Author: Serkadis

Here’s a stark warning to Barack Obama and Tim Geithner, courtesy of Zhu Min, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China.

ShanghaiDaily: IT is getting harder for governments to buy United States Treasuries because the US’s shrinking current-account gap is reducing supply of dollars overseas, a Chinese central bank official said yesterday.

The comments by Zhu Min, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, referred to the overall situation globally, not specifically to China, the biggest foreign holder of US government bonds.

Strictly speaking, this shouldn’t be a problem. Foreigners don’t technically fund our Federal deficit — what they fund is our current accounts deficit, and if that’s shrinking then the need to fund that debt diminishes.

Still, the message Min is trying to get across is clear.

In a discussion on the global role of the dollar, Zhu told an academic audience that it was inevitable that the dollar would continue to fall in value because Washington continued to issue more Treasuries to finance its deficit spending.

He then addressed where demand for that debt would come from.

“The United States cannot force foreign governments to increase their holdings of Treasuries,” Zhu said, according to an audio recording of his remarks. “Double the holdings? It is definitely impossible.”

And don’t miss: How China is already dumping the dollar >>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• China Hires Pimco’s Changhong Zhu To Manage Country’s Giant Forex Reserves
• Don’t Worry About Government Debt, America Knows Exactly How To Deal With It
• China’s Dumping Of The Dollar Has Begun

Carrying around hurt and anger is harmful in many ways — spiritually, physically and mentally. Who exactly should you forgive, and how do you go about it?

Connie Domino, author of The Law of Forgiveness, says you should forgive everyone. She offers some tips on forgiveness, including a visualization technique, in her article, “Ten People You Need to Forgive Now,” which she has shared for you below. Forgiveness can be more simple and easier than you have imagined, and the rewards of forgiveness can be great.

Connie’s article serves to remind us that perhaps we’re making forgiveness more complicated than it needs to be. Plus, she reminds us that forgiveness isn’t the same as a pardon, and it’s the person who forgives who benefits.

Ten People You Need to Forgive Now
By Connie Domino, MPH, RN,
Author of The Law of Forgiveness: Tap into the Positive Power of Forgiveness — And Attract Good Things to Your Life

It’s that time of year when people begin thinking about making their New Year’s resolutions. For those who make resolutions year after year but never succeed, there is good news. This year you can take a whole new approach to making your dreams come true. By using a simple forgiveness technique, you can more easily and quickly meet your goals. Many of you may be surprised to see the words “forgiving” and “meeting goals” in the same sentence. I felt the same way until I began teaching a goal setting workshop for spiritually minded people in 2001. I found that lack of forgiveness was blocking them from meeting goals in every area of life.

One of the first things my workshop participants wanted to know is who they should forgive and how to know when they need to forgive. You may be wondering the same thing. You should forgive everyone you feel anger or resentment for from the sandbox right up until today. Then say one more forgiveness affirmation for anyone you may have forgotten. You do not need to contact anyone. You can forgive right in the privacy of your own home.

Bring each of the people listed below into your mind’s eye one at a time. Visualize them looking happy and peaceful. Then repeat an affirmation of forgiveness to them, something like this. “I forgive you completely and freely. I release you and let you go. The incident that happened between us is finished forever. I wish for you your highest good and I hold you in the light. All again is straight between us and peace be with you.” Then visualize them accepting your forgiveness and walking off a stage or out the door.

Here are ten people you need to forgive now:

Parents

Parents are usually on the top of the forgiveness list for many people. They blame their bad childhood for everything that has gone wrong. Most parents did the best they could with what they had to work with. However, even if they didn’t, you can tie up most of the energy you need to meet dreams and goals in your life by continuing to harbor anger and resentment towards your parents. Forgiveness is not something you do for undeserving people. It does not mean they were correct in their actions that hurt you. Forgiveness is something you do for yourself. It releases the hold the past has on your life, allowing you to meet your dreams and goals.

Spouses/Significant Others

This one is a hot topic in my goal setting and forgiveness workshops. It’s all about Ex’s and money and money and Ex’s — which I found do not make for a good combination. Through romantic novels, movies, and TV some of us may have come to expect more from that one special person in our lives than they can possible deliver. Sociologists who study the history of romance and marriage tell us that there are at least two primary reasons so many of our marriages fail. One is that modern Americans are one of the most marrying societies in written history. We have more marriages than ever recorded leading to more divorces than in the past. In addition, marriage has been so romanticized, we expect our spouses to meet more of our needs as opposed to married or dating people of past generations. The higher your expectations for your spouse or significant other, the greater the chance they will disappoint you. This unique situation requires more communication, more patience and more forgiveness than ever before.

Siblings, and other relatives

Most siblings (especially those born close together) experience some type of rivalry. These verbal and sometimes physical fights as children can take their toll. As adults we may need some professional assistance to discern if the line was crossed between kids having a normal amount of rivalry and whether the relationship was actually abusive. It’s easy for one child to be picked on more than others and parents may not realize the damage this produces if they chalk it up to normal sibling rousting. Forgiveness can provide great healing for anyone who has experienced an abusive relationship with one or more siblings. Forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting, it means viewing the situation with new eyes. Often adults who didn’t get along with their siblings as children find they can develop loving and supportive relationships as adults. However, it is important to know that you can forgive without reconciling the relationship. It may not even be appropriate to reconcile certain relationships. Forgiveness will still work whether you reconcile or not. You may need to forgive other relatives too. Maybe your children made you angry, didn’t meet your expectations or never call or come to visit. Forgive your children. Life is much too short and they are much too special.

Friends

It can be especially painful when you have been hurt by a friend. Friends are people you have made a conscious decision to be in relationship with. The special relationship we develop with friends usually involves mutual trust. When we are betrayed by a friend, we may begin to question our ability to recognize qualities we hold dear such as loyalty and honesty. We may wonder if we possess some sort of character flaw that makes us susceptible to attracting people who take advantage of our good nature.

Forgiveness is especially important to heal when we are hurt by a friend.

Supervisor/Boss

People who work full time may spend more waking hours at work than at home. When at home, most people have some authority over their routine, but at work, the boss is in control. Those of us fortunate enough to have a supportive, flexible and understanding supervisor are truly blessed. When most people join the working world, it doesn’t take long to discover that a significant number of people in supervisory positions are not cut out for the job. Forgiveness, even on a daily basis, can become an important strategy for making peace with the boss.

Coworkers

If making an effort to get along with your supervisor isn’t enough to spice up your work life, there’s always co-workers to make things even more interesting. There may be days you feel more like you are in junior high school rather than work. By the time most people are adults, they have developed set patterns for establishing their place in the tribal society we call “the workplace.” While many co-workers are actually helpful and supportive, there always seems to be at least one or two who are bent on taking the “fun” out of dysfunctional. If your work environment has become emotionally toxic, forgiveness can provide the scrubbing bubbles needed to clean it up.

Governments/public agencies and organizations

It’s very easy to get mad at a non-personal entity such as a government or other public agency. It has become obvious that too many elected officials seem to have forgotten that it is the people who elected them they represent and not lobbyists and their generous donors. Also, big bureaucracies can seem cold and uncaring. Those trying to receive their services may feel like another number or just a statistic. When forgiving a government or public agency it is important to remember that it is still people who make up the agency. It is still people who need to be forgiven.

Private businesses/agencies/organizations

Many people who lost trust in governments to help solve their problems turned to the private sector and the business world. As baby boomers we were taught by our parents that if we were good, loyal, hardworking employees hired by a reputable company that we could expect to be taken care of by that company with frequent raises, benefits and a nice retirement package. When we were first married, my husband worked for a company that we thought met this description. He had faithfully worked there for 25 years when the company’s leadership announced they were sending his job and others overseas to a contracting company where they could hire cheap labor. Along with many other American workers, we felt betrayed. It took my husband several years of searching to land a job with a similar company. We had both forgiven all the people we could think of from our past and present, but had not thought of forgiving a company. When we fully forgave my husband’s company, the job he wanted hired him within two weeks. Forgiveness works when directed at individuals and just as well when directed at businesses.

God/Higher Power/Religions

I am always surprised by the people who claim to be angry with God or their higher power. They believe that God should intervene constantly in human events, preventing bad things from happening to good people. They may be forgetting that it is free will that makes us distinctly human. This includes the free will to do good or the free will to get into trouble. If given the choice, I believe most people would refuse to relinquish their free will, even if it came with a guarantee of a robotic but more peaceful existence. With any type of freedom comes responsibility. Instead of blaming God, this means accepting responsibility for our actions and holding others accountable for their actions. Forgiveness is not the same thing as pardon, but it does unbind the hold another person may have on your life. It releases the past to make way for a more positive future.

Yourself

Some people have a more difficult time forgiving themselves as opposed to others. They feel guilt and shame for events that have long past. They blame themselves and become their own worst enemy. When you begin working on your forgiveness list, don’t forget to place yourself at the top. Forgiving yourself will lighten your burden and make it so much easier to forgive others.

©2009 Connie Domino, MPH, RN, author of The Law of Forgiveness: Tap into the Positive Power of Forgiveness — And Attract Good Things to Your Life

Author Bio
Connie Domino, MPH, RN, author of The Law of Forgiveness: Tap into the Positive Power of Forgiveness — And Attract Good Things to Your Life, is a nationally acclaimed life coach, trainer, registered nurse, support group facilitator, motivational speaker, and educational counselor who teaches public health nursing at the University of North Carolina.

You can read more about Connie’s forgiveness book at thelawofforgiveness.com.

(Image via Berkley Trade)

Post from: Blisstree

Forgiveness for the New Year

Filed under: Etc., Europe, UK

When Automobile magazine put together a list of potential all-star cars, 39 new models made the initial cut from the Audi A3 and (Euro-edition) Honda Civic to the Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano and Tesla Roadster. From that selection, only ten cars ascended to the winner’s circle.

Each of the 39 finalists makes a solid case for being included, although a few did raise an eyebrow — we really enjoy the Malibu and love the G-Class, for instance, but didn’t expect to see them here. The ten that took honors are all worthy to a wheel, but again, an eyebrow or two did take note — neither the aforementioned Ferrari nor the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG made it, but the Camaro and BMW Z4 did.

Don’t let that take anything away though; these things are subjective, and every winner deserved it. Even the Dodge Ram 1500. Click here for the full list of winners and reasons.

[Source: Automobile]

Automobile announces 2010 All-Stars originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC’s new generation of upcoming Windows Mobile handsets, the HTC Trophy, HTC Tera and HTC Photon are all powered by the 600 Mhz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor. Disappointingly these are not part of Qualcomm’s next generation Snapdragon family, but rather just the next in the MSM72xx series.

Of course the advantage to HTC of these processors are that they are the same size as the older generation, near pin compatible, and software compatible with the older MSM7225 processor, meaning time to market was faster.

The processor is also a real upgrade to the older generation, with an integrated Floating Point Unit (whether the OS will make use of it is another question) and a Level 2 cache, which should again significantly increase speed.  The processor also uses less power than the MSM7225, meaning either longer battery life, or more likely for the next-gen of Windows Mobile handsets, smaller form factors.

I have collated the information available about the 3 tiers of chipsets below.  There are some gaps obviously, but I believe our very intelligent readers will not mind helping to fill these in, and possibly suggest a few more rows.

The conclusion however is that while the MS7227 processor is not ground breaking, it should not be as much of a slouch as the original MSM 7200 HTC Tilt was.

Eagle-eyed Street Fighter fans who tuned in to Capcom and Famitsu’s live stream demo of Super Street Fighter IV late this week have unearthed an interesting rumor nugget from the game’s character select menu: there will be ten

Filed under: Concept Cars, Etc., Jaguar, Land Rover, Design/Style

For the past couple of years, Car magazine has gathered renderings from designers envisioning Kris Kringle’s sleigh. Last year it was Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Ford, and Nissan. This year, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Audi, Land Rover, and Jaguar submitted their Santa-ships, and the results are predictably outrageous.

The Jag and Land Rover cruisers might make you think they got their sexy back. Jag’s design features the unlikely addition of twin, rear-mounted propellers (which might make rooftop landings a little difficult — and noisy) and a painted mascot on its forward flanks that is definitely not Mrs. Claus. The Land Rover snowspeeder-thingy has particle accelerators, and those are always sexy, and we dig Santa’s pose with that cigar, looking straight out of a Hugh Hefner photo shoot. We have a feeling that Hef, however, wouldn’t have a reindeer in that front seat…

Speaking of which, we’d be interested in finding out why some car designers think Santa wants to tackle his annual delivery route with one single reindeer riding shotgun. You can have a look at the JLR sleighs below, and click here to check out the rest at Car.

[Source: CAR]

Jaguar and Land Rover design sleighs for Santa part of Car‘s annual design entries originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Option’s markets could be expecting a major rally in stocks going forward, according to Trader’s Narrative.

Trader’s Narrative: …measures of mood in the options market, like the CBOE (equity only) put call ratio as well as the ROBO put/call ratio are showing an eye popping amount of speculative call buying. There is no question that right now, option traders are throwing caution to the wind and positioning themselves for a major rally. History as a guide tells us they will be sorely disappointed.

Still, this other measure of options sentiment, also highlighted by Trader’s Narrative, remains far from extreme levels.

Also, if we then build our own Put/Call Ratio chart, we don’t quite see what Trader’s Narrative is worrying about in the first excerpt above. In fact it seems that Put volume has spiked relative to Call volume. One would argue that investors are increasingly buying hedges. If speculative buying has popped in any direction, it’s more in regards to bearish bets rather than bullish ones.

The data is very volatile in the short-term, thus Trader’s Narrative may not have seen the most recent CBOE data point. At the very least, from a broader perspective the chart below doesn’t show any kind of extreme when compared to the last past year. So sentiment actually still appears pretty tame by this measure, though feel free to prove us wrong.

Regardless, there’s a lot more detail on other sentiment indicators over at Trader’s Narrative. It’s worth a look.

(Tip via Abnormal Returns)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• German Manufacturing Sentiment Soars, Signals V-Shaped Recovery
• Citi: Sentiment Slips Into Panic Mode
• CHART OF THE DAY: Investor Sentiment Rebound Could Be A Bearish Sign

Here’s something to pique your curiosity. Sony has gone and filed a US trademark for something called “Qriosity.” In keeping with the strange spellings and pronunciations of the Xross Media Bar and Qore, that’s pronounced “curiosity.” They’ve

Filed under: Etc.

Patrick Schiavone, Ford‘s design director for trucks and crossovers, is leaving The Blue Oval. In his 21 years with the company, Schiavone has penned and helped develop Fords both naughty and nice: the last two F-150s; the Flex; Expedition; Cougar; Focus; Lincoln Navigator and Blackwood; the Mighty F-350 TONKA and Ford F-150 Lightning Rod concept trucks; and the Contour show car.

His inkwell is likewise responsible for the 1994 Ford Mustang, the car that did the phoenix routine on the pony car line. It’s an impressive resume, and is probably why he “received a great job opportunity outside the auto industry.” His last day at the office will be sometime early next year.

[Source: Inside Line]

Pat Schiavone, Ford Flex and F150 designer, resigns originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Article Tags: ClimateGate, You could not make it up, YouTube

This is a few days old and some of you may have seen it, how many questions did Al Gore get wrong, ALL, SOME or NONE?

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“Innovation” is one of those buzzwords we hear every now and then in the games industry. Which games or consoles innovated the most? Which ones didn’t? According to BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuck, JRPGs as a whole have

Article Tags: Fred Singer, Kenneth Haapala, Updated

SEPP SCIENCE EDITORIAL #30-2009 (Dec 19, 2009) By S. Fred Singer, President of SEPP

Note: This will be the first of a series of mini-editorials on the “junk science” influencing the global warming issue. Other topics will include the IPCC’s Assessment Reports 2, 3, and 4, the UN Environmental Program and some individuals heavily involved in these matters. ]

Junk Science #1: IPCC’s First Assessment Report

In 1988, two UN agencies, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), set up a climate science panel, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Its Charter directs the IPCC to assess worldwide scientific, technical and socio-economic literature “relevant to the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change.”

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File attachment: The Week That Was December 19 2009.pdf
  

Europe’s October trade surplus exploded higher in October, hitting $8.3 billion. Note this was even before the Euro really started to crash against the dollar.

Still, Europe’s trade surplus says more about the continent’s inability to consume imports, rather than a ability to trade right now. Exports fell less than imports, yet both fell.

Trading Economics: Unadjusted exports fell 17 percent year-on-year in October while imports dropped 24 percent, the European Union’s statistics office said. Adjusted for seasonal swings, the surplus was 6.3 billion euros, up from 4.3 billion in September as exports eased 0.2 percent month-on-month while imports fell 2.2 percent on the month.

December’s dollar rally means the Euro Area’s trade surplus could keep widening.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Euro Breakup Will Be THE Story Of 2010, As Analyst Expects Ireland And Greece To Leave The Union
• Skype’s Niklas Zennstrom Pitches VC Firm, Bullish On Euro Startups
• Time Bomb For The Euro: Greek Debt Poses Threat To The Common Currency

Good news, Europe. You won’t have to wait too long to join North America in all the MAG shooting action next year. Zipper Interactive and Sony have dated the 256-player multiplayer shooter’s European release.

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Two kidney transplant patients are critically ill due to Balamuthia mandrillaris encephalitis they acquired from the organ donor:

The same infection probably killed the organ donor, but it was not diagnosed; his doctors thought he had an autoimmune disease. Two other patients also received heart and liver transplants from the donor, but neither has become ill.

Infections due to free-living amoeba are extremely rare; those acquired from transplant even more so.

Hence the lesson from these transplant-related cases is not that there’s a new threat to the health of transplant recipients.

But it’s a reminder that the infection risk will never be zero.  We cannot test donors for every possible disease, and the shortage of available organs means that some donor-derived infections will inevitably continue.

(These LCMV cases caused quite the stir around here a few years ago.)

Organ transplantation remains one of the great miracles of medicine.  With the caveat that I don’t know further details about this donor’s case, it seems that a (small) risk of donor-derived infection is the price of doing business.

(Edit:  And now the WSJ has weighed in here. Focus is on those harmed by the infection, understandably, and the need to make the process safer — but the fact remains that transplant will never be 100% safe.)

Filed under: China, Europe, UK

Not to be deterred by the woes and recent fate of Brilliance — or perhaps, having learned from it — vehicles from Great Wall, the Chinese automaker, will be imported to Europe next year by the UK-based I.M. Group. Brilliance, you might remember, suffered a disastrous couple of crash tests that doomed the company’s chances pretty much everywhere. Even after it rebounded with a much improved design, people couldn’t un-see and un-remember the catastrophe that was the BS6, and the company’s German importer went under.

I.M. Group already imports Subaru, Isuzu, and Daihatsu. That not only gives it some of the best experience possible in bringing Asian cars to Europe, that means it isn’t solely reliant on Great Wall to be a success. As well, I.M. is starting with Eastern Europe, planning imports to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania first, with further expansion planned for 2011.

We’ll say for the record that if Great Wall builds the Phenom Concept (pictured) as is, and the car gets a good crash rating, we’d have absolutely no problem giving it a try. Even with a that grille. You can read the I.M. Group’s release after the jump.

[Source: I.M. Group]

Continue reading Great Wall cars headed to Europe in 2010

Great Wall cars headed to Europe in 2010 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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