Megaman

Petrol Price Hike Reason In India : Tax Indian Government

2011-09-19T02:28:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: Amid resentment over the sharp hike in petrol prices, the Government today distanced itself from
the decision saying the call was taken by oil marketing firms.

"So far as petrol price is concerned, petrol has been deregulated. It is the oil marketing companies' review," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said when asked about the Rs. 3.14 per
litre hike.

He was talking to reporters after launching Land of Two Rivers, a book written by Nitish Sengupta in New Delhi.

Yesterday the state-owned oil companies hiked petrol prices stating that depreciation of Rupee increased the cost of crude oil imports. This is the second major hike in four months. In May, petrol price was increased by Rs. 5 per litre.

While the UPA ally Trinamool Congress has already demanded a rollback in the hike, CPI(M) termed it as "callous" and demanded restoration of the administrative regulation of petrol pricing.

The CPI(M) said that the petrol price hike comes at a time when inflation is touching double digits and this would only have a cascading effect on price rise.

The RBI in its monetary policy today said that the petrol price hike would push WPI inflation up by 7 basis points.

Petrol prices were freed from government control in June last year.

Forex Trading

2011-09-14T02:40:00.000-07:00

The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global, worldwide decentralized financial market for trading currencies. Financial centers around the world function as anchors of trading between a wide range of different types of buyers and sellers around the clock, with the exception of weekends. The foreign exchange market determines the relative values of different currencies.[1]

The primary purpose of the foreign exchange is to assist international trade and investment, by allowing businesses to convert one currency to another currency. For example, it permits a US business to import British goods and pay Pound Sterling, even though the business' income is in US dollars. It also supports direct speculation in the value of currencies, and the carry trade, speculation on the change in interest rates in two currencies.[2]

In a typical foreign exchange transaction, a party purchases a quantity of one currency by paying a quantity of another currency. The modern foreign exchange market began forming during the 1970s after three decades of government restrictions on foreign exchange transactions (the Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the world's major industrial states after World War II), when countries gradually switched to floating exchange rates from the previous exchange rate regime, which remained fixed as per the Bretton Woods system.

The foreign exchange market is unique because of

its huge trading volume representing the largest asset class in the world leading to high liquidity;
its geographical dispersion;
its continuous operation: 24 hours a day except weekends, i.e. trading from 20:15 GMT on Sunday until 22:00 GMT Friday;
the variety of factors that affect exchange rates;
the low margins of relative profit compared with other markets of fixed income; and
the use of leverage to enhance profit and loss margins and with respect to account size.

As such, it has been referred to as the market closest to the ideal of perfect competition, notwithstanding currency intervention by central banks. According to the Bank for International Settlements,[3] as of April 2010, average daily turnover in global foreign exchange markets is estimated at $3.98 trillion, a growth of approximately 20% over the $3.21 trillion daily volume as of April 2007. Some firms specializing on foreign exchange market had put the average daily turnover in excess of US$4 trillion.[4]

The $3.98 trillion break-down is as follows:

$1.490 trillion in spot transactions
$475 billion in outright forwards
$1.765 trillion in foreign exchange swaps
$43 billion Currency swaps
$207 billion in options and other products

Contents
[hide]

1 Market Size and liquidity
2 Market participants
2.1 Banks
2.2 Commercial companies
2.3 Central banks
2.4 Forex fixing
2.5 Hedge funds as speculators
2.6 Investment management firms
2.7 Retail foreign exchange traders
2.8 Non-bank foreign exchange companies
2.9 Money transfer/remittance companies and bureaux de change
3 Trading characteristics
4 Determinants of FX rates
4.1 Economic factors
4.2 Political conditions
4.3 Market psychology
5 Financial instruments
5.1 Spot
5.2 Forward
5.3 Swap
5.4 Future
5.5 Option
6 Speculation
7 Risk aversion in forex
8 Further reading
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 External links

Market Size and liquidity
Main foreign exchange market turnover, 1988–2007, measured in billions of USD.

The foreign exchange market is the most liquid financial market in the world. Traders include large banks, central banks, institutional investors, currency speculators, corporations, governments, other financial institutions, and retail investors. The average daily turnover in the global foreign exchange and related markets is continuously growing. According to the 2010 Triennial Central Bank Survey, coordinated by the Bank for International Settlements, average daily turnover was US$3.98 trillion in April 2010 (vs $1.7 trillion in 1998).[3] Of this $3.98 trillion, $1.5 trillion was spot foreign exchange transactions and $2.5 trillion was traded in outright forwards, FX swaps and other currency derivatives.

Trading in the UK accounted for 36.7% of the total, making UK by far the most important global center for foreign exchange trading. In second and third places, respectively, trading in the USA accounted for 17.9%, and Japan accounted for 6.2%.[5]

Turnover of exchange-traded foreign exchange futures and options have grown rapidly in recent years, reaching $166 billion in April 2010 (double the turnover recorded in April 2007). Exchange-traded currency derivatives represent 4% of OTC foreign exchange turnover. FX futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts.

Most developed countries permit the trading of FX derivative products (like currency futures and options on currency futures) on their exchanges. All these developed countries already have fully convertible capital accounts. A number of emerging countries do not permit FX derivative products on their exchanges in view of controls on the capital accounts. The use of foreign exchange derivatives is growing in many emerging economies.[6] Countries such as Korea, South Africa, and India have established currency futures exchanges, despite having some controls on the capital account.
Top 10 currency traders [7]
% of overall volume, May 2011 Rank Name Market share
1 Germany Deutsche Bank 15.64%
2 United Kingdom Barclays Capital 10.75%
3 Switzerland UBS AG 10.59%
4 United States Citi 8.88%
5 United States JPMorgan 6.43%
6 United Kingdom HSBC 6.26%
7 United Kingdom Royal Bank of Scotland 6.20%
8 Switzerland Credit Suisse 4.80%
9 United States Goldman Sachs 4.13%
10 United States Morgan Stanley 3.64%

Foreign exchange trading increased by 20% between April 2007 and April 2010 and has more than doubled since 2004.[8] The increase in turnover is due to a number of factors: the growing importance of foreign exchange as an asset class, the increased trading activity of high-frequency traders, and the emergence of retail investors as an important market segment. The growth of electronic execution methods and the diverse selection of execution venues have lowered transaction costs, increased market liquidity, and attracted greater participation from many customer types. In particular, electronic trading via online portals has made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market. By 2010, retail trading is estimated to account for up to 10% of spot FX turnover, or $150 billion per day (see retail trading platforms).

Because foreign exchange is an over-the-counter (OTC) market where brokers/dealers negotiate directly with one another, there is no central exchange or clearing house. The biggest geographic trading center is the UK, primarily London, which according to TheCityUK estimates has increased its share of global turnover in traditional transactions from 34.6% in April 2007 to 36.7% in April 2010. Due to London's dominance in the market, a particular currency's quoted price is usually the London market price. For instance, when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) calculates the value of its Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) every day, they use the London market prices at noon that day.
Market participants
Financial markets

Bruxelles Bourse.jpg

Public market

Exchange
Securities
Bond market

Fixed income
Corporate bond
Government bond
Municipal bond
Bond valuation
High-yield debt
Stock market

Stock
Preferred stock
Common stock
Registered share
Voting share
Stock exchange
Derivatives market

Securitization
Hybrid security
Credit derivative
Futures exchange
OTC, non organized

Spot market
Forwards
Swaps
Options
Foreign exchange

Exchange rate
Currency
Other markets

Money market
Reinsurance market
Commodity market
Real estate market
Practical trading

Participants
Clearing house
Financial regulation

Finance series
Banks and banking
Corporate finance
Personal finance
Public finance
v · d · e

Unlike a stock market, the foreign exchange market is divided into levels of access. At the top is the inter-bank market, which is made up of the largest commercial banks and securities dealers. Within the inter-bank market, spreads, which are the difference between the bid and ask prices, are razor sharp and not known to players outside the inner circle. The difference between the bid and ask prices widens (for example from 0-1 pip to 1-2 pips for a currencies such as the EUR) as you go down the levels of access. This is due to volume. If a trader can guarantee large numbers of transactions for large amounts, they can demand a smaller difference between the bid and ask price, which is referred to as a better spread. The levels of access that make up the foreign exchange market are determined by the size of the "line" (the amount of money with which they are trading). The top-tier interbank market accounts for 53% of all transactions. From there, smaller banks, followed by large multi-national corporations (which need to hedge risk and pay employees in different countries), large hedge funds, and even some of the retail FX market makers. According to Galati and Melvin, “Pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, and other institutional investors have played an increasingly important role in financial markets in general, and in FX markets in particular, since the early 2000s.” (2004) In addition, he notes, “Hedge funds have grown markedly over the 2001–2004 period in terms of both number and overall size”.[9] Central banks also participate in the foreign exchange market to align currencies to their economic needs.
Banks

The interbank market caters for both the majority of commercial turnover and large amounts of speculative trading every day. Many large banks may trade billions of dollars, daily. Some of this trading is undertaken on behalf of customers, but much is conducted by proprietary desks, which are trading desks for the bank's own account. Until recently, foreign exchange brokers did large amounts of business, facilitating interbank trading and matching anonymous counterparts for large fees. Today, however, much of this business has moved on to more efficient electronic systems. The broker squawk box lets traders listen in on ongoing interbank trading and is heard in most trading rooms, but turnover is noticeably smaller than just a few years ago.[citation needed]
Commercial companies

An important part of this market comes from the financial activities of companies seeking foreign exchange to pay for goods or services. Commercial companies often trade fairly small amounts compared to those of banks or speculators, and their trades often have little short term impact on market rates. Nevertheless, trade flows are an important factor in the long-term direction of a currency's exchange rate. Some multinational companies can have an unpredictable impact when very large positions are covered due to exposures that are not widely known by other market participants.
Central banks

National central banks play an important role in the foreign exchange markets. They try to control the money supply, inflation, and/or interest rates and often have official or unofficial target rates for their currencies. They can use their often substantial foreign exchange reserves to stabilize the market. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of central bank "stabilizing speculation" is doubtful because central banks do not go bankrupt if they make large losses, like other traders would, and there is no convincing evidence that they do make a profit trading.
Forex fixing

Forex fixing is the daily monetary exchange rate fixed by the national bank of each country. The idea is that central banks use the fixing time and exchange rate to evaluate behavior of their currency. Fixing exchange rates reflects the real value of equilibrium in the forex market. Banks, dealers and online foreign exchange traders use fixing rates as a trend indicator.

The mere expectation or rumor of central bank intervention might be enough to stabilize a currency, but aggressive intervention might be used several times each year in countries with a dirty float currency regime. Central banks do not always achieve their objectives. The combined resources of the market can easily overwhelm any central bank.[10] Several scenarios of this nature were seen in the 1992–93 European Exchange Rate Mechanism collapse, and in more recent times in Southeast Asia.
Hedge funds as speculators

About 70% to 90%[citation needed] of the foreign exchange transactions are speculative. In other words, the person or institution that bought or sold the currency has no plan to actually take delivery of the currency in the end; rather, they were solely speculating on the movement of that particular currency. Hedge funds have gained a reputation for aggressive currency speculation since 1996. They control billions of dollars of equity and may borrow billions more, and thus may overwhelm intervention by central banks to support almost any currency, if the economic fundamentals are in the hedge funds' favor.
Investment management firms

Investment management firms (who typically manage large accounts on behalf of customers such as pension funds and endowments) use the foreign exchange market to facilitate transactions in foreign securities. For example, an investment manager bearing an international equity portfolio needs to purchase and sell several pairs of foreign currencies to pay for foreign securities purchases.

Some investment management firms also have more speculative specialist currency overlay operations, which manage clients' currency exposures with the aim of generating profits as well as limiting risk. Whilst the number of this type of specialist firms is quite small, many have a large value of assets under management (AUM), and hence can generate large trades.
Retail foreign exchange traders

Individual Retail speculative traders constitute a growing segment of this market with the advent of retail forex platforms, both in size and importance. Currently, they participate indirectly through brokers or banks. Retail brokers, while largely controlled and regulated in the USA by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and National Futures Association have in the past been subjected to periodic foreign exchange scams.[11][12] To deal with the issue, the NFA and CFTC began (as of 2009) imposing stricter requirements, particularly in relation to the amount of Net Capitalization required of its members. As a result many of the smaller and perhaps questionable brokers are now gone or have moved to countries outside the US. A number of the forex brokers operate from the UK under Financial Services Authority regulations where forex trading using margin is part of the wider over-the-counter derivatives trading industry that includes Contract for differences and financial spread betting.

There are two main types of retail FX brokers offering the opportunity for speculative currency trading: brokers and dealers or market makers. Brokers serve as an agent of the customer in the broader FX market, by seeking the best price in the market for a retail order and dealing on behalf of the retail customer. They charge a commission or mark-up in addition to the price obtained in the market. Dealers or market makers, by contrast, typically act as principal in the transaction versus the retail customer, and quote a price they are willing to deal at.
Non-bank foreign exchange companies

Non-bank foreign exchange companies offer currency exchange and international payments to private individuals and companies. These are also known as foreign exchange brokers but are distinct in that they do not offer speculative trading but rather currency exchange with payments (i.e., there is usually a physical delivery of currency to a bank account).

It is estimated that in the UK, 14% of currency transfers/payments[13] are made via Foreign Exchange Companies.[14] These companies' selling point is usually that they will offer better exchange rates or cheaper payments than the customer's bank. These companies differ from Money Transfer/Remittance Companies in that they generally offer higher-value services.
Money transfer/remittance companies and bureaux de change

Money transfer companies/remittance companies perform high-volume low-value transfers generally by economic migrants back to their home country. In 2007, the Aite Group estimated that there were $369 billion of remittances (an increase of 8% on the previous year). The four largest markets (India, China, Mexico and the Philippines) receive $95 billion. The largest and best known provider is Western Union with 345,000 agents globally followed by UAE Exchange[citation needed]

Bureau de change or currency transfer companies provide low value foreign exchange services for travelers. These are typically located at airports and stations or at tourist locations and allow physical notes to be exchanged from one currency to another. They access the foreign exchange markets via banks or non bank foreign exchange companies.
Trading characteristics
Most traded currencies by value
Currency distribution of global foreign exchange market turnover[3] Rank Currency ISO 4217 code
(Symbol) % daily share
(April 2010)
1
United States United States dollar
USD ($)
84.9%
2
European Union Euro
EUR (€)
39.1%
3
Japan Japanese yen
JPY (¥)
19.0%
4
United Kingdom Pound sterling
GBP (£)
12.9%
5
Australia Australian dollar
AUD ($)
7.6%
6
Switzerland Swiss franc
CHF (Fr)
6.4%
7
Canada Canadian dollar
CAD ($)
5.3%
8
Hong Kong Hong Kong dollar
HKD ($)
2.4%
9
Sweden Swedish krona
SEK (kr)
2.2%
10
New Zealand New Zealand dollar
NZD ($)
1.6%
11
South Korea South Korean won
KRW (₩)
1.5%
12
Singapore Singapore dollar
SGD ($)
1.4%
13
Norway Norwegian krone
NOK (kr)
1.3%
14
Mexico Mexican peso
MXN ($)
1.3%
15
India Indian rupee
INR (INR)
0.9%
Other 12.2%
Total[15] 200%

There is no unified or centrally cleared market for the majority of FX trades, and there is very little cross-border regulation. Due to the over-the-counter (OTC) nature of currency markets, there are rather a number of interconnected marketplaces, where different currencies instruments are traded. This implies that there is not a single exchange rate but rather a number of different rates (prices), depending on what bank or market maker is trading, and where it is. In practice the rates are often very close, otherwise they could be exploited by arbitrageurs instantaneously. Due to London's dominance in the market, a particular currency's quoted price is usually the London market price. A joint venture of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Reuters, called Fxmarketspace opened in 2007 and aspired but failed to the role of a central market clearing mechanism.[citation needed]

The main trading center is London, but New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore are all important centers as well. Banks throughout the world participate. Currency trading happens continuously throughout the day; as the Asian trading session ends, the European session begins, followed by the North American session and then back to the Asian session, excluding weekends.

Fluctuations in exchange rates are usually caused by actual monetary flows as well as by expectations of changes in monetary flows caused by changes in gross domestic product (GDP) growth, inflation (purchasing power parity theory), interest rates (interest rate parity, Domestic Fisher effect, International Fisher effect), budget and trade deficits or surpluses, large cross-border M&A deals and other macroeconomic conditions. Major news is released publicly, often on scheduled dates, so many people have access to the same news at the same time. However, the large banks have an important advantage; they can see their customers' order flow.

Currencies are traded against one another. Each currency pair thus constitutes an individual trading product and is traditionally noted XXXYYY or XXX/YYY, where XXX and YYY are the ISO 4217 international three-letter code of the currencies involved. The first currency (XXX) is the base currency that is quoted relative to the second currency (YYY), called the counter currency (or quote currency). For instance, the quotation EURUSD (EUR/USD) 1.5465 is the price of the euro expressed in US dollars, meaning 1 euro = 1.5465 dollars. The market convention is to quote most exchange rates against the USD with the US dollar as the base currency (e.g. USDJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF). The exceptions are the British pound (GBP), Australian dollar (AUD), the New Zealand dollar (NZD) and the euro (EUR) where the USD is the counter currency (e.g. GBPUSD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, EURUSD).

The factors affecting XXX will affect both XXXYYY and XXXZZZ. This causes positive currency correlation between XXXYYY and XXXZZZ.

On the spot market, according to the 2010 Triennial Survey, the most heavily traded bilateral currency pairs were:

EURUSD: 28%
USDJPY: 14%
GBPUSD (also called cable): 9%

and the US currency was involved in 84.9% of transactions, followed by the euro (39.1%), the yen (19.0%), and sterling (12.9%) (see table). Volume percentages for all individual currencies should add up to 200%, as each transaction involves two currencies.

Trading in the euro has grown considerably since the currency's creation in January 1999, and how long the foreign exchange market will remain dollar-centered is open to debate. Until recently, trading the euro versus a non-European currency ZZZ would have usually involved two trades: EURUSD and USDZZZ. The exception to this is EURJPY, which is an established traded currency pair in the interbank spot market. As the dollar's value has eroded during 2008, interest in using the euro as reference currency for prices in commodities (such as oil), as well as a larger component of foreign reserves by banks, has increased dramatically. Transactions in the currencies of commodity-producing countries, such as AUD, NZD, CAD, have also increased.
Determinants of FX rates
See also: exchange rates

The following theories explain the fluctuations in FX rates in a floating exchange rate regime (In a fixed exchange rate regime, FX rates are decided by its government):

(a) International parity conditions: Relative Purchasing Power Parity, interest rate parity, Domestic Fisher effect, International Fisher effect. Though to some extent the above theories provide logical explanation for the fluctuations in exchange rates, yet these theories falter as they are based on challengeable assumptions [e.g., free flow of goods, services and capital] which seldom hold true in the real world.

(b) Balance of payments model (see exchange rate): This model, however, focuses largely on tradable goods and services, ignoring the increasing role of global capital flows. It failed to provide any explanation for continuous appreciation of dollar during 1980s and most part of 1990s in face of soaring US current account deficit.

(c) Asset market model (see exchange rate): views currencies as an important asset class for constructing investment portfolios. Assets prices are influenced mostly by people's willingness to hold the existing quantities of assets, which in turn depends on their expectations on the future worth of these assets. The asset market model of exchange rate determination states that “the exchange rate between two currencies represents the price that just balances the relative supplies of, and demand for, assets denominated in those currencies.”

None of the models developed so far succeed to explain FX rates levels and volatility in the longer time frames. For shorter time frames (less than a few days) algorithms can be devised to predict prices. It is understood from the above models that many macroeconomic factors affect the exchange rates and in the end currency prices are a result of dual forces of demand and supply. The world's currency markets can be viewed as a huge melting pot: in a large and ever-changing mix of current events, supply and demand factors are constantly shifting, and the price of one currency in relation to another shifts accordingly. No other market encompasses (and distills) as much of what is going on in the world at any given time as foreign exchange.

Supply and demand for any given currency, and thus its value, are not influenced by any single element, but rather by several. These elements generally fall into three categories: economic factors, political conditions and market psychology.
Economic factors

These include: (a)economic policy, disseminated by government agencies and central banks, (b)economic conditions, generally revealed through economic reports, and other economic indicators.

Economic policy comprises government fiscal policy (budget/spending practices) and monetary policy (the means by which a government's central bank influences the supply and "cost" of money, which is reflected by the level of interest rates).
Government budget deficits or surpluses: The market usually reacts negatively to widening government budget deficits, and positively to narrowing budget deficits. The impact is reflected in the value of a country's currency.
Balance of trade levels and trends: The trade flow between countries illustrates the demand for goods and services, which in turn indicates demand for a country's currency to conduct trade. Surpluses and deficits in trade of goods and services reflect the competitiveness of a nation's economy. For example, trade deficits may have a negative impact on a nation's currency.
Inflation levels and trends: Typically a currency will lose value if there is a high level of inflation in the country or if inflation levels are perceived to be rising. This is because inflation erodes purchasing power, thus demand, for that particular currency. However, a currency may sometimes strengthen when inflation rises because of expectations that the central bank will raise short-term interest rates to combat rising inflation.
Economic growth and health: Reports such as GDP, employment levels, retail sales, capacity utilization and others, detail the levels of a country's economic growth and health. Generally, the more healthy and robust a country's economy, the better its currency will perform, and the more demand for it there will be.
Productivity of an economy: Increasing productivity in an economy should positively influence the value of its currency. Its effects are more prominent if the increase is in the traded sector [1].

Political conditions

Internal, regional, and international political conditions and events can have a profound effect on currency markets.

All exchange rates are susceptible to political instability and anticipations about the new ruling party. Political upheaval and instability can have a negative impact on a nation's economy. For example, destabilization of coalition governments in Pakistan and Thailand can negatively affect the value of their currencies. Similarly, in a country experiencing financial difficulties, the rise of a political faction that is perceived to be fiscally responsible can have the opposite effect. Also, events in one country in a region may spur positive/negative interest in a neighboring country and, in the process, affect its currency.
Market psychology

Market psychology and trader perceptions influence the foreign exchange market in a variety of ways:

Flights to quality: Unsettling international events can lead to a "flight to quality", a type of capital flight whereby investors move their assets to a perceived "safe haven". There will be a greater demand, thus a higher price, for currencies perceived as stronger over their relatively weaker counterparts. The U.S. dollar, Swiss franc and gold have been traditional safe havens during times of political or economic uncertainty.[16]
Long-term trends: Currency markets often move in visible long-term trends. Although currencies do not have an annual growing season like physical commodities, business cycles do make themselves felt. Cycle analysis looks at longer-term price trends that may rise from economic or political trends.[17]
"Buy the rumor, sell the fact": This market truism can apply to many currency situations. It is the tendency for the price of a currency to reflect the impact of a particular action before it occurs and, when the anticipated event comes to pass, react in exactly the opposite direction. This may also be referred to as a market being "oversold" or "overbought".[18] To buy the rumor or sell the fact can also be an example of the cognitive bias known as anchoring, when investors focus too much on the relevance of outside events to currency prices.
Economic numbers: While economic numbers can certainly reflect economic policy, some reports and numbers take on a talisman-like effect: the number itself becomes important to market psychology and may have an immediate impact on short-term market moves. "What to watch" can change over time. In recent years, for example, money supply, employment, trade balance figures and inflation numbers have all taken turns in the spotlight.
Technical trading considerations: As in other markets, the accumulated price movements in a currency pair such as EUR/USD can form apparent patterns that traders may attempt to use. Many traders study price charts in order to identify such patterns.[19]

Financial instruments
Spot

A spot transaction is a two-day delivery transaction (except in the case of trades between the US Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Turkish Lira, EURO and Russian Ruble, which settle the next business day), as opposed to the futures contracts, which are usually three months. This trade represents a “direct exchange” between two currencies, has the shortest time frame, involves cash rather than a contract; and interest is not included in the agreed-upon transaction.
Forward
See also: forward contract

One way to deal with the foreign exchange risk is to engage in a forward transaction. In this transaction, money does not actually change hands until some agreed upon future date. A buyer and seller agree on an exchange rate for any date in the future, and the transaction occurs on that date, regardless of what the market rates are then. The duration of the trade can be one day, a few days, months or years. Usually the date is decided by both parties. Then the forward contract is negotiated and agreed upon by both parties.
Swap
Main article: foreign exchange swap

The most common type of forward transaction is the FX swap. In an FX swap, two parties exchange currencies for a certain length of time and agree to reverse the transaction at a later date. These are not standardized contracts and are not traded through an exchange.
Future
Main article: currency future

Futures are standardized and are usually traded on an exchange created for this purpose. The average contract length is roughly 3 months. Futures contracts are usually inclusive of any interest amounts.
Option
Main article: foreign exchange option

A foreign exchange option (commonly shortened to just FX option) is a derivative where the owner has the right but not the obligation to exchange money denominated in one currency into another currency at a pre-agreed exchange rate on a specified date. The FX options market is the deepest, largest and most liquid market for options of any kind in the world.
Speculation

Controversy about currency speculators and their effect on currency devaluations and national economies recurs regularly. Nevertheless, economists including Milton Friedman have argued that speculators ultimately are a stabilizing influence on the market and perform the important function of providing a market for hedgers and transferring risk from those people who don't wish to bear it, to those who do.[20] Other economists such as Joseph Stiglitz consider this argument to be based more on politics and a free market philosophy than on economics.[21]

Large hedge funds and other well capitalized "position traders" are the main professional speculators. According to some economists, individual traders could act as "noise traders" and have a more destabilizing role than larger and better informed actors.[22]

Currency speculation is considered a highly suspect activity in many countries.[where?] While investment in traditional financial instruments like bonds or stocks often is considered to contribute positively to economic growth by providing capital, currency speculation does not; according to this view, it is simply gambling that often interferes with economic policy. For example, in 1992, currency speculation forced the Central Bank of Sweden to raise interest rates for a few days to 500% per annum, and later to devalue the krona.[23] Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is one well known proponent of this view. He blamed the devaluation of the Malaysian ringgit in 1997 on George Soros and other speculators.

Gregory J. Millman reports on an opposing view, comparing speculators to "vigilantes" who simply help "enforce" international agreements and anticipate the effects of basic economic "laws" in order to profit.[24]

In this view, countries may develop unsustainable financial bubbles or otherwise mishandle their national economies, and foreign exchange speculators made the inevitable collapse happen sooner. A relatively quick collapse might even be preferable to continued economic mishandling, followed by an eventual, larger, collapse. Mahathir Mohamad and other critics of speculation are viewed as trying to deflect the blame from themselves for having caused the unsustainable economic conditions.
Risk aversion in forex
See also: Safe-haven currency
Fig.1 Chart showing MSCI World Index of Equities fell while the US Dollar Index rose.

Risk aversion in the forex is a kind of trading behavior exhibited by the foreign exchange market when a potentially adverse event happens which may affect market conditions. This behavior is caused when risk averse traders liquidate their positions in risky assets and shift the funds to less risky assets due to uncertainty.[25]

In the context of the forex market, traders liquidate their positions in various currencies to take up positions in safe-haven currencies, such as the US Dollar.[26] Sometimes, the choice of a safe haven currency is more of a choice based on prevailing sentiments rather than one of economic statistics. An example would be the Financial Crisis of 2008. The value of equities across world fell while the US Dollar strengthened (see Fig.1). This happened despite the strong focus of the crisis in the USA.[27]
Further reading

dc hair laser removal washington hair laser removal virginia

2010-09-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

Laser hair removal offers a quick, safe and comfortable way to remove unwanted body hair. Unlike other hair removal procedures that focus on individual hairs, laser technology is able to quickly treat large areas of hair at once. In an hour or less, most body areas can be hair free.

Hong Kong Film makers aiming at first 3D porn movie

2010-08-18T05:30:00.001-07:00

Get those 3D glasses ready.

A group of Hong Kong filmmakers claim to be shooting the first ever 3D porno film, according to the AFP.

The working title of the $3.2 million project is "3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy" and it stars Japanese adult actresses Yukiko Suo and Saori Harais, according to the Sunday Morning Post.

Based on a classic piece of Chinese erotic fiction, the sexy film follows a strapping young man as he discovers a royal world of "orgies, swinging and some very graphic sex scenes", the paper reported.

The film, to be released in May, will reportedly be marketed in Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and some pay-per-view TV channels in Hong Kong- mainland China will likely be off limits due to censorship, according to the AFP.

And this is just the beginning for 3D sex flicks.

Hustler is reportedly working on a 3-D porno-spoof of James Cameron's mega blockbuster "Avatar", while Italian director Tinto Brass plans to make a 3D version of his 1979 erotic film "Caligula".

World’s Most Ingenious Thief

2010-08-18T00:47:00.000-07:00

The plane slowed and leveled out about a mile aboveground. Up ahead, the Viennese castle glowed like a fairy tale palace. When the pilot gave the thumbs-up, Gerald Blanchard looked down, checked his parachute straps, and jumped into the darkness. He plummeted for a second, then pulled his cord, slowing to a nice descent toward the tiled roof. It was early June 1998, and the evening wind was warm. If it kept cooperating, Blanchard would touch down directly above the room that held the Koechert Diamond Pearl. He steered his parachute toward his target.

A couple of days earlier, Blanchard had appeared to be just another twentysomething on vacation with his wife and her wealthy father. The three of them were taking a six-month grand European tour: London, Rome, Barcelona, the French Riviera, Vienna. When they stopped at the Schloss Schönbrunn, the Austrian equivalent of Versailles, his father-in-law’s VIP status granted them a special preview peek at a highly prized piece from a private collection. And there it was: In a cavernous room, in an alarmed case, behind bulletproof glass, on a weight-sensitive pedestal — a delicate but dazzling 10-pointed star of diamonds fanned around one monstrous pearl. Five seconds after laying eyes on it, Blanchard knew he would try to take it.

The docent began to describe the history of the Koechert Diamond Pearl, better known as the Sisi Star — it was one of many similar pieces specially crafted for Empress Elisabeth to be worn in her magnificently long and lovely braids. Sisi, as she was affectionately known, was assassinated 100 years ago. Only two stars remain, and it has been 75 years since the public had a glimpse of…

Blanchard wasn’t listening. He was noting the motion sensors in the corner, the type of screws on the case, the large windows nearby. To hear Blanchard tell it, he has a savantlike ability to assess security flaws, like a criminal Rain Man who involuntarily sees risk probabilities at every turn. And the numbers came up good for the star. Blanchard knew he couldn’t fence the piece, which he did hear the guide say was worth $2 million. Still, he found the thing mesmerizing and the challenge irresistible.

He began to work immediately, videotaping every detail of the star’s chamber. (He even coyly shot the “No Cameras” sign near the jewel case.) He surreptitiously used a key to loosen the screws when the staff moved on to the next room, unlocked the windows, and determined that the motion sensors would allow him to move — albeit very slowly — inside the castle. He stopped at the souvenir shop and bought a replica of the Sisi Star to get a feel for its size. He also noted the armed guards stationed at every entrance and patrolling the halls.

But the roof was unguarded, and it so happened that one of the skills Blanchard had picked up in his already long criminal career was skydiving. He had also recently befriended a German pilot who was game for a mercenary sortie and would help Blanchard procure a parachute. Just one night after his visit to the star, Blanchard was making his descent to the roof.

Aerial approaches are a tricky business, though, and Blanchard almost overshot the castle, slowing himself just enough by skidding along a pitched gable. Sliding down the tiles, arms and legs flailing for a grip, Blanchard managed to save himself from falling four stories by grabbing a railing at the roof’s edge. For a moment, he lay motionless. Then he took a deep breath, unhooked the chute, retrieved a rope from his pack, wrapped it around a marble column, and lowered himself down the side of the building.

Carefully, Blanchard entered through the window he had unlocked the previous day. He knew there was a chance of encountering guards. But the Schloss Schönbrunn was a big place, with more than 1,000 rooms. He liked the odds. If he heard guards, he figured, he would disappear behind the massive curtains.

The nearby rooms were silent as Blanchard slowly approached the display and removed the already loosened screws, carefully using a butter knife to hold in place the two long rods that would trigger the alarm system. The real trick was ensuring that the spring-loaded mechanism the star was sitting on didn’t register that the weight above it had changed. Of course, he had that covered, too: He reached into his pocket and deftly replaced Elisabeth’s bejeweled hairpin with the gift-store fake.

Within minutes, the Sisi Star was in Blanchard’s pocket and he was rappelling down a back wall to the garden, taking the rope with him as he slipped from the grounds. When the star was dramatically unveiled to the public the next day, Blanchard returned to watch visitors gasp at the sheer beauty of a cheap replica. And when his parachute was later found in a trash bin, no one connected it to the star, because no one yet knew it was missing. It was two weeks before anyone realized that the jewelry had disappeared.

Later, the Sisi Star rode inside the respirator of some scuba gear back to his home base in Canada, where Blanchard would assemble what prosecutors later called, for lack of a better term, the Blanchard Criminal Organization. Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of surveillance and electronics, Blanchard became a criminal mastermind. The star was the heist that transformed him from a successful and experienced thief into a criminal virtuoso.

“Cunning, clever, conniving, and creative,” as one prosecutor would call him, Blanchard eluded the police for years. But eventually he made a mistake. And that mistake would take two officers from the modest police force of Winnipeg, Canada, on a wild ride of high tech capers across Africa, Canada, and Europe. Says Mitch McCormick, one of those Winnipeg investigators, “We had never seen anything like it.”

2010-08-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

Brewer claims world's strongest beer

AMSTERDAM | Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:59am EDT

Dutch brewer with a penchant for competition has laid claim to creating the world's strongest brew: a beer that is some 60 percent alcohol by volume.

"You don't drink it like beer, but like a cocktail -- in a nice whisky or cognac glass," brewer Jan Nijboer told Dutch news agency ANP.

Nijboer's Almere-based brewery, 't Koelschip (The Refrigerated Ship), sells the new beer, which is 120 proof and dubbed "Start the Future," in a one-third liter bottle for 35 euros ($45) each.

Nijboer told ANP he developed the new brew to keep up with Scottish outfits that were also pushing the boundaries of beer's alcohol content.

His previous record-holder, a beer called Oblix that was 90 proof (45 percent alcohol by volume), was eclipsed by a Scottish beer that reached 55 percent.

That beer, dubbed "The End of History," was announced last week by a small brewery called BrewDog. Only 12 bottles were made, each housed inside a stuffed dead animal and sold starting at 500 pounds ($780) each.

"It has become a little competition," Nijboer said. "You should see it as a joke."

Courtesy: Reuters

2010-01-26T22:33:00.001-08:00

Order Online Dominos India.
Dominos pizza site for India, offers menus and ordering for pizza delivery or pickup in India.

Dominos coupons.
Order Online Dominos' Pizza.

Some amaizng photos

2008-05-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

2. The Ball is Coming!
Analogue shot with Seagull 6×6 (Chinese clone of Rolleiflex), made in 1983. “The gulfball is suspended on a fishing line in front of the camera. It was a stormy day. So I had to shoot 5 or 6 films for getting one image with the ball in the center position AND a light reflection on the golf club.”

3. Sky
The sky is reflected in a drop of water. Beautiful scenery.

4. Returning to the same ocean
Beautiful sand textures, beautiful composition and somehow a very sad story hidden behind the image.

5. Tree
A colorful tree from a different perspective.

6. Gizmo
How adorable is that?

7. Glittery Ball
“The reflection in this water droplet, it looks like the glitter is stuck to the water, but NO, it is reflections from the glitter on the feather.”

8. Yaw? Weeeee
You probably shouldn’t try this in your local trains. Such pictures are unforgettable.

9. Leap of Faith
What does being one step away from falling into the abyss feel like?

10. Astronaut Self-shot Over Earth
Could this be the best self-shot ever? It’s truly out of this world.

11. Autumn in red
Pure beauty. No words are necessary.

12. FlickrMeeting - Genova - G3
Blue baloon, a small detail, gives the picture an incredible power.

13. Sea in the sea
Incredible scenery. Apparently, the shot was made on the boat in the middle of the sea.

14. If I was an old building…
“If I was an old building I would want to be by the ocean. Till’ the end of times”. Photographed at the old fishing piers of the Texas Bolivar Peninsula.

15. Bee the Cat
“It’s hard to get the right exposure, with them being white, and with the fact they don’t stay still unless they’re sleeping.”

16. Passing the Golden Gate Bridge

17. Glow
Smoke from a leaf pile.

18. Swimming pool
Taking a look at the swimming pool. From a quite different perspective.

19. Reflect
A reflection from the louvre’s pyramid.

20. Time To Go Home…
“Tthe way the birds are lined up makes the composition extraordinary fantastic.”

21. Seagull on a sign
This seagull seems to have its own personal understanding of human’s rules.

22. Marshmellow girl
A beautiful composition.

23. Refashioned Dahlia
Photo taken at Duncan Garden in Spokane, WA.

24. Bird and Meat

25. Water drop
A photo taken at the exact right time. Available as a desktop wallpaper in various resolutions.

26. Mt. Fuji

27. Two ways at looking at a fish

28. Blessed fog
A shot of Grande Madre di Dio in Torino, Italy.

29. Family of bugs

30. Pigeon Point Lighthouse
“Once per year at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse they shut down the weak insipid modern (presumably electric) light and switch over the the 5 kerosene lamps and fresnel lens of the original, as it was 135 years ago.”

31. Fire Shot
Location: Changa Beach, Coquimbo.

32. A conversation
Fox, bird and snow. This picture is titled “Good afternoon, my name is chikiricuatro”.

33. Shanghai - Acrobatic
Picture taken during an acrobatic show in a Shanghainese theatre.

34. Northern lights as seen from space

35. Red October Rise
Sunrise over Bogie Lake, Michigan.

36. Crystal clarity

37. Skier’s Paradise
“Climbing partner at 17,000′ on Denali carrying his skis down to around 16,200′ where he will be able to ski down the rest of the way to base camp at 7200′.”

38. Bird and Water

39. Photograph Taken at the Exact Right Time

40. All alone.
This shot is taken on a Norway’s cliff Prekestolen (also known as Preacher’s Pulpit).

41. Looking out of the window

42. Above the clouds
The shot taken during the flight from Vienna to Frankfurt, approaching Frankfurt.

43. The Waves

44. The Waves. One more time.

45. Cockfight
Taken by Jan Sochor.

46. Polar lights
Öxarárfoss in Iceland - Aurora Borealis taken by Arnar Valdimarsson.

47. Concentration

48. Cat and deer

49. Here floats a bubble in the air…

50. A girl portrait

Source

Big breasts win model's court case

2008-03-05T00:35:00.000-08:00

A JAPANESE model's big breasts have helped overturn a court verdict against her.
The bikini model, who goes by her professional name Serena Kozakura, was cleared after a court decided she was too well-endowed to squeeze into a room through a hole.

Ms Kozakura, 38, was convicted last year of property destruction after a man said she kicked in the wooden door of his room and crawled inside, apparently because he was with another woman.

Ms Kozakura had said the man made the hole himself.

In her appeal, the defence counsel held up a plate showing the size of the hole and said that she could not squeeze through with her 110cm bust.

Tokyo High Court presiding judge Kunio Harada agreed and threw out the guilty verdict yesterday.

"I used to hate my body so much," said Ms Kozakura.

"But it was my breasts" that won in court, she said.

The case was splashed across the Japanese media today, with the Asahi network even inviting her to demonstrate how she could not fit through the opening.

Lol. I would have to imagine the look on the Judge's face on that one.. or was he busy staring at something else :-)

Source

10 Unfortunate Facts of Life

2008-02-24T22:15:00.000-08:00

1. Having sex can cause pregnancy. This one seems too obvious to mention, but judging from the number of accidental children in the world, I thought it bore repeating. Nothing is 100% effective against pregnancy except abstinence, or the removal of your ovaries or testicles. (Incidentally, abortion is still legal in the US and most of Europe, just in case.)

2. If you cover your face with piercing jewelry, you may not be able to find a job. This also goes for doing weird things to your hair, and getting tattoos in conspicuous places. And for fuck's sake, don't give me any bullshit about "freedom of expression", you little dumbass. You go right ahead and express yourself all you want, but body modification is not a constitutionally protected belief system. They can't not hire you for being a Jew, but they certainly can not hire you for looking like a fucking freak. (caveat: I have both piercings and tattoos … nothing against tattoos, piercings or fucking freaks. Just don't whine about it when you're treated like one.)

3. It's 2008. Racism is seriously outdated. That means, yes Virginia, it is TOTALLY FUCKING UNACCEPTABLE to refer to that black guy on TV as a "junglebunny." Also, don't use the word "they" as though black folks are some separate species who all think and act the same way. They're "They" are humans, not dogs. And do I really need to remind you that "nigger" is a bad word?! Here's a nice rule of thumb for you, dearie: If you wouldn't say it to a black person's face, you probably shouldn't be saying it at all. (For those of you who really don't get it, this also applies to spics, pakis, chinks, gooks, jews kikes, towelheads, and anyone else you care to slander.)

4. Spontaneous anal sex often involves small amounts of feces. Yes, yes it does. This point is mainly aimed at straight guys, who seem to have a frighteningly widespread lack of understanding on this issue. If you want your backdoor action all nice and sanitary, you need to plan ahead. Buy a little something called an anal douche, and find a way to gracefully suggest she use it before bed if you want a little booty nookie. If you just swap holes in the middle of the action, without such careful forethought, things often get messy … because guys, it's a butt, and [big secret]there's poop in there[/big secret]. And as long as we're on the subject of anal …

5. Anal sex does not make you gay. Again, for the benefit of you straight boys. Even if you secretly want your girlfriend to bend you over with a strap on, it's OK. You're not gay. You know why? Because you want to be assfucked by a girl, not a boy. That's what the whole "gay" thing is about: Liking boys instead of girls. Anal sex is irrelevant.

6. Marijuana is not a "gateway drug". Oh sure, maybe 99% of "hard" drug users also smoke pot. And maybe a lot of them smoked pot before they got into crack or heroin or whatever. But that's not because the pot made them do it, it's because damn near fucking everyone has smoked pot at some point.

7. Creationism is bullshit. Seriously. A big magic guy in the clouds did not wiggle his fingers and create the earth in 6 days. Didn't fucking happen. And I think anyone who professes to believe such a thing ought to be barred from political office. What if there was a religion claiming the world was flat, and the whole "round" thing was just an optical illusion created by God to test our faith? Would ANYONE be suggesting we teach it in schools? Would anyone vote for a politician who claimed to believe it? For fuck's sake, people. It's 2008. We have fossils. We have carbon dating. Get a clue!

8. You have no right to be proud, unless you did it yourself. That goes for anything from racial pride to patriotism. Your race, gender and nationality are fucking accidents of birth. Being proud of something you got stuck with when mamma squeezed you out is stupid. You have a right to be proud of your own personal accomplishments, and perhaps those of your children (if you were actually a good parent, and your kids didn't succeed by sheer bloody-mindedness alone). That's it. Your parents fucked, Mom got knocked up, and ~9 months later, there you were. Race, gender and nationality handed to you out of some cosmic lottery machine. Fuck your white pride, black pride, national pride, and all the horseshit that goes along with it.

9. Police and Politicians have a lot in common. Maybe half of them go into their chosen careers wanting to genuinely do good. Save people, and make the world a better place and all that. The other half are greedy, power-hungry fucks. And the good half? After a few years on the job, most of them have become so corrupted and/or insulated from the real world, they become vicious, rotten twats too. You can't trust 90% of either of 'em.

10. America is not #1. Well, not unless you count military spending and handgun related deaths. We're shit at public education. Our health care system is both the most expensive and the least effective in the developed world. Literacy, infant mortality, per capita living below the poverty line and/or without any health insurance … etc., etc. We're kind of horrible at a whole lot of things, if you want to be honest about it. We're also, on average, fat as fuck.

Source

Unfortunate Business Names

2007-11-13T23:55:00.000-08:00

"As a locally owned company founded in 1924, focusing only in the Central Florida area, our heritage and experience enables us to ... BLAH BLAH BLAH... that's just boring!!! But if you actually care, keep reading.

"We are the WTF Group, one of the leading developers of historic property in Toronto (...) YOU are the cornerstone; the driving force behind our commitment is YOU".... Meeee??? WTF!!

It's just up the street from a nightclub called Swallow. Really.
Not sure what's worse about this business: exchanging your children, or having their sex changed

If you insist...

Cocks, anyone?

"At Mammoth, we pride ourselves in our unique capabilities of performing top quality scaffold erection services..."
You can get their service here, or choose other similar erection services.

So what does she presents, cum again?

Not all women are like that, you know

You're in good company

Source: ODDEE

Unfortunately Placed Ads

2007-11-13T23:50:00.000-08:00

Advertising can be creative and even purposely funny. But sometimes, an ad on a bad place can have unexpected results! Here is a list of 15 unfortunately Placed Ads.

Ad on the bus reads: "If you don't gave GIO Third Party Property Insurance, we suggest you don't hit this bus"

Source : ODDEE

20 Interesting Facts

2007-10-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

1. A zebra is white with black stripes.

2. All the planets in our solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

3. Hummingbirds are the only animal that can also fly backwards.

4. Insects do not make noises with their voices. The noise of bees, mosquitoes and other buzzing insects is caused by rapidly moving their wings.

5. The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs covering a meter a second.

6. The word "listen" contains the same letters as the word "silent".

7. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it's head are the rabbit and the parrot.

8. A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

9. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

10. The whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.

11. A hippopotamus can run faster than a man.

12. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

13. 'Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia' is the fear of long words.

14. Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school.

15. A snail can sleep for 3 years.

16. The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start.

17. In 1883 the explosion of the volcano Krakatau put so much dust into the earth's atmosphere that sunsets appeared green and the moon appeared blue around the world for almost two years.

18. "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

19. Twenty-Four-Karat Gold is not pure gold since there is a small amount of copper in it. Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.

20. Electricity doesn't move through a wire but through a field around the wire.

Secret Apartment in Mall!

2007-10-08T23:16:00.001-07:00

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- The leader of an artists' cooperative has been sentenced to probation for setting up a secret apartment inside a shopping mall's parking garage as part of a project on mall life.

Michael Townsend, 36, said he and seven other artists built the 750-square-foot apartment beginning in 2003 and lived there for up to three weeks at a time.

The artists built a cinderblock wall and nondescript utility door to keep the loft hidden from the outside world.

But inside, the apartment was fully furnished, down to a hutch filled with china and a Sony Playstation 2 -- although a burglar broke in and stole the Playstation last spring, Townsend said.

There was no running water -- instead they used the mall bathrooms.

On his Web site, Townsend said he was inspired by a Christmastime ad for the mall which featured a "an enthusiastic female voice talking about how great it would be if you (we) could live at the mall."

He built the dwelling "out of a compassion to understand the mall more and life as a shopper."

Townsend said plans to make the apartment "super-sweet" with laminated wood flooring and other perks fell apart last week after he and a visiting artist from Hong Kong walked into the room and were greeted by three security guards. He pleaded no contest to a trespassing charge.

Providence Place Mall spokesman Dante Bellini Jr. described the living space as little more than "an area with stuff in it."

But Providence Police Maj. Stephen Campbell said he and other detectives were so intrigued they visited the apartment to see for themselves.

"I was surprised at what he was able to accomplish," Campbell said. "But what he did was clearly criminal. The mall is private property."

Inside Google Adsense

2007-10-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

Your probably reading this article because you use Google Adwords to bring traffic to your website, or your a click fraudster yourself, wanting to see what kind of information I have for you. Most of you click fraudsters will think that I have no idea what I am talking about, and that I do not know your methods. Well, trust me buddy, I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU AND WHAT YOU DO.

If you are new to the click fraud scene, here is an example:

1. Scumbag puts Google Adsense ads on his website.

2. The scumbag then proceeds to cheat Google Adsense by creating false clickthroughs and impressions, in return earning him a pretty nice profit, because he isn't even working on his website, just generating false traffic.

All of you people that run campaigns through Google Adwords are thinking, "This guy has no idea what he is talking about, Google has everything under control and they even state so publicly!"

WOW! What kind of pay per click company would admit that they DO NOT have click fraud under control? I wonder what would happen to their business immediately following that statement.

Estimates say that nearly 20% of all clicks for Adsense are illegitimate. In my honest opinion I believe this number to be around 30-35% from some of the things I have seen.

How Are They Doing It?

There are a number of ways that people are cheating, including the 'click groups' from India that click on your ads for you and create big pay checks as long as you pay them their $0.50 an hour so they can buy bread for their family.

But I'm going to show you the technical way that Google Adsense is cheated, not poor people clicking ads. I'm talking about extremely smart programmers that create hitbots to cheat Adsense. And, no, I'm not talking about that piece of garbage 'CACA' or Clicking Agent that you find on Google. I am talking about Private programs and scripts that are only used by private groups.

How Do These Scripts Get Away Undetected?

Simple, let's actually take a look at Google's click fraud protection (This is what I have summed up, I seriously don't believe they have anything other protection because people are still cheating using these methods as you read this article.)

If you actually take a look at Google's Adsense code when it is on your webpage you will find the URL that is used to retrieve ads. (Right-Clck your ad Iframe and click 'View Page Information' or something similar.)

Here is an example of the URL that you will find:

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/ads?client=
ca-pub-2521202633232871&dt=1124847235453&lmt= 1124631699&format=468x60_as&output=html&url=
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yoursite.com%2F&color_bg=
ECF8FF&color_text=000000&color_link=0033FF_url=
0033FF&color_border=DDAAAA&cc=59&u_h=768&u_w=1024&u_ah=
738&u_aw=1024&u_cd=32&u_tz=-240&u_java=true

Now let's decode this up a little bit, shall we?

client=ca-pub-2521202633232871 - Your client code, this tells Google who to assign the click-through money to.

dt=1124847235453 - Javascript, if you use the command google_date = new Date(); document.write(google_date.getTime())--- Which generates 1124847235453.

This shows you the number of milliseconds since midnite January 1, 1970. This is what seems to be Google's biggest automated proxy clicker fraud prevention. Doesn't seem too hard to generate with 2 lines of code now does it?

lmt=1124631699 - The last time your webpage was updated. LMT stands for Last Modified Time, pretty easy Javascript to generate this one too - document.write(document.lastModified); --- Which generates 1124631699.

(Notice I'm skipping a bunch, that's because they are just showing the type of ad, colors, and size that you are using.)

cc=59 - Seems to be some random number based on the screen width, height, and color scheme. I've seen this number go from 20 all the way up to 400. I'm sure they don't use this to reliably track click fraud.

u_h=768 - Height of your screen settings.

u_w=1024 - Width of your screen settings.

u_ah=738 - Your available screen height.

u_aw=1024 - Your available screen width.

u_cd=32 - Color scheme on windows, e.g. 32-bit.

u_tz=-240 - Your monitor refresh rate or something else that isn't important, I've never seen it not -240.

u_java=true - Just seeing if you have java enabled.

There are some other variables that are sometimes in the URL such as 'u_his=' this means how many pages you have visited since you started up your browser. There's also some MIME type checks and how many plugins you have installed, but these variables come up very rarely. I think they are only meant for Netscape/Firefox browsers.

Now that we have 'decoded' the supposed unbeatable Google Adsense code, what do you think about click fraud? You still think it is rare?

After randomizing all the data and sending an automated query to their Adsense URL, all the scumbag has to do is parse out all of Google's click URL's and click one of them, giving him a click through. This can all be easily faked with even a Visual Basic program. A newbie programmer could in-fact cheat Google Adsense without much knowledge.

They beat the javascript code detection but doesn't Google use cookies so they can't do this?

No, Google does not use cookies for Adsense.

Well what about IP-tracking? Someone can't have that many proxies!

There are click groups that leave these programs running on their computer. They each randomly click each other's URL's automatically. The person running the program doesn't even have to do anything, but he is still contributing to the success of their group and himself.

Does that sound too far-fetched? I am telling you that there are click groups that do this now and have been since the old Linkshare PPC days in 1999. Yes, if you were an advertiser on Linkshare back around 1999-2002, you got raped.

And that isn't all. I have read on the internet that there is currently over 100,000 people infected in the United States alone with trojan proxy servers. These proxy servers run on random ports so that Google can't just do a simple port 8080 or 80 check on it to see if it's a proxy. The majority of these proxy servers are used for credit card fraud, but a lot of them are also used to cheat Google Adsense and other pay per click programs. These proxies are at-home users that look like normal dial-up, cable, and dsl users from all across the world, but mainly United States. There is no way to prove that they are a proxy.

Random User-Agent strings is another tactic that is often used by click fraudsters. This makes Google think that a lot of different browsers are clicking the links, just keeping them further from finding out the truth.

On a side note, you may be thinking that the new Yahoo! pay per click program may be the way to go. I checked into their protection and guess what? They are only using ONE of Google's protections and that is the Javascript GetTime. They are still in Beta though and this may change, but who knows?

To the cheaters: The benefits of cheating are short. Eventually you will be caught for what you are doing and maybe even sued by Google. There is a ton of money to be made legally with Adsense and I suggest that you stop cheating. Who am I to tell you to stop? I use to be one of you! Back when I was 13-14 I was making programs like the ones you guys are using now. You guys probably used one of my programs at one time. I am happy to say that those days of mine are all in the past now, and I am making a good amount of money legally with Adsense and other affiliate programs. Work hard guys and you will reap the benefits 100 times what you make cheating.

To the advertisers: You people that use Google Adwords now see that it is actually not very hard to cheat you out of your money, so be careful and make sure that you use a click fraud protection script such as ClickDefense. To lower most of your click fraud, just don't put your ads in the Content Network, only stay on Google's sponsored search results. Only Google gets paid when someone clicks the search results sponsored ads and nobody wants to cheat to make Google anymore money do they? Check the stock, it's currently at 279.58 a share.

Rossi blames Maiden for his defeat...

2007-09-19T06:22:00.003-07:00

Valentino Rossi (the Michael Schumacher of bike racing) is firmly placing the blame for his poor performance at the Donington GP on the shoulders of Maiden and the other bands who played the Download festival on the circuit a couple of weeks previously!

"Then there is the annual Download rock festival, which took place at the circuit a fortnight ago with thousands of heavy metal fans flocking to the venue. Blaming Iron Maiden and Megadeth was certainly on the agenda of Rossi, whose charge for a podium place was hampered by a deteriorating rear tyre. He finished fourth.

Rossi said: "We spoke to the Safety Commission. The surface here was done just three years ago, so it is not old. They resurfaced because they had a lot of bumps, but maybe the problem is not the aeroplanes but the concert of Marilyn Manson. They put the hot dog stand on the track, so maybe the oil is not very good for the grip."

Cooking oil, not engine oil, that is. Stoner's problems were confined to the start. As he hit the throttle, his bike skidded on one of the painted grid lines and a stream of bikes overtook him."

2000 times a 9/11

2007-09-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

Jolie on Bad Trip.

2007-09-18T03:38:00.000-07:00

Angelina Jolie once took powerful drug LSD before a trip to children's paradise Disneyland.

The Tomb Raider star admits taking the hallucinogenic drug before a trip to the tourist attraction in Orlando, Florida.

She says: "I remember taking LSD before I went to Disneyland. I started thinking about Mickey Mouse being a short, middle-aged man in a costume who hates life. Those drugs can be dangerous if you don't go into it positively - I gave them up long ago.
Jolie - who has made no secret of her broad experimentation with drugs - also admits cannabis makes her "giggly".

She says: "I've done coke, heroin, ecstasy, LSD, everything. But the one that had the worst effect for me was pot. I felt silly and giggly and I hate feeling like that".

WTF? She's talkin about drugs like choosing different varieties of pizza..

Britney "Smears" !!

2007-09-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

After last week’s disasterous “performance” at the MTV Video Music Awards, you would think it couldn’t get any more humiliating for pop-tard Britney Spears.

But you would be wrong. According to a report in The London Sun, the fallen pop princess was been banned from LA’s exclusive Chateau Marmont hotel after guests repeatedly complained about her “weird” behavior after she started on a spree going to various hotels and picking up food from peoples plates and "smearing" it on her face.

Which allegedly included smearing a plate of high-priced cuisine all over her face and grossing out the other patrons. A source said: “The diners were disgusted. You wouldn’t expect that from a teenager in a fast-food joint."

Looks like Britney was really hungry. Gross.

Google Maps Directions

2007-09-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

Remember the old Google Maps, Get Direction? Well. I've had a lotta fun with that one.
But i think the bugs are fixed though. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to Google Maps and Get Direction where you can enter two places and Google gives you instructions to travel.
Try from: Prudhoe Bay to: Rio Grande, Brazil.
Read Step 66.

Examples of Why Guys Shouldn't Drink and Invent

2007-09-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some real, honest-to-goodness patented guy inventions unearthed by Scott Seegert in his recently published book. The illustrations are the inventors' actual drawings, taken directly from the official paperwork filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The year the patent was awarded is included to give you some perspective on where the male mind was during that time. Sure they're ridiculous. Even insane. But the sad reality is there are more than a few we secretly wish we had. Here are ten that we should be glad we have no access to.

Albert's Helmet-Mounted Pistol (1953)
Why should we actually have to hold a weapon in our hand? We're guys. Our hands are too busy doing other guy things to be involved in a firefight. Our head isn't doing much. So, thought Albert, if I just strap a gigantic pistol to my melon I can keep my hands free for more important things. As Scott notes in the book, "Once this powerful weapon has been securely strapped to the noggin, a quick blow into the firing tube is all it takes to... send a large-caliber bullet rocketing in a generally forward direction." Not to mention cause severe whiplash and/or spinal injuries from the kickback of this monster.

Bill's Swimming Apparatus (1881)
You have to assume the only thing Bill was looking for here was a way to set himself apart from the other dorks at the beach: Hey ladies. Feast your eyes upon my Swimming Apparatus. Watch as I take my winged, rod-reinforced, full-body flotation suit and slide gracefully into the water. Where I sink like a winged, rod-reinforced, full-body flotation suited stone. Scott says, "Although we can't prove it, we have every reason to believe that Bill was especially proud of the way the hood turned out." And I'm betting the ladies were too.

Andre's Penis Exerciser (1995)
Only twelve short years ago Andre realized that LDS (Limp Dick Syndrome, look it up), was caused by a lack of circulation to the muscles of the penis. What he failed to realize was that his solution of having us drop trou and repeatedly lift a weighted lever with Little Bruno at full attention involved foresight and effort. Two things we guys don't have in huge supply. So when Viagra debuted three years later, enabling Little Bruno to happy dance for hours on end at the drop of a pill, woman lost the only piece of gym equipment that would have given them the same viewing pleasure the Leg Abductor gives us.

Larry's Bleacher Pants (2005)
It's the 21st century and still no one has invented comfortable bleacher seats. Oh sure, you could bring you own cushion, but how do you juggle that plus a 32 ounce beer, two hot dogs, chili cheese fries and a giant foam finger? You can't. So you go home with a bad case of Bleacher Ass. Unless of course you're comfortable enough in your masculinity to attend a game wearing a pair of Larry's Bleacher Pants, which come complete with "buttocks-shaped foam cushion incorporated therein". A very, very large buttocks-shaped foam cushion. From the drawings, I'm guessing either Larry had a severely tender butt, or he spent some time on Brokeback Mountain.

Squire's Anatomic Underwear (2000)
Women have the Wonder Bra, so Squire figured it's time we guys got to experience "a never-before-achieved level of attractiveness by allowing (our) natural carriage and authentic masculine style to be expressed in a way that reflects (our) own image." Meaning we no longer have to suffer with compacted, crowded, flattened genitalia. We are now free to let our manly bulges ride high and full and proud. The way God and Squire intended.

Jack's No-Slip Hairpiece (1995)
This is the Hair Club for Men meets the movie "Saw". Jack's "innovation" over traditional hair replacement surgery, weaving, toupees, or plain old shaving yourself bald, is his far, far more humiliating No-Slip Hairpiece. Don't let the illustration alarm you. The plastic horseshoe looking thing is not stapled to your head. (Unless you request it.) It's merely permanently secured to your scalp with glue or "braiding". That piece of meat floating above his head is your new, thick, luxurious head of hair ready to be secured to your dome by driving those spikes into the horseshoe. Not even a hurricane force wind, or the embarrassment of a dead otter anchored to your scalp, could separate you from your new flowing locks. Just your dignity.

Dick's Daddy Saddle (2003)
I'm certain Dick's intentions were noble when he designed this saddle for loving daddies everywhere to wear while playing horsey with their little ones, but I just can't help but think that the next thing they hear after some guys strap this on will be, "I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC..."

John's Head-Butt Game (1976)
1976 was a magical time. The country was celebrating its 200th birthday. We elected a smiling peanut farmer from Georgia to guide us after scandal rocked the White House. And those pesky child endangerment laws weren't on the books yet. Making John's Head-Butt Game the perfect rainy-day activity for your hyperactive little tykes. The rules are simple enough: two children try to knock each other off their respective floor discs using only their heads. While wearing wrist restraints. So the little rascals can't use their hands to cheat. Or break their unconscious fall. As Scott points out, "Sure it will be a little noisy at first, but within five or six minutes, the home will be as quiet as a coma."

Dan's Motorcycle Safety Apparel (1987)
Scott notes, "Guys are innately drawn to motorcycles. They're fast, they're loud, and they're an integral part of a favorite guy activity -- crashing headfirst into things." Which is fine the first couple of times. Then the brain swelling starts to get a little tedious. Which is why Dan invented this ingenious safety apparel. Why bother with a helmet when you're wearing an inflatable suit tethered to a canister of compressed air? Becoming airborne after a collision triggers the suit to cover your arms, legs and head in a way reminiscent of Maj. Don "Joey" West's body armor in 1998's Lost in Space. Only much less effective.

Harold's Pogo-Copter (1969)
Scott says that nothing "captures the very essence of guyness any better than Harold's Pogo-Copter." It's hard to disagree. How can you when everything we guys love - riding on things, showing off, putting ourselves in mortal danger - is combined into one incredible invention? The idea is to jump up and down on a wheeled pogo stick. Which would be dangerous enough all by itself. But Harold decides to up the peril ante by adding large whirling helicopter blades that spin dangerously close to your cranium. So you can attempt to make the thing FLY. A wheeled, flying pogo stick with blades whipping near your head. Lawyers everywhere just wet themselves.

Honorable Mention
Tom's Cleavage Revealing Pants (2002)
Now here's an invention guys can really get behind. During his research Scott found that occasionally "a guy will patent an item that he designed specifically for women, usually in an attempt to enhance his own ogling experience." This is one of those occasions.

Tom designed his Cleavage Revealing Pants to "allow onlookers to appreciate the wearer's butt cleavage." And what guy doesn't love to appreciate a little female butt cleavage? Chest cleavage is so five years ago. So we're with you Tom. As long as guys, especially Howard Stern and Prince, promise never to wear them. Ever.

Optimize BitTorrent To Outwit Traffic Shaping ISPs

2007-09-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

These days, nothing worries an internet service provider more than peer-to-peer file trading. Depending on where you live, P2P can account for between 50 and 75% of broadband internet traffic. We mostly have the popularity of BitTorrent to thank for this crazy amount of data going to and fro.

This amount of traffic can raise the ISPs daily costs of delivering service, cause congestion either in your neighborhood or on the ISP's network, and force the ISP to buy increased bandwidth capacity.

But if you've been paying close attention to your BitTorrent transfers lately (or if you've simply been reading the news) you'll notice that ISPs have begun to take drastic measures to slow that flood of data currently clogging up their pipes.

Even though many of them deny it, most ISPs actively engage in traffic shaping, bandwidth throttling, connection denial or some such tactic to keep the amount of bandwidth consumed by high traffic applications on their networks to a minimum. While this does often ensure better performance for everyone in the neighborhood, it can mean painfully slow transfer speeds for those dabbling in P2P -- legit or not.

While there are valid arguments for and against shaping, we're not here to debate. We just want the fastest BitTorrent transfers possible.
Methods of Fooling ISPs

So how to get around an ISP that's throttling your BitTorrent traffic? You can try encrypting or your traffic, changing the default port number, changing the way the protocol behaves, reducing the amount of one-way traffic, or hiding your traffic within an encrypted tunnel.

Of course, different ISPs are employing different methods of control. None of these methods are guaranteed to work. But each one is known to work for some, and they are certainly worth a try.
How To Encrypt to Your BitTorrent Transfers:

The RC4 encryption offered by many popular BitTorrent clients today will obfuscate not only the header but the entire stream, which makes it considerably more difficult for an ISP to detect that you're using BitTorrent. Even if your ISP does not force you to enable encryption, you may be connecting to peers with ISPs that do.

Encryption began appearing on clients in late 2005. By the end of 2006, most actively-developed clients were updated with encryption. While not all torrent clients in a swarm will support encryption, most of them will. As a result, this small percentage of non-encryption capable peers may be a reason not to force encryption on a full-time basis, but there is no reason not to enable encryption that allows the falling back to a non-encrypted connection when needed.

If your favorite client is not listed below, check your documentation.

Azureus/Vuze
Azureus (which now calls its official client Vuze) is written in Java and therefore cross-platform. To turn on encryption, head to the Tools menu. Select Options, then Connection, then Transport Encryption. Check the "Require encrypted transport" box and select RC4 in the "Minimum encryption" drop-down menu.

Azureus/Vuze also offers an "Allow non-encrypted outgoing connections if encrypted connection attempt fails" option, which means you'll still be able to hop on torrents that don't have any encrypted seeders.

µTorrent
µTorrent (and now BitTorrent which is based on µTorrent) is a Windows-only client. In µTorrent, open up the Preferences panel and select the BitTorrent tab. Select Protocol encryption and then choose between "enabled" and "forced." µTorrent's "Enabled" option mirrors Azureus' option to allow unencrypted connections when no encrypted clients exist. It will give you more connections, but it won't be as effective at defeating traffic shapers.

µTorrent/BitTorrent also offers a option to 'Allow legacy incoming connections' which lets non-encrypted clients connect to you. This improves compatibility between clients but again, makes your traffic more vulnerable to shapers.

BitComet
BitComet is another popular Windows Client (98/Me/2000/XP). To turn on encryption in BitComet, head to the Options menu and choose Preferences. Then go to Advanced > Connection and select "Protocol encryption." There are options for "auto detect" and "always."

As with the others, "auto detect" will connect to more peers, but it won't hide traffic as well. You'll need to play with the settings in your program to see if it has any affect on your download/upload speeds.

Other clients that support encryption include KTorrent (Linux), rTorrent (Linux, Mac) and BitTornado (Windows).
How To Change Your BitTorrent Port Number:

The default port for BitTorrent transfers is port 6881, with some clients using different ports within the range of 6881-6999. As a result of ISP interference, all clients allow you to change the port number (or port range, sometimes) used for BitTorrent transfers. The setting is in the Options or Preferences for your client, or can be set using a command-line parameter.

Whenever you change your port, you need to adjust your router to allow incoming connections. An excellent service at http://www.portforward.com/ can guide you through the entire process of locating the current port being used (which allows you to change it), and then configuring your router to match.
How To Change the Way the BitTorrent Protocol Behaves:

The BitTorrent protocol has a distinct handshake. To control uploading by seeders, ISPs have learned to look for this handshake. The recent releases of both µTorrent and Azureus/Vuze include a "Lazy Bitfield" feature to hide seeders from ISPs. When Lazy Bitfield is enabled, the handshake is changed to make a BitTorrent seeder initially appear to be a non-seeding peer (sometimes called a leecher). This is done by sending a bitfield indicating missing pieces. Then, once the handshake is done, the client notifies its peer that it now has the pieces that were originally indicated as missing.

Azureus/Vuze
Azureus (which now calls its official client Vuze) is written in Java and therefore cross-platform. To turn on encryption, head to the Tools menu. Select Options, then Transfer. Enable Lazy-Bitfield here.

µTorrent
Lazy Bitfield is controlled in the Advanced section Preferences: peer.lazy_bitfield.
How To Reduce the Amount of One-Way transfers:

Most downloaders become seeders when they have 100% of the archive, then they spend the next several hours "paying back" the swarm until they have provided at least as many bytes uploaded that they downloaded -- a ratio of 1:1 or 1.00. As mentioned before, some ISPs make efforts to control seeders. Seeders generate one-way (outbound) traffic, and this traffic is sometimes the most troublesome for ISPs to handle.

Most clients are configured with a "speed limit" set Upload Maximum Limit in kB/s and an unlimited Download Maximum Limit. To reduce the amount of one-way transfers, the client needs to upload at the same rate (or less, overall) than it is downloading. While this means that the download will be a lot slower to complete, it also means that it will complete at a 1.00 ratio or above.

For example, perform your transfer with an Upload Limit of 30 KB/s and a Download Limit of 25 KB/s. When you first join you won't upload at all because you have no pieces to share yet. But after several minutes, the total bytes uploaded should be equal to or above the total bytes downloaded. When your download is complete, you will have little or no obligation to continue seeding as you already have uploaded enough to the swarm.

This tactic is not always effective or efficient. Some swarms have too few peers left that need data, making it difficult to reach your desired upload rates.

Many multi-torrent clients (Azureus/Vuze, µTorrent, BitComet, and others) provide the option of setting maximum upload and download rates on a per-torrent basis. These settings are found either in a right-click menu or in the Properties of each torrent. Some clients also allow Global Settings that affect all torrents being managed by the client, however the Global Settings do not provide a correct balance to ensure that a one-way transfer is avoided.

Azureus/Vuze provides the additional useful option of limiting the number of seed connections while downloading. This setting is found on the Options panel of each individual torrent.
How To Hide BitTorrent within an Encrypted Tunnel:

With the advent of Application-Layer Inspection, some ISPs may recognize and control BitTorrent traffic despite your best efforts.

You may be able to hide the BitTorrent traffic in an encrypted tunnel -- a transport path within the normal transport paths provided by TCP and IP. You can tunnel your traffic through cooperatives such as The Onion Router (TOR)* or I2P. Commercial Virtual Private Network (VPN) providers such as Relakks or SecureIX will also help keep your ISP from detecting exactly what you're doing. If you are familiar with SSH and SSH Tunneling, this is also a possibility. However, some ISPs even throttle or inhibit these encrypted tunnels.

Azureus provides in-client support for TOR and I2P. Other clients will have to set up the software as recommend on the TOR or I2P site.

*Note: TOR has been updated to allow peer-to-peer download data, despite any information to the contrary (it used to be prohibited).
Now For the Bad News

ISPs are taking advantage of more sophisticated shaping technology all the time, and many of the newer shapers won't be fooled by encrypted traffic. For instance, Sandvine (the shaping tool many believe Comcast and other ISPs employ) won't be fooled by obfuscating your traffic.

So what can you do beyond obfuscating?

The short answer is not much. There is no fool-proof way to do beat the shapers. You best choice is probably to switch to an ISP that doesn't employ anti-BitTorrent traffic shaping. In the long run, this also has the benefit of sending an effective message to your ex-ISP.

For a list of ISPs to avoid, have a look at the list maintained on the Azureus Wiki.

But what if you have no other option when it comes to ISPs? Start by calling customer service. Call now and call often. Disgruntled consumers often cost an ISP far more money than a large amount BitTorrent traffic. And by all means, try these ideas, though your results may vary considerably depending on what shaping tools your ISP is employing.

Speed Up your Web Site.

2007-09-09T00:46:00.000-07:00

Lower loading times for your visitors.

While more and more people are getting access to high speed internet, there are many left on dial up. Be kind to those visitors and do a few, simple things to speed up your webpages. Not only will these tips give you a faster load time, most will also help keep your bandwidth fees low as well!

Compressing your Pages

`mod_gzipmod_gzip` is an external extension module for the WWW's most popular web server Apache, created in autumn, 2000.

Its implementation allows for using the compression method gzip for a significant reduction of the volume of web page content served over the HTTP protocol.

Starting with version 1.3.19.2a mod_gzip has found a new home.

Site Inspecting Tools

There are some software and sites that point out mistakes or poorly written-code. One such is a plug-in for firefox called FireBug. It allows you to view code of a page and make changes to it. It aslo gives statistics of all images and scripts downloaded from a particular site and the time taken. (Opera has a similar tool that can be downloaded from the Opera site).

There's an add-on for Firebug; Yahoo!'s YSlow. Click on YSlow icon on the bottom right of the Firefox window, ad it gives a list of flaws if any, and tweaks that can help fix the page.
YSlow also gives an overall grade to the page!

Use CSS For Faster Pages

Even if you decide to use tables, CSS can greatly improve your web sites load time! With your styles in an external .css file, the browser can cache all the formatting and stylizing for your pages instead of having to read each and every single tag all over again. Also it cuts down on long drawn out tags and replaces them with smaller class styles instead.

Use External Scripts

Use the same script on multiple pages? Switch to an external script. I'm not talking about remotely hosted, I mean loading javascript files from one source instead of adding all that code to each of your pages like this:

That way the browser already has it in it's cache and won't have to read it each time another page loads. This one saves a ton of load time, specially for larger scripts!

Remove Anything You Don't Really Need

OK, while this might sound obvious sometimes the hardest thing about creating a website is not using every fancy trick that you know. Images, flash and sometimes even sound files are very impressive.. but do you really need to showcase all your talents one one page?

Embedded sound files are something many people just find annoying anyway. You'd be surprised how many are surfing at work ;-). The last thing anyone wants is a loud music or sounds announcing to their boss that they're surfing. Also many people have their own music playing... hearing a song over top of what we're listening to is less than pleasant. As for Java applets, try to ditch them or if you want those effects, JavaScript unusually loads faster and can do just as much or more. Stand back and take a critical look at your website, you may see a few special effects that can be let go of for the sake of faster load time.

Avoid Nested Tables

OK, I'm not a big fan of using tables for layout anyway (I'm one of those people that believes content and presentation should be separate.. but thats another tip page). With that said, if in your templates tables seem neccessary (or the easier way to do it), try to avoid nesting. Why? When you place a table inside another table, it takes a lot longer for the browser to work out the spacing since it has to wait to read the entire html and then work out the layout. If at all possible, try using CSS to create the columns on your page.

Avoid Full Page Tables for Faster Rendering

If you use tables, try avoiding the whole page being one big table. The browser won't show anything until it's read the whole thing that way. For a faster loading webpage, either try multiple tables (not nested) or having stuff above the main table to make your content in the first table show up faster. That way your visitors will have something to read while the rest of your page loads. It may not really make you page faster, but it will feel like it to your visitors.

Split Up Long Pages - Multiple Short Pages Load Faster

By splitting up long pages into multiple pages you not only make the content show up faster but many people that see a very long scroll bar give up. Remember, people's attention spans are often shorter than a grasshoppers (OK, not literally, but you get my point) since so much information is available at our fingertips. Try breaking it up into more readable lengths.

Remove Excess "Whitespace"

Whitespace is the spaces between your coding, removing the unneeded tabs and spaces can help a lot! Doing this will take a lot of extra bytes off the total size of your page and will speed up load time quite a bit. (Careful using automatic squishers, I find they often squish too much and makes it rather hard to edit later.)

Keep Your Code Clean

If you do use a wysiwyg editor, most times the will add useless code to your pages for example, many will leave empty tags (ie. ). Removing any of those excess tags will not only speed up your load time, but make you pages validate a lot cleaner.

Speed up Images Load Time

Don't Go Overboard On Images

While images can greatly enhance the look of a site they can really slow it down if there are too many. Try to decide if all your images are really needed (quite a few nice effects can be done with css, so sometimes images are unneeded.). Images are obviously, the biggest culprits, when it comes to slowing down a site. Every image means a separate request sent to the server. Use image maps: they bring down the number of requests. Here are some more methods:

Height And Width Tags

When the page loads and the image size is already defined (ie. you've used the height and width tags), the browser knows where everything will be before the images are loaded. Otherwise the page has to wait and load the images before the text. Same goes for tables, so try to use width tags when possible on those as well for a speedier page.

Faster Images? Reduce Their File Size

There are many totally free, online image optimizers so you don't even have to install anything and it's extremely easy! Online Image Optimizer will greatly reduce the file size of your gif, jpg, or pngs and neither you or your visitors will be able to see the difference other than a page that loads a heck of a lot faster. They also keep the transparency and animations in gifs! For another JPEG reduction, try JPEG Wizard, also free, this one will only work with pictures in your hard drive not ones from the net. You can also choose some simple effects to be done (flip, mirror and rotate).

GIF vs JPG vs PNG

Go for optimized pngs. They have lossless compression (unlike jpgs and can be used without worry (gifs have the potential to have copyright issues) and load fast! With all that said, if you still want to use gifs and jpgs, here's a bit of fast info... If you don't need sharp resolution, choose GIFs over JPEGs, as GIFs generally load quicker. JPGs are generally best for photos, GIFs for anything else.

(I'd add a rant here about how Microsoft had held up the web's development with not making IE6 support png transparency... but *sigh* I've ranted about this already to anyone who will listen. Firefox, Opera and other modern browsers however have been able to show alpha transparency in png for years... oops, sorry, that was a mini rant after all!)

Here is a Loading time Checker to check the effect of the changes you make.

Well there you go, u can e-mail me or comment if you wish to add some of your techniques to the list.

Celebrities paid to heat up Vegas clubs.

2007-09-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Three years ago, as Paris Hilton was about to turn 24, the celebutante got a sense of her worth to the nightclub industry in Las Vegas. She had celebrated her previous three birthdays at Light, the Bellagio hotel-casino nightclub run by the Light Group. But for her 24th, another company swooped in with an offer that trumped the standard private jet to and from L.A., a free stay at a luxury suite, a sumptuous dinner and, of course, free booze.

The hotel heiress would get a big paycheck — Light was told $200,000 — just to party, but it had to be at PURE, a rival nightclub at Caesars Palac
"We said, `OK, well listen, we're not here to tell you not to make money,'" said a former Light executive, who did not want to be identified talking about industry specifics.

Celebrities often make appearances and walk the red carpet as part of the deal for coming to a nightclub. In return for generating media coverage, they receive all sorts of free goodies, if not cash. For nightclub operators, it has become the standard way of getting their establishments known.

Besides buzz, it generates more patrons, more people willing to pay a $30 cover charge, $15 for a cocktail and $500 for a bottle of name-brand vodka or champagne.

"If you quantify that in terms of the amount of press they got off it, the press they got off it was priceless," the former executive said.

This weekend, PURE is looking to re-create its formula with the opening of LAX and Noir nightclubs at the Luxor hotel-casino, with a grand-opening party Friday night hosted by Britney Spears. The company would not say how much it is paying her or whether Spears would perform.

A revamped club, Blush at the Wynn hotel-casino, also is hoping to cash in by opening Friday.

It's the start of a raucous couple of weeks that include Labor Day weekend and the MTV Video Music Awards — events that will attract plenty of partiers and paparazzi.

e run by the PURE Management Group.

Her people let the Light Group know that their former deal was off.

PURE managing partner Steve Davidovici said rumors of celebrity payments are exaggerated, and pointed to reports the group paid $250,000 to Spears eight months ago to host PURE's New Year's Eve countdown.

"That's a lot of sour grapes from other nightclubs, I guess," Davidovici said, while giving a tour of LAX, a plush club that resembles a chic 1920s opera house. "It's a third of those prices."

Even at that, the appearance fee, which works out to about $83,000, was money well spent, he said. The club sold a table next to Spears that night for $50,000, and some 3,000 revelers spent $250 on tickets.
"If you look at (the celeb fee) from a monetary standpoint, it's significant, but not if you're taking in half a million dollars," he said.

PURE nightclub alone will generate about $53 million in revenue this year, while the company plans to gross more than $120 million from its 12 venues in Las Vegas and the Bahamas, he said.

On Tuesday, PURE nightclub hosted Paris Hilton and her sister, Nicky, as they unveiled new products from Nicky's clothing line. The club later gushed in a release that the sisters "danced their hearts out for the admiring onlookers" as "the two socialites stuck to the main VIP stage."

At LAX, the central focus of the theater-like layout is a raised dais of booths in front of the dance floor for "super VIPs and celebrities," Davidovici said.

"Britney will definitely be up there opening night," he said.

Industry observers say such celebrity-spotting is worth the price of admission.

"It's fun to be famous and rich. That's why people pay to get in and watch," said Lori Levine, the president of Flying Television, a talent-booking firm in New York.
Well is that all people care about nowadays, being rich and famous?
I thought it was having fun and being happpy.

Optical Illusions

2007-09-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

Some Awesome Illusions. The las one is the best. Try It!

If you take a look at the following picture , let me tell you .... it is not animated. Your eyes are making it move. To test this, stare at one spot for a couple seconds and everything will stop moving. Or look at the black center of each circle and it will stop moving. But move your eyes to the next black center and the previous will move after you take your eyes away from it.... Weird

Is This Possible?

You should see a man's face and also a word...
Hint: Try tilting your head to the right, the world begins with 'L'

NOTE: CLick on image and try.!

Megaman

Petrol Price Hike Reason In India : Tax Indian Government

Forex Trading

dc hair laser removal washington hair laser removal virginia

Hong Kong Film makers aiming at first 3D porn movie

World’s Most Ingenious Thief

Brewer claims world's strongest beer

Some amaizng photos

Big breasts win model's court case

10 Unfortunate Facts of Life

Unfortunate Business Names

Unfortunately Placed Ads

20 Interesting Facts

Secret Apartment in Mall!

Inside Google Adsense

Rossi blames Maiden for his defeat...

2000 times a 9/11

Jolie on Bad Trip.

Britney "Smears" !!

Google Maps Directions

Examples of Why Guys Shouldn't Drink and Invent

Optimize BitTorrent To Outwit Traffic Shaping ISPs

Speed Up your Web Site.

Compressing your Pages

mod_gzipmod_gzip is an external extension module for the WWW's most popular web server Apache, created in autumn, 2000.

Site Inspecting Tools

Use CSS For Faster Pages

Use External Scripts

Remove Anything You Don't Really Need

Avoid Nested Tables

Avoid Full Page Tables for Faster Rendering

Split Up Long Pages - Multiple Short Pages Load Faster

Remove Excess "Whitespace"

Keep Your Code Clean

Speed up Images Load Time

Don't Go Overboard On Images

Height And Width Tags

Faster Images? Reduce Their File Size

GIF vs JPG vs PNG

Celebrities paid to heat up Vegas clubs.

Optical Illusions

`mod_gzipmod_gzip` is an external extension module for the WWW's most popular web server Apache, created in autumn, 2000.