Wandering ponderer

Be yourself

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:35:00 +0000

Be understanding.
Be loyal to your friends.
Be strong enough to face the world each day.
Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything alone.
Be generous to those who need your help.
Be teachable to show maturity.
Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything.
Be foolish enough to believe in miracles.
Be willing to share your joys.
Be willing to share the sorrows of others.
Be a leader when you see a path others have missed.
Be a follower when you are surrounded by the mists of uncertainty.
Be first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds.
Be last to criticize a colleague who fails.
Be sure of your final destination.
Be willing to change.
Be loving to those who love you.
Be loving to those who do not love you; they may change.
Above all, love animals, enjoy Christmas, smile, be yourself.

Have a great day!

The cutest animal on the planet

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Thu, 19 May 2011 11:10:00 +0000

What is the cutest animal on the planet? That will be in the eye of the beholder, of course. For many people it will be their pet: a cuddly kitty, a playful puppy, a furry ferret, a clever parrot.

There are so many cute animals on the planet we are spoilt for choice: two otters holding hands (viewed more than 15 million times on YouTube), Heidi the Cross-Eyed Opossum, chinchillas in love or the fearless honey badger.

One simply can't ignore the giant panda, polar bear, proboscis monkey, platupus, or smiling dolphin. There are just so many cute animals on our lovely planet.

Our favourite animal here in Lapland? You guessed it! It's Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

A very merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 11:35:00 +0000

Faith makes all things possible, Hope makes all things work and Love makes all things beautiful. May you have all the three for this Christmas. Wishing you a very merry Christmas!

Santa did not bail out Julian Assange

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:30:00 +0000

Santa has not said much about WikiLeaks Cablegate but did have a good chuckle about what friends had to say about friends.

We do not have a Christmas WikiLeaks in Lapland. And it is impossible to hack our Naughty-or-Nice list. Alabaster Snowball is the best coder in the whole universe. He can also complete the Rubik cube with his eyes closed while eating Christmas pudding and having his toes tickled all at the same time.

Santa did not offer any part of the bail or the whole of the bail for Julian Assange. But he did mention that Julian might receive a big Christmas gift... if he can get to a Christmas tree in time. Norwegian trees are better than Swedish trees for Christmas.

The short road to immense profit

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:49:00 +0000

If you want to know the simple truths of life, ask someone who has been around long enough to separate the wheat from chaff.

We understand the concept of the housing bubble very well: sell houses at inflated prices, launch the bubble, and you end up owning the houses AND you still have people who owe you money for those houses they do not have. You can sell the houses later when the market recovers (and the people will still be paying on the houses they do not have). In the meantime, while the FED interest rate is at zero, borrow even more money so you can lend it back to people later at a nice high rate.

What we did not understand is why governments launch public road constructions to houses that people do not own anymore. So we asked Santa.

It's simple, really. If you want the price of toys to increase, burn down the trees - as they do in the Amazon Rain Forest and in Indonesia. The value of the property where the trees stood will plummet. Buy it cheap with money the government will lend you at an incredibly low rate. Convince the government you need new roads to it to grow new trees because it will also create government-sponsored low-paying jobs. Then grow the trees; the price for wood will now be very high. The value of the tree property will go back up. And buy into the toy making industry. It is the short road to immense profit.

That is why, Santa says, we rather keep the location of Santa's village a secret. In this way we ensure that children will always have toys at Christmas.

But why the road construction because once it's completed there will be no more jobs? That (the end of these jobs) is not a concern to those who got the property on the cheap. What is of concern to them is that, as research shows, the property along new public construction projects significantly increase in value. They will now add toll taxes and other suchlike fees - charged to the poor will need to borrow from those banks who got the money cheap - and enjoy the profits for many years to come. So, it all started with creating inflation on property prices and end in road construction and new taxes.

Well, now we know. And we're very glad that those who create bubbles in the economy do not know the road to Santa's village.

Why the world needs oil

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:30:00 +0000

Our beautiful planet works like a timeless machine. All the gears and pulleys are well-oiled to keep us circling around the sunny sun almost forever. But, as for a car engine, when the oil dries up the gears will seize. When too much oil is taken out of the earth the tectonic plates start grinding each other and cause earthquakes - which lead to tsunamis and other extreme conditions - and volcanoes to erupt. Eventually the whole system can seize and explode. And that will be the end of Christmas. Which is why the world needs oil to stay in the ground.

Bankers give back bonuses

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:43:00 +0000

April Fool's Day! Bankers will only give back their bonuses when they are kicked in the butt, strung from a ledge, or become genuinely religious (not pretentious, like Stephen Green from HSBC and all those other naughty fibbers).

Still, hope you're having a great day!

No fat elves around here

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:52:00 +0000

We applaud Michelle Obama's campaign to address obesity in little people. And while it is a sad fact that there now are the same number of obese people as there are underfed people in the world - 1 billion big people and little people either side of the plate- we thought that the current state of the economy would sort the problem out by itself. No money, no food, one side will be able to tell you. And if you think that this is a shameful thing to say then you have not been thinking of the billion hungry people - millions in the US - while you were busy stuffing your face with hamburgers.

Whose fault is fat kids? Here's an example: Santa ain't the slimmest Father on earth yet there is not a single fat elf around here.

What to expect from Davos in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:10:00 +0000

Nothing.

The slogan for the 40th meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is "Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild." The fact that the Davos Devils annually meet in a country that hides the riches of their children (not the country's children) speaks for itself. As for the slogan, it's an annual sing-along. It's time to take out the Re.

Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:51:00 +0000

Did you feel the happiness? It was the Orthodox Church celebrating Christmas on January 6th! And the celebration doesn't stop. Christmas is celebrated by the Coptic Orthodox Church on January 7th. Christmas every day! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:18:00 +0000

As you know, for the first thousand or two years we sent out Christmas cards all the way from Lapland to your postbox to let you know when and where you can catch a glimpse of Santa. But, yippee, that's not needed any more because you can track Santa every step of the way as he delivers great joy to homes around the world: simply go to the NORAD SANTA TRACKER.

My cousin Pepper Minstix and all the elves worked very hard to make your Christmas special this year. We all hope you're having a merry Christmas. God bless you.

Slade (happy people)

Why global warming is not good for you

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Why is global warming not good for you? Well, look what happened last time! The last period of global warming was in the time of the dinosaurs and it was global warming that wiped them out. Then again, global cooling is not good either; that's what led to the extinction of the Neanderthals. But for now, don't allow global warming to hijack the snowman; let's drive less, walk more, use less electricity - cuddle more. There also is substantial scientific evidence (somewhere) that proves that laughing keeps the weather in check.

When to put up the Christmas tree

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:30:00 +0000

Christmas trees traditionally are put up 12 days before Christmas day, on the 13th of December. Some put up the Christmas tree on the 6th of December 6th in honor of Saint Nicholas. In Catholic tradition the Christmas tree is put up after noon on Christmas eve. Nowadays Christmas trees are put up the day or weekend after Thanksgiving.

Some people take Christmas trees down 12 days after Christmas, others take it down on Epiphany, January 6th.

Some sources say that Martin Luther (1483-1546) was the first person to decorate a Christmas tree with candles to show kids how stars twinkle in the night. We have been decorating Christmas trees since the beginning because here in Lapland we've always had Christmas trees and never have to take them down. Our Christmas trees are sprinkled with magic dust, the same dust that makes Rudolph's nose shine.

Socially useless

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:47:00 +0000

The ultimate insult in life is to be labeled "socially useless." And that is exactly the preferred term for the bankers and others who caused suffering to millions of innocent people around the world through greed, one of the seven deadly sins: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride. Actually, since the banking crisis any one or all of these terms have been accredited to the bankers. But the phrase to aptly sum up the banks actions was made by Jonathan Turner of the British FSA (Financial Services Authority - an odd title for a, well, useless service): "... some of it is socially useless activity," he said.

It was not the first time that the stock market speculation was called socially useless. A few years ago Murray Kemp and Hans-Werner Sinn published the study A Simple Model of Privately Profitable But Socially Useless Speculation in which they stated: "speculation in the forward market is profitable and stabilizes prices but is useless from a welfare point of view. Reconciling the Siegel paradox with the theory of incomplete markets, we show that banning speculation by closing the forward market may increase social welfare."

In the 1920's, Psychologist Alfred Adler described the possible reasons and personalities of socially destructive persons. The behavior is explained by Richard Erickson: "A person's lifestyle may be self-defeating and socially useless because he is discouraged and pursuing mistaken goals described as self-protection and self-aggrandizement at the expensive of the community."

We asked Santa what makes a person socially useless and he says it is when someone prohibits another from getting gifts at Christmas. Such thoughts should immediately be sent to the recycle bin.

The cost of going to the moon

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:48:00 +0000

When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon on this day 40 years ago, it was the pinnacle of the most expensive project of its time. The cost of going to the moon was $25 billion, or $150 billion in today's money, which is about 1/10th of the money used thus far to bail out the banks. This achieved one giant leap for bankers, one step back for man.

Armstrong was joined by his buddy Buzz Aldrin, pictured here, while their other buddy, Michael Collins, orbited the moon in the command module of Apollo 11. To date, only 12 people have walked on the moon. That is more people than those who know the secret of where the village of Santa is located.

Who will forgive Bernard Madoff?

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:56:00 +0000

Bernard Madoff is listed on the wrong side of the Naughty and Nice List, administrated by Alabaster Snowball. While Bernard made off with a few billion of other peoples dollars and received 150 years sentence in return the question remains: who will forgive Bernard Madoff?

Apparently Bernard prayed to God for free money but quickly found out it did not work that way... so he stole it and prayed to God for forgiveness.

Pen is mightier than the sword

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:50:00 +0000

English novelist and dramatist Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) uttered the wise words "The pen is mightier than the sword" in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy:

True, This! —
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! — itself a nothing! —
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword —
States can be saved without it!

Indeed, the opposite often happen to states - or more correctly speaking, statesmen. Currently the British Labour Party, is feeling the sharp end of the newspaper quills. The British leaders should have taken in the wise words from an old enemy of theirs, Napoleon Bonaparte: "Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets."

Time will tell how well US journalists have been sharpening their words against the blunt ideas of the elected. Of course, you can follow the mood on the blogs but they still have an awful long way to go to reach the edge that newspapers still swing. And to think, the end of newspapers and, indeed, the end of the book has been predicted since the dawn of the personal computer. Alas, thanks to their online presence, newspapers actually have more readers than ever before (even though they sell printed newspapers, thankfully).

Books are doing pretty well too. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling became the world's first billionaire writer. She sold more than three times as many books as the next two, Enid Blyton and Theodor Seuss Geise (Dr Seuss), who have an estimated 100 million sales each. And those numbers ain't too bad either. Unless you are the villian in the story.

"Bloodletter Quill", the shown art work, is by Dan Scot, a master of the color quill.

The duck stops here!

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:11:00 +0000

There might not be Christmas-in-July for British MP children as their daddies (and some mommies) got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. The British public is fuming over members of their parliament claiming expenses on anything from porn watching to benefits on second houses. Other items include cuddly toys, fancy TV sets, fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, oven, carpets - the list goes on - but the most infamous item is the duck house island (as in picture) claimed for by Peter Viggers.

The expenses whistleblowing by John Wick, a former SAS (Special Air Services) officer, to The Daily Telegraph (see their MPs expenses section) not only was evidence that newspapers still have more impact than blogs but it also led to the resignation of the Commons Speaker Michael Martin and a number of others with an appetite for those cookies. Note, Michael said he did not have any of the cookies but he left the jar open.

The British public reaction is "The duck stops here!"

By the way, you can get your very own similar duck island for £2,850 ($3,500) at Heytesbury.

Susan Boyle - 100 million video views and tons of inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:51:00 +0000

Better known than any banker, more votes than any local politician, Susan Boyle has become a symbol of hope and inspiration for all. The 40-something singleton from Scotland wowed the world with her performance on the TV show Britain's Got Talent, the video of which has been viewed more than 40 million times on various video tubes within a mere two weeks. And as if that is not all, the Daily Record newspaper discovered a copy of a song Susan recorded for a charity CD in 1999 - of which only 1000 copies were made - featured in this video. Simply awesome. Simply Susan.

Update April, 28: Susan Boyle videos has now brought in more than 100 million times smiles.

Poorer billionaires shopping for smaller airliners

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:46:00 +0000

"Last year the world had 1,125 billionaires. Today there are 793." $1.4 trillion vanished. Thus according to Fortune's Billionaire Bust article. Not to worry, they probably just lost it to each other. The billionaires on the receiving end of their own system have been seen shopping for smaller private airliners.

Ordained priest confesses terrible sin

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Stephen Green is an ordained priest and amateur theologian and banker. In 1996, he published Serving God? Serving Mammon? Christians and the Financial Markets. He also is the chairperson of HSBC.

In a Spectator article, he is quoted: "Christians can serve God in the world of finance and commerce, but it is also possible to fall into the trap of serving Mammon there." Which obviously has happened. Recently Stephen confessed: "Banks have clearly done things wrong. Some of the practices did not contribute, by any reasonable standards, to human welfare."

A good confession is hard to beat.

Lifespan of a housefly

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:15:00 +0000

The average lifespan of a politician is about 4 years. The average lifespan of a housefly is 14 days. Many homeowner find them infestious.

The lifespans of wanna-be politicians and ex-politicians are a little longer.

Santa approves Obama speech to Congress

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:46:00 +0000

Santa approves the speech Obama made to the US Congress. It was a pretty speech, for which Santa will give Obama extra rating points. There are, however, a few small points either the speech writer got wrong or Obama, in all the excitement, misread... as the Washington Post pointed out too in their Live Fact Check.

Concerning the beautiful promises Obama made, Santa would like to refer to an ancient saying from China (where Christmas is also celebrated by some): "To predict is extremely difficult, especially about the future."

All the elves here thought the unrestrained applause by the members of the Congress was in perfect sync and indeed loud enough - applauding 65 times, 37 in standing ovations, during the 45-minute address - with no-one wanting to stop clapping hands before another, much like the comrades used to do in the Kremlin because it made them look more handsome. If the members work as hard as they applauded everyone will have a great Christmas in 2009.

Capital gets looted by raiders

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:06:00 +0000

The Romans invaded England in 43 AD, establishing Londinium, which became London, but had Colchester as the capital of England. London became the capital of England in 100 AD.

When the Angles and Saxons invaded Roman Britannia in the 5th century, they called it, among other names, Brittani and Bretenland and some of their kings were given the title Bretwalda, echoing the Latin Dux Britanniarum Leader of the Britains. In old English - which sounded like modern German - the island was called Bryten (‘brighten’), originating from the West Germanic Brituna from which the word Briton comes. At this time, Winchester became the capital of England.

In 842, the Danish Vikings looted London, returning for the same in 851. In 1066, York briefly became the Viking capital of England. By 1086 both London and Winchester served as capitals. From 1200, Westminster became the capital but by the late 12th century the capital of England became London.

In 1666, the Great Fire of London destroyed two thirds of the capital: 13,200 houses and 89 churches. The value of many more houses were again destroyed in 2008 and 2009 when the raiders Andy Hornby, Dennis Stevenson, Fred Goodwin, Tom McKillop and Eric Daniels looted the city. The capital of England became Zero.

Pigs on Wall Street

noreply@blogger.com (pepperstix) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:55:00 +0000

To stop free-roaming pigs rampaging through their grain fields causing them to loose money, Manhattan Island residents built a long wall along the northern edge of which is now lower Manhattan. The street that came to board the wall was named Wall Street. Today we know that the wall did not keep the pigs out.