items in Hong Kong

 are less likely than in China to be counterfeit.

A stream of customers in Tsim Sha Tsui’s Canton Road yesterday carrying bags of Vivienne Westwood, Gucci and Burberry brand products and speaking in Mandarin, showed that a $350 billion decline in the value of stocks in China since mid-April has failed to kill off the tourist trade. Their spending may help to limit what Morgan Stanley and Daiwa Capital Markets say is set to be a second straight quarterly contraction in Hong Kong’s economy.
In July, sales jumped 29 percent to HK$35.2 billion ($4.5 billion), also a record gain excluding January and February figures that are distorted by a Lunar New Year holiday. Sales of jewelry, watches and clocks soared 52 percent from a year earlier. For electronics, the increase was 65 percent.

will FXCM survive?

August 12, Chicago - National Futures Association (NFA) has issued a Decision imposing a $2,000,000 monetary sanction against Forex Capital Markets LLC (FXCM) in settlement of a Complaint issued by NFA's Business Conduct Committee on August 12, 2011.

0811

There must be a limit to the mistakes one person can make, and when I get to the end of them, then I'll be through with them. That's a very comforting thought.
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942)

Where there is sorrow there is holy ground.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900

Make the workmanship surpass the materials.
Ovid

The world is full of willing people: some willing to work, the others willing to let them.
Poet Robert Frost

can we trust these data?

Upd.: Seems, I got it )

- Food, you know I just couldn't stop thinking about it.
- Yeah?
- Yeah. So, I went to the fridge and I opened up the meat drawer. You know where the meat drawer is, right?
- Yes. What was in there?
- I'll tell you what was in there! You know that bacon that's like maple? That's got maple taste
- The maple kind- yeah!
- Yeah. So I took that out and I thought..
- Yeah?
- I know who would like that!
- ?
- Me! And so I ate it!
- O-o-h! No! You're kidding me!
- Nope! Not kidding... You know I also noticed there was also some beef in there! Yeah, you know. Steak! You know, juicy! well, I ate that too!
- O-o-o-h!
- But I went back to the fridge. Just a few minutes ago. And I put something together very special. You're gonna love this one. I took some chicken
- Yeah?
- I put some cheese on it.
- Yeah!
- Then I covered it with...
- Cover it with what?
- Covered it with cat treats!
- yeah!
- Then guess what?
- What?
- I gave it to the cat!
- Aaaaaah!

come back from hong kong

Life under the  bridge ... is not seeing  from 55th floor.

fallout of a 2005 court case

 The News of the World's (NoW) then royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for hacking into the mobile phones of royal aides.
Since then, a series of police inquiries and legal cases have explored just how widespread the practice was, with implications for the police, celebrities, politicians and even victims of crime and their families.
On 6 July, the prime minister pledged a full inquiry into hacking and the Metropolitan Police chief vowed that officers who took payments from NoW publisher News International would be disciplined.

0711

 The most practical and important thing about a man is still his view of the universe...We think that for a general about to fight an enemy, it is important to know the enemy's numbers, but still more important to know the enemy's philosophy. Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936)

In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

A God that can be understood is no God. Who can explain the Infinite in words?
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

mail from forex.com to (all [US] or some?) it's clients ...
We wanted to make you aware of some upcoming changes to FOREX.com’s product offering. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act enacted by US Congress, a new regulation prohibiting US residents from trading over the counter precious metals, including gold and silver, will go into effect on Friday, July 15, 2011.
In conjunction with this new regulation, FOREX.com must discontinue metals trading for US residents on Friday, July 15, 2011 at the close of trading at 5pm ET. As a result, all open metals positions must be closed by July 15, 2011 at 5pm ET.
We encourage you to wind down your trading activity in these products over the next month in anticipation of the new rule, as any open XAU or XAG positions that remain open prior to July 15, 2011 at approximately 5:00 pm ET will be automatically liquidated.
We sincerely regret any inconvenience complying with the new U.S. regulation may cause you. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our customer service team.

0611

 "Judge others not lest ye be judged"
Jesus
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Nature has left this tincture in the blood,
That all men would be tyrants if they could.
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)

People join companies - but they leave managers and supervisors.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/markets/dollar/
The International Monetary Fund issued a report Thursday on a possible replacement for the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

my profile charity

This report by K. Myers appeared in an Irish newspaper "The Irish Independent."
AFRICA is giving nothing to anyone -- apart from AIDS
No. It will not do. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to
restore something resembling civilisation in Zimbabwe, the Begging bowl for
Ethiopia is being passed around to us, yet again.
It is nearly 25 years since Ethiopia's (and Bob Geldof's) famous Feed The World
campaign, and in that time Ethiopia's population has grown from 33.5 million to
78 million today.

0511

Fashion is the science of appearance, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be.
Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

The world is full of willing people: some willing to work, the others willing to let them.
Poet Robert Frost

Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon. E. M. Forster (1879-1970)

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. Mark Twain (1835-1910)

The new and terrible dangers which man has created can only be controlled by man.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Chinese Buyers Make Vancouver Homes Pricier Than NYC

Pricier Than New York
In 2010, Vancouver had the third-highest housing costs among English-speaking cities worldwide, according to Canada’s Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Only Hong Kong and Sydney, another magnet of Asian immigration, were more expensive. Vancouver’s median home price of C$602,000 ($618,000) was 9.5 times the annual median household income of C$63,100, the group said in a study released Jan. 24. Canada had a 4.6 national multiple, making it “seriously unaffordable,” while the U.S. at 3.3 was “moderately unaffordable,” the study showed. To be affordable, the multiple must be 3 or less.
Vancouver was more expensive than San Francisco, London and New York by that measure, the Winnipeg-based center said.
“This makes it all the more difficult for people who are already struggling to get into the market or businesses who can’t hire people to come here because of the high housing prices,” said Peter Ladner, a former Vancouver city councillor and a columnist for the Business in Vancouver weekly newspaper. “There are a lot of people who are really frustrated.”
Unlike London or New York, “we don’t have enough jobs with high incomes to justify” the home prices, said Ladner. He noted Australia has placed restrictions on foreign home ownership. The British Columbia government also could consider an increase in property transfer taxes for foreigners, he said.

0511

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

You can learn from anyone even your enemy.
Ovid

The idol of today pushes the hero of yesterday out of our recollection; and will, in turn, be supplanted by his successor of tomorrow.
Washington Irving (1783-1859)

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

The new and terrible dangers which man has created can only be controlled by man.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

amy winehouse. back to black lyrics.

0411

Nothing exists; all is a dream. God—man—the world—the sun, the moon, the wilderness of stars—a dream, all a dream; they have no existence. Nothing exists save empty space—and you!...And you are not you—you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)

If you are foolish enough to be contented, don't show it, but grumble with the rest.
Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927)

It is not from nature, but from education and habits, that our wants are chiefly derived.

Henry Fielding(1707-1754)

It is so pleasant to come across people more stupid than ourselves. We love them at once for being so.

Jerome K. Jerome(1859-1927)

The common idea that success spoils people is erroneous: on the contrary it makes them humble, tolerant and kind. Failure makes people cruel and bitter.
W. Somerset Maugham 


We must eat to live and live to eat.

Henry Fielding(1707-1754)

There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice.

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

The 1st of September marks the anniversary of the opening of the major stage of Libya's Great Man-Made River Project. This incredibly huge and successful water scheme is virtually unknown in the West, yet it rivals and even surpasses all our greatest development projects.
link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vcTm4XE4EA&feature=player_embedded#at=16