Central Perk: 27 sept. 2015

duminică, 27 septembrie 2015

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Refugees Shop for Best Handouts and Climate; Disgruntled Migrants Decide "Finland's No Good"
Catalan Separatist Parties Victorious, Unprecedented Voter Turnout
Total Lunar Eclipse September 27-28: Where to See It, How to Photograph It

Refugees Shop for Best Handouts and Climate; Disgruntled Migrants Decide "Finland's No Good"

Posted: 27 Sep 2015 06:07 PM PDT

Beggars can be choosy. And they are. For example, many refugees whine 'Finland's No Good', because of the cold.

Hundreds of predominantly Iraqi migrants who have travelled through Europe to reach Finland are turning back, saying they don't want to stay in the sparsely-populated country on Europe's northern frontier because it's too cold and boring.

Migrants have in recent weeks been crossing back into Sweden at the Haparanda-Tornio border just an hour's drive south of the Arctic Circle, and Finnish authorities have seen a rise in the number of cancelled asylum applications.

"You can tell the world I hate Finland. It's too cold, there's no tea, no restaurants, no bars, nobody on the streets, only cars," 22-year-old Muhammed told AFP in Tornio, as the mercury struggled to inch above 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) on a recent blustery grey day.

He had already travelled from Tornio to the capital Helsinki almost 750 kilometres (465 miles) south, and then back up to the Tornio border again to return to Sweden.

Another group of around 15 Iraqi refugees waiting at the bus station that Tornio shares with its Swedish twin town Haparanda also said they wanted to go back to southern Sweden.

"Finland is no good," the men echoed each other.

Reader Blair who sent me the link commented: "So, the search continues, by those whose lives were in grave danger, for free services... in a nice climate... with a lively social scene."

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Catalan Separatist Parties Victorious, Unprecedented Voter Turnout

Posted: 27 Sep 2015 01:28 PM PDT

The showdown in Spain between the independence parties and Madrid is sure to heat up following today's elections.

Here is a link to the Live Vote Totals.

With 70% of the vote counted, the parliament totals look like this:

In terms of popular vote, it appears the separatists will fall short of an absolute majority. Separatists will get about 47% of the popular vote.

Pro-Independence Rally on Friday

Above image from Financial Times.

Current totals show prime minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative Popular party is going down in a crushing defeat with only 8.46% of the vote.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Total Lunar Eclipse September 27-28: Where to See It, How to Photograph It

Posted: 27 Sep 2015 11:57 AM PDT

There is a Total Lunar Eclipse tonight visible of most of the US. You may want to watch it. The moon will likely appear strong red or orange, giving the name "blood moon".

click on table for sharper image

The Penumbral phase is weak and not easily seen so you may wish to observe it at other times.

Photographer Michael Frye took a time series of the Lunar Eclipse Over the Trona Pinnacles last April.

I missed that eclipse because it totally clouded up here. I will likely miss the one tonight because of clouds.

If your mission is to photograph the the moon, see the above article and also his article Photographing the Lunar Eclipse.

Oak tree and lunar eclipse sequence, December 10, 2011, Sierra foothills, California. ©Michael Frye

Michael Frye is one of the best, if not the best landscape photographer in the US.

I highly recommend his PDF ebook Landscapes in Lightroom: The Essential Step-by-Step Guide.

If you are a photographer using Lightroom, regardless of where you live, please do yourself a favor and get his book, recently updated to include new Lightroom 6 and Photoshop CC features including HDR Merge and the Panorama Merge.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock

Seth's Blog : The 2% who misunderstand you

The 2% who misunderstand you

Sometimes, it's essential that you be completely understood. That every passenger knows where the emergency exit is, or that every employee knows how it is we do things around here.

But most of the time, if 2% of your audience doesn't get the joke, doesn't learn what you seek to teach them, doesn't understand the essence of your argument, it's not the problem you think it is.

Sure, the 2% who are underinformed can write reviews, tweet indignantly and speak up. You know what? It doesn't matter that much.

If you insist on telling everyone on the airplane precisely how to buckle their seatbelt (!), then yes, of course you're going to not only waste the time of virtually everyone, but you're going to train them not to listen to the rest of what you have to say.

If you insist on getting every single person in the room to understand every nuance of your presentation, you've just signed up to bore and alienate the very people you needed most.

When you find yourself overwriting, embracing redundancy and overwhelming people with fine print, you're probably protecting yourself against the 2%, at the expense of everyone else. (And yes, it might be 10% or even 90%.... that's okay).

When we hold back and dumb down, we are hurting the people who need to hear from us, often in a vain attempt to satisfy a few people who might never choose to actually listen.

It's quite okay to say, "it's not for you."