it can effectively light a big space with the minimum cost.
Which is very important if we talk of a big garden...
Besides it also looks nice, because you almost do not see it.
It matches any kind of garden.
Talking about useful lights, if you live in a warm place and you want to save, having light and a cool space, minka aire concept II is what you are looking for.
There are a lot of different models and you can choose the one that best fits your room.
Outdoor Fans with Lights are perfect for a patio.
I personally like the Oil Rubbed Bronze Finish, but you can have up to 50 different models (and different prices).
The nice part of it is that it is so simple to have them, just going on the Net, choosing, ordering (and of course paying) and voila´, a brand new, bright, light is at your service!

Yuan follower of Dollar?

"To an extent, a global role for the Yuan appears inevitable. How widely a currency is used around the world is usually a function of how important its home country is to the global economy. During the 19th century, when the British Empire reigned supreme, the pound was the top international currency. Since World War II, that role has been played by the dollar, with the U.S. having by far the world's biggest economy. Now that China is rapidly charging up the list — it currently ranks third and could overtake Japan as No. 2 as soon as next year — there is good reason to believe the Yuan could dash into the big league of global currencies."

How widely a currency is used doesn’t mean that it is going to be the international currency.
How much the country is trusted, that in my opinion is going to be the parameter by which a currency is going to be the international currency.
As it always was.
That is why the Dollar is losing importance.
Because America is not "trustable" any more.
And if you do not trust, you usually do not invest.

Does China look more trustable than US?
Besides China is NOT ready to ditch the dollar, on the contrary, China is actually the biggest supporter of the dollar.

"Greater use of the Yuan in trade would improve the competitiveness of Chinese exporters by reducing transaction costs and currency risks. By internationalizing the Yuan, says HSBC's Qu, China can also begin extricating itself from the "dollar trap," in which the country, through its trade, amasses giant surpluses of dollars, which forces it to invest in dollar assets."

Going from one (dollar) to the other (yuan)wouldn’t improve the trust and especially wouldn’t guarantee that its value could be over or under evaluated following China’s needs.
We would just jump from an uncertainty to a worse one.
World’s economy doesn’t need it.

No more malware

Google's Engineering Director has promised that its forthcoming Chrome OS will see 'the end of malware'.
What he probably forgot to add is "unless they come from us".
This is one to zero to fight competition.

Let´s "waste" our future

When the Roman Empire was at its peak, a million people lived in Rome.
Once it collapsed, and Rome wasn't able to get the resources from far way places, within a very short period of time slumped to about 50,000 people.

That was all what Rome was able to support from it surrounding ecosystem, no more able to get resources from far away any more.
This is the best historical example.
There are three areas on which we must focus: the first is understanding what we consume and how much we presently need.
Book keeping doesn't avoid bankruptcy, but it helps understanding where you are.
The second area is what we call "infrastructures".
Infrastructures should last for decades.
Think about the way how your cities are built and that will determine how and how long we will live in them.
For example the insulation of a building will determine for decades how much energy that building will consume.
The third area is to focus on innovations.
Innovation is the biggest tool we have to solve our problems.
But if not focused on the right direction, the problems will not be solved.
Knowing what and where we are, will allow us to invest in the right direction.
I can tell you what kind of energy we will be using in a 100 year, that is pretty obvious.
Right now we are using in the order of 15 terawatt of energy to power the human economy.
The Sun provides 175,000 terawatt to our planet.
For sure 100 years from now we will be using predominately the Sun, as we did in the past, during the first 1,500,000 years of human existence.
We will realize that garbage is not the end of the cycle, but the beginning.
Our waste could become a significant resource for our economy: the worst thing we can do with the waste is mix the various materials, therefore downgrading its use.
By separating out all the various waste streams, we will give a huge value to them. Paper from recycled paper, metal from metal, etcetera.
The organic food can become soil again through composting, without contaminating the rest of the waste streams.
A part of the waste might have a high energy value and could be burned very cleanly. Waste could become a huge opportunity rather the problem it is today.
The future is in OUR HANDS.
Let’s "waste" it.

Monopolies are becoming anachronistic

"Moreover, what makes the “copyright war” in\intrinsically foolish, much like the ones on alcohol or drugs, is that there is no way to achieve victory. Technology will always win in the end and it’s time copyright holders and govt realized this.

So what’s Lessig’s advice?

“Congress should move on to the task of remaking the copyright system in order to make sense of digital technologies, not fight them.”

It is not only technology, it is the number.
When a "crime" is committed by a few it is a crime, when is is committed by millions becomes a new "habit".
It is not punishing a few with huge fines that they will win against it.
The only way out is the natural lowering of profits that in my view are often immoral, and looking for another way to produce revenues.
Monopolies are becoming anachronistic in a global world, also because they cannot produce revenues for long.
If the Mass doesn’t earn enough to pay for what it consumes, how to make profits?

A cell phone is first and mostly a phone

The Internet is mostly and primarily a communication tool.
Its importance of content delivery is clear and movies, e-books, music, found the right, fast and economical way to be delivered.
Content is what makes the Internet so precious in ordinary life.
But the killer application was and still is "emailing".
What is the first thing I do every morning after booting my computer and the last I do in the evening?
It is checking my email folder.
The same can be said when it comes to cell phones.
The "personal" use is by far the most common application.
A cell phone is first and mostly a phone.

If smoking is not deadly for your health it certainly can be for your wallet

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Some Visa cardholders were surprised to find that recent purchases cost them a little more than expected — $23 quadrillion, plus change.

In New Hampshire, Josh Muszynski said he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and when he later checked his account online found that he had been charged the 17-digit number — a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500.

more

How your computer hardware can run at its maximum potential

One of the biggest pain when you add a new hardware to your computer is to find the right drivers.
Who hasn’t experienced the brightest and inappropriate colors adding a new scanner?
Or a graphic card?
Simply changing the monitor can be a huge hassle.
I have perfectly functioning hardware I cannot use because there are no drivers anymore for them.
I understand producers have to sell new hardware, but I also understand my budget...
So it was with great happiness I finally found a website where I could download 1.5 million Computer Drivers stored in their database.

One of the big problems can also be (I experienced it many times)to be unable to use Wireless connections.
On this website you can run a quick scan and find out what the reason is, either the wrong driver or no driver at all.
They provide USB Drivers and you can be sure they are the right ones!
Also when it comes to Monitor Drivers you can be sure you will find the right one, since they provide ALL possible brand.
And do not forget that having updated drivers allows your computer hardware to run at it maximum potential, who doesn’t like that?

The price of freedom

"The Internet’s original designers never foresaw that the academic and military research network they created would one day bear the burden of carrying all the world’s communications and commerce. There was no one central control point and its designers wanted to make it possible for every network to exchange data with every other network. Little attention was given to security. Since then, there have been immense efforts to bolt on security, to little effect. "

"The idea is to build a new Internet with improved security and the capabilities to support a new generation of not-yet-invented Internet applications, as well as to do some things the current Internet does poorly — such as supporting mobile users."

"Like the existing Internet, the new network will almost certainly have no one central point of control and no one organization will run it. It is most likely to emerge as new hardware and software are built in to the router computers that run today’s network and are adopted as Internet standards."

"But the real limits to computer security may lie in human nature..."
As we say in Italy: "fatta la legge gabbato lo santo".

If one or many brains invent something, you can bet one or many will be able to dsetroy it, at least sooner or later...
There is nothing man´s made that cannot be man´s destroyed...
The first thing you should fight is anonimity.
But then where is freedom and privacy?
"One idea, for example, would be to require the equivalent of drivers’ licenses to permit someone to connect to a public computer network. But that runs against the deeply held libertarian ethos of the Internet."

My question is: is it the freedom´s price too high?

How the borrow-lending world works

Michael Jackson is the simple explanation how the borrow-lending world works, just in case somebody didn’t understand it yet.
If you owe a Bank 10.000 dollars you won’t be able to sleep.
They will bomb you with lawyers letters, Court’s summons, and more than anything, you won’t be able to get any loan for the rest of your life.
The picture changes dramatically if you owe 10 millions and even better if the sum is more than 100 millions.
Michael Jackson had debts around 800 millions, that didn’t forbid him to have a life style that cost him something like 100 millions a year.
This is how it works in the case of the American Government and entities like banks.
The federal government throws millions at them in the desperate hope in some sort of a miracle.
If it was in Italy one would think (and would be right) that in the back there is the long Mafia’s hand...

A simple antivirus software is not enough anymore

The never ending fight between evil and good has its main theatre in the Internet.
As much as virtual life is getting as important and even more important than real life (most of Bank transactions are taking place online) the bad guys are improving more quickly than the good guys.
The so-called malware very fast takes over a PC and then uses that computer to spread more malware to other machines exponentially. The goals to reach the victim use any possible way.

That is why it is a must for every internet user to have the right anti virus protection.
One of the latest features is the "Comprehensive Security" which is a complete security package that silently works in the background to protect your data.
But an antivirus software is not enough.
You also need a goodanti spyware and the best antimalware you can find on the Market.
Botnets that distribute malware like worms are still relatively invisible to many commercial antivirus softwares.
“The criminals have gone upmarket, and they’re organized and international because there is real money to be made.”
We have even come to the fight among malwares on the same computer.
"Malware programs now infect computers and then routinely use their own antivirus capabilities to not only disable antivirus software but also remove competing malware programs."
The cyber-criminals appear to be at least as technically advanced as the most sophisticated software companies. And they are faster and more flexible.
This is getting a very tough war, as long as the malware gets into your machine faster than the update to detect it, the bad guys win.
It is essential to have Frequent Updates, since it only takes minutes for virii to spread, but it only takes seconds for you to be protected.
So, a simple antivirus program is not enough anymore, you must choose the right package to protect your data.

Marketers like e-mail lists

To run a successful business you need somebody who needs your products: your customers.
But where and how to find them?
Once people relied on the shop’s or office’s position.
That is why it was very important to have a good one, like in an important city on an important road.
That is also why it was extremely difficult for a small business to begin to make profits without investing a fortune on "marketing".
Things have changed dramatically with the Internet.
Now the location is the web and having an important place in it is not only dependent on money invested.
It takes much less or much more, depending what you consider.
It takes less money, but more inventive and skill.
One man company can be as good as a big corporation.
They can have their website in the same Search Engine’s page.
But having a good position is not all.
Sometimes you have to reach people who are not actually looking for you.
So, how to achieve a huge portfolio of customers without spending a fortune?
For example with a telemarketing lists.
The database can reach the excess of 14 million US businesses and 300 million US consumers. What do you think?
Isn’t that a good starting point?
If you still have doubts, you can have a free list consultation.
With a good mortgage mailing list, you can have the best chances to surf among mortgage marketing data.
And not only that, your audience will qualify for your offer, and your customers will be statistically more likely to purchase your loan products!
Who can offer such a wide choice?
The telemarketing list can practically cover any field you need: Home Insurance Lists, Auto Insurance Lists, Life Insurance Lists, Ethnic Lists, etc.
Name it and it’s there, as they say: the response exceeds expectations.

Never drink after an accident

I find this joke quite funny:
"Two drivers climb out of their cars after colliding at an intersection. One pulls a flask from his pocket and says, "Here, have a nip of whiskey to calm your nerves."

"Thanks," says the other driver, taking a swig. "Here, you have one, too."

"Nah, I'd rather not — the police will be here soon."

Ban to bottled water

"THE sleepy Southern Highlands hamlet of Bundanoon has voted to ban bottled water, just hours after the New South Wales Government announced its own H2O boycott.

At a community meeting last night, Bundanoon locals overwhelmingly supported the Australia-first ban on commercially bottled water, already agreed to by businesses in the town."
When bottling is not an improvement, but actually adds noxious substances like carbon when bottling and transporting, the natural consequence is drinking from a fountain.
If you add also the reduction of cost, you can see how sometimes technology and progress do not help, on the contrary they can offer a worst product.

Mr Rees yesterday announced an immediate ban on all departments and agencies buying bottled water, including supplies for water coolers.
That is certainly something many won’t like...

The mask

It is only through the mask of the body that he (the artist) can show us the mystery of the soul.

Admitting that we have some soul and spirituality to show.
Sometimes I doubt it.

Sometimes I think the mask is all, you can look behind and find nothing.
Sometimes it is better not to look behind...

A cell phone is a kind of a very, very long dog

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles."
Einstein said that.
He couldn’t define cell phones.
If he had, he would have used a more specific comparison, something like:
"A cell phone is a kind of a very, very long dog. If you pull his tail in Europe he can bite a Chinese or an Australian or an American or a North Korean.
It just depends on the number you dial."
And since not long you have also an additional feature: The Remarkable Voice Translation for the iPhone.
It is a new tool for the iPhone to enable speech to speech translation. What this means is that you could speak directly into the phone in English and have the phone speak back to you in any language.
Including Arabic, which happens to be the most used language for now, since it was used in Iraq to give language assistance to soldiers from an iPhone or Blackberry.
Now a day you have so many iPhone Accessories that you do not know what to choose (why not choosing ALL?)
What I find particularly useful is the Bluetooth headsets, which allow you to be completely independent with your hands.
And, believe me, this is VERY IMPORTANT for an Italian, since when we talk, we usually talk with our hands...

Links are not responsible for people using them

Spanish courts have ruled that sites that link to infringing content are not illegal, providing profits aren’t made directly from any infringement.
“P2P networks, as a mere transmission of data between Internet users, do not violate, in principle, any right protected by Intellectual Property Law,” said Raul N. García Orejudo, a judge in Barcelona. Although some activities are barred, those do not concern P2P he said, noting that there has to be a presumption of innocence.

“This is the first time a court clearly states that P2P itself does not violate any rights.”

On possible infringements of the Intellectual Property Act, the court said:

“Adding a work or video recording to Emule, that has previously been converted to a compatible computer file, is not an act of reproduction,” adding that “Copying is not a profitable use, or collective use [such as broadcasting in a store], as these two terms refer to the subsequent use made of the work once downloaded, after the copy.”

The secret to well being is very often having the right SPA

Very often the things in life that make you feel good are more affordable than what you think.
For example, what is better, after an intensive day work, than finding again your strength having a long and pleasant session in a hot tub?
For $2,899.00 (sale price) you can buy a 2 person Hot Tub, which is a portable spa, where you can warm up and relax, enjoying a romantic time with your loved one...
Its name is "Cozy nest" and it really is what it promises, a nest and a very cozy one...
You can also have an optional stereo system, which you can control with the Spa Genie™ one-touch digital control system.
Music can be the lacking element in the scene...
What could be better than something like this as an anniversary gift?
In alternative to diamonds or things you would enjoy much less?
With this you can have an Island escape whenever you can and feel like...
Have a romantic evening for two, or a relaxing moment for one...
Or if you are looking for a great way to keep in shape and your budget is someway bigger you can buy for $23,999.00 a large Swim Spa Pool.
Here you can have your water aerobics and fitness, with a separated area for just a relaxing hot tub spa.
You have two separate temperatures which allow you to enjoy a warm hot tub spa while swimming and improving your lap times with a cooler water temperature.
But this is not all, you also get 2 hydrotherapeutic hot seats and a full massage lounger.
If you ever had in mind to invest in your wellness this is the right moment.
But as we say: "Cogli l´attimo fuggente", do not wait too long, sales, like dreams, last just a short time...

The Italian Mafia

One of our Republic's Ministers, Minister Lunardi, once said that we have to learn to live with the Mafia.
But in order to live with something you first have to establish exactly what it is. What is today’s Mafia all about?
In a single year, the Italian Mafia groups make a combined turnover of 130 billion Euro (2003 estimate). 70% of this figure is straight profit and they are in a position to re-invest almost 100 billion Euro per year.
They can buy whatever and whomever they wish.
The life and death of a man.
The Mafia is one of the largest and most secure employers in Southern Italy (they always pay).
Thanks directly or indirectly to the Mafia, some 27% of the residents of Calabria, 12% of the residents of Campania and 10% of the residents of Sicily manage to make a living.
When you have no other option, the one that provides your daily bread automatically becomes your boss.
The Mafia is not only the most important business, but also the largest employer in the South of Italy. The turnover generated by the Mafia groups must be added to the turnover generated by their investments via their money laundering activities. In the past decade, the Mafia’s total profits have been in the region of 1,000 billion Euro.

Believe it or not, I, an Italian from the North, knew very little or almost nothing about the Mafia.
I learned about it when an American film director, Frank Coppola, made his movie The GodFather.
After that, talking about the mafia became almost a fashion.
It brought huge revenues to films talking about it.
Gomorra, one of the last, was a big success. (and also the book)
They say the Mafia or Camorra or N´drangheta exist in the South.
I know they are a typical phenomenon of places where the State and Justice do not work.
The Mafia is a way of thinking, a way of living, a way of surviving.
Since the dawn of humanity "smart people" have always tried to get everything the "easy" way.
It didn´t matter how moral or immoral it was, you got it and that was the important.
Being it a place in a hospital, in a old people home, a first number of a queue, a first place somewhere, the chance of not paying the taxes, the chance to get a "job" before the others or in spite of the others.
The list has no end.
And that is how things work in Italy.
You have to invest a part of your money in tips, to this or that.
The important is choosing the right one.
You give your vote to a politician because when you need him, he is there.
To get a permission to build, a job for your son, a place in the nursery school.
Even the right place in the right class with the good teacher.
If you pay you have better chances and if you pay a lot you get a lot...
It is impossible to defeat the Mafia, unless you change the mind of the people.

Weakness of hair very often becomes baldness...

Weakness of hair very often becomes baldness.
And what to do then?
You have many solutions.
You can ignore it, accepting it as a natural outcome of growing old.
But you also have to avoid mirrors and mundane events and may be success with the other sex.
Because, believe me, it is not true that what counts is what is inside, it counts also how you wrap and present the inside.
In a few word, if there is ugliness outside, people of today tend to believe that there is not so much concern inside.
As you like to look nice, you also like to look better.
Hair usually plays a big role.
You can have wrinkles, an ugly nose, a round face, but if you have a good looking hair that can help a lot...
A wig, even if a good one, very often doesn’t replace what you had and looks so fake that I personally prefer bald.
If you do something, you have to do the right thing.
Some people just resign themselves to ugliness because they think that Hair Replacement Surgery costs a fortune, too much for their budget.
So they give up even before enquiring.
But sometimes the Hair Transplant Cost can be a big surprise.
You could even realize that you can actually afford it.
What you will certainly realize later is that it really makes a difference in your life.
And it is a permanent difference!
There are many bad sides in growing old, (as there can be many good) do not let baldness be one of them...

Socialism easily explained

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before,
but had once failed an entire class.


That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.


The professor then said, "OK,
we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".


All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.


After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.


As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D!
No one was happy.


When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering,
blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.


All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

When it comes to a secretary: go virtual!

What are the main qualities your secretary should have to help you to achieve success in your business:

Efficiency:
in easily creating, sending, and tracking email newsletters, surveys, and auto responders.

Intelligence.
in setting up, organizing, and leveraging your mailing list to boost your email marketing into overdrive.

Vigilant:
in tracking the performance of your email with charts and graphs that are populated in real time.

Organized :
in providing surveys, auto responders, and RSS feeds

In a few words she should be good in email marketing, providing the right and effective email marketing software,and find the right email marketing solution.

She should also take care of managing bounces and unsubscribe for you, making sure your messages get to the inbox of your recipients through your ISP, feedback loops, and white list status.

How much would cost ALL of this?
If you go virtual:$9.95 per month.

Let the professionals do ALL what the best secretary would do, at a fraction of the price!
And regarding the lack of a smiling and attractive woman?
Also in this case going virtual guarantees the success of the other side of your life: a good and stable marriage...

Sometimes one says most for the things that are so clear

It couldn´t be more convincing...

IDrive: the king of Back up

Who doesn’t know about all the risks your data on your Hard drives face every day ?
We all know we should do a regular backup, but there is always a reason not to do one.
One of the reasons is the pain of storing the files onto a DVD or an external tape drive (if you own one).

Without even considering the necessary task to see where all these files are located.

Finally, here is what can offer the very best solution to do an easy and fast back up without the hassle of being an accountant:

A service which handles these tasks in an easy and affordable way.

IDrive Online Backup has all the tools and capacity to help us out with our backup problems.

It is easy to backup our SQL or Oracle databases, the exchange server data as well as all of our web sites with a simple mouse click.

And there is no worry about security as all data is encrypted during all transmissions.

The services of IDrive Online Backup do not stop here, because we also can store and access all of our shared data ( web folders, multimedia files, photos, Music, Video ) on their servers without the necessary IT infrastructure in-house here.

You can handle all your data as you are used off – just with Drag-n-drop.

There is also an efficient management tool, which allows you to specify, which files are accessible, shared, locked, searchable etc.

All these facts make me finally sleep at night because I know that what I did the day before is stored and safe.
But if you still want to store your data on an external device?
Also for this you have a solution: the thinnest and lightest portable USB Drive ever in its class.
And if you happen to be a fanatic of iPhone?
You can also backup, restore and share all your contacts from /to iPhone.

And last, but not least, you get an excellent, speedy service at a fraction of the cost!

Service economy

Once they told me that service economy was the future.
And many believed it could work.
They didn´t realize it works if there is ALSO a production economy.
One full Nation cannot live JUST reselling what other Nations produce.
Money, real money, must come from somewhere and that somewhere cannot be JUST borrowing.

You can´t stop reality

What we experience today is the result of a good try.
Our generation tried to make virtual reality a way of living, dreams coming true for all.
Just pretending it could work, everything can happen; the important is to believe in it.
I never believed in Statistics, but they are true, they are as truthful as a science.
And statistics tell you how many can fulfill a dream, how many can make a fortune playing in Las Vegas.
The stupidity is to believe you have good chances to be one.
And the bigger stupidity is basing your life on that hope and that dream.
You cannot stop reality to be real.

They would cry bitter tears seeing it

Where have you gone, hope, freedom, dream of a better future, the promised land?
America has become the land of deception.
The United States is the by far the #1 arms dealer in the world, and so much of America's dominance in geopolitics is linked to the selling of arms and related contracts and services.
Drugs and associated money laundering is a key part of the economy and the operations of Wall Street.
The war in the Middle East is reduced to a matter of gas stealing.
Invading countries with oil will just disrupt oil’s supply.
Global warming and climate change, Peak Oil and decline, desertification, corruption, decline of the global economy...and if you know something worse it certainly belongs to it.

I still have a book, which was the present of an old aunt from California.
America’s History land.
I spent many days of my childhood first looking at the pictures and then (when I learned the language) reading it.
My eyes and my soul were full of admiration and pride because my father’s family "made it".
They were amongst the California’s pioneers.

Today California is officially bankruptcy.
It is good all my ancestors died long ago.
They would cry bitter tears seeing it.

The Internet is like a car...

All the excitement in the internet world now can be summarised in 4 Cs:

• Content (Micro chunking. tagging)
• Connectivity (Communication, Mobility, RSS, Voip)
• Community (Collaboration, smart mobs, user generated content)
• Commerce (platform providers, Craigslist)


Content first because “Content is the King"

Next comes technology, "Connectivity" which is the way (enabler)

Community, according to me, the passengers. The costs & tools to create content have come down. All you need to make your own audio, photo or video can be done on your phone on the go! you can edit and share them right from your phones.

Commerce is like a spark.
Internet is a Car. Content the driver. Connectivity is the road. Community the passengers. And Finally Commerce the spark!

Do not forget the engine.
That is Copying.
Copying Copyrighted material.
What would all those terrabytes be for, if people wouldn´t be allowed to download illegal downloads?

How to save newspapers killing them

Judge Richard Posner had a brilliant idea: to save the Newspapers´ life linking to copyrighted material should be outlawed.
That looks a weird idea, also because in a moment in which the copyrights life is on stake, forbidding a link sounds like a joke.
How could they manage to prosecute all the bloggers who link to somewhere?
Unless it is made lawful the unlawful procedure to fine (and outrageously fine) a restricted number of bloggers just to create an example.
It is like declaring stealing a crime and admitting that just a very small number of thieves will be prosecuted.
Being a criminal would have little consequences, unless you are really "unlucky" and get caught in the act.

All this without even considering the fact that linking is like having "free commercial".
Ask what would any intelligent manufacturer think of somebody who talks about his products and sends customers to his website (for free).
The newspaper sites get their readers mostly through links, not direct traffic.
No links, no traffic.