Today I saw an article about Germany, being the 2nd largest exporter in the world…
I was a bit surprised…., but then realized; they do have Mercedes, BMW, Siemens and a lot more….

Then it hit me……., just before I went on my holiday, the euro went totally down.
First we had the Greek going bankrupt, then the stories about Spain going down…., maybe Portugal going down…..
And then; prime minister of Germany, Merkel, is telling the whole world we (the European Community) is facing hard time and she is wondering about the Greek; will they be able to pay us back. Next step; the President of the federal bank of Germany is also telling about the hard times we are facing…..
And again, Merkel is making a speech about the crisis….and her doubts…

During this period of time, the euro went down from 1,35 to 1,25….
With falling further after all then speeches of those Germans….

Until today, I thought they where just plain dumb…as it would help the value of the euro going further down.
But now….I do realize it is helping the Germans, as the world second exporter; they would sell more cars…more tvs etc etc…..
And now I am wondering; did Merkel give those speeches on purpose….? Did she want the euro to go down…??
Is it her fault my holiday in the USA was that expensive…? With the rate of 1,18?
They are selling more BMWs and Mercedesses……. And the rest of the EU is paying the bill….!

Just wanted to give a little update on the post I did about the “vacuum cleaners” we have in Holland….
(previous post; Am I overlooking something)

Almost seems like I do have some influence in “the world politics”…..; because now (all of a sudden?) the USA asked the European Community to help with cleaning the oil in the Mexican Gulf….

And of course the Dutch (and Spain) did react on this request….; we will send those cleaners ASAP via plane to Houston and New Orleans!!

Absolutely good news uh..??
(I am just wondering; why not a couple of weeks earlier..??)

From; Telegraaf.nl (in Dutch)

Maybe I am just plain dumb….. and I do not understand how “it all works”…..
But I am looking at the situation in the Mexican Gulf….. and I keep wondering…. (already for weeks);

why is nothing happening overthere..??
Mr.Obama had an angry speech in which he says that the “who is responsible”-fight should stop and BP (or who ever) should work on a solution….

I have been watching some tv programs in Holland – in which some companies are explaining what they could have done…..
Nope; nobody has a solution…. but some where mentioning huge “vacuum cleaners”….. they have some “side skirts” for ships – which can take the oil out of the water and put it in another ship.

A very safe and good solution – which would really get most of the oil out of the water….

My point….??

I really do not get why the USA Government didn’t get all those vacuumcleaners together in the Mexican Gulf and start cleaning it that way..?? Just there – where the leak is…. !
Why are they “just’” wating for a solution of BP…?

If I was the President of the USA…. after one week of disaster, there would have been hundreds of those cleaning ships…….
But maybe the problem is; if I was the President of the USA – my wallet would be empty…… and I would not be able to garantuee payment for the cleaning job…?

I really have no idea…. but if I look at that area…. it makes me SAD!!

Today something horrible happened; an African Airplane crashed in Libya and 103 people died during the accident.

61 of them where Dutch – and only one (also Dutch) kid survived the plane crash.

I really feel sorry for all the people involved…..!!

Today – someone, in a Dutch tv program, said something like “I called one of my friends – he was not on that flight – so I got back to my day routine…..”
Some people thought that was a bit strange to say and he reacted in a way of “If they where British – it would have been way less horrible and it would be aired on Dutch tv way less”……
This guy is now also on the news……a lot.
But is he right…?

I do think so…..;
The world is getting smaller – with being able to travel anywhere, to speak to everybody, to be updated about everything…….. is maybe also making our involvement smaller….
Less and less “other people”….. more and more “my little world”……

Yep – I do understand why this guy, Hugo Borst, did say this….. but it is sad…. isn’t it..?

Link; Telegraaf.nl – article about this matter (in Dutch)

This weekend I saw another episode of “Cold Case”……

I didn’t think this was a “great episode”….. but something did get my attention; at one point – a suspect of a murder is explaining a certain quote he made: “triumph of evil”.
He said this was not the full quote – it was just a little part of it….; “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”.

Maybe weird; but I never did hear this one before…. apparently this one is written or said by an English philosopher; Edmund Burke!

I do not know how the situation is in other countries; but in Holland we have big problems with people getting violent against police/nurces/ambulance people/fireman/etcetc….
But also just people against eachother….

And we all have the thought of “how and why can this happen?”…..

To me it seems that mr.Edmund Burke has given us the answer….

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”

The quote explained; and lots of slightly different versions

It just seems to be a new way of thinking AND acting…..;
if you do not agree with a rule/a law/an idea/an organization/the Olympic games….. you just go and destroy other people’s property…!

A couple of lowlifes are demonstrating/protesting against the Olympic games….; because they think it is costing way too much money…
First of all; I am NOT calling them lowlifes because of the protesting…..and their thoughts…..
In some kind of way I can imagine their thoughts….
BUT; I am calling them lowlifes because they are smashing other people’s properties.

I really have no idea how those people are thinking. Can please someone try to explain this to me…?

On the other hand; I am convinced you will not be able to explain this to me – as I think you should never ever touch and destroy other people’s property.

See; Peaceful protest sours as ‘criminal element’ takes over streets

Today I read a piece written by Bono of U2 – a column in the New York Times….
In all honesty – I didn’t read it totally; same as his lyrics… kind of boring….!

But – there is a part in which he is talking about Intellectual Property Developers… how we should “ban” the file sharing…
According to Mr.Bono – the music industry is almost destroyed – and he hopes the other industries (movie, gaming) are able to stop the p2p/filesharing community.
He is talking about controlling the traffic between computers….

This guy – who is talking about all kinds of freedom and people being equal….
This same guy, who is asking 85 euros for a normal (ring) concert ticket,….. is telling me that I should not get music for free…..!
Uh…. but how do you expect me to be able to pay 85 euros..??
I am selling one arm – one leg….. and “steal” a couple of U2 songs; because I would like to be know if I also like the new songs of U2 => otherwise it would be ridiculous to go to your concert….. wouldn’t it…?

And then take away my freedom…. check all my email/computer traffic.
Sure; make the mailman go through my envelopes…. maybe have the police make a monthly check in my home; just to be sure I don’t have illegal stuff in my house….

Oh yeah – one more thing; once a while I am paying for a dvd (some rental – some buy) => don’t you think it is strange I have to look for a minute to a screen which is telling me that I should NOT WATCH illegal DVDs…….
So – they let me pay – to watch such a thing……
Shouldn’t you be putting this on the illegal movie – instead of my legal version…??

Source; the New York Times – Ten for the Next Ten

As a lot of people know; in Holland we do have good health system. Everybody is covered (uh… insured..??)….. so – if we have to go to the hospital; the main thing will be = HELP THAT PERSON…
Yep – a real good situation….

BUT; pls know – this is not for free…!
We, the Dutch, are paying a lot of money for it…..

See; I don’t have any problems with paying for it… and even “a lot of money”…. ah well – if we are all covered and safe….!!

So – what is the problem Sjeltur…??

Well; I am paying every month 120 euro to be covered very well. Yep – I am not even paying “the full amount” – because I do think there are some risks I “should take”…..
And with me; all the Dutch are paying a similar amount… some less and some more; depending on the coverage…
But we are all covered for the “main things”….

And every year; this amount I need to pay is rising…. I know – everything is getting more and more expensive… and yep – every year I am also earning a bit more….
One of the problems with this price rising; it is also rising because the insurance companies have problems with getting their money….
Yep; some are just not paying their bill……. and in these times of recession – I even do understand it a bit….
But those “non paying people” are creating a circle; they are not paying, because it is a lot of money……, but because of not paying – the price will be higher next year….; more reason to not pay the bill…..

In the past; the main part of the health insurance would be paid via the earnings people get;
so – I work – my boss is (forced) paying a bit from my salary to get me covered….
People on welfare; the Government would first take off the part of health insurance…..
Perfect; everybody pays in time….

I have no idea how the US Government will do all this; one advice – DO NOT LET THE PEOPLE PAY MANUALLY…..!!

Yesterday there was an interesting topic, in one of those consumer programs, on the national tv in Holland……
They where talking about Apple and their behavior with “warranty”.

We have a nice rule/law in Holland; the manufacturer can put a warranty term on their product – but the “how long the warranty should be”is depending on what is reasonable….

For example; the manufacturer could say “our tv will have a warranty for 3 months” – but that could not be reasonable!
So – probably – you bought a 500 euro tv and after a year your tv has a defect; our law will say “you MAY expect a tv of 500 euro to run longer than (for example) 2 years…. – so the tv should be covered”.
But if the tv was only 50 euro… our law probably would say “yeah – DUH…. that cheap….!!”

So; Apple is telling us on every product; “Apple’s Limited Warranty overs your Apple product for one year.”

BUT; that is absolutely not a reasonable time… – so a computer should have a warranty for about 5 years and an iPod for about 3 years….

And that is where the fights are starting in Holland; Apple Holland is just telling the consumers to “get the extra Apple Care package”….!

In all honesty – I do not think that Apple is acting reasonable with this one;
I am spending 900 euro on an iPhone… and JUST 1 year warranty…? (while a cheaper cell phone of Sony Ericsson has 2 years of warrently)
I am spending 130 euro on an iPod…..and JUST 1 year warranty…? (while, for example, Philips is giving 2 years warranty an a WAY CHEAPER mp3 player)

So – not only overpriced – also “low warranty”….. BUT… in Holland – the law is on the consumer side…!

We got this “big thing” going on in Holland; our Government wants to put a GPS device in ALL cars in Holland.
This GPS is able to “record” the amount of kilometers/miles we make on the Dutch roads…..and of course; on WHICH roads.

This data will be send to our Government and they will make a nice calculation; then we have to pay a certain amount per kilometer as “road tax”.

At this moment we are also paying road tax…. depending on the province you live in – and depending on the brand/weight/fuel of the car – we pay a certain amount per year.
So a small car, which does not use a lot of fuel, is much cheaper than a big car, which is using a lot of fuel.

According to government we should change it into paying per kilometer….!

Fair enough uh..??

Well; I do have 2 problems………….

First they say that it will be much cheaper to most people…
I can assure – I am not “most people”…..
At this moment I do have a environmental friendly car; which gives me a road tax of 80 euro per year….
But – as I am driving a lot; 110 kilometer per day….. – my NEW road tax will be 1.7 cents per kilometer – 5 days a week – 50 weeks (Yep – I also have holidays) = 467.50 euro per year….!!

And you know what…?? The 2nd problem!

With me, paying this extra amount, my government is also able to look at the data and will be able to see when and where I have been speeding… if I park my car “wrongly”…. and a lot more….!!!
With paying almost 400 euro PER YEAR MORE…. I am giving up my privacy while driving my car…..
And our government is even admitting they can and will use this data if they think a person did something “illegal or criminal”…..

As you can imagine; this is a big thing in Holland.

Seems like our privacy is floating away….

See; Telegraaf.nl – Staat gluurt mee (Dutch)