My Trendspotting: April 2012

Montag, 30. April 2012

199 Weekly Lost Podcast ? LeFleur Initial Reaction

Weekly Lost Podcast Ep 199 – Season 5 Ep 8 – LeFleur Click Here To Download Wondering where episodes 197, and 198 are? We release a few episodes of the Weekly Lost Podcast in the free feed each month. However, our gspn.tv Plus Members get every single episode of this podcast and all our podcasts. [...]

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246 Weekly Lost Podcast ? Happily Ever After Initial Reaction

Weekly Lost Podcast Happily Ever After Be sure to RSVP for the LOST Series Finale Party! Click Here To Download In this episode, Stephanie and I give our initial reaction to Season 6 Episode 11, “Happily Ever After” Don’t forget to give us a call on our listener line. It’s open and ready for your [...]

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A Christmas sugar fix fulfilled

Gummy eggs on a plate, sunny side up, definitely do not qualify as old-man candy.

Neither does a three-quarter pound cherry Gummy Bear.

That settled: Have a sweet holiday.

(The goodies were found at Katie's Kandy, a newer store at 609 Amity St. above the tracks from the Waterfront shopping Mecca in Homestead, Pa. The old-town section of this former steel town is making a slow comeback, thanks to clever business folks such as Katie.)

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-sugar-fix-fulfilled.html

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240 Weekly Lost Podcast ? A Documentary On Lost Podcasting Community

Weekly Lost Podcast A Documentary On Lost Podcasting Community Be sure to RSVP for the LOST Series Finale Party! Click Here To Download In this episode, I interview Alex, from AudiblyLost.com who is currently in the filming stage of a documentary on the lost podcasting community. Don’t forget to give us a call on our [...]

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'Linsanity' on the Rise on YouTube

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube-trends/~3/n0m9ic_mO0k/linsanity-on-rise-on-youtube.html

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Crochet time: a "shoulderette" to make

shoulderette, originally uploaded by drewzel.

I might have to re-scan the picture as it hasn't come out very well, it's a rather lovely crocheted shrug. If you click on "original" on the Flickr page, the instructions are clear and easy to read.

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/08/crochet-time-to-make.html

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188 Weekly Lost Podcast ? Premiere Weekend Review Part 2

Weekly Lost Podcast Ep 188 – Season 5 Premiere Weekend Review Part 2 Click Here To Download Wondering where episodes 182, 183, and 184 are? We release a few episodes of the Weekly Lost Podcast in the free feed each month. However, our gspn.tv Plus Members get every single episode of this podcast and all [...]

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Warm crab dip with golden mushroom soup

My contribution to the 2012 New Year's Day dinner was a warm crab dip inspired by Cynda, who posted one on Cooks.com that calls for a can of golden mushroom soup.

It's a great addition to the appetizer, expect some folks don't expect to see chunks of brown amid the white small crab meat. But after defining the brown spots as mushroom pieces, everyone there went crazy for the dip.

Here is what I did with the recipe:

1 8 oz. package package of cream cheese, softened
1 16 oz. can crab meat, drained
1 10 oz. can of golden mushroom soup
2 cups grated sharp cheddar
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. butter
Enough olive oil to cover a 10-inch stick-proof skillet
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Fresh ground chili pepper blend, to taste
Tabasco, to taste
Pinch celery salt
Pinch of dill
Pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp. of mayonnaise
Juice of one lemon

Over low-medium heat, melt the butter with the olive oil and then saut� the onion until it is translucent with the garlic. Add the cream cheese and allow it to melt into the mixture. Add the remaining ingredients, saving the cheddar for last. Don't overcook the crab.

Serve warm with tortilla chips.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2012/01/warm-crab-dip-with-golden-mushroom-soup.html

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249 Weekly Lost Podcast ? Interview ? Francois Chau aka Dr Pierre Chang

Weekly Lost Podcast Interview with François Chau aka Dr Pierre Chang Be sure to RSVP for the LOST Series Finale Party! Click Here To Download Stephanie and I had the awesome privilege of interviewing François Chau who plays Dr. Pierre Chang on abc’s LOST. Special thank you to each of you who submitted questions for [...]

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Spain Long-Term Debt Lowered to BBB+ from A, With Negative Outlook; 100% Certain Conditions in Spain Worsen

Why Spanish debt was Rated "A" for as long as it has been remains a mystery. Indeed BBB+ seems like a gift. Nonetheless, expect howls from Europe as Spain Cut by S&P for 2nd Time This Year on Banks, Economy.

Spain's sovereign credit rating was cut for the second time this year by Standard & Poor's on concern that the country will have to provide further fiscal support to banks as the economy contracts.

S&P lowered the long-term grade to BBB+ from A, with a negative outlook. Spain?s short-term rating was reduced to A-2 from A-1, New York-based S&P said in a statement yesterday.

?Spain?s budget trajectory will likely deteriorate against a background of economic contraction,? S&P wrote in the statement yesterday. ?At the same time, we see an increasing likelihood that Spain?s government will need to provide further fiscal support to the banking sector. As a consequence, we believe there are heightened risks that Spain?s net general govern debt could rise further.?

?We could also consider a downgrade if political support for the current reform agenda were to wane,? the S&P statement said. ?Moreover, we could lower the ratings if we see that Spain?s external position worsens or its competitiveness does not continue to approach that of its trading partners, a key factor for Spain to return to sustainable economic and employment growth.?

100% Certain Conditions in Spain Worsen

One has to wonder what the S&P is smoking with that last statement. The odds Spain's position worsens is 100% and the odds Spain's competitiveness rises to match productivity in Northern Europe is close to 0%.

The article continues ...

Spanish banks probably need 50 billion euros of additional capital, Morgan Stanley analysts estimate. The figure may rise to as much as 160 billion euros in a worst-case scenario, said Elaine Lin, a strategist at Morgan Stanley in London. The banks could try to raise the capital themselves or get it from either the Spanish government or the European Financial Stability Facility, she said.

How Much?

I propose the worst case scenario is likely to soon become the best case scenario. Spain is imploding and nothing can stop it but free money from Germany (not going to happen voluntarily), or a Spanish exit from the Eurozone. The latter is likely, but may not occur until Spain becomes the next Greece.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis/~3/fmnG3ENWeB8/spain-long-term-debt-lowered-to-bbb.html

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Spain Long-Term Debt Lowered to BBB+ from A, With Negative Outlook; 100% Certain Conditions in Spain Worsen

Spain's sovereign credit rating was cut for the second time this year by Standard & Poor's on concern that the country will have to provide further fiscal support to banks as the economy contracts.

S&P lowered the long-term grade to BBB+ from A, with a negative outlook. Spain?s short-term rating was reduced to A-2 from A-1, New York-based S&P said in a statement yesterday.

?Spain?s budget trajectory will likely deteriorate against a background of economic contraction,? S&P wrote in the statement yesterday. ?At the same time, we see an increasing likelihood that Spain?s government will need to provide further fiscal support to the banking sector. As a consequence, we believe there are heightened risks that Spain?s net general govern debt could rise further.?

?We could also consider a downgrade if political support for the current reform agenda were to wane,? the S&P statement said. ?Moreover, we could lower the ratings if we see that Spain?s external position worsens or its competitiveness does not continue to approach that of its trading partners, a key factor for Spain to return to sustainable economic and employment growth.?

Spanish banks probably need 50 billion euros of additional capital, Morgan Stanley analysts estimate. The figure may rise to as much as 160 billion euros in a worst-case scenario, said Elaine Lin, a strategist at Morgan Stanley in London. The banks could try to raise the capital themselves or get it from either the Spanish government or the European Financial Stability Facility, she said.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis/~3/fmnG3ENWeB8/spain-long-term-debt-lowered-to-bbb.html

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On the Scene: Storms in the Oklahoma

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube-trends/~3/zC-h7Ib6I1Y/on-scene-storms-in-oklahoma.html

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Your Inner Critic Needs to Hear This.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HowToMakeArt/~3/0Q-3BFHnrtc/your-inner-critic-needs-to-hear-this.html

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walkers 705

walkers 705, originally uploaded by drewzel.

Hi Stitchy friends,
I scanned this one ages ago and promptly forgot about it...hopeless aren't I? I found it in my Flickr just now. I don't have many Walker's transfers but I do like their style, they are more "realistic" than the stylised animals of Vogart and Aunt Martha's (which I also adore.) It depends what you're looking for. I'm guessing these date from around the 1940's and I can't even remember where I got them now! Another good thing about Walker's is that they always appear to give you double copies of the transfer sheet, which is a nice bonus, so usually the ones I've found, even if one sheet is used, the other will usually be intact. Hurrah!

And because our kitty friend on rollerskates is a popular motif...here you are:

scottie kittie1, originally uploaded by drewzel.

Click on the picture to go to Flickr and get sizes for printing.

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/11/walkers-705.html

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TUTORIAL: The Best Color Mixing Trick I Learned in Art School

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HowToMakeArt/~3/zn01kPZAPMw/tutorial-best-color-mixing-trick-i.html

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213 Weekly Lost Podcast ? Follow The Leader IR

Weekly Lost Podcast Follow The Leader IR Click Here To Download Wondering where episodes 208, 209, 210, and 211 are? We release a few episodes of the Weekly Lost Podcast in the free feed each month. However, our gspn.tv Plus Members get every single episode of this podcast and all our podcasts. To find out [...]

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Time to vote on "Fashion Through the Ages"

Etsy Beadweavers Blog

There is still time left to vote for your favorite beadwoven creation in the Etsy Beadweavers' monthly challenge. This month's challenge was selected by our previous winner, Patrizia of Triz Designs. Patrizia has challenged our members to "Choose a fashion style from any period of fashion and design a piece to fit that chosen style/period." We do this for fun and to show the world the extent of our creativity...the prize is just the honor of selecting the next month's challenge. Please take a minute or two to look at all the wonderful designs, created entirely by hand and with original designs (using patterns from other designers is not allowed), and vote for your favorite. This month I entered a piece (#32) entitled "Metropolis", which plays on some of the design elements popular during the Art Deco period.

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2011/03/time-to-vote-on-fashion-through-ages.html

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Giant Sucking Sound; Demand for Credit in Europe Collapses; Pritchard Misses the Boat

In a report on fixed income, David Owen, Chief European Financial Economist at Jefferies, notes that demand for credit in Europe has plunged.

Owen asks Is it the supply or demand for credit that matters?

25 April 2012

Perhaps the most memorable comment Mario Draghi made to the European Parliament today was the need for a euro area Growth Pact, but he did draw comfort from the results of the ECB?s latest Bank Lending survey.

Draghi made reference to the fact that the balance of firms tightening credit conditions had fallen (from 35% in January to 9%). However, that it is not to say that credit conditions are actually easing, just that they are no longer tightening at the same rate as in January.

Not only are credit conditions still tightening, albeit at a slower rate, but importantly the ECB?s latest Bank Lending survey shows credit demand collapsing. This is not something that Mario Draghi mentioned to the European Parliament at all.

Europe Faces Japan Syndrome

In reference to the above chart, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at The Telegraph says Europe faces Japan syndrome as credit demand implodes

Europe (minus Germany) looks more like post-bubble Japan each month.

The long-feared credit crunch has mutated instead into a collapse in DEMAND for loans. Households and firms are comatose, or scared stiff, in a string of countries.

Demand for housing loans fell 70pc in Portugal, 44pc in Italy, and 42pc in the Netherlands in the first quarter of 2012. Enterprise loans fell 38pc in Italy. The survey took place in late March and early April, and therefore includes the second of Mario Draghi?s ?1 trillion liquidity infusion (LTRO).

The ECB said net demand for loans had fallen "to a significantly lower level than had been expected in the fourth quarter of 2011, with the decline driven in particular by a further sharp drop in financing needs for fixed investment." Demand fell 43pc for household loans, and 30pc for non-bank firms.

This slump in loan demand is more or less what happened during Japan?s Lost Decade as Mr and Mrs Watanabe shunned debt. Zero interest rates did nothing. The Bank of Japan was "pushing on a string" (though it never really launched bond purchases with any serious determination).

The credit squeeze is entirely predictable ? and was widely predicted ? given that banks must raise their core Tier 1 capital ratios to 9pc by July to meet EU rules, or face nationalisation. (The pro-cyclical folly of this beggars belief: by all means impose higher buffers, but not during a recession, and not by letting banks slash their balance sheets. The US at least forced its banks to raise capital, an entirely different policy since it does not lead to a lending crunch.)

The IMF said last week that Europe?s banks would slash their balance sheets by ?2 trillion ? or 7pc ? by next year. This amounts to an economic shock. The Fund said deleveraging on this scale at a time of sharp fiscal tightening risks a "bad equilibrium".

Or one analyst said, the LTRO lets northern banks dump their bond holdings onto Club Med banks. The renationalisation of the eurozone financial system goes a step further.

The LTRO "carry trade" is already revealing the sting in its tail in any case since the banks are by now underwater on a lot of bonds. What happens if and when they need to sell those bonds to cover debts falling due over the next year?

Until the ECB conducts monetary policy with proper energy, calls for "Growth Compacts" from governments amount to humbug. The ECB needs to do its own work.

We all know why it will not do so: because Hayekian romantics at the Bundesbank hold sway, and none of the other governors dare say boo. Live with the consequences.

Live with the Consequences Indeed

Pritchard conveniently ignores the fact that Japan is struggling right now to "live with the consequences" of numerous misguided monetary and fiscal stimulus efforts over 20 years. Japan has debt-to-GDP exceeding 200% and little to show for it. And Japan now has to live with the consequences of numerous misguided QE and stimulus proposals.

Pritchard apparently wants more QE for Europe as if that would increase demand for credit.

Note that two rounds of QE did not increase the demand for credit in the US as per my post The Real Consumer Credit Story: Virtually No Recovery in Revolving Credit, No Recovery in Non-Revolving Credit.

Moreover, QE did not succeed in increasing the demand for credit in Japan over 20 years. So pray tell why would QE increase the demand for credit in Europe? More importantly, even if it did, would that be a good thing?

European banks are already over-leveraged and under-capitalized so how the hell is providing cheap credit going to possibly do anything good?

Would 0% interest rates help when that did not help Japan?

Pritchard Misses the Boat

Clearly Pritchard missed the boat on QE as well as the desirability of attempting to cram more credit down banks' throats when banks are over-leveraged and under-capitalized.

Everyone wants to do something "but not now". While there is immense merit to not hiking taxes in a recession as Brussels forced on Greece, Spain, and Portugal, work rule and pension changes are badly needed.

Pritchard's idea of raising capital instead of selling assets seems reasonable enough. However, nothing stops banks from doing that, at least in theory. Is practice another matter?

Giant Sucking Sound

William Wright discusses Tier-1 Capital requirements in A rough guide to surviving the great deleveraging of 2012

As if Basel III weren?t enough of a headache, big European banks face a deadline of June 30 from the European Banking Authority to increase their core Tier-1 capital ratios to 9%, equivalent to raising ?115bn in equity.

In theory, banks can meet this by retaining profits, raising equity or shrinking assets. But with equity markets all but closed to banks and earnings falling, a crash diet to reduce their bloated balance sheets is the only realistic option.

Analysts expect that the great bank deleveraging of 2012 could see as much as $2 trillion to $3 trillion of assets trimmed from European banks? balance sheets ? or about 5% of total assets ? with damaging consequences not only for the banking industry but for the fragile European economy.

Here is a rough guide to some of the inevitable consequences ? some deliberate, some unintended and some obscure ? of this deleveraging on the investment banking industry.

Death of profits, jobs and banks

The most obvious impact of deleveraging will be the devastation it will wreak on the profits of investment banks. In 2006, Goldman Sachs posted a return on equity of 33% and its core leverage ? assets divided by equity ? was 29 times. Fast forward to the first nine months of this year, and its return on equity was 3.7% with leverage of 14 times. Not because it has radically shrunk its balance sheet (yet) but because it has more than doubled its equity.

The same process will play out across the industry, where the combination of an increase in the cost of business driven by regulation is colliding with a downturn in activity. This will choke off profits, with JP Morgan forecasting that average ROE for the industry will fall to just 8% next year. That?s in line with research by Financial News that shows average pretax ROE in the first nine months of this year was 12% (or about 8% net).

Structurally lower profitability has already prompted banks such as Credit Suisse and UBS to slash their fixed income trading activities. While the thousands of job cuts seem harsh, they are often in the low single digits in terms of overall headcount. As more banks grasp the nettle in 2012, they will pull out of entire business lines, cutting 10% or 20% of their staff ? or pull out of investment banking altogether.

Is That All Bad News?

Wright concludes that is not all bad news. I agree, but for some different reasons.

First Wright ...

The Promised Land

In all of this, there is some good news. For those banks that can survive the rigours of deleveraging without having to pull out of entire regions or businesses while retaining a profitable operation, there is a Promised Land on the other side. Overcapacity in the investment banking industry will be whittled away to leave a smaller number of bigger and (relatively) more profitable global banks whose scale will increasingly play to their advantage.

Bankers talk of JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and perhaps one other ? maybe Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital or Citi ? emerging stronger than ever. At the same time there will be a larger number of product and sector specialists, which will drop the ?me-too? approach of the past decade.

In this new world, with a realistic price for risk and credit and less competition, margins can only go one way: up.

Banks Should Be Banks, Not Hedge Funds

I do not believe that bigger is better and I am sick of the notion "too big to fail". Indeed, it most often means two things:

Too Big To Succeed
Taxpayer Bailouts

Banks should be banks, not hedge funds. To the extent that Basel III forces banks to shed trading activities and other non-traditional activities that banks now find themselves in, I view that as a good thing.

I certainly agree with Wright regarding the need for "a realistic price for risk and credit", but "less competition" is certainly not the essence of well-formed free markets.

My conclusion is that Wright does not understand the Fed's role in the creation of this mess or sound Austrian economic principles needed to fix it.

We will indeed see a "a realistic price for risk and credit" if and only if we get rid of the Fed and end fractional reserve lending. Bigger banks are not the answer.

By the way, Wright is not quite correct when he says "equity markets all but closed to banks".

Let's phrase the idea properly: "equity markets all but closed to banks, on terms that banks want". Banks do not want shareholder dilution that comes with raising equity now.

Bondholders do not want to take a hit either. Both should have happened already. However, Bush, Obama, Congress, and the Fed acted in unison to prevent what desperately needed to happen.

If Not Now, When?

Pritchard thinks the time to raise Tier-1 Capital requirements is not now. OK, when is it? 10 years from now? Or will Spain, Greece, and Italy still be too fragile?

Japan shows the folly of depending on QE and fiscal stimulus to spawn inflation, then waiting for it to happen.

Japan's Four-Pronged Approach

Fiscal Stimulus
Monetary Stimulus (QE)
Misguided Hope
Ignore Capital Impairments of Banks Waiting for Things to Get Better

Did Japan succeed?

In the case of Europe, there is also this "not-so-little" problem that Pritchard is extremely aware of yet mysteriously avoids every time he rails about the ECB not doing enough. I am obviously talking about the Euro.

The LTRO increased leverage and risk on Spanish and Italian banks. QE is useless, something Pritchard should see. Reducing interest rates will shift imbalances to other countries, and may send oil and food prices higher, but it sure will not increase lending.

Pritchard says "The ECB needs to do its own work, with proper energy." What "work" is that? Does any "work" make any sense?

The first irony is Pritchard compares Europe to Japan, while essentially proposing the same four-pronged policy of failure followed by Japan.

The second irony of Pritchard's column is that if Basel III moves forward the date of the inevitable breakup of the eurozone, that would be a good thing. A eurozone breakup would place Europe on a faster pace of ending the very "Japan Syndrome" that Pritchard rails against.

Proper Energy

Not only do I want to raise tier-1 capital requirements, I want to see a 100% gold-backed dollar, the end of fractional reserve lending, and the end of duration-mismatched lending (e.g. selling 5-year CDs and making mortgage loans for 30 years).

Finally, lending of money that is supposed to be available on demand is fraudulent and must be stopped. I would be more than willing to phase those ideas in, but the time to start is now, not 10 years from now under the misguided notion things will be better if only banks would lend more.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis/~3/pRtTR-qFTh8/giant-sucking-sound-demand-for-credit.html

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A Twitter and business marriage success story

By Scott Beveridge

PITTSBURGH, Pa. ? Chris Dilla has jokingly referred to herself as a #mediaho on Twitter because of all the press attention she receives for her shrewd skills in the restaurant trade.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Twitter hashtags they are a way to separate conversations from the pack on that social networking site.

Dilla would probably chuckle and if another web junkie used #socialmediaho in a reference to her since the Pittsburgh online market is flooded in a good way with her brand.

The owner of Bocktown Beer and Grill locations in North Fayette Township and Monaca, Pa., gets it. Social media is free to use and its positive impact on sales is undeniable. It's also helped to land her story in every local print market from the Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pa., to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and even a mention in Forbes.

Tweeting about her craft beers helped this self-made businesswoman experience a 20 percent increase in sales at her first bar during the throes of America?s great recession in 2009. While much of that success is due her restaurant?s good food and beer, it?s also a result of her ability to keep her customers interested and interacting with - or about - Bocktown via Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook.

?I?m not just telling them what the soup of the day is, I?m also reaching out to them with interesting links to craft beer, localism,? Dilla said in September, while presenting at the sixth PodCamp Pittsburgh, a popular conference on social and new media at Point Park University.

?Twitter brings real conversations. Everytime they are out there talking about Bocktown, Bocktown, Bocktown, I am thrilled.?

Many folks come to this event looking like deer stunned by headlights, pressured by their employers to join these online conversations to keep their jobs. Other attendees who have been tweeting since the dark ages of 2007 attend to keep up with new trends or to simply re-energize.

Dilla advice there is worth heeding.

?Don?t be spouting on Facebook about something you should be handling in person,? she said.

She once fired an employee for complaining about the boss on Facebook. The two shared 50 mutual FB friends, and, of course, the bitching quickly got back to Dilla, even though she had been blocked on Facebook from seeing that former worker?s postings. Big Duh.

She?s admittedly has made blunders, and one of the biggest came in the form of her telling a vagina joke on her business Twitter feed when she meant to post it under her personal identity.

?Don?t be afraid. You will make mistakes. There?s always the delete key," she said.

And she follows back those who follow Bocktown on Twitter.

?If it?s a one-way street, it will not work for you.?

Meanwhile, Dilla signed up for Google alerts to make sure she knows each time someone mentions Bocktown on the Internet.

?I link back to it. It?s a great resource. You can do every bit of it from a smartphone.?

And for those hashtags, she abuses them, but in a creative way.

She uses them to express her opinions while also hiding key words like Walmart from spambots.

She also urges her employees to find their voices on Twitter, to join the conversation, increase business and, ultimately, their tips.

?Twitter is the new television. We?re doing a better job on Twitter than some of the major news organizations,? Dilla said.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/12/twitter-and-business-marriage-success.html

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Iron On Transfer Pencil tutorial

If you're a newcomer to the stitching thing and are a bit stumped by the phrase: "Just print off a copy, transfer to your fabric and off you go!" (I'm sure I've used those words before.) ...Sparkly Green Knickers has put up a iron on pencil tutorial here. And I think it's fabulous! [Check out her cute scooter design too.]

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/10/iron-on-transfer-pencil-tutorial.html

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Truly Inspiring...

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Sonntag, 29. April 2012

228 Weekly Lost Podcast ? LA X Initial Reaction

Weekly Lost Podcast LA X Initial Reaction Click Here To Download In this episode, Stephanie and I are joined my several members of the gspn.tv Community during our Season Six LOST Premiere Party. Don’t forget to give us a call on our listener line. It’s open and ready for your call 24hrs a day. The [...]

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252 Weekly Lost Podcast ? Mirror Mirror

Weekly Lost Podcast Mirror Mirror Be sure to RSVP for the LOST Series Finale Party! Click Here To Download In this episode, Stephanie and I share the community reaction to Season 6 Episode 13, “The Last Recruit.” Don’t forget to give us a call on our listener line. It’s open and ready for your call [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/generallyspeaking/~3/a8jQZKrJtXc/

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Necklace makes another treasury appearance

My Caribbean Sea Blues Necklace has made another appearance on Etsy, this time in a treasury entitled Blossoms Up by Lorraine ofTrinity Designer Jewellery. Enjoy the beauty of her selections ! Be sure to follow the link to the treasury, because I still haven't figured out how to get a screen cap of all four rows of a treasury :-(

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2010/05/necklace-makes-another-treasury.html

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European Splintering Escalates: Dutch Government Falls; Slovakia Government Collapsed in March; Czech Government Collapse Coming Right Up

The Netherlands government has officially collapsed in a dispute over austerity measures. Elections likely in September. Meanwhile, the Czech government is also on the verge of collapse, for the same reason: austerity measures.

The Financial Times reports Dutch government falls over budget talks

The Dutch governing coalition collapsed on Saturday when far-right politician Geert Wilders pulled out of budget cut talks, saying it was not in the Netherlands? interest to meet the deficit limit of three per cent imposed by the new European fiscal pact.

EU-imposed austerity measures have cost leaders in southern European countries, including Greece, Italy and Spain, their jobs. With the fall of the conservative Dutch government, and the possibility that Nicolas Sarkozy may lose the French presidential election that begins on Sunday, the damage seems to have spread to Europe?s prosperous north.

Highlighting widespread voter anger over EU-imposed budget cuts, Mr Wilders said he could not allow Dutch citizens to ?pay out of their pockets for the senseless demands of Brussels?.

?We don?t want to follow Brussels? orders. We don?t want to make our retirees bleed for Brussels? diktats,? Mr Wilders said.

The loss of Mr Wilders? support left the conservative government of Mark Rutte, prime minister, with just over a third of the seats in parliament.

Mr Rutte and other party leaders said that made new elections inevitable. He is expected to offer his cabinet?s resignation to the Dutch Queen on Monday, but leave the cabinet in place as a caretaker government until elections are held, probably in September.

Exiting the government at this stage will allow Mr Wilders to disclaim any responsibility for unpopular budget cuts. But the biggest winner in elections could be the far-left eurosceptic Socialist party, which has seen its support rise to as much as 20 per cent of the electorate over the past year.

Meanwhile, Dutch analysts said the inability of even the prosperous, deficit-averse Netherlands to generate voter support for Europe-directed budget cuts called the sustainability of the EU fiscal pact into question.

Czech Government Collapse On the Way

Please consider Czech protesters stage anti-government rally

The Czech government faces a test of its ability to continue governing after an ambitious fiscal tightening programme splintered the ruling coalition and brought tens of thousands of protesters on to the streets of Prague at the weekend.

Petr Necas, premier, has set a Monday deadline for a breakaway group from Public Affairs ? the smallest of the three parties that made up his centre-right coalition ? to demonstrate that it has the support of at least 10 MPs, which would give him a working majority in the 200-member parliament.

Mr Necas has sacrificed much of his popularity after introducing a series of tax increases and benefit cuts in order to keep the budget deficit below 3 per cent next year. The additional measures were brought in after the Czech Republic posted worse than expected growth numbers ? largely a consequence of the slowdown in the eurozone, the country?s largest export market.

?We cannot behave in a populist way and we must continue our policy of budget responsibility and debt reduction,? Mr Necas told reporters after one of the largest demonstrations in the Czech Republic?s post-communist history filled the streets of the capital on Saturday to protest at his policies and to show disgust with political corruption.

Organisers estimated that about 120,000 people attended, many of them jangling keys as a signal for the government to go ? an echo of the protests that ousted the communists in 1989.

Slovakia Government Collapse

In case you missed it, the right-wing Slovakia government collapsed in March.

The Guardian reports Central Europe's centre-right teeters under corruption claims

Austria, Slovakia, Croatia and Czech Republic gripped by sleaze allegations involving senior politicians and governing parties.

Ruling parties, political elites and former ministers in a string of EU countries are embroiled in cash-for-influence scandals that are exposing widespread allegations of corruption, triggering public revulsion and a voters' backlash.

Hunting parties, expensive gifts, drunken car crashes, secret police wiretaps, paper bags stuffed with money and public budgets being treated as private accounts all feature in the lurid revelations and allegations being leaked daily on to the front pages of central Europe.

Austria, Slovakia, Croatia and the Czech Republic are in the throes of sleaze allegations involving senior politicians and governing parties said to be funded by dirty money.

Tales of criminality, thuggery, and vast amounts of cash flowing to politicians from companies, lobbyists, and middlemen are dominating the newspapers and blogosphere across central Europe. In contrast, successful prosecutions are extremely rare for a political class that often seems to operate with impunity. Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic are in the throes of major sleaze allegations involving senior politicians and governing parties said to be funded by dirty money.

In Austria a special parliamentary committee investigating political corruption is questioning serving and former ministers this week about a convoluted web of alleged bribery and profiteering from government tenders and skewed legislation.

In an election this month next door in Slovakia, the new prime minister, Robert Fico, won a landslide after support for his rivals on the right collapsed when secret police files about the buying and selling of MPs were unearthed by a Canadian journalist and posted on the internet.

The secret police files, codenamed Gorilla, featured wiretaps of leading financiers meeting discreetly with centre-right governing politicians to trade government tenders for cash.

the latest scandal to rock the region centres on a Czech businessman and a former Prague mayor who are accused of in effect controlling the city's ?2bn budget between them.

The businessman, Roman Janou?ek, had long been labelled the "shadow mayor" owing to his close links with city hall, but it was not until transcripts of what are believed to be wiretaps of conversations between him and his long-time ally, former Prague city mayor Pavel B�m, were published in the daily Mlad� Fronta Dnes that the scale of their alleged rigging of the city finances started to come to light.

The conversations appear to include discussions about influencing sales of city and public property, arranging expensive gifts for city officials and fixing high-ranking official posts.

On May 6 the Greek government is likely to collapse, and Nicolas Sarkozy will be ousted as president of France.

Meanwhile New "Temporary" Border Controls are tantamount to a Vote of No Confidence in Europe

Other than four ousted governments, Troika imposed governments in Greece and Italy, huge budget misses in Spain, increased protectionist measures in France, border controls, bickering between the ECB and the German Central Bank, the Bundesbank proclamation "Not ECB's Job to Tackle Spain's Problems", Europe is holding together quite nicely.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis/~3/Ce8T8cNfhW4/european-splintering-escalates-dutch.html

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Stitching Fun

Coloring Fun - Cake 1, originally uploaded by Glen Mullaly.

I came across these on Flickr today and thought "tea towels!"
The caption from the Flickr owner reads: "Illustration from the "Coloring Fun" feature "Let's Bake a Cake", Humpty Dumpty's magazine January 1958. Illustrated by Dave Lyons.
Print these on plain white stock and Crayola your brains out!"

...so I think he wouldn't mind us stitching them either?

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/10/stitching-fun.html

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Social Networking | Bliss Control is a central place for linking to all your social network settings

Update All of Your Social Network Settings from One Page with Bliss Control "Rather than have to click around on every single service to find where to update your info, just start from Bliss Control and find the setting in the easy drop-down. Bliss Control doesn’t require your login information to any of the services [...]

Source: http://www.richardbanks.com/trends/2012/03/23/social-networking-bliss-control-is-a-central-place-for-linking-to-all-your-social-network-settings/

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234 Weekly Lost Podcast ? The Lighthouse IR

Weekly Lost Podcast The Lighthouse IR Click Here To Download In this episode, Stephanie and I give our initial reaction to Season 6 Episode 5, “The Lighthouse.” Don’t forget to give us a call on our listener line. It’s open and ready for your call 24hrs a day. The number is 859-795-4067 Note: We release [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/generallyspeaking/~3/MpX7qBZqfjM/

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Aunt Martha's vegie melodrama

aunt marthas vegies, originally uploaded by drewzel.

I scanned this one, because I saw it blogged the other week with a different cover, I'll find the link and add it in here. Update : - it was Claudia's blog, the patterns are here.

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/08/aunt-martha-vegie-melodrama.html

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The cat in Rabat

Dr Suess, Arab style

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2008/01/cat-in-rabat.html

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Embellishing the Runway (with beads !)

Project Runway season 9 is in full swing, and this year, I decided (last minute) to join in the fun of designing accessories for each week's winning outfit and posting them in a Flickr group called
Embellishing the Runway. I knew about it last year from my beading friends on Facebook but didn't think I could keep up at the time. This year seems right so I joined a day before the first week deadline. I managed to create a simple bracelet which captures the colors of the winning design by Bert Keeter. I used a basic four bead herringbone stitch which works up quickly and chose some greys and orange (the closest thing I had was more of a pumpkin color). The winning design for this week seems to have stirred up alot of controversy and I'm late starting so it looks like some midnight beading sessions are in order this week ! More pictures posted in the coming weeks (fingers/beading needles crossed !)

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2011/08/embellishing-runway-with-beads.html

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Artistic Coaching Explained... And Two More Free Spots Left!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HowToMakeArt/~3/RdiWD0IfLOg/artistic-coaching-explained-and-two.html

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Robotics | Jellyfish-like undersea robot powered by water

Hydrogen-Powered Robotic Rescue Jellyfish Could Swim Forever "Robojelly uses artificial muscles made from materials known as shape memory alloys that can be warped but will always return to their original shape. This allows them to perform simple expansion and contraction motions similar to how a jellyfish’s muscles allow it to swim. The artificial alloys that [...]

Source: http://www.richardbanks.com/trends/2012/04/16/robotics-jellyfish-like-undersea-robot-powered-by-water/

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A Christmas sugar fix fulfilled

Gummy eggs on a plate, sunny side up, definitely do not qualify as old-man candy.

Neither does a three-quarter pound cherry Gummy Bear.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-sugar-fix-fulfilled.html

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252 Weekly Lost Podcast ? Mirror Mirror

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/generallyspeaking/~3/a8jQZKrJtXc/

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The Popular Trailers of 2012 So Far: Avengers, Hunger Games

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/youtube-trends/~3/NyybXC5Z4Uo/popular-trailers-of-2012-so-far.html

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251 Weekly Lost Podcast ? The Last Recruit IR

Weekly Lost Podcast The Last Recruit IR Be sure to RSVP for the LOST Series Finale Party! Click Here To Download In this episode, Stephanie and I share our intial reaction to Season 6 Episode 13, “The Last Recruit.” Don’t forget to give us a call on our listener line. It’s open and ready for [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/generallyspeaking/~3/6CDqO8DnPUM/

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Owl love you

Hello Stitchy friends,
Oh yes, it's been a long time, I know! Short story is that 2009 was a HORRID year and as such, all crafty endeavours suffered. But I'm getting back on track now, and to show you how much owl love you all here's a pattern from a late 60's Crewelwork set:

Hopefully it's clear enough for you to print and use...I don't have access to a scanner anymore, so I took a pic of this pattern with my i-phone. And don't forget to share any pics of your stitchy goodness to the Flickr embroidery pool!

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2010/02/owl-love-you.html

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New growing season

First signs of Spring in an English Woodland

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2008/02/new-growing-season.html

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