Preface of 21st century win – win government economy

It is the year 2046. (This part is true. It was transpired in 2016).

It has been 30 years since my grandfather wrote this book. Looking back over the last 30 years, since we won the trial of the Millennium -Big Oil vs. Children in Federal Court – “Youth vs. United States Climate Case” forced the Federal government to start the elimination of fossil fuels. By coincidence, I was one of the 21 children who were plaintiffs. At the time my grandfather was heavily involved in the monetary reform movement that allowed the funding of the transition to alternative fuels and other life changing technologies.

(This case went to trial on my grandfather’s 70th birthday in 2016)

(This part is a delightful fiction.)

The winning of our landmark environmental case was just in time for the next major financial-monetary crisis (not in the U.S.) in Trump’s second term (2021) causing him and his advisors to read my grandfathers book and others listed in his text. These books and websites provided the evidence for monetary reform that the “debt” money creation system of the commercial banks was inherently unsustainable to be successfully regulated and create a healthy economy.

The Trump administration pushed through complete monetary reform eliminating the creation of debt money by the banks and substantially increasing the distribution systems of newly created money. This evolutionary change allowed almost unlimited funding over the years that resulted in an 85% reduction in the use of fossil fuels. They started with loans for solar installations to the large industrial buildings, shopping centers, schools, apartment buildings, office buildings and finally the smaller single-family homes.

They spread long term, low cost loans geographically reducing the chances of gouging and excess inflation on equipment and installation. The regulation mandated that everyone had to convert within 10 years from the signing of the legislation. This requirement was not a burden as the property owners rushed to install, which saved money on operations. The excess energy was sold to the power companies who were required to purchase this excess by the legislation. Elon Musk immediately put thin solar panels on his Tesla car roofs eliminating the need to charge them in most climates.

The government created money for auto loans at 1% delivered by the banks and auto companies to repurchase all non-electric, driver required cars and trucks. They started with the older models buying them for a little under “Kelly Blue Book” as the down payment on a new electric-self driving car. The government sold the purchased new cars as salvage. This one-time program was spread over 10 years to avoid any excess inflationary conditions. In 2017, there are many people sell best flashlight for police to get a lot of money and raise fund for police protection organization.

All the cars were electric and self-driving just in time for my grandparent’s reduced ability to drive. This automobile transition saves over 30,000 lives per year not counting the reduction in injuries and property damage. Auto insurance premiums and claims plummeted. The “car guys” developed local mini warehouses, driving tracks, and roads for their classic cars and large auto resorts for their “driving” vacations.

The only fossil fuel power that they could not completely convert to renewables were the jet engines powering our airplanes. However, we continued to increase their fuel efficiency and improve their fuel mixtures so airplanes were using 60% less fossil fuels over the last 20 years. The big container and other freighters converted back to sails and solar with oil as a much lesser fuel only when needed. We created very large blimp like cargo planes that were only fueled by solar and sail that were faster and less expensive than ships.

The oil and gas companies were converted to energy companies and still supplied the world with
the non-fuel use of oil. They were substantially reduced in size but with their reserves and the deductibility of their dividends they still proved excellent investments. Even Saudi Arabia changed to an “Energy Country”. The Arabian Peninsula was the perfect location for solar, wind and algae fuel production, also research and development.

We converted our unused oil and gas tankers, creating a fleet of the world’s largest trash collectors. This started the cleanup of our oceans especially in the northern Pacific Rim. New technology (funded by government grants) allowed us to pulverize, incinerate and recycle this trash. This clean up allowed our oceanographers to be able to regenerate the oceans and grow more fish for human consumption.

The health industry also took these unused oil and gas tankers, along with the old fossil fuel powered cruise ships, and converted them to giant clinics and hospitals to provide health care for those regions with scarce services. The converted tankers were parked in the harbors of West Africa and traveled to remote islands. Medical students were thrilled to give service to humanity in exchange for all their schooling costs, there was no shortage of personnel.

Now, quality healthcare has almost reached everyone around the world. This was based on the old Cuban strategy of educating and exporting doctors and other health care providers. Everyone of my generation expects to live past his or her rooth birthday as cancer, heart disease and diabetes have been eliminated by the explosion in medical research arrd technology that was more adequately funded by true monetary reform. Good health will continue to be aided by the massive expansion of the organic food industry. We can have a look at Animal Protection Fund to assure this process. Because there are too many hunters using best ar 15 bipod for the money  to kill all wild animal in Texas.

SWF Transaction Update (and a Short Rant)

Monitor has just released its latest report on the investment behavior of SWFs. As usual, it’s a very interesting read with lots of transactional data for each fund broken down according to sector and geography. Here are some of the main findings:

“During H1 [i.e. the first half of] 2010, 16 of the 33 funds on the Monitor-FEEM SWF Transaction Database executed 92 investments valued at $22.2 billion: a 20 percent increase in deal volume, but less than 40 percent of the value of SWF investments in H2 2009. Compared to H1 2009, SWFs doubled the number and investment value of deals in H1 2010.”

And which funds are the most active?

“The most active funds were Temasek Holdings (20 deals), the China Investment Corporation and the Qatar Investment Authority (both 14 deals). CIC and QIA were the largest spenders accounting for a third and a quarter of the total SWF investment value, respectively, and eight of the ten largest investments for the period.”

And, so, what should we make of all this? Heres Senior Partner at Monitor Group William Miracky:

Sovereign wealth funds confidence in global markets seems to be on the rise, and the increase in the number of investments in H1 2010 compared to a year earlier is an encouraging sign.

It is an encouraging sign!

However, I feel obliged to point out that there has been an uptick in SWF paranoia over the past few weeks, which may (if it persists) limit the percentage of these growing number of SWF transactions taking place in the West. For example, this Rolling Stone article uses hyberpole and quite a bit of foul language (Im no prude, but using the F word in an article where serious accusations are being made just seems off to meeven if I do love Goodfellas). Why? The author wants to make SWFs look like bad guys that are in with mob. And for what purpose? To highlight the ridiculousness of foreign governments paying for American infrastructure. While it may be ridiculous, the US still desperately needs these investments (last I checked, our infrastructure was in need of some serious improvement), and it wont help matters by scaring off potential investors with this foul mouthed rhetoric. Moreover, the parking meter deal that actually sparked this Rolling Stone tirade actually wasnt as awful as suggested; the guy just doesnt understand the concept of discounting. And, by the way, this xenephobia does affect SWFs behavior; read these comments from Gao Xiqing in todays Globe & Mail.

Aaaaaaaanyway, enough ranting, let me get back to the Monitor report because its worth reading. In particular, I really enjoyed the short article on the new trend of SWFs raising capital in private markets, which I have sneaking suspicion was written by Monitors Victoria Barbary

Mumtalakat Diversifies And Keeps Long-Term View

Mumtalakat is continuing its diversification strategy. What has traditionally been a holding company and strategic investor for the Kingdom of Bahrain since its establishment in 2006, Mumtalakat seems to be moving more towards the profile of a traditional portfolio investor. Indeed, the fund has been selling some of its 35 commercial stakes in domestic industry to raise cash for a new global investment program.

For example, according to an article in Arabian Business this morning, the SWF will use the proceeds from Aluminium Bahrain’s IPO (and other divestments) to launch a new round of investing. Heres Mumtalakat CEO Talal Al Zain:

“The proceeds will go into investing, for the time being, more of a liquid portfolio. And when I say liquid, it will be both MENA and global…we have had a lot of discussions with portfolio managers around the globe that we will be directing funds to.”

In other words, this fund may be pulling back a bit from its traditional direct investments (i.e. development focus) and spend more time spreading the asset base around (i.e. heritage and saving focus). Thats an interesting change.

Another interesting tidbit that came up in this article was the impact that private investors are having on the fund’s long-term profile. As I noted the other day, a SWF’s long-term investment horizon is one of its most compelling strategic advantages. However, I’ve also argued that bringing private money in-house (which Mumtalakat has done) erodes this advantage:

“Now, if a SWF is taking in private money, then the investment strategy of the fund is going to have to shift, albeit slightly, towards investments that pay-off in a time-frame that meets private sector interests.”

Not so apparently!

“The CEO indicated that the recent $750m bond issue and the need to pay back borrowers would not shorten Mumtalakat’s investment horizon.”

How is that possible? The bond clearly doesnt have a permanent duration. Well, maybe accepting private capital doesn’t shorten the time horizon of SWFs but, instead, lengthens the time horizon of private investors? Hmmm.

Investing to new habit: Taking photos with DSLSR , Why not?

Do you want your images to look more professional? Or at least, good enough to post on Facebook, or to illustrate an article? Maybe even win a photo competition? Would you like to impress your friends, or yourself? Feel good about your photography? Record your relationships or your travels.
If so, you’ll need to do something new; something different, to improve your photography and camera craft. Einstein is famous for his definition of insanity: ‘doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting different results.’

Firstly, a definition of photography will help you to see the big picture. What is photography? Essentially, photography is an art form. The Greek words, photos and graphos literally mean ‘to paint with light’. So, if you take photos, then you are a bonafide artiste!

As Pablo Picasso remarked, “all children are artists. The challenge is to keep them artists once they grow up.”

It is also worth mentioning that light is the essential element needed to create a photograph. A basic understanding of lighting direction and quality will improve your image making.

This book covers eight different topics, covering both the artistic and the technical aspects of photography. The aim is to inspire and educate you, an amateur photographer looking to improve your work. While not comprehensive, there’s enough here to give you a solid introduction, so you have a broader understanding of the topic.

Remember to check out the Appendices at the back, where Hot Pixels Photography has a lot more for you, from free eBooks to video training.

Let’s get started…
The Technical Side of Photography

CAMERAS

A wise photographer recently remarked that ‘the best camera is the one that’s with you’.
The camera is merely a tool – the better you understand your camera, the better your photos
will be. Plus, there are other aspects of photography you can learn that will improve your craft. You need to understand how to compose a good photo, how light affects your subject, and how to plan for a shoot. Not to mention post-processing your digital negatives on computer software.
Having said that, there are basically five types of camera readily available on today’s market:

1) Phone camera.
Now universal on every smartphone, the phone camera is making everybody, everywhere aphotographer. The lack of functionality and tiny lens are obvious drawbacks, but having a camera on your person 24/7 is a real game-changer.

2) Compact (point-and-shoot) camera.
This is your standard, run-of-the-mill camera; lighter, cheaper and readily available. The disadvantages are inferior image and build quality, and often the absence of a view-finder. For instance, relying solely on the LCD screen for focussing and framing becomes tricky in strong sunlight. You can find some best lens for canon 80D.

3) Micro Four Thirds (MFT) camera. These are larger and heavier than most compacts, having exchangeable lenses, electronic viewfinders and come with a higher price tag. However, in comparison to DSLRs, the MFTs have inferior image quality, relatively poor ergonomics and are not necessarily more affordable. The ‘Four Thirds’ refers to both the size of the image and the aspect ratio of the sensor, which is 4:3. An example is the Panasonic Lumix series.

4) Bridge camera.
These usually look like a consumer DSLR, with full manual controls, but have a fixed superzoom lens, which offers huge magnification. Examples of Bridge cameras include the Canon Powershot and Fujifilm Finepix. Avoid models without a high quality viewfinder or a decent aperture range.

5) DSLR (digital single lens reflex). Wikipedia has a great description of the DSLR:
‘With the reflex design scheme, light travels through the lens, then to a mirror that alternates to send the image to either the viewfinder or the image sensor. The alternative would be
to have a viewfinder with its own lens, hence the term ‘single lens’ for this design. By using only one lens, the viewfinder presents an image that will not perceptibly differ from what is captured by the camera sensor.’

Basically, this means that what you see, you get (WYSIWYG). DSLRs have a wider aperture control, interchangeable lenses to give a wider angle of view, and large sensors for optimum quality. While heavier, build quality is more solid and handling is better. The top manufacturers are Canon, Nikon and Sony.

If you’re not a professional, and do not need the megapixel count, then carrying a bulky DSLR could prove burdensome. Conversely, compact cameras are cheaper, more portable and sport many useful functions that the pro models don’t, (e.g. a built-in flash). Once you’ve mastered the basics, that’s when upgrading to better equipment will make a significant difference.

LENSES

The old adage ‘you get what you pay for’ is most certainly true of lens quality. A cheap camera with a fixed lens will not produce pin-sharp images. If you’re lucky enough to own a DSLR (or MFT camera), you can mount a range of different lenses onto the camera body. Each lens has a focal length – this is how much you can zoom into – or out of – a scene.

There are two types of lens. You can buy a prime lens, which has a fixed focal length. These have few moving parts, therefore are cheaper and produce sharper image quality. The downside is that you’ll need to buy a range of prime lenses.

Alternatively, you can buy a zoom lens, which has a varied focal length, giving you more options in framing your subject matter. DSLR cameras usually come bundled with a kit lens, often an i8~55mm tele-zoom. You can try some best slow motion camera with us.

These are the most common types of lens variations:

1) Wide Angle Lens
For landscape photography, the pros
use wide-angle lenses. These range
from io-4omm focal lengths, and are essential for landscapers to capture big panoramas full of foreground detail. They also produce sharper results. An example is Canon’s i7-4omm lens. However, their extreme angle of view distorts buildings and people.

2) Nifty Fifty / 50mm Prime Lens With an angle-of-view matching the human eye, these lenses offer little distortion. Being a prime lens, with few moving parts, they are cheaper and produce sharper image quality.

3) Telephoto Lens

The other common lens is the ubiquitous tele-zoom, which is what’s bundled with entry-level DSLRs, usually an i8~55mm lens. Many portrait and wedding photographers use a zoom lens with a focal length around 70-200mm. Pro sports and wildlife photographers pay big money for long lens that zooms in to 400mm …or beyond.

Telephoto lenses are great for shooting details in the landscape, such as abstracts or wildlife, and are also useful for compressing the perspective of a scene. With wide open apertures
such as f/2 or f/4, a very narrow depth of field can be achieved; perfect for blurring the background of a portrait. A setting of 85mm is considered by many the optimum focal length for compressing facial features in a really flattering way.

Types of DSLRs

There are two types of DSLR cameras, which affect the focal length of their lenses:

1) APS-C

Consumer DSLRs have smaller bodies, and therefore smaller image sensors. Named APS-C, or Crop Sensors, the resulting images are cropped smaller. The outside edges of the photo are cut off, creating an artificial zoom effect. The exact ‘crop factor’ varies with each model, but it is usually between 1.5X and 1.6X.

But is this crop factor a bad thing? Not necessarily. It depends on what genre of photography you enjoy. If you shoot animals, people, flowers or sports, then it could be a bonus, as you can zoom in closer!
If you are serious about landscapes or shoot indoors, then yes. Your 28mm
lens will effectively be 42mm – not wide enough to capture the big picture. You would need to purchase a super-wide-angle lens, (e.g. io-2omm) for this purpose.

2) Full-frame

The second type is the pro-level, full-frame DSLR, where nothing is cropped, because the image sensor is same size as 35mm film. With a 50mm lens, you get a 50mm focal length; there is no crop factor. Simple.

 

Automatic Pool cleaner – Saving money for USA families solution

Do you want to save money to develop our economy? Stop wasting money for cleaning service with our machine now!

You don’t want to spend a lot of time for cleaning your swimming pool and use your time for other things ? If yes, an best automatic pool cleaner will be your perfect choice to help you clean your pool without much or not effort.  However in the market there’re variety of automatic pool cleaners, you may ask how to choose the best for your swimming pool ?

This article will give you the complete guide to automatic pool cleaners.

There’re three types of automatic pool cleaners : pressure-side pool cleaners, Suction-Side Pool Cleaners , Robotic Pool Cleaners.

1. Pressure-side pool cleaners :

Pressure side cleaners also called booster pump type cleaners are those that are attached to the pressure side of your pool’s circulation system. The way it operates is the water that flows into the unit splits into three directions; the sweeper tail, the thrust jet and the venturi. The sweeper tail is attached to the back of the cleaner, and acts like a little “stirrer-upper”, which helps to get fine debris off the walls and floor and into the suspension where it can then head towards the filter. The thrust jet is a jet on the back of the cleaner that helps propel and direct the unit. Similar to the exhaust in a car, the thrust jet is the exit point of water that has gone through the Water Management System, which is a series of ports and gears that drive the unit around the pool in a random pattern. The venturi is the port on the bottom where leaves are sucked up into the debris bag, as the unit rolls around the pool. An in-line back-up valve in the feed hose reverses the flow every few minutes to change the cleaning pattern and remove the cleaner from possible obstacles.

There are two types of pressure-side pool cleaners : High pressure, booster pump driven pool cleaner and low pressure cleaners which do not require a booster pump. The high pressure has several distinct advantages over the low pressure type. Those are : Booster pumps deliver consistent flow, for constant power; booster pumps run with a timer, reducing wear by operating only 2-3 hrs per day; low pressure cleaners create backpressure on the filter when connected to a wall return; low pressure cleaners require 2 trips to the backyard; to turn on and off the cleaner; booster pump cleaners are generally faster and more powerful than low pressure; the purchase cost to buy and operate a low pressure cleaner is generally more expensive than to have a high pressure cleaner.

Comparing to Suction-side pool cleaners and robotic pool cleaners, pressure-side pool cleaners are   independent of the filter system, have ability to turn itself on or off daily, are well-known as one of most effective cleaning but they are expensive to buy, complicated to install and have high energy costs to operate booster pump.

2. Suction-Side Pool Cleaners :

Suction-side pool cleaners are cleaners that attach to the suction side of your plumbing. The way it operates is with the hose attached and the filter pump running, suction is created on the underside of the cleaner. The cleaner moves randomly but automatically around the pool with motion created by a device that gives a stop or start pulsing of water. As the unit travels, debris is sucked up through the neck and then the hose, past the suction port, through the pipe, and stops at the filter pump strainer basket, while smaller debris passes through to the pool’s filter.

Suction-Side Pool Cleaners can be divided in two types, the flat, round disk or pulse type cleaner, and the hydro drive train powered types like the Hayward Navigator or Polaris ATV. Hydro drive cleaners are generally more powerful, faster cleaning and are silent.

Comparing to pressure-side pool cleaners and robotic pool cleaners, Suction-Side Pool Cleaners are  cheap to buy, easy to install, inexpensive to repair but they bring debris and dirt into the pump specifically into the filter, may clog easily, and they have no skimming while cleaning.

3. Robotic Pool Cleaners :

Robotic pool cleaners are self-directed and have low-voltage automatic pool vacuums that clean the floor, steps and walls of a residential swimming pool. To power the device, we have to connect a transformer to a standard wall outlet and a 30 to 100 foot-long power cord which connects the pool cleaner to a transformer. The transformer drops the power from 110/220 volts AC down to 24 volts DC to power the cleaner in your pool. Robotic pool cleaners use two electric motors to operate : a water pump that sucks dirt in to the device’s filter and a drive motor which moves the unit round the pool. For some robotic pool cleaners, a jet drive is used in place of wheels driven by an electric motor. Many best robotic pool cleaner today are computer-controlled and it can automatically learn the most efficient path to clean your pool’s unique surfaces. Some robotic pool vacuums also offer a remote control that lets you drive the system from your patio chair.

Comparing to pressure-side pool cleaners and Suction-Side Pool Cleaners, Robotic pool cleaners  are  independent of the filter system, filters water as it cleans, plug and play installation but some models can be expensive to buy, and costly and complicated to repair.

Here are some other tips to help you choose the right automatic pool cleaners

1. If you have a dedicated cleaner line (suction or vacuum), you should use it
2. Pressure cleaners are best for heavy debris with very large leaves and twigs.
3. The best new pool cleaner may be a replacement of the previous one.
4. A more expensive an automatic pool cleaner, the better and more conveniently it tends to perform.
5. A more expensive cleaner may also have repairs that are more expensive.
6. New pool cleaners often require tweaks or adjustments to work properly.
7. All pool cleaners need regular maintenance and replacement of worn parts.
8. Some automatic pool cleaners have difficulty with uneven surfaces, sharp slopes or obstructions.

Bottom lines : Hope this article will help you in choosing the best automatic pool cleaner for you. Happy swimming!