minna

Call me conservative but I think essential things like food, water, defense etc are better kept in the public's hand. (as cost ineffective as they may be...but not EVERYTHING has to make a profit to exist) Anyway what business model would this coporation follow? There are only a few instances where monopolies are beneficial and in this case I definately don't think it would work. There is even less of a chance of it working as a duopoly or some other models.

Congradulations Jay-qu!!!! Third year already...god time moves fast :computerkeys:

I used to live in an earthquake prone area of China. Minor ones are probably once or twice a year, and a big one once a couple of years. I remember the weird thing was it always rained right after the initial quake. Then while it rained there would be afterquakes. Our house was a fairly old apartment building of questionable quality, so whenever there was an earthquake, everyone would run out of their homes and gather at the bicycle sheds. Then we would all go back when we feel it is safe. But there would also be people who couldn't be stuffed coming down, I think people just became too used to it. Even with big ones, people there have just accepted it as a part of life.

We now live longer than before. They do say forty is the new thirty...so why not twenties is the new teens? LOL

Mixed-use developments, that's interesting! I'm seeing more and more of them in the last few years. I went to Tianjin, China two years ago and I was told they were building a commercial complex closed to where I stayed. It will include a six star hotel, shopping centres, apartments and offices. In Australia too I'm seeing more of them...however they ones I've seen are more high-end apartments, with pools, gyms and loads of services. I do see sustainability problems with the sort of housing Donk is talking about, cheap, basic and somewhat temporary. This sort of housing would rely on a steady stream of young, single, urban people looking for cheap housing. However the problem with that target market is that they are largesly seeking temporary housing, approx 4-5 years max (or until they get married and have kids). Secondly they are also the type of people largely affected by the economic environment. When the economy is looking good, and they have more to spend, more will look for more luxurius housing (reducing demand), and when the economic is going down, like now, there will be a increase in demand. But to create those sort of cheap, basic housing you need to employee economies of scale. Hence you probably need to create a lot at once to make a impact to this problem. But with the uncertainties mentioned above, such projects would be quite risky for developers.

Saw that book in the 'self-help' section of Borders in Melbourne. Rather shady title...I mean 'win friends'? A possible solution to Australia's 'man drought'? FuturePundit: On China's Shortage Of Females

Have you ever met a 'middle of the road', calm, reasonable, quiet,contemplative Greek? I believe it is YOUR role to be 'middle of the road', calm, reasonable, quiet and contemplative when you meet a Greek. :cheer: If I had won an Olympic Gold Medal I wouldn't give a damn what our anthem was! Anyway they only play the music...not the actual song. So I'd be ok if it didn't sound like bad 80's pop music (i.e. Kylie):phones:

That song is a little out of date. How about adding a few more stanzas to include the various recent immigrants. Namely the Greeks, Italians, Vietnamese, Chinese...etc. I actually prefer this to our anthem, I think it is easier to remember. I can never remember the second stanza of Advance Australian Fair!

LOL post up some photos of architecture in Oslo and let us be the judge! Some 'unconventional' architecture RMIT (University) Storey Hall Exterior: Ian Potter Museum of Art Exterior (University of Melbourne): Federation Square: Looking more and more like a patch-work quilt... Melbourne Museum: Rubix cube :eek: Docklands (unknown building): I love this one!

I guess I will follow the theme. Royal Exhibition Building: One of the oldest remaining exhibition pavilions. Melbourne Cricket Ground: Annual gathering place for AFL fnantics.;) Flinder Street Station: The main station for inner Melbourne trains NAB Docklands Giant lego block...actually Docklands in general is fairly strange. Wonderful place to photograph but pretty bad place to live in. Unless of course you like concrete and glass. State Library of Victoria The front lawn is the gathering place for many public protests. Melbourne Central (Interior) A building within a building I suppose. Used to be a shot tower in the old days. When they decided to build the new melbourne central building, instead of demolishing it, they decided to keep it by building the new building around it. It is now home to a few retail shops. Luna Park The entrance to Melbourne's only amusement park. I've always found it pretty creepy.

I love glass architecture, and this one will be so beautiful once it's completed. Institut Valencià D'Art Modern (Valencia, Spain)

Love sushi! And anyone who loves sushi has to try onigiri. It's equally good!

The percentage of children with allergies are on the rise. There are more reported cases of food allergies in schools, asthma is on the rise and in particular dangerous peanut allergy is much more common than 10 years ago. So what do you think the reason for this is? Are we becoming more hyper-sensitive due to our improvement in hygene, ie. 'over-cleaness'? Is it just a genetic problem that is just magnified due to additives and over processing of our food? Or is it something else? Do you have an allergy? If you have children, does she or he have an allergy? I have asthma (my father does too, while my mother has hayfever) I am also allergic to alot of medicine due to my genetic condition. (G6PD deficiency)

Predicting the stock market? Well many have tried in the past and many are trying now. There are people who make a living out of trying to predict the market, there are also people who loose everything due to wrong predcitions/decisions. :D Keeping in mind that most statistical methods use PAST prices to predict FUTURE values. (See the logic gap? :P ) I generally don't trust any statistical method/software that claim to be able to predict anything. Stats should only be used in conjunction with a good understanding of the market, the companies, and the current economic scene in general. Stats is not going to be able to predict a take over bid. It will only reflect the price change after it has happened. Of course you can rely solely on stats if you are just looking for a place to put your money and want a better return than the banks. So all you want to know is if the money you invested will grow. But you can see those stats for free online (ie. ASX) There is really no need to buy expensive software. If you want to do more than that then software will not get you far. They use historical prices and hence you can probably get a good general trend of the stock. But to make substantial money on the stock market you need to know information such as when the next take-over bids going to be, what big decisions the company will make next etc. No software is going to tell you that. In fact its impossible for anyone to know those information beforehand, unless there is inside-trading involved. What you need is good intuition, lots of research, good understanding, lots of time dedicated to monitoring the market and companies and of course luck. PS. What I have said are my own personal views.

You might want to consider the inflation rate of the currency you want to invest in. There is really no benefit in investing in a growing dollar that has an even faster growing inflation rate. For example China has a growing inflation rate, though it is not as high now as it was in 2004 due to central bank regulations. It will no doubt continue to increase due to its growing economy. Growing inflation leads to growing interest rates, which is another big factor to consider if you are planning to invest. To actually make money in the foreign exchange market is quite tough. There are a lot of things to consider than just a growing value of the dollar. Make sure you know government policies quite well so you can make an informed decision. As to Australia's economy, well I think Michaelangelica has gone through Australia's natural resources quite well :D. Though I disagree that a labour government will be able to push up Australian growth rates. BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and other mining companies are riding China's (or you could say East-Asia's) economic boom. So investing in them in some aspects is like investing in China. If the Chinese (East-Asia's) economy continues to grow and demand resources then BHP Billiton will be able to continue to generate profit. But I have to say BHP's prices are quite high already and I don't know if there will be a big jump in prices in the future. Unless Australia decides to export large quantities of Uranium :P. (Which might not be all that unlikely once we run out of oil. Although renewable energy might be a better and more politically friendly alternative). But BHP is not Australia's only company, and we are not solely relying on BHP for our economic growth. While we are abundant in natural resources we also have a growing service industry. Australia has a developed economy, you're not going to expect it to have rapid growth like East-Asian countries. But it is more 'predictable' and probably less risky and prone to change. Making correct investment in those economies will generate higher returns, but keep in mind that you're subject to higher risks, more unpredictability, and in many cases very fickle government policies (ie. investing in property in China). All I can really say is good luck and do your research before you invest in anything.