Useful Economist Terms

I was reading an article today in the Newspaper by Dr Money. I found that the below terms are quite useful for those interested in the movement of the economy.

And here they are:

Recession - Refers to a period of at least six months of no growth in the economy.

Depression - Refers to a period worse that recession. There has not been a real term yet to define it.

Monetary Policy - Lowering or Increase of Interest Rates by government or central bank

Fiscal Policy - Government spending and tax cuts

Unemployment rate - Number of People (above 15 years old) who are not employed, but looking for employment divided by the number of unemployed plus employed people.

Foreign Currency Reserves - A central bank's holdings of Foreign currency such as USD, Euro, yen or gold. Usually this would guraantee the strenght and stability of a currency.

Interesting note that for the past two decades, Singapore had experienced a major recession in 1985 and 1997-1998 with exception of 2001 due to Sep 11 attacks. Would the year 2008 be the next major recession in a ten year cycle? The reason behind it was the booming property market and the bubble effect that had been going on from 2007. Let's stay tune and watch.

Personally, I still do not understand the working of the female mind. They can tell you one thing at this moment and then can switch to another the next. Is it true that they would want to do the opposite things from what they say? The reason is that once I give in to my gf, she turned around and said the opposite especially after an arguement or disagreement.

Have any of you faced the same problems?

Interestingly, my new job is into selling perfumes and cosmetics. Another female favorite. But I am taking my time to learn about this trade. It is proving to be a very interesting experiment for my job so far.

Enough of my mumblings, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all a happy and prosporus chinese new year.

It had been 1.5 months since my last post. Am I lazy or what?

Not really as I was in midst of changing jobs and my new job is on shift. That is the main problem; therefore I did not have time to post. Bear with me as I would sort something out and start posting again.

World Cup 2010 News

Ah...the groups for European qualifications for World Cup 2010 was done and dusted in South Aftica on 25th November 2007. I thought to share my thoughts on the groupings and see for comments.

Group 1
Portugal
Sweden
Denmark
Hungary
Albania
Malta

Comments: Portugal and Sweden would be the favorites to qualify from this group with Denmark playing the part of the dark horses. As for Hungary, Albania and Malta, their best hope is to avoid a trashing.

Group 2
Greece
Israel
Switzerland
Moldova
Lativa
Luxembourg

Comments: An interesting group where Euro 2004 champions Greece should be the favorites here. The runner up place should be between Israel and Switzerland though Lativa might throw a spanner into things.

Group 3
Czech Republic
Poland
Northern Ireland
Slovakia
Slovenia
San Marino

Comments: The fight for qualification would be down to Czech Republic and Poland with Northern Ireland a threat. Interesting though is the pairing of Czech Republic with Slovakia as they were together as Czechovakia, if I am not wrong.

Group 4
Germany
Russia
Finland
Wales
Azerbaijan
Liechtenstein

Comments: Germany by the strength of their team should take the group if they do not underestimate their opponents, leaving Russia, Finland and Wales to fight for the runners up spot.

Group 5
Spain
Turkey
Belgium
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Armenia
Estonia

Comments: A straight duel between Spain and Turkey for the top spot in the group as the rest do not seen like a major threat to these 2 nations.

Group 6
Croatia
England
Ukraine
Belarus
Kazahstan
Andoora

Comments: What a more interesting group than this one. England and Croatia again for qualifications with Ukraine in the Russia role. Hopefully this time, England do their work well.

Group 7
France
Romania
Serbia
Lithuania
Austria
Faroe Islands

Comments: France should be overwhelming favorites to take this group, but has to be wary of Romania and Serbia though.

Group 8
Italy
Bulgaria
Republic of Ireland
Cyprus
Gerogia
Montenegro

Comments: Based on the strength of the group, World Cup Holders Italy should qualify with ease.

Group 9
Holland
Scotland
Norway
Macedonia
Iceland

Comments: The group of death for me in the qualifications are even the supposed minnows Macedonia and Iceland are no pushovers. Best group for upset actions.

Headlines time

1. " Cetlic Cup in 2009"
In the place of non qualifications for Euro 2008, the football federations of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland agreed in principles for a four nation cup. England though distanced themselves from the idea, even if the idea came from UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Read on find out more.

2. "Bruce's Round up on Birmingham"
After being formally introduced as the new manager of Wigan, Steve Bruce let loose on his thoughts on his old club, Birmingham. Read on find out more.

3. "Sir Alex Charged"
More bad news for Sir Alex after his sending off on Saturday as English FA has formally charged him with using abusive language against a match official. Read on find out more.

4. "Sir Alex Rally his troops for Sporting game"
Sir Alex has came out rallying his troops for the Sporting Game in midweek as a win would cemment Man utd as Group F winners and for a easier draw in the second group. Read on find out more.

Some soccer News

What a weekend for EPL. Big result for Bolton to put off 1-0 win at home vs Man Utd. Can you believe it that was Bolton's first league win at home vs Man Utd for 30 years? Another icing on the cake is sending off of Sir Alex to the stands? Maybe he is letting off steam for not fielding Cristando Ronaldo in the absence of Rooney or he underestimate Bolton. Well Done Bolton for making the season interesting. If Bolton played this way week in and out, they would be safe from the relegation.

A bad day for Man Utd overall with Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Portsmouth all winning their respective games.

Ah...now Pool is just 3 points behind Man Utd with a good 3-0 win away at Newcastle. It seen that Newcastle even without Bramble, still has problem in defence. Another problem is whether Big Sam would be given sufficient time to turn things around as the Toons are not patient fans. As for Pool, it is nice to see Gerrard forgetting the events of mid week and focusing on the task on hand. Next is Porto in mid week CL action which better be careful.

Arsenal and Man City left it late to win their games against Wigan and Reading respectively. Only in the 83rd minute, did Arsenal breach Wigan's resistance with a Gallas goal. As for Man City, a 90th minute was needed to secure their win.

As for Chelsea, they are lucky to escape with a 2-0 win which should have been 1-1 to Derby County. A Kenny miller's equalizer wrongly ruled offside and a SWP goal that should not be given due a foul in the build up. But that's football where luck play a major part.

Portsmouth and Aston Villa enjoyed their win with a comfortable 2-0 and 3-0 win vs Birmingham and Middlesbrough.

Match of the day is the emphatic 7-1 win of Everton vs Sunderland at Goodison Park. It seen that this season would be a high scoring season as there have been at least one eight goal match every month so far. Tough luck for Keane and co though, but congratulations to David Moyes and his boys for such an entertaining match.

English Premiership Results

Newcastle 0-3 Liverpool
Arsenal 2-0 Wigan
Bolton 1-0 Man Utd
Man City 2-1 Reading
Birmingham 0-2 Portsmouth
Middlesbrough 0-3 Aston Villa
Derby 0-2 Chelsea

Bundesliga Results

Karlsruhe 2-1 Hertha Berlin
Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 Duisburg
Bayern Munich 2-1 Wolfsburg
Bochum 3-0 Arminia Biefield
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-4 Stuttgart
Energie Cottbus 0-2 Werder Bremen
Hannover 2-3 Schalke

It seen that all the big boys won respectively yesterday in the Bundesliga. A win in 5 games finally for Munich should wake their title challenge again. Really the morale winning victory vs Munich seen to spur Stuttgart on.

Spanish La Liga

Barcelona 3-0 Recreativo Huelva
Sevilla 1-2 Mallorca
Murcia 1-1 Real Madrid

Okay expected Barcelona to bounce back, but Sevilla to lose at home and Madrid's draw is unexpected though. At least the title race would be interesting though with such results. Great Chance for Villarreal and Valencia to catch up with wins.

Italian Serie A

Inter Milan 2-1 Atalanta
Genoa 0-1 Roma

Routine wins for Inter and Roma. Expected from them. Let's see why Fiorentina, Juventus or AC Milan can do tonite.

NEWS TIME

1. "Sir Alex's date with FA"
After his side lost 1-0 to Bolton at the Reebok Stadium, Sir Alex would also have to face a date with the English FA after his sending off to the stands during the match. After some many years, it seen that he had lost his fire in him though.

2. "Prefect Seven at home for Barcelona"
After winning 3-0 vs Recreativo Huelva, Barcelona maintain a prefect home record of seven home wins to move within a point of Real Madrid. However impressive as their home form, their away form need improvement as six points from 18 points are not champships form. Next up is Lyon away in the CL.

3. "Good Lesson to be Learnt"
After his departure or sacking, Steven McClaren is postive that his tenture would provide a good lesson to be learnt by his successor. McClaren's term as English Boss is one of the shortest ever, just 12 months.

4. "Lyon's Price for Victory"
France Champions won 2-0 away to Rennes to bounce back from their defeat to Marseille. However injury to midfielder Karim Benzama may be a higher price extracted 4 days ahead of crucial CL crash with Barcelona. A miracle may be needed for him to play, which without a doubt is a major blow for Lyon.

Book Review for Descent of Angels

Here is a review of Descent of Angels by me. Hope that you guys enjoy it.

Descent of Angels is the sixth book in the Horus Heresy Series of novels by the Black Library Publishing. Following on the release of Fulgrim, Descent of Angels mainly focus on the life of Lion El'Jonson, Primach of the 1st Space Marine Legion, on Caliban.
The whole novel is seen through the eyes and experiences of Zahariel, a knight supplicant, who joins the Order. The Order here is refers to a knightly order on the world of Caliban with the Lion and Luther key figures in the Order.
Throughout the novel, Zahariel started off as a knight supplicant, then a full fledged knight, a space marine and then finally a possible librarian. His encounters with the beasts of his world, his fellow knights and then his brief experience with the space marine legions would catch the reader up into a world where fantasy would meet technology.
Also throughout the novel, the roles of and reference to Lion, Luther and Lord Cypher are all mentioned in details. As most Warhammer 40K players would know from the Space Marine or Dark Angels Codex, the Lion and Luther would engage in a civil war during the Horus Heresy. This would result in the destruction of the Caliban and the hunt of the traitors by the victors. Throughout the course of the novel, the cause of this breaking of brotherhood between the Lion and Luther could be traced. As per in the novel, the relationship of Luther and the Lion can be seen between Zahariel and his cousin, Nemiel.
For one, when our hero, Zahariel, killed off the last Caliban lion, the Lion did mentioned that there would be those jealous of his achievements mainly Luther. The logic is that without killing a Caliban Lion, Luther would not be the equal of the Lion. Another was when Luther discovered that the Saroshi delegation ship was a weapon; thoughts of betrayal greed and power did run through him.
However the final break between the brothers were not explained. That may be a disappointment in the novel though overall it can rated as a good novel by Mitchel Scanlon.

PS: Review can be found on Ezinearticle too.

10 Interesting Facts About FIFA Player of Year Award

Another article that is done by me in conjunction with the short list of FIFA Player of Award 2007. It is also published on Ezinearticles.

It is time of the year where the FIFA world player of the year award is decided by the votes of coaches and captains of national team worldwide.

An introduction of the mechanism of the system used to select the player of the year would be discussed first. The award was started in 1991 for the male player and in 2001 for the female player categories respectively. Basically, the coaches and national team captains would vote for players drawn by the technical committees of FIFA. The system used is called the Borda count where each coach and captain would get three votes (one of five points, one of three points and one of one point) to cast for the players of his choice. And the winner would be determined by the total of points received. The winner last year is Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro of Real Madrid.

And here are ten interesting things about the FIFA World Player of the Year Award

1. The winner of 2006 award, Fabio Cannavaro, is the first defender or a player other than a midfielder or striker to have ever won the award since its inception win by Lothar Matthaus in 1991. The closet any other defender or goalkeeper has came to the award before Cannavaro’s victory are Oliver Kahn (Goalkeeper, second in 2002), Roberto Carlos (Defender, second in 1997) and Paolo Maldini (Defender, second in 1995).

2. In the past sixteen editions of the awards, it had been won by strikers and midfielders for seven times each. Thus making outfield players with the exception of defenders, a more popular choice for the award. It is summarized that as strikers and midfielders hoard most of the glory in competitions, therefore their chances are equally higher than defenders and goalkeepers.

3. There are two triple winners of the awards since its inception in 1991. They are French Midfielder Zinedine Zidane (1998, 2000 and 2003) and Brazilian Striker Ronaldo (1996, 1997 and 2002). The other player who has won more than once is Brazilian Ronaldinho (2004 and 2005).

4. No player has ever won the award for three consecutive years in the roll. The closet any one have came to it are Ronaldo (1996 and 1997) and Ronaldinho (2004 and 2005). It would take something really special every season for any one player to do so.

5. Although the award is meant for the world’s best player, only players from Europe, Africa and South American do make it to the final short list. Hence there have been quite some critics from some corner in the world about the selection process.

6. Another interesting fact is other than Juan Roman Riquleme’s nomination in 2007 when he is playing on loan for Boca Juniors, all the players on the short list came from clubs in Europe.

7. No English Player or Player from United Kingdom has ever won the award before. The closet any have came are Gary Lineker (1991, third), Alan Shearer (1996, third), David Beckham (1999 and 2001, both second) and Frank Lampard (2005, second). Maybe it would take England winning the World Cup or European Championship for a English to take the award.

8. Brazil has the most wins by nationality. Brazilian players have won the award a staggering seven times; four times more than the closet nationality of French with three wins. It could be the flair and attacking nature of the Brazilian players that clinched them the wins as players such as Ronaldo, Ronaldino, Rivaldo and Romario are all attacking players full of flairs. Or it could down to the names as all the Brazilian winners have a letter “R” to head off their names.

9. The last six winners of the award have come from teams in the Spanish La Liga. Hence it can be seen it is not English Premiership with the most star power, but the La Liga.

10. FC Barcelona had six winners from players within its ranks while great rivals Real Madrid had four. Thus making a majority of winners (a staggering sixty three percentage) from both of them for the past sixteen awards since the inception of the award. Their closet rivals for this honor is the Italian Giants Juventus with four winners.

Hopefully, the above can give one a better understanding of the FIFA Player of the year Award. And let’s await the result in 17th December 2007.