Masamania (JAP)
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Happy Traders send over 1,000 EUR to victims of Asian tsunami
As you may or may not know, the Happy Traders is a informal daily online gathering of a small group of Dutch traders of which Joey is one. On Thursday, we started an initiative to send money to giro 555, which is where all Dutch people can send money rather than buying fireworks this year. The latest score: 1,023 EUR and this will definitely increase!
-Respond-
(31/12/04)
Bush inauguration more important than Asia aid
Once again: I don't hate Americans as I don't like to be prejudiced. But it is no wonder that there are so many people all over the world with a negative image of US Government as the Bush administration decided to spend more money on the President's inauguration than on financial aid to Asia after the tsunami took 120,000 lives. The Bush offer of 15 mln USD (or a miserable 11.5 mln EUR) was a ridiculous and almost insulting offer. After criticism by the UN, Bush decided to raise the amount to 35 mln USD, pretty much the same amount that will be spent on the inauguration. Just for comparison's sake, George W. & John Kerry spent half a billion USD on their election campaigns this year. Are we getting our priorities right? Did you know that the US only spend a quarter percent (0.25%) on financial aid to foreign countries, which is much less than half the amount the EU spends? Did you know that the financial aid to Iran promised by the Bush administration after last year's terrible earthquake still hasn't arrived in Iran? I would encourage anyone to spend a little bit less on the New Year's Eve celebrations and instead send the money to Asia. If you are Dutch, do click on the above ad to help all those families that lost relatives and all those families that lost their house and their belongings. Thank you.
-Respond-
(30/12/04)
Nature strikes again in Southeast Asia
Sometimes I wonder why it's often the less fortunate that are hit by disasters like earthquakes and floods. But hurricanes often hit caribbean areas, including the South of the US. Fact is that the forces of nature have cost many, many lives this year and I can't help but think that nature seems to strike more and more severely every year. This time it was a quake that already cost 60,000 lives and some expect that the deathtoll may exceed 100,000.
Something else then. Remember Pompeii? We think we have everything under control, because we can measure seismic activity. The Vesuvius hasn't been active since 1996. But some three million people could be seriously affected by a future eruption. One might say that this won't happen because of our state-of-the-art technology, but the technology is still in man's hands. And it is for this specific reason that deathtolls are often higher than they should have been. This applies to hurricanes in Florida and this also applies to the Christmas tsunami. Many South Asian countries treated tsunamis as a problem of the Pacific Ocean, but little did they know. Even Africa saw its casualties.
Tsunami warnings are no rocket science. Pacific countries use these warnings to prepare in time, saving many lives. It is time for mankind to take nature seriously. This way the floods in Philippines might not have happened and the deathtoll of the tsunami might have been much, much lower.
-Respond-
(28/12/2004)
Merry Xmas to everyone!!
Radiator has not been fixed yet, but I did buy a small mobile radiator to ensure that no one in my house will freeze during Christmas. I hope to get my heating working before year end again, although I must say that this is probably gonna be a very cheap year. Last year, the energy company sent me an extra bill at the end of the year of some 300 euros. This year, that's only 40 euros! All and all, we have no reason to complain. We're not freezing, we all have food in Holland and no one needs to die of poverty. Nevertheless, it is good to realise that not every one of us around the world is entitled to a Christmas as warm and fortunate as ours. I sent my foster child in the Dominican Republic some extra money for the family. Ten beers for me is one month's wages over there. Small price to pay...
I would like to wish everyone a very merry Xmas and do keep coming back as I am planning to further improve my site in the New Year. All the best,
Joey.
-Respond-
(24/12/2004)
Back from a long weekend Germany
Had not planned that it would still happen but in the end, Joey decided to take his lady out for a long weekend at one of the German Christmas markets. This meant absolutely no time to watch my positions, but no regrets as the weekend was priceless. And it once again proved that the German kitchen is one of the most underestimated kitchens in the world. I would encourage anyone to get some good German food other than just Bratwurst!
-Respond-
(22/12/2004)
No trading updates...
Sorry, wanted to update my trades but somehow my broker account was blocked. I cannot log on anymore and the only thing I saw was my portfolio which showed that all stocks and options had strangely disappeared. The only thing left was a humble amount of 922 eur. I'd better enquire, cause you never know with spyware these days, Speaking of which: I am of the opinion that everyone spending time online should have either Spybot or Ad-Aware on his harddrive to check for spyware. Preferably both. Spybot is my preferred one.
-Respond-
(17/12/2004)
Joey gives away three free 1Gb Gmail accounts
Want one? These are only available by invitation and I am inviting you to tell me here why I should give you one of my free Gmail accounts! Do leave your email and do it before Christmas because I will be giving these away on 1st Christmas Day!
(17/12/2004)
Still not fixed
Boy did Heating Guy stink. A true mixture of onion odour and cigarette smoke moved into my house as I opened the door. The worst thing about Heating Guy is that he didn't even fix my heating. Apparently the tubes are jammed cause the heating hasn't been used in a year which is quite common, I would say. But my radiator is five metres long and goes all across my floor. It's about ten cms high but impossible to lift cause it's just so darn heavy. Anyway, this means that I am still at home wearing more clothes than an eskimo or inuit if you like. Let's call the janitor and see what he thinks. Reparing this could mean a day's work for two repair guys at a cost of 1,000 Eur!! Is this guy "fer real"?
-Respond-
(16/12/2004)
Heating Guy is coming
The time has come. Let's bring an end to the cold nights. Heating Guy is coming tomorrow morning, which is good cause it allows me to take the morning off with a valid reason. I hope he fixes that shit cause I am kind of fed up wearing sweaters and double ski-socks inside my house. Then again, there's people out there in the streets of Amsterdam that live this life because they have no choice. I am whining about temperatures below 17 degrees inside the house whereas this is normal in many air-conditioned buildings. But then we Dutch people do not have many air-conditioned buildings here as this is a darn cold country. Yep, it's about time to look across the border and see whether there's opportunities to live and work abroad. I've been wanting to do this for ages and I did get a job offer for three years in Dubai earlier this year, which got cancelled because of corporate restructurings. But there will definitely be more chances. I need warmer cultures, warmer climates. Although many people would die to live in Holland. OK, bad choice of words. But I guess life in Holland is not that bad after all...
-Respond-
(15/12/2004)
Spending the nights without heating...
Today, I am not going to spend much time updating my website. This is gonna be a real quickie cause it is friggin cold in my house as the heating doesn't work. I did call for a repair guy but my call wasn't returned.
Knowing that it's -3 degrees Celsius outside, you can imagine how cold I am now. There is a big mug of cappuchino next to me, which should keep me warm. But I am already shaking and the more time I spend behind my computer, which is close to the window, the more chance I have of litterally being frozen into the world's first online snowman.
-Respond-
(14/12/2004)
Bush vs Chimps exposition closed down
OK, OK. I know. It's starting to get a little bit annoying. We all know Bush looks like a chimp and we've all seen the pictures of Bush resembling chimps. But to remove a painting of Bush made out of pictures of chimps at an exposition is a little bit too much, I think. This is the kind of censorship you might expect in communist countries, but in New York? To be honest, I think it's a fine piece of art and if this were made in Holland showing a painting of our Queen made up of chimps, I am sure no one would mind.
-Respond-
(13/12/2004)
"A good wife always knows her place"
This one is for the ladies. Back in the 50s, this is how you made your man happy. Then came feminism and emancipation. It suddenly became cool for women to be financially independent, to tell men to cook their own food, to clean up the house and to iron their own shirts. Hence, a new trend was born: the Stay at Home Dad.
But let's be honest: men and women have instincts, just like animals. The brain functions differently and so do the eyes, the nose and the ears. Male and female bodies are built differently as well, and all this has been done for a purpose. It was done because men and women have certain roles in life, as in raising kids, hunting for food and fighting enemies. Would it then be realistic to say that there should be no difference in the roles of male and female in society? Wouldn't it be ignorant to assume that there should be equality in all aspects? This is clearly what western society wants and call me a male chauvinist pig or anything you like, but I just love it when the differences between men and women are brought back as long as both parties agree on everything and respect eachother. To send kids to daycare because mummy and daddy both want to continue their careers is just not my idea of having kids.
-Respond-
(11/12/2004)
Amsterdam-Dakar with a 2nd hand car
This to me is the ultimate example of my kind of people. Adventurous, having fun and not giving a shite. To enter into the competition, you have to have a car that is worth less than 500 euros. All you can do is spend a maximum of 100 euros on maintenance and off you go. Examples of the vehicles: Renault Traffic T35 Master, the indestructable Lada Niva, a cow-print Citroën C15 and my personal favourite: a Renault 4. If I get the chance, I've got to join this contest end 2005.
-Respond-
(09/12/2004)
G-mail account?
I will give away some 1GB G-Mail accounts here on Joey's Joint for free some time soon. Keep checking.
-Respond-
(08/12/2004)
A little lesson about culture
I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine today about culture. He stated that he did not believe in the word "culture" as he believed in the individual. And in every countries, there are different people, and in all countries there are people who have similar beliefs and values.
I actually strongly believe in the word "culture". The dictionary describes culture as The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
Geert Hofstede's five dimensions of culture are generally used to measure culture. The five dimensions are: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. His website allows you to compare your culture with other cultures. As an example: Netherlands is one of the most individualist countries in the world, whereas Indonesia is among the most collectivist countries. This means that ties between individuals are much stronger in Indonesia than in the Netherlands. Another big difference between the two countries is that Indonesia is a much more masculine culture, meaning that the roles of men and women are much more divided, whereas in the Netherlands there is little gender differentiation where females are treated equal to males.
All these differences are really very noticeable when spending time with people from other cultures. That's why I like to be a globetrotter. Travelling teaches you to extract the good sides of each culture and add it to yourself. If you're open to it, that is.
-Respond-
(07/12/04)
How to measure civilisation?
This I think is a difficult one to answer. Some Europeans, Asians and North-Americans might think that they are among the most highly civilised on this planet, similar to what the Japanese thought of their people when the first European sailors reached Japanese soil in Medieval times. If you go further back into time, there were cultures outside Europe that were considered among the most highly civilised. Whether it was Egypt, Peru, India, China or Persia, the so-called highly civilised cultures had one thing in common. They were highly individualist and often looked down upon other cultures. So how to measure civilisation? Does civilisation come with economic successes? Is civilisation reflected in how people live alongside eachother and tolerate and respect one another? Does crime rate show the level of civilisation? The latter would mean that the Vatican is among the least highly civilised countries.
Does the Bible offer the answer to my question? The amazingly accurate tenth chapter of Genesis names the earth’s seventy original national units, resulting from the dispersion where the people were scattered abroad "every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations" (Gen. 10:5, 20,31).
Archaeology and ethnology have confirmed the existence and migrations of most of these primeval nations in a remarkable way. It concludes with the statement: “These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood” (Gen. 10:32).
And then, finally, mabe not the answer that I consider most accurate, but certainly one that makes a statement:
"The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons"
From Dostoevsky's 'Notes from the House of the Dead' (1862).
-Respond-
(06/12/2004)
Global preference for white people?
Why is it that wherever in the world you go, white people seem to be looked up to whereas our darker-skinned brothers seem to have trouble being accepted and respected almost anywhere? Some people state that it is learned behaviour whilst others state that even in the smallest Asian villages where there's never been any white people or black people, there is still a preference for the caucasians, hence it must be instinctive. Interesting subject, I found. Here's the reference article that I found on this. Worth reading...
-Respond-
(05/12/200)
Philippine floods death toll rises
Illegal logging has been stated to be blamed for the death toll after a typhoon slammed into the eastern coast of the Philippines last night. Latest figures say that 479 have been reported dead, over 500 are missing and some 168,000 people are affected by the devastating torrent of mud and logs from nearby mountains.
The affected areas have no potable water left and many people have not eaten for two days.
In a reaction to the disaster, President Arroyo ordered a nationwide crackdown on illegal logging. Many sceptics fear that nothing will change as previous crackdowns have not led to any improvements as logging delivers millions of dollars to smugglers and corrupt politicians every year.
Do they know it's Christmas time?
Respond
(02/12/04)
New: Joey's trades
Starting 1 December I wil mention my trades on the right. Since I work full-time, I am not able to do many trades a day. Usually I try to spread risk by putting my money into several stocks at a time. I also do derivatives now and then, although my results with stocks have been much better than with derivatives.
(01/12/04)
- November '04 - II
- November '04 - I
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