It is Ibis that is name-calling not me

And how is the weather with you, youngdan? Even the brass monkeys are running scared here. coc says on his blog that the schools in his part of the world were closed again today.

(that crunching noise is my shoulders wrenching as I try to bring this thread back on topic. After tonight, I think I'll be able to succesfully audition for the Ukrainian women's body-building team.

It is about -3 now but believe it or not it is going to get to about +5 in a day or two. I think this winter is only the same as it used to be about 15 years ago. There has been mild winters a few years back and now a bit below normal is seen as harsh. The tough thing is that there has been no letup

No letup in what youngdan - the rain ?

So it sounds like you might believe in Climate Change - just not made by humans ..

We haven't seen rain in a long time. There is a bout 2 foot of snow on the ground since before Christmas.


Of course there is climate changes, ice ages come and go. They are not because of SUVs though. I believe we are cooling now. The trend might change tomorrow or in 200 years but until it changes I am not worried.

Cooling ? Since when? 15 or 20 years ago?

I think it's been very mild here the last few winters but maybe that's going to change you think.

However, it hailstoned on my birthday as I was driving through the Curragh a couple of years back ...

Everyone agrees that we have been cooling since 1998 which had the highest readings for many years. I will wait to see what 2009 compares to 2008 but the first 40 days are way colder anyway. Check with met eireann to see if January was colder than average and how does it compare to last year to see what is happening there.

Enough about the weather - do you want to watch a Bond film with me youngdan

Don't worry I'm heterosexual !

Still snowing in London / suburbs tonight, albeit sleety rubbishy stuff compared to the proper stuff of earlier this week.

Really bored of it now. Enough already!! Snowed in and unable to go to work for 2 days.(was as wonderful as was shown on telly though - our local 15yr olds spent the days building a snow wall and snowmen and igloos - first time in their lives - we were all like kids - good soul stuff). Managed a few hours in the office Wed. but did well to escape before public transport seized up again in the evening. Now it's just still deep but slushy and mucky and horrible. It better disappear over the weekend.

Can picture Audi and Youngdan watching Bond no probs, but have both sympathy with and fear of Kate's Ukrainian muscles!!

I will definately watch it Audi. I am listening to internet radio now though. The big bond auctions are next week and I discuss them over yonder on the iseq thread. The 10 year is a whisker under 3% today and the moment of truth is at hand.

Bring a few bags of smokie bacon tayto and plenty of red lemonade. Atticus, join us as this bond drama is likely to be far more scary than 007 ever got up to. BTW did you ever take the flutter on the Kiakistan mining company

London sounds cool in the snow. Got any photos Atticus ?

youngdan
is anorakphobia still on p.ie ?

Audi, I have a number of photos to load if I ever get round to doing so. Main computer in limbo for months, so have been loath to use the laptop. Not sure why, is really quite a good Toshiba.

( okay, I really do promise to post both a couple of snowy ones (didn't take many) and others this weekend )

youngdan wrote:

I will definately watch it Audi. I am listening to internet radio now though. The big bond auctions are next week and I discuss them over yonder on the iseq thread. The 10 year is a whisker under 3% today and the moment of truth is at hand.

Bring a few bags of smokie bacon tayto and plenty of red lemonade. Atticus, join us as this bond drama is likely to be far more scary than 007 ever got up to. BTW did you ever take the flutter on the Kiakistan mining company

No I didn't and it's a bit of a sore subject!

Talk to me about Kazaksthan (spelling? bloody place, has haunted me for a year) YD.

youngdan wrote:

I will definately watch it Audi. I am listening to internet radio now though. The big bond auctions are next week and I discuss them over yonder on the iseq thread. The 10 year is a whisker under 3% today and the moment of truth is at hand.

Bring a few bags of smokie bacon tayto and plenty of red lemonade. Atticus, join us as this bond drama is likely to be far more scary than 007 ever got up to. BTW did you ever take the flutter on the Kiakistan mining company

Could you explain that a bit more for me Dan please. These were US bank bonds ? sold to the public 10 years ago ? And the banks don't have the cash to refund the bearer ?

No, we are talking government bonds and in this case US Treasury Bonds. Bonds issued by banks would be Corpurate bonds as they are issued by a corporation. Bonds issued by cities, states and other local governments are called Municipal Bonds. If corporations or municipalities have no cash to pay off a bon when it comes due then they default. The federal government is different so when you hear of default it is slightly different.

The government can always borrow because it has a central bank called the Federal Reserve that will lend even if private investors don't buy the bonds. This is the situation in England and the pound is falling as a result and it is called quantative easing. It is a default in a sence that they will pay off their debts in money worth a fraction of what it was.

Now the US might decide that it was more important to save the dollar than anything else so instead of printing they might default in the more common meaning of the term.

I explained how the interest rates change daily and the type of bond usually talked about is the 10 year duration. This is rising in yield/dropping in price and is about 3%. If it rises above this there could well be a pnic to sell.

Now next week the Treadury needs serious cash and each quarter(soon to be more frequent) they will be selling a record large supply of 3, 10 and 30 year duration bonds. Market watchers are on theedge of their seatswaiting to see how much demand there will be. Poor demand could set off panic selling in existing bonds which would drive up interest rates.

Rising rates would be the stake through the heart and at best the depression would be on and at worst currencies would collapse

And if the US defaults ? What do you think the US will do? Peter Schiff is getting a pasting because he predicted the dollar collapsing but it didn't collapse - early days yet. Another lad said that this year already has been a record year for Bong sales ...

That's the Bloomberg page of the bonds.


http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/rates/index.html

Locked for splitting to What Are Bonds ? thread.

Unlocked.. Some posts on Bonds moved here
https://machinenation.forumakers.com/theory-and-history-f17/what-exactly-are-bonds-t1065.htm#66754

Jayz it took me 13 minutes to do that - well I won't kill myself in this life with work anyway.

Bright and sunny this morning in Clare....

The weather here was horrendus yesterday. Temperature topped 46 degrees and broke all previous records. Bushfires in the outer suburbs killed dozens of people.

I live in an inner suburb that isn't in danger but there was a smell of smoke around yesterday evening which was quite omnous.

Strange thing is the temperature fell approx 20 degrees between 6 and about midnight to a relatively cool high twenties figure.

Anyway, I survived the heat by heading over to afriends house. She doesn't have air-con but for some reason her building is very cool. I did have to endure Mamma Mia though. Pierce Brosnans singing made me consider going back into the heat to escape.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/death-toll-rises-from-bushfires-20090208-80jv.html

Met some Irish guys in the bar last night who came into Melbourne from the sticks for a night out but whose town has been badly affected since they left. They know one of their number has lost his appartment (think its a town called Euroa to the noerth of melbourne) and the rest were trying to get details. I really admired their attitude I have to say, not one considered abandoning the session.

The heat for the past few weeks is even forcing native trees to go into hibernation two months early and loose their foliage. Its like autumn in july basically. I've a rotten hangover but will try get a few photos tomorrow when I've more get up and go.

Some trees in Oz need fire to propagate themselves ... are those the ones in the Suburbs ?

I think I had a 42 degree day there in Melbun when I was there. At the time there was this mysterious graffiti painted around the streets here and there
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/30/buddyicons/20531288@N00.jpg

Can't stand too much heat myself either - no one can. A few days later in Melbin it was 12degrees though

We lived in St. Kilda (the Red Light district) which is by the sea. All you can do is try to cool down in the sea if the air con is busted.

Snowed in here - in so far as we can be in the Midlands. Had planned to go to something in Wicklow last night but got freaked by conditions in Blessington and didn't chance the mountains. Just as well I didn't or I'd be still there now, in a pub carpark, frozen, despite having a carful of provisions. Has to be worse there than it is here.

Loading up some pics of the garden and will post in a few mins.

Great snow again here. Is it still snowing with you, Kate? It has stopped here, must just have snowed overnight.

Snowing again here but it's February and there is no point in complaining. The locals don't like when outsiders complain too much about snow. It is a core part of the winter tourism industry, which, since the Swiss Franc appreciated so much against sterling, needs more Euro paying customers. Snow is important here. (I still hate it!)