Sunday, February 28, 2010

Més aigua per dimecres i dijous



Després de la ciclogènesis explosiva que tanta repercussió ha tingut en el diferents mitjans de comunicació i que a nosaltres no ens ha afectat, sembla que una nova tongada de precipitació ens afectaria de cara a dimecres amb un flux de llevant que regarà novament Tossa i sembla, que novament, podrem acumular uns quants litres.

La culpa de tot una borrasca que s’ubicarà just enfront del litoral català i que aportarà vents de llevant carregats d’humitat. Si observem el següent mapa, podem apreciar aquesta baixa ubicada a les 12 hores (hora solar) de dimecres just enfront del litoral de Tossa. També, ocasionarà, una mica d’onatge amb mar de fons de l’est.

Model GFS. Situació sinòptica esperada per dimecres a les 12 hores (hora solar)

Veurem com es comporta aquesta borrasca de dimecres i la posterior baixada de temperatures.

Any source

Dydd Gwŷl Dewi Sant hapus/Happy St David’s Day

Welsh Politics debate continues tomorrow, today enjoy your Welsh cakes and Brains beer and wear your Daffodils and Leeks with pride.

Any source

Mix TV Mix 2 TV Live online TV Brasov

Televiziuni locale judetul Brasov: Antena 1 Brasov, MIX TV - MIX2 TV Brasov, Mix TV Fagaras, Panoramic TV, NOVA TV, PRO TV Brasov, RTT Fagaras, Realitatea TV Brasov, TVF Fagaras.

Digi 24 Brasov www.mixtvbrasov.ro - Mix 2 TV Live

"Nova TV Brasov": novapress.ro

"Realitatea TV Brasov": www.realitateabrasov.ro

"TVF Televiziunea Fagaras": www.tvfagaras.roAny source

Harta rutiera Belarus


Harta rutiera Belarus

Belarus este situata in Europa de Est, si se invecineaza cu Rusia la nord-est, Ucraina la sud, Polonia la vest, și Lituania și Letonia la nord-vest.

Capitala Belarusiei este orasul MinskAny source

Analisi ed evoluzione 2 - 3 - 4 Marzo 2010


Buonasera a Tutti!!
Dopo una settimana di latitanza causa ultimo esame e successivi vari viaggetti, eccomi di nuovo ad aggiornare il blog a pieno regime.


L'Italia oggi si presenta in pausa bel tempo, e così sarà anche domani. Da Mercoledì invece inizierà una fase di maltempo un po' ovunque, che nei giorni successivi potrà agevolare l'ingresso di fredde correnti da NE con conseguenze di netto ritorno all'inverno. Ma di questo se ne riparlerà nei prossimi aggiornamenti.

PREVISIONI METEO

Martedì 2 marzo: giornata discreta sulla nostra Penisola, mite, con qualche addensamento solo su Alpi ed Appennini, ma con basso rischio di fenomeni. In serata peggiora sulla Sardegna.
Mercoledì 3 marzo: giornata piovosa sulla Sardegna, alto-medio Tirreno e nord-ovest. Estensione dei fenomeni anche al nord-est ed alle Marche nel pomeriggio. Quota neve in calo al nord fino a 600-700 metri sul settore occidentale. Scirocco e tempo asciutto al sud.
Giovedì 4 marzo: tempo perturbato soprattutto al centro e sull'Emilia Romagna con piogge, rovesci e neve in Appennino. Qualche pioggia anche al sud, ma non sulle zone estreme (che probabilmente verranno risparmiate). In giornata migliora al nord ad iniziare dai settori alpini. Fresco ed assai ventoso ovunque, con mari non in buone condizioni.

PREVISIONI SURF

Mar Ligure

Martedì 2: 1 metro al mattino da ponente sul settore di levante, in lenta scaduta, con vento in graduale calo fino ad assente. Sole. Mezzo metro a ponente.

Mercoledì 3: Al mattino mari calmi ovunque, con venti da Est in intensificazione, e piccole onde da levante in crescita sul settore di ponente nel pomeriggio (0,5-0,8 m) con vento attivo sottocosta.

Giovedì 4: Al mattino ancora onde da Est sul settore di ponente (1 metro circa) in rapido calo per l'ingresso sempre più forte di venti da terra (N-NE). Calmo o poco mosso il settore di levante.

Isole Maggiori


Martedì 2: Al mattino piccole onde da W in rapida scaduta (0,8 m) sull'Ovest Sardegna, 1-1,2 m sempre da ponente sulla Sicilia, con tendenza a scadere nel pomeriggio.

Mercoledì 3: Swell da E-SE in rapido aumento già dal mattino, con onde e venti attivi. Misura da 1 metro al mattino sul Sud Sardegna e Sicilia sw, in estensione a tutta la Sardegna orientale ed aumento fino a 1,5-1,8 m nel pomeriggio.

Giovedì 4: Al mattino swell da Ovest in aumento sul W Sardinia con venti attivi, scaduta da E-SE sulla Sicilia meridionale e Sardegna orientale e meridionale di 1,5 m, che verrano ben presto sciupati dal forte vento da ponente-libeccio in ingresso. Venti attivi ovunque e misura anche oltre i 2 metri su w Sardinia nel pomeriggio.


Mar Tirreno


Martedì 2: Al mattino risentita da ovest un pò ovunque, con vento debole sottocosta e onde sui 0,8-1 m in calo durante la mattinata. Mari poco mossi al pomeriggio.

Mercoledì 3: Al mattino mari calmi, ma con venti da E-SE in intensificazione. Nel pomeriggio prime onde su Bassa Toscana-Alto Lazio da 0,5-0,8 in aumento. Venti attivi.

Giovedì 4: Al mattino dapprima onde in scaduta da SE sul settore centro-settentrionale, poi rapida attivazione del libeccio con conseguenze di mareggiata attiva nel pomeriggio (1,2-1,5 m) tendente a girare da ponente sul far sera a partire da nord. Sul settore centro-sud anche 1,5-1,8 m attivi.


Mar Ionio


Martedì 2: Mari calmi o poco mossi per venti deboli-moderati da terra.

Mercoledì 3: Mari calmi al mattino, poi aumento graduale dello scirocco a partire da sud con piccole onde sul far sera (0,5-0,8) in estensione dalla Sicilia se alla bassa Calabria.

Giovedì 4: Onde da SE con ottima scaduta da 1,5-1,8 m, venti deboli in graduale intensificazione da terra (al mattino ancora attivi sulla Puglia da SE, con 2 m). Nel pomeriggio sempre misura sui 1,5 m.

Mar Adriatico

Martedì 2: Venti deboli-moderati da Maestrale sul settore sud, con piccole onde di 0,5-0,8 m sulla Puglia. Poco mossi o calmi altrove.

Mercoledì 3: Mari calmi o poco mossi al mattino. Nel pomeriggio graduale intensificazione dei venti da SE sul settore centrale e meridionale, da E su quello settentrionale, senza conseguenze surfistiche prima che faccia buio.

Giovedì 4: Al momento le GFS vedono Mareggiata attiva da SE al primo mattino sui settori centrali e meridionali (da Ancona in giù tanto per intenderci), mentre swell attiva da Est sul settore settentrionale. Misura sui 1,5 metri ovunque ventosi, anche 2 metri sulla zona del Conero. Col passare delle ore buona scaduta sul settore meridionale, mentre a Nord graduale rotazione a Nord-Est ed estensione della mareggiata attiva anche nell'anconetano, fino all'Abruzzo sul far buio. Venti sempre forti sulla zona settentrionale.


Al prossimo aggiornamento!!



Any source

Operatività

Mi scuso per l'assenza settimanale, ma da domani il blog riprenderà a funzionare come sempre.Any source

Arieseni live webcam Vremea Meteo Arieseni

Arieseni live web cam partia Vartop
Vremea pe 5 zile - Meteo Arieseni


Any source

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Ciclogénesis Explosiva ( XYNTHIA 27-2-10 )

La Ciclogénesis Explosiva "Xynthia" dejó en O Barco y Comarca los REGISTROS más ALTOS de VIENTO en Galicia, y parte de la Península. Los efectos del Xynthia se sintieron especialmente a Mediatarde, con vientos muy fuertes de componente SW, que propició efecto fohën, subiendo a temperatura en O Barco más de 10 gados hasta una máxima de 17,9ºC.
La presión mínima, ha sido de 978 mb, y en total, nos dejo 20 mm de precipitación.

Datos Oficiales:

KLAUSS XYNTHIA

Lardeira 185,20 km/h 196,10 km/h

Serra do Eixe 131,20 km/h 156,96 km/h

Xares 182,60 km/h Sin Datos

VIDEO XYNTHIA DESDE O BARCO.



Los Desperfecto en VALDEORRAS
Valdeorras alcanzó la racha de viento más fuerte de toda Galicia, 197 kilómetros por hora, que se registró sobre las tres y media de la tarde en la localidad de A Lardeira (Carballeda de Valdeorras). Hora y media más tarde, el fuerte viento arrancó de cuajo la cubierta del supermercado Haley, situado a la entrada de O Barco de Valdeorras. Prácticamente a la misma hora y también en O Barco, el tejado de una casa deshabitada volaba por los aires pasándole a sus dueños por encima de la cabeza, aunque sin ocasionarles daños. Un árbol cayó sobre un coche en Córgomo, en Vilarmartín, cogiendo a su conductor en el interior, que resultó herido leve.
Any source

Robert Mathavious Addresses the Public with BVI Financial Services Industry Outlook

On February 18, 2010, Managing Director/CEO of the BVI FSC Robert Mathavious presented the outlook for the BVI's local financial services industry. He talked about the steps and measures the Commission has taken to move forward the BVI financial services industry, while the global view of offshore finance centres is no more positive now than it was some months ago.

After signing “more than the requisite number” of Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) the jurisdiction has been moved to the white list of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

However, by words of Mr. Mathavious, this is not the end of challenges, because much should be done to comply with international standards. The OECD intends to confirm that jurisdictions have the legal and regulatory framework to implement the TIEAs signed by them, and BVI's framework is due to be reviewed in the first half of 2011.

Among the last year achievements of the Commission, Robert Mathavious named excellent report by the CFATF, listing of BVI companies on the HK Stock Exchange; also, the review of British OFCs was positive for the BVI, and the high standards of the jurisdiction against money laundering and the financing of terrorism have been confirmed by the FATF's International Co-operation Review Group.

Robert Mathavious said that the legislative developments of the jurisdiction have been designed to ensure that the jurisdiction meets international requirements.

During the course of this year, the Commission is going to undertake “outstanding measures” to comply fully with the CFATF recommendations. The Commission has issued guidelines on the approved persons regime and has completely revised the guidelines and operating procedures of Licensing and Supervisory Committee to streamline its processes and procedures and make it more responsive. The BVI FSC expects that the industry is to adhere to the requirements so as to comply fully with the provisions stated in the Financial Services Commission Act.
Article any source

David Gill replies to my letter

So, somewhat to my surprise, I received a reply from David Gill to my open letter in the post this morning.  I have to thank David for replying, which he did very promptly after I had sent an email on Monday night giving him my full name and address (having concluded that I would not receive I reply writing under a pseudonym).

Here is the reply:



The letter seems to suggest that:
  1. Publishing my questions (and his reply) in public means he is not prepared to answer them (would he answer them privately?); and
  2. That all important issues relating to United’s finances and the Glazers were covered in David’s interview on BBC 5Live on 31st January. 
I wrote an open letter because I believe there are fundamental financial problems with the Glazers’ ownership of United that need to be aired in public.  The supporters have not had any adequate justification from David Gill or the family itself for the pillaging of their football club which is described so clearly in the bond prospectus.  The club will not engage with any of the democratically elected supporters groups, despite the government expressly asking clubs to do so.  I believe David Gill has a responsibility to communicate with the supporters on major issues concerning the club.  A club is nothing without the supporters, they deserve to know the truth.

Turning to the content of the 5Live interview, I can only reiterate what I said at the time.  None of the major financial issues were raised in the interview by Garry Richardson.  Areas not covered included: 
  • The scale of the cash costs of interest, financing fees, derivative losses, “management fees” and loans to the family since 2005.  The fact that none of these costs would have been incurred if the Glazers had not taken over the club.
  • The huge increase in ticket prices imposed to pay these costs with no other benefit to the club.
  • The inconsistency in David describing the PIKS as “not the club’s responsibility” when the bond prospectus clearly outlines the intention to use the club’s cash balance and profits to repay them.
  • The Glazer family’s inability / unwillingness to pay down the PIKS in the last four years and the questions this raises about their financial position.
  • The justification for replacing bank debt with more expensive bond debt, other than to permit the payment of dividends to the Glazers.       

I'll say it again, NONE of the key financial issues were covered in the 5Live interview.

At a time of enormous concern among United supporters about the financial position of the club under the Glazers, demonstrated in spectacular style by the huge number of fans wearing green and gold at every game, the Chief Executive of Manchester United does not want any detailed public discussion of the issues.  Supporters will have to draw their own conclusion from his unwillingness to enter into such a discussion.
LUHG



Any source

FORMER STAR TREK ACTRESS, GATES MCFADDEN, OPENS A THEATER IN ATWATER VILLAGE ON CASITAS AVE

Gates McFadden, better known for role as Dr. Crusher on Star Trek TNG, has opened a Production Theater in Atwater Village at 3269 Casitas Ave.

Atwater Village Theater is a recent addition the to the “intimate and cooperative community of creative people” on Casitas Ave. For more information about Casitas Ave go to http://www.casitasave.com/.  

Read more about McFadden and Atwater Village Theater; Gates McFadden side-by-side-by-Atwater Village

Article any source

PBX TV online TV Romania

PBX TV este o platforma de distributie de content online (live TV, VoD) si comunicatii (VOIP). Aceasta este compatibila cu majoritatea platformelor actuale:
- PC: Windows XP/Vista/7, Linux si Mac OS X
- browsere: Internet Explorer, Firefox si Google Chrome
- telefoane mobile: Windows Mobile
- receptoare pentru televizor: PBX TV 100 STB
- carputere: PBX TV for cars

Canale TV Live oferite de PBX Telecom: Antena 3, Fishing and Hunting, B1 TV, VOX, Baricada TV, Money Channel, National TV, N 24, Realitatea TV, TVM, TV Alpha Media, Taraf TV, Trinitas, TV5, Speranta TV, U, Travel Mix, Favorit, Party TV, Pratech TV, Mynele TV, Oltenia TV, Neptun TV, Cosmos TV etc.

www.pbxtv.netAny source

Travesía de Cotefablo a Espierre 26 feb



Travesía de Cotefablo a Espierre

Viernes 26 febrero 2010

Fernando Domínguez, Javi Fuentes, Pedro Oliva, Miguel Ángel Campos, Isabel San Juan y Jorge García-Dihinx.

Con la colaboración especial de Champi y Marie-Claude.

Día en que adaptarse a las circunstancias, ser flexibles, improvisar y aceptar un regalo convirtieron esta jornada en otra inolvidable. Nuestra idea era ir al Balneario, pero pronto Champi nos avisa de que están cortado su acceso y también el del Portalet por aludes. Además el día pinta muy gris todavía. Parada para deliberar en Sabiñánigo.

Aparece Champi y nos propone la travesía Cotefablo-Pelopin-Otal-Erata y descenso posterior a Espierre, donde él y Mari-Claude vendría a buscarnos con sus coches. Qué bieenn!! Muchas gracias!

Día de luces mágicas conforme los cielos se fueron abriendo. El agua caída la víspera formó esas olas en la nieve, resplandeciente, increíble. Fer y yo no paramos de hacer fotos en todo el día!

Y van tres salidas al Cotefablo este mes! Menudo año de tiempo revuelto...

Jorge


Isabel avanza con las texturas de esa nieve lavada por la lluvia del día anterior

Isabel y Miguel Angel en la zona de pinos antes de salir a la cara norte de Ronata


Miguel Angel e Isabel, suben con cuchillas ante lo resbaladizo del terreno helado


Parece como si nos moviéramos sobre un mar azul


Pedro Oliva avanza por el lomo con las paredes del Pelopin que asemejan un gran mar

Las nubes se movían rápidas y hacían que el Pelopín se cubriera y se descubriera a cada segundo


El agua del día anterior jugó a crear surcos en la nieve

Más juegos de luces en la cima de Erata. LLamamos a Champi, estamos listos para bajar. Él y Marie-Claude acudirán con sus coches a Espierre desde Gavín, para recogernos al final de esta bonita y sencilla travesía por el Sobrepuerto, que separ al Alto Gallego del Sobrarbe.

Miguel Angel Campos desciende por las limpias laderas de Erata


Isabel San Juan disfruta del descenso del día, unos 650 m desde Erata hasta donde se terminaba la nieve en la pista bajando a Espierre. Justo en ese punto estaba Champi esperándonos con su coche. Qué bieenn!!


Champi y Marie-Claude nos reciben en su acogedora casa de Biescas


Foto de grupo antes de irnos. De izda a dcha: Javi Fuentes, Pedro Oliva, Fernando Domínguez, Isabel San Juan, Miguel Angel Campos, Marie-Claude, Champi y Jorge Gª-Dihinx
El resto de las fotos, pinchando aquí
Any source

Friday, February 26, 2010

MY NAME IS LULU, I NEED A NEW HOME!

My name is Lulu; I am a three-year-old male Dalmatian “Volkswagen-Muffler” mix. I am very friendly and enjoy frolicking in gardens. My current owner, Luis Lopez Automotive, would like to find a better home for me. Please consider adopting me… I need a new loving home.


Lulu will be available for auction at the “Atwater Elementary School Field Trip Fundraiser”. All proceeds will go to Friends of Atwater Elementary (FOA), a 501 (c) 3 Non-Profit Organization.

Atwater Elementary School Field Trip Fundraiser
Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010
Time: 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: 55 Degree Wine, 3111 Glendale Blvd, Atwater Village, CA 90039

FOA will be having an amazing Wine Tasting and a fantastic Silent Auction with all proceeds to go directly to Atwater Elementary School so that each student can have a field trip this year. Tickets are $30 per person and donations are welcome.

For more information go to http://www.friendsofatwater.org/
Article any source

Alphatrends weekly market wrap




Brian Shannon of Alphatrends takes us through his Weekly Wrap on Stocktwits TV with a technical look at the major US market averages and a view to the trading week ahead.

Brian's technical analysis videos tend to highlight the action of leading stocks and the major averages in multiple timeframes (hourly, daily, & weekly charts).

While I'm not as familiar with his trading style as others might be, I do like to check out his videos on a regular basis, in addition to following Brian's trading notes and market thoughts on Twitter.

Take a look at Shannon's market wrap, and if you like what you see, you can find additional episodes (and a variety of additional trading and investing themed content) at the Stocktwits TV archives.
Any source

The French agenda

An interesting article in the Financial Times which looks at some short-run political maneouvring in France, reviews French proposals to tackle price volatilty and suggests that, as CAP money is transferred to new member states, the policy may become a drain on the French exchequer, possibly leading to a long-run shift in the French stance: France Any source

Alerta ROJA "Extrema": Ciclogénesis Explosiva Xynthia

ALERTA MÁXIMA (ROJA ) POR RACHAS DE VIENTO QUE PUEDEN SUPERAR LOS 140KM/H

El AEMET a Activado la ALERTA ROJA por Viento, en la Provincia de Ourense, y por definición, en nuestra Comarca. La Alerta comenzará como Alerta Naranja, en vigor desde las 15:00 del sábado, 27-02-2010 a las 17:00 del mismo sabado, con rachas de hasta 120 km/h. Se tornará en ALERTA ROJA a partir de las 17:00 h hasta las 23:00 del sábado 27-02-2010, con rachas máximas que podrían superar los 140 km/h tanto en el Valle como en Montaña; para finalmente tornarese nuevamente en Alerta Naranja la última hora del sábado con rachas de hasta 120 km/h.


MeteoGalicia, del mismo modo, nos activa la Alerta ROJA en toda Galicia, desde las 12h. de este sábado 27-02-2010, hasta las 03h del domingo 28-02-2010. Las rachas máximas podrían llegar a superar los 140 km/h. Además, se esperan precipitaciones que pueden ser moderadas, y que pueden dejar duranta la jornada del sábado entre 20/30 mm. en O Barco.

Recordemos que "Ciclogénesis", brevemente significa la formación o nacimiento de una Borrasca, sea grande o pequeña. Mismo las Borrascas que nos afectaron las últimas semanas son Ciclogénesis. La particularidad, es el adjetivo que la acompaña, "Explosiva", ya que este nacimiento se produce de forma muy rápida, y se profundiza también del mismo modo, lo que ayuda a estos viento huracanados que trae asociados. ( Se espera un descenso de casi 30 mb en poco más de 24 h). Podemos observar en el mapa de abajo la previsión de Hirlam para el domingo 28 a la 1,00 h.
Por último os dejo unos consejos de la Xunta para que no exista ningún problema durante el fenómeno:

CONSELLOS Á POBOACIÓN ANTE O FENÓMENO
METEOROLÓXICO ADVERSO PREVISTO PARA A
FIN DE SEMANA EN GALICIA


A Xunta de Galicia informa dun episodio meteorolóxico adverso na
Comunidade para o día de mañá e a madrugada de domingo, deixando a
Galicia en alerta vermella por ventos extremos, polo que se recomenda:

- evitar os desprazamentos e as actividades no exterior
- no caso de desprazamentos inaprazables, extremar as precaucións
polo vento e posibles obstáculos nas vías. Se ten que abandonar o
coche, procure deixalo a resgardo do vento e ben inmobilizado e
sinalizado. Antes de viaxar, informarase do estado das estradas.
- non aproximarse á costa
- retirar ou asegurar os elementos que podan ser desprendidos polo
vento, así como portas e fiestras
- non aproximarse a zonas arboradas ou onde se podan desprender
obxectos, especialmente muros, edificacións ruinosas ou carteis
publicitarios
- estar preparados ante a posibilidade de cortes no subministro eléctrico
- utilizar o teléfono só en casos de urxencia para evitar a saturación das
liñas
- no caso de avarías ou cese no subministro eléctrico ou telefónico
poñerse en contacto co número de avarías da súa compañía
subministradora
- estar atentos aos medios de comunicación e seguir as indicacións das
autoridades
****Y por último, recomendarles desde MeteoBarco que tomen las medidas oportunas, y que no corran riesgos innecesarios durante el episodio del Sábado. Un saludo. Y Buen "Mal" Fin de Semana"****
Any source

El temporal inunda la piscina municipal de Sobradelo

La crecida del río Sil, causada por el temporal de lluvia y viento del jueves cubrió las piscinas municipales de Sobradelo (Carballeda) y cerró al tráfico una carretera de A Rúa. El agua anegó bajos y el aire derribó uralitas y cubiertas.



La fuerte crecida del Sil provocó la inundación de las piscinas municipales de Sobradelo (Carballeda de Valdeorras) y cubrió la pista que comunica O Aguillón rues con A Reza. El agua también obligó a intervenir a los bomberos en un sótano de la calle A Rampa, en O Barco.

A su vez, el aire derribó uralitas en el Paseo do Malecón barquense y levantó una cubierta de hojalata en Vilanova (O Barco), causando la rotura de varios cables eléctricos.

Fuente: La Region
Any source

Out of control

So today Portsmouth became the first Premier League club to go into administration.  Of course more than 50 professional clubs have gone down this route over the years, some more than once.  The infamous “football creditor” rule kicks in and the taxpayer and local supplier gets screwed at the expense of other clubs and (in Portsmouth’s case at least) multi-millionaire players.

This may all seem a long way from United as we prepare for another trip to the Wembley, but the same madness that drives clubs to the wall impacts the biggest clubs too.  One of the most pressing issues, and a central feature of UEFA’s report on club finances this week, is the endemic inflation in costs.

The Glazers have always described themselves as being experts in managing sports clubs (although I imagine a few Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans would beg to differ).  Unfortunately, the reality is that they too have fundamentally underestimated the cost pressures running through football.

The bond prospectus is not the only financing document Red Football Ltd has published since the takeover.  In July 2006, the Glazers published an “Investment Memorandum” when they were raising the bank debt for their first refinancing (you can download it here).  The section entitled “Key wins under the Glazer reign” makes particularly galling reading for supporters (and not just because of the title).  Their three “key wins” are a) building the quadrants (where their only role was to say “carry on lads” to the builders), b) winning the AIG sponsorship (that “brand association” worked out well) and c) putting up ticket prices (no comment required).

Because it was sent to banks interested in lending to Red Football, the document differs from the bond prospectus in the level of detail it provides and crucially, includes forecasts for the club from 2006-2011.  It is here that we can see how naïve they are about costs.  The following table shows what they expected operating costs to be and what they actually have been in the subsequent years:


Actual 2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Glazer plan 2006
111.3
114.5
125.0
135.2
141.3
146.3
152.3
Actual costs
111.3
134.2
133.2
175.4
186.4
???
???








Cost overrun

19.7
8.2
40.2
45.1
???
???
% of plan

17%
7%
30%
32%
???
???

As you can see, by the end of last season, costs were almost a third above budget.  Rather than growing by 6.2% pa from 2005 to 2009, costs have actually risen by a staggering 13.8% pa, almost twice as fast.  Some of the big leap in costs in 2008 relates to winning the Champions League, but sadly in 2009 we got taught a lesson by Barcelona and no such bonuses were paid.  The wage bill went up 31.2% in 2008 and rose again in 2009, even though we lost the Champions League final.

In the bond prospectus, the club identifies the problem (my emphasis):

“This increase [in 2008] was largely due to significant increases in players’ compensation resulting from performance bonuses as a result of winning the Premier League and Champions League and a very competitive open market for players as a result of the announced increase in the contract value for Premier League media rights.”

So as the new TV contract kicked in, United were forced to follow the market and pay ever higher salaries.  Of course in 2008 and 2009 we did exceptionally well on the pitch, which pushed up TV revenues; in any sport such success can’t be guaranteed (just look at 2006).

So what is more worrying here, the fact that the Glazers totally underestimated the cost pressures in football to the tune of £113m since 2006, or the fact that extra media money is making the problem worse not better?  For United fans, the fact our owners appear to understand nothing about our “industry” should be of enormous concern given the debts they have burdened the club with.  For football as a whole, the worm has turned as the TV “bonanza” is beginning to work against clubs not for them.  Quite soon Richard “£866k a year” Scudamore will be triumphantly announcing his “success” in selling the Premier League’s overseas TV rights for over £1bn, but injecting yet more money into the system he may just be accelerating the arrival of the next Portsmouth.

LUHG
Any source

Thursday, February 25, 2010

ATWATER AVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FIELD TRIP FUNDRAISER

Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010
Time: 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: 55 Degree Wine, 3111 Glendale Blvd, Atwater Village, CA 90039

Please join Friends of Atwater Elementary for our First Annual Field Trip Fundraiser!

We will be having an amazing Wine Tasting and a fantastic Silent Auction with all proceeds to go directly to Atwater Elementary School so that each student can have a field trip this year.

Tickets are $30 per person and donations are welcome.

Tickets may be purchased in advance by Paypal, check or credit card, or may be purchased at the door by check or cash.

Please mail checks to
Friends of Atwater
3429 Hollydale Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90039

Friends of Atwater Elementary is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization and your donations are tax deductible.

For more information about Friends of Atwater Elementary or to pay via Paypal, please visit our website at http://www.friendsofatwater.org/

For more information about 55 Degree wine, please visit http://www.55degreewine.com/

Thank you for your support of our kids, our school and our community!
Article any source

Día de records: Viento de 166 km/h en Lardeira, y 8,24 m del altura el Sil por O Barco

165,96 km/h ( 46,1 m/s ) fué la racha máxima de viento registrada en Galicia durante el pasado día 25. Este registro fué tomado por la Estación de MeteoGalicia situada en Lardeira ( carballeda de valdeorras ).
Aunque no menos llamativo, ha sido los 8,24 m que trae el caudal del Sil a su paso por O Barco, un registro, obtenido por el SAIH, a su entrada a O Barco de V. que a pocos nos deja indiferentes. Por el momento desconocemos datos del caudal a su paso por la villa.
Any source

ATWATER AVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PROSPECTIVE FAMILY OPEN HOUSE

School Prospective Family Open House

Friday, February 25th, 2010 - 8:30am
Atwater Ave Elementary School
3271 Silver Lake Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039

Starting at 8:30-9am with registration, coffee and goodies. 9-10am for the presentation and tour of the school and then a Q&A from 10-10:30am.

For more information go to http://www.friendsofatwater.org/
Article any source

Debbie Moore does get a free lunch...actually

Now don't get confused. We're not talking about Demi Moore the US actress who is 47, was born in New Mexico, USA and stars in films. We're talking about Debbie Moore the founder of Pineapple Dance Studio who is 63, was born in Manchester, England and gets people to dance.  Both brilliantly successful. In 1982, Debbie M became the first woman to launch a company on the London Stock Exchange and must have made a bit of a fortune because  on 21st Feb the Sunday Times ran an article on her : Fame & Fortune - amazing what a simple blogger can deduce isn't it? (Deduction 1.) What caught my eye was her closing statement. In answer to the standard question: What's the most important lesson you've learnt about money? She said: There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Wow! Just the sort of comment guaranteed to get a quick riposte on this blog. So I backtracked through the article for free lunch evidence. My Sherlockian juices were running freely now as I chewed my deerstalker hat and pensively knocked my pipe out on my head. I suspected I would find a clue when I saw a question: Do you own a property?    I 've got a beautiful Georgian mews house in Belgravia... She bought it in about 2000 for £1.5m and a recent valuation is £3.2m, which is a 113% gain. I then  checked on the land registry website for the house price index for postcode SW1W, Westminster, London and found that the house price growth over the 10 years has been 115%.  So DM's mews house, on its land (she owns that too), in that location, appreciated in value almost exactly in line with house price history for that district.  Another factor: although the government building cost index is not quite up to date, it now costs about 55% more than it did in 2000 to build houses. Deduction 2: there is an unexplained extra gain of 60% above the current value of the bricks and mortar. Aha! PROOF. In my excitement I woke the slumbering Mrs Hudson from her Sunday afternoon nap and then texted Dr Watson via the penny post: 'Make haste - the streets of London really are lined with gold'.  Debbie Moore's free lunch had been exposed.  There she was thinking 'There's no such thing..' and her house is built on one!  The land value underneath her house has gone up by about £870,000 over the 10 years she's owned it (£7250 a month). Better than we get in Baker Street.

I expect DM, like all of us homeowners, keeps her great home good, by mending  manky windows and clearing bunged-up drains.  But the value of the footprint of land each house sits on, costs the owner nothing to nurture, yet actually has gained over just about any stretch of 10 years you can name. As homeowners we cannot individually make our land value change - it is what it is because of where it is.   We can just about keep the building's value steady by doing repairs and renovations, but the land value just keeps going up regardless - and get this - there is no tax on it!  

So if your name is Debbie Moore, Demi Moore, Patrick Moore, Roger Moore, Moriaty-Holmes, George Cameron, Gordon Darling, Nick Cable, or even real time, real estate Henry George - never forget that, if a homeowner, YOU ARE GETTING A FREE LUNCH. (If you know a politician who believes in fairness be careful what you say about this. They might put a stop to this gravy train for the sake of the renters). Browse the book.
Any source

Barcelona: Mobile First

Last week at Mobile World Congress, where more than 55,000 people gathered in Barcelona to see what the coming year holds for mobile phones and computers, Eric Schmidt had the unique opportunity to reflect on achievements in the mobile space, and to discuss what lies ahead - both for the industry and for Google. With the continued growth of smartphone usage -- increasing by more than 30% year over year, with mobile web adoption proceeding at a rate that is eight times faster than the equivalent point ten years ago for the desktop, with more than half of the new Internet connections coming from mobile devices -- it's clear that we're experiencing a fundamental shift in how we access information.



So how did we get here and what's in store?

Back in December, I pointed to the convergence of three trends: computing, connectivity, and cloud computing. Eric described these in more detail last week. Basically, devices are getting smaller, faster, cheaper, and more powerful; the same is true of processors. Today, roughly 700 million public servers are connected by the Internet, and this pervasive connectivity is being driven further into our daily lives, as evidenced by individuals, companies, and even the US Embassy in Beijing increasingly relying on services like Twitter to constantly share information. Finally, cloud computing not only is essential for storage of sophisticated amounts of data, which can be accessed by multiple devices, but also is paving the way for a new generation of applications and powerful, interlinked systems. These three waves are not new, nor is their intersection. What is new, however, is that the point of intersection is now a phone - a phone that's blazingly fast, is connected to the Internet, and leverages the power of the cloud. Comparing today's possibilities with what was possible 25 years ago, and then thinking ahead 25 years from now, it's incredibly exciting to imagine what we might be able to do.

Clearly, the mobile phone is the iconic device of the moment, and we're encouraging a new rule: Mobile First. When we announce new services for desktop computers, such as real-time search, we will debut an equally powerful mobile version. We will take advantage of this new class of smartphone, which is more sensory, acts as an extension of you, is aware of location, and can hear you, speak to you, take pictures and return information in a matter of seconds. We opened the year with a new model for purchasing a mobile phone, and since then, we've also made it possible to see a list of nearby businesses from google.com, developed a web app for Google Voice, made ads more useful by including a clickable local phone number, let you attach location to your Buzz posts, and we're just getting started. You can look forward to seeing support for more languages in Google Search by voice - German is coming soon. We're working to make it possible to take a picture of text and translate it to any of the 52 languages supported in Google Translate, and we have lots of other ideas up our sleeves.

We're proud to be part of this shift and excited to broaden expectations for what's possible on a mobile device.

Update, 5:16PM 3/1/10 - This video has been updated to include an introductory video that played before Eric's speech.

Any source

Altucher: Things I learned from Vic Niederhoffer

When James Altucher mentioned (on Twitter) that he was preparing an article about lessons learned while trading for Victor Niederhoffer, I knew that was one essay I'd be looking forward to.

Here's James on, "Ten Things I Learned While Trading for Victor Niederhoffer":

"I traded for Victor Niederhoffer for about a year starting in 2003. I was up slightly more than 100% for him, primarily trading futures using a quantitative approach. During that period I had one down month: June 2003.


Victor was a top trader for George Soros before starting his own fund in the ’90s and then writing the classic investment text “Education of a Speculator.” He then suffered one of several blowups in his career when his fund crashed to zero while on the wrong side of a couple of bets during the Asian currency crisis in 1997 (most notably, he was short S&P puts when the market crashed that year).

Despite that, Victor has consistently traded his own portfolio quite successfully and is one of the best traders I’ve seen in action. He still posts his daily comments on trading and the markets at his site dailyspeculations.com.

Here are 10 things I learned during my time trading for Victor:
..."

Read on as Altucher talks about the importance of testing your ideas, optimism, fearlessness, and protecting your downside (there's a lot more here too). Enjoy the essay and the lessons.
Any source

Named Graphs, Argleton and the Truth Economy

Depending on the map provider you're using, there may be a street running through my kitchen. After driving through my kitchen, perhaps you'd like to visit Argleton, town in Lancashire, UK, that only exists on Google Maps. I expect the street through my kitchen is a real mistake, but map companies are known to intentionally insert "trap streets" into their maps to help expose competitors who are just copying their maps.

Errors in information sources can be inadvertant or intentional, but either way, on the internet the errors get copied, propagated and multiplied, resulting in what I call the Information Freedom Corollary:
Information wants to be free, but the truth'll costya.
If you accept the idea that technologies such as Linked Data, web APIs and data spidering are making it much easier to distribute and aggregate data and facts on the internet, you come to the unmistakeable conclusion that it will become harder and harder to make money by selling access to databases. Data of all types will become more plentiful and easy to obtain, and by the laws of supply and demand, the price for data access will drop to near zero. In fact, there are many reasons that making data free increases its value, because of the many benefits of combining data from different sources.


The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business
If you want a successful business, it's best to be selling a scarce commodity. Chris Anderson and others have been promoting "free" as a business model for media with the idea that attention is a increasingly scarce commodity (an observation attributed to Nobel prize winning economist Herbert Simon). John Hagel has a good review of discussions about "the Economics of Attention" Whether or not this is true, business models that sell attention are very hard to execute when the product is factual information. Data is more of a fuel than a destination.

The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of InformationThere is something that becomes scarce as the volume and velocity of information flow increases, and that's the ability to tell fact from fiction. As data becomes plentiful, verifiable truth becomes scarce.

Let's suppose we want to collect a large quantity of information, and think about the ways that we might practically reconcile conflicting assertions. (We're also assuming that it actually matters to someone that the information is correct!)

One way to resolve conflicting assertions is to evaluate the reputation of the sources. The New York Times has has a pretty good reputation for accuracy, so an assertion by to the Times might be accepted over a conflicting assertion by the Drudge Report. An assertion about the date of an ancestor's death might be accepted if it's in the LDS database, and might be trusted even more strongly if it cites a particular gravestone in a particular cemetary (has provenance information). But reputation is imperfect. I am absolutely, positvely sure that there's no street through my kitchen, but if I try to say that to one of the mapping data companies, why should they believe me in preference to a planning map filed in my town's planning office? What evidence are they likely to accept? Try sending a correction to Google Maps, and see what happens.

Another method to resolve conficts is voting. If two or more independent entities make the same assertion, you can assign higher confidence to that assertion. But as it becomes easier to copy and aggregate data, it becomes harder and harder to tell whether assertions from different sources are really independent, or whether they're just copied from the same source. The more that data gets copied and reaggregated, the more that the truth is obscured.

The semantic web offers another method of resolving conficting assertions, consistency checking. Genealogy offers many excellent examples of how data consistency can be checked against models of reality. A death date needs to be after the birth date of a person, and if someone's mother is younger than 12 or older than 60 at their birth, some data is inconsistent with our model of human fertility. Whatever the topic area, a good ontological model will allow consistency checks of data expressed using the model. But even the best knowledge model will be able to reconcile only a small fraction of conflicts- a birth date listed as 03-02 could be either February or March.

Since none of these methods is a very good solution, I'd like to suggest that many information providers should stop trying to sell access to data, and start thinking of themselves as truth providers.

How does an information provider become a truth provider? A truth provider is a verifier of information. A truth provider will try to give not only the details of Barack Obama's birth, but also a link to the image of his certificate of live birth. Unfortunately, the infrastructure for information verification is poorly developed compared to the infrastructure for data distribution, as exemplified by standards developed for the Semantic Web. Although the existing Semantic Web technology stack is incomplete, it comes closer than any other deployed technology to making "truth provision" a reality.

Although there have been an number of efforts to develop vocabularies for provenance of Linked Data (mostly in the context of scientific data), I view "named graphs" as an essential infrastructure for the provision of truth. Named graphs are beginning to emerge as vital infrastructure for the semantic web, but they have not been standardized (except obliquely by the SPARQL query specification). This means that they might not be preserved when information is transferred between one system and another. Nonetheless, we can start to think about how they might be used to build what we might call the "true" or "verified" semantic web.

On the Semantic Web, named graphs can be used to collect closely related triples. The core architecture of the Semantic Web uses URIs to identify the nouns, verbs, and adjectives; named graphs allow URIs to  identify the sentences and paragraphs of the semantic web. Once we have named graphs, we can build machinery to verify the sentences and paragraphs.

The simplest way to verify named graphs using their URIs is to use the mechanism of the web to return authoritative graph data in response to an http request at the graph URI. Organizations that are serious about being "truth providers" may want to do much more. Some data consumers may need much more extensive verification (and probably updates) of a graph- they may need to know the original source, the provenance, the change history, the context, licensing information, etc. This information might be provided on a subscription basis, allowing the truth provider to invest in data quality, while at the same time allowing the data consumer to reuse, remix, and redistribute the information without restriction, even adding new verification layers.

Consumers of very large quantities of information may need to verify and update information without polling each and every named graph. This might be done using RSS feeds or other publish/subscribe mechanisms. Another possible solution is to embed digital signatures for the graph in the graph URI itself, allowing consumers posessing the appropriate keys to cryptographically distinguish authentic data from counterfeit or "trap street" data.

Named graphs and data verification. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Article any source