I Have a Dream (OK Graig Dae the business:)

Scotland For Ever!

Merry Christmas from Brian Simpson

Scottish Pipes and Drums from Edinburgh, Scotland.









Greetings All,

May I wish you and your family a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Regards

Brian Simpson
Alba Oil and Gas Community!
http://www.albaoil.com





Twitter
http://twitter.com/briansimpson
http://twitter.com/albaoil
http://twitter.com/albaim

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/briansimpsons
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Linkedin
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"Eurostar" Tunnel Between UK & France Chaos!

Eurostar passengers stranded in London







Eurostar passengers return to the UK






Eurostar Channel Tunnel Entrance France





Eurotunnel Fight

British Court issues an Arrest Warrant on "Tzipi Livni" (ex Israeli foreign minister) for War Crimes in Gazza!

British Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza





BBC argues with Israeli Spokesman over UN School Bombing

Dubai world going bust?

"My Experience tells me at least "double the admitted debt"

Quote Harry! TC

AlbaFireFighters (AFF)

THE PRIZE tells the epic history of oil - how it has dominated global politics.

Alba Oil and Gas Community!
http://www.albaoil.com

Five British soldiers killed By "Rogue" Afghan Policeman.

Al Jazeera - Will the US send 44,000 more troops to Afghanistan as part of a counter insurgency strategy or will it instead opt for a smaller counter terrorism force?




Riz Khan - Matthew Hoh - 3 Oct 09 - Part 1







Riz Khan - Matthew Hoh - 3 Oct 09 - Part 2

Scotland Releases "Lockerbie Bomber"

U.S. Outrage As Lockerbie Bomber Freed





Two parents of Lockerbie victims - Susan Cohen and Jim Swire - are divided over Abdebaset Ali al-Mehrahi's rumoured release on health grounds..




Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi arrives at a military airport in Tripoli to be greeted by thousands of cheering supporters.

Yes! You can Earn from Twitter (F.ree Report)

Walt Prorok & Chris Vendilli just
joined forces & created what will
soon be known as the internet's
premiere resource for Twitter
tips.

These guys really break it down
and show you step by itty bitty
step how to setup all of your
Twitter related accounts &
resources so that they're all
geared for one common goal...

TRAFFIC

If you download this free report
and go through the steps &
suggestions they outline, you're
guaranteed to see some free
traffic from Twitter:)

Just go here....
http://www.twitterdot.com


For Your Success

Brian Simpson
AlbaIM Social Network
http://www.albaim.com



PS - This is the original "Twitter
Report" so when you see all the
knock-offs come sure to come out in
the next couple weeks & months just
remember you were told about the
real deal from TwitterDotCom!


Click Here!
http://www.twitterdot.com




Realise Your Potential

Microsoft and Yahoo Deal from AlbaIM

Microsoft and Yahoo seal deal
By Joseph Menn in Las Vegas, Richard Waters in San Francisco and Tim Bradshaw in London
FT.com
Published: July 29 2009 19:47


Yahoo ran into a fresh wave of doubts in the financial and technology worlds on Wednesday as it bowed out of the race to compete with Google.


In a deal that caps more than two years of effort by Microsoft to secure a foothold in Yahoo’s search business as a way to challenge Google, Yahoo will hand control of its internet search technology to the software group on terms that fell short of expectations.

Although less drastic than the $48bn acquisition of Yahoo that Microsoft proposed last year, the move would be costly for Microsoft and difficult to implement, but could for the first time make it a credible long-term rival to the search group, according to analysts.

News of the technology alliance brought an abrupt end on Wednesday to the six-month honeymoon that followed the appointment of outsider Carol Bartz as Yahoo’s chief executive. Yahoo shares slumped by 12 per cent as Wall Street expressed doubts about the financial benefits and the long-term impact on the internet media group.

“The market is disappointed, justifiably,” said Larry Haverty, money manger at Gamco, which has 1.6m Yahoo shares. He said Yahoo now resembled a consumer media company such as Time Warner and might not still be independent in five years.


The focus on display advertising and media, however, drew comparisons with AOL, which has struggled to come up with an effective strategy since the dotcom bust. Ms Bartz has failed so far to explain how Yahoo will stay competitive in the long term, said Allen Weiner, an analyst at Gartner.

Yahoo stockholders were alarmed that it was surrendering its technology position while gaining far less than anticipated annual savings, which had been estimated at as much as $1bn. Ms Bartz, who had earlier promised “boatloads of money” from any deal, said she had given up the idea of an upfront payment in favour of a larger share of future search advertising revenues from Microsoft.


Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, said the deal was the only way to ensure viable competition in the long term, and said he knew of no other case where a company with as great a share as Google had objected to two smaller companies combining forces.

Several advertisers who had complained about a Yahoo-Google tie-up praised the new partnership, saying it would provide a real alternative to Google. “It is very welcome for our clients as it brings more balance to the search marketplace and may moderate pricing,” said Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the world’s largest advertising agency.

Audio: Richard Waters on the Microsoft / Yahoo deal

Pride Of Scotland Homecoming 2009 Gathering Of The Clans

Pride Of Scotland Homecoming 2009 Gathering Of The Clans



SCOTTISH CLAN CRESTS!



Tartans of the Scottish Clans (1906)



Great to see Expat Scots from all over the World "Coming Home"
and enjoying themselves.


Scotlands Offical Gateway
http://www.scotland.org/

Israeli War Crimes Exposed!

Israel became has been under fire after a group of soldiers testified they committed war crimes in Gaza earlier this year. Global media react to the report and dig deep to find out what really happened.

Facebook - The Accidental Billionaires!

Bloomberg Interview with Ben Mezrich, Author of "The Accidental Billionaires" a book about the history of facebook

The Corries ,The Green Fields of France - Young Willie McBride

War in Afghanistan

The Chief of Defence Staff says Britain is winning the war in Afghanistan, despite the UK suffering one of its bloodiest moments since the start of the conflict with eight deaths in one day. Sky's Defence Correspondent Geoff Meade reports.

Uganda Oil find fraught with Promises and Perils!

Oil companies are claiming that oil finds in Uganda will be the biggest onshore reserves in Africa. The country's western part reportedly has the potential of producing billions of barrels. Uganda and the oil executives insist that mistakes in past oil booms will not be repeated.

But those those dangers are all too evident - the expectations of a poor local population, a natural environment and the potential for conflict.

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports.

Public Privacy Online

Madoff (with your money) sentenced to 150 years in Prison :)

Madoff sentenced to 150 years in prison
By Joanna Chung and Alan Rappeport in New York and Brooke Masters in London
FT.com







Cheers erupted in the Manhattan federal courthouse on Monday as Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum possible under law, for running a $65bn Ponzi scheme that has devastated thousands of investors around the world.

The sentence came after an emotional hearing in which Mr Madoff, 71, conceded he could offer no excuses for decades-long fraud that may be the biggest in history.



“I leave a legacy of shame, as many of my victims have pointed out, for my children and grandchildren. That is something I will have to live with the rest of my life,” Mr Madoff said before the sentence was handed down. The former Nasdaq chairman also turned briefly to the victims in the courtroom, saying: “I’m sorry, I know that doesn’t help you.”

But his victims were not appeased. Nine of them testified at the hearing. Several had to pause as they were overcome with emotion, while others sat in the benches behind them, weeping.

“Underneath that facade, there truly is a beast. He has fed upon us,” said Sheryl Weinstein, the former finance chief of Hadassah, a Jewish women’s organisation.



Michael Schwartz, who lost a family trust fund and is supporting a disabled brother told the judge: “I only hope that his jail sentence is long enough so that his prison becomes a coffin.”

Mr Madoff’s attorney Ira Sorkin had asked for a 12 year sentence and the probation service had recommended 50 years. But Judge Denny Chin opted for the statutory maximum for the 11 charges to which Mr Madoff pleaded guilty.

Noting that he had not received a single letter in support of Mr Madoff, Judge Chin said: “Mr Madoff’s crimes were extraordinarily evil ... Not merely a bloodless financial crime ... [but] one that takes a staggering human toll.”

The White House said Judge Chin had sent a “loud and clear” signal to investors who handle other people’s money.

Mr Madoff’s family did not attend the hearing, but afterwards his wife Ruth broke her silence, releasing a statement saying she felt “embarrassed and ashamed” and “betrayed and confused” by the revelation of her husband’s crimes.

“Nothing I can say seems sufficient regarding the daily suffering that all those innocent people are enduring because of my husband. But if it matters to them at all, please know that not a day goes by when I don’t ache over the stories that I have heard and read,” she wrote.

While this case is unusual because of Mr Madoff’s age, a sentence of that length would ordinarily lead to Mr Madoff being sent to a maximum security prison.

In recent years, judges have handed down increasingly harsh sentences to high-profile white collar criminals. Bernie Ebbers, former chief executive of WorldCom, was given a 25-year term and Jeffrey Skilling, former head of Enron, more than 24 years, although that sentence was overturned on appeal.

There are still many unanswered questions about Mr Madoff’s decades-long scheme and what happened to the money. Mr Madoff has always insisted he committed the crime alone, but many believe he had accomplices.

David Friehling, Mr Madoff’s long-time accountant, has been charged with falsely certifying that he audited Mr Madoff’s firm and with enabling the investment fraud.

Mr Friehling, who has denied wrongdoing, is scheduled to appear in court next month. No one else has been criminally charged in the case.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the trustee leading the effort to recover money for victims have begun filing civil lawsuits, seeking to force some of Mr Madoff’s early backers to return some of the withdrawals they received from him. They have denied wrongdoing.

“What happens after the sentencing will be crucial,’’ said Dan Nardello, former federal prosecutor and chief executive of investigative firm Nardello & Co. ‘’The investigation is clearly not over. Although Madoff confessed and pleaded guilty, there is still much to learn. The government will continue to pursue other responsible individuals and assets belonging to the victims. $65bn ... does not just disappear.’’

Mr Madoff’s investors had $65bn on paper, most of it in fictitious profits, when federal authorities arrested him on December 11. The trustee has so far identified more than 1,341 account holders with collective real losses of about $13bn.

Mr Madoff and his wife have been stripped of most of their assets, including their homes and boats, according to court documents filed last week. Mrs Madoff, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, will be allowed to keep $2.5m in cash, according to an agreement with prosecutors.

Comedy Football :) 23 Million People have watched this video on You Tube!

YouTube launches Citizen Tube helpng Iranian Protesters!

CitizenTube helps Iranian protesters - 25 Jun 09



While Iran continues its clampdown on media reporting stories in Tehran, YouTube has created a political blog that offers a venue for global users to aggregate the latest footage on breaking news stories from around the world.

Al Jazeera talks with Steve Grove, YouTube's head of News & Politics, about CitizenTube and the impact it is having on new media as well as for protesters in Iran.


Visit http://www.citizentube.com for more information.




A note about videos coming in from Iran




Visit http://www.citizentube.com for more information.

UK Police chiefs plan cybercrime squads (about time)

By James Boxell, Home Affairs Correspondent
Published: June 23 2009 23:30

FT.com

Police forces plan to set up regional “cybercrime” squads similar to those that deal with anti-terror operations, as senior officers seek to counter criticism they are not doing enough to combat the 3m annual cases of online crime.

The plans – “actively pursued” by the Association of Chief Police Officers – emphasise fears the police are being left behind by sophisticated gangs of online criminals with access to the latest technology and large sums of money. UK figures on cybercrime are patchy, but officials estimate online fraud is worth more than £50bn a year worldwide.












Hackers have recently attacked important services in the UK as well as businesses. Three London hospitals have come under attack and one police force outside London had its system shut down for five days.

Cyber-security has moved up the policy agenda, with this week’s “national security strategy” expected to include the formation of a cyber-centre and a new Cabinet Office unit.

The specialist regional police squads are an important part of the chief officers’ national “e-crime strategy”, although the initiative has yet to be ratified by the association’s senior members. It includes plans to train all “mainstream” police officers in how to deal with complaints of cybercrime.

The new approach is an admission by senior officers that they have failed so far to come up with a coherent means to tackle online criminals. Efforts are hampered by a lack of co-ordination between forces and a lack of expertise among officers.

“It has been an ad hoc and piecemeal approach,” said one senior officer. “There is a lack of knowledge, particularly among detectives.”

The strategy is to be driven by Janet Williams, head of intelligence and covert policing at the Metropolitan Police, who has also taken the lead on Scotland Yard’s e-crime unit.

Ms Williams has openly questioned the unit’s modest budget, but the formation of regional squads could help to share some of the burden. Police forces have set up similar counter-terror squads to pool expert resources in Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester, with Thames Valley to join soon.

The cybercrime squads would also take their lead from the Met’s e-crime unit – again mirroring the counter-terror approach, of which Scotland Yard is in charge nationally.

The strategy highlights the importance of police relations with business. The e-crime unit has already established a “virtual taskforce” with the finance industry, including banks and payment services companies.





Banks have been in the vanguard of combating online fraud, with some success, but senior police officers said that financial companies were showing reluctance to share information because of concerns over commercial confidentiality.

“They need to rethink that,” one officer said.

Ms Williams’ team seeks to set up similar task forces with retailers and property companies, which have also suffered from the cybercrime boom.

Catherine Bowen, head of crime policy at the British Retail Consortium, said online crime was now one of the biggest issues facing retailers.

She said that a UK-wide approach had been put in place by the National Fraud Office – but she hoped the regional squads and nationwide training of officers would “provide the missing link”.

Your Easy Sales Formula (Free Affiliate Training Videos)

Check this free video training out, on "Video Skinning"
yeah,I have never heard of this before either!

BUT this works and its Free :)

Click Here!


Its 1 and half hours of quality training, that others
would sell for $197 easily (but yours Free)

For Your Success

Brian Simpson
AlbaIM Social Network
http://www.albaim.com

IRAN - The Facebook Revolution!

Reports are coming out of Iran that Mir Hossein Mousavi
was informed by officals that he had WON the Election!

But when preparing his victory speech,was informed that he had NOT!


The Real Bosses of Iran had changed their minds!

Johnny Cash :) (Folsom Prison Blues)

Iranian people ask "Where is My Vote" as Ahmadi-Nejad win sparks violent clashes

Thousands of angry protesters have clashed with police after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of Iran's presidential poll.
Secret police have been attacked, while riot police used batons and tear gas against backers of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who called the results a "charade".
Correspondents say the violence is the worst seen in Tehran in a decade.
In a televised address to the nation, Mr Ahmadinejad thanked voters for giving him a "great victory".
He said the people of Iran wanted justice, development, an end to corruption and for their country's name to be respected.


John Simpson
Reporting from Tehran

A crowd of about 3,000 attacked the police, some of whom were on motorbikes, which they set on fire.
The sky was thick with black smoke. Police attacked the crowd with sticks and maybe teargas.
I didn't expect to see people turning on the secret police. We were filming when we were surrounded by angry secret policemen. The crowd turned on them and chased them off.
I suspect we are not looking at a revolution but there is serious anger.
It all depends on how the government responds - if they use violence, that could inflame the situation.
In quotes: Reaction to result
The official results gave Mr Ahmadinejad 63% of the vote against just 34% for Mr Mousavi.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the high turnout of 85%, described the count as a "real celebration" and called for calm.
"Enemies may want to spoil the sweetness of this event... with some kind of ill-intentioned provocations," the ayatollah said.
Mr Mousavi has also claimed victory, as his supporters said the election had been stolen and vowed to seek a re-run.

But observers say this would have little chance of success.

Some of the protesters in Tehran wore Mr Mousavi's campaign colour of green and chanted "Down with the dictator", news agencies report.
Four police motorbikes were set on fire near the interior ministry, where votes had been counted, the BBC's John Simpson in Tehran says.
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli warned that any demonstrations needed official permission, and none had been given.

One opposition newspaper has been closed down and BBC websites also appear to have been blocked by the Iranian authorities. The AP news agency reports that mobile phone services have been blocked in Tehran.

Mr Mousavi was hoping to prevent Mr Ahmadinejad winning more than 50% of the vote, in order to force a run-off election.
Danger of 'tyranny'
Mr Ahmadinejad said the world, especially the Western media, had waged a campaign of "psychological warfare" against the people of Iran during the election.

President Ahmadinejad addresses nation

"It was clear what the majority of people wanted," he said.
He said the election had been free but did not go into details about the complaints of rigging and did not mention the violence.
Mr Mousavi, a former prime minister, earlier dismissed the election result as deeply flawed.
"I personally strongly protest the many obvious violations and I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade," the Reuters news agency reported him as saying.
"The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardise the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny."

IRANIAN ELECTION

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 62.6%
Mir Hossein Mousavi: 33.8%
Mohsen Rezai: 1.7%
Mehdi Karroubi 0.9%
Turnout: 85%
Source: Interior ministry




Mr Mousavi had said there was a shortage of ballot papers and alleged that millions of people had been denied the right to vote.
His election monitors were not allowed enough access to polling stations, he added.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says the result has been greeted with surprise and with deep scepticism by many Iranians.
The figures, if they are to be believed, show Mr Ahmadinejad winning strongly even in the heartland of Mr Mousavi.
The scale of Mr Ahmadinejad's win means that many people who voted for a reformist candidate in the previous presidential election four years ago have apparently switched their votes to Mr Ahmadinejad, he adds.
However, the president does enjoy the support of many of the urban poor and rural dwellers.

"I am happy that my candidate has won - he helps the poor and he catches the thieves," sandwich seller Kamra Mohammadi, 22, told the AFP news agency.
Mr Mousavi gains much of his support from the middle classes and the educated urban population.



Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters have been celebrating the result
There had been a surge of interest in Iran's presidential election, with unprecedented live television debates between the candidates and rallies attended by thousands.
There were long queues at polling stations, with turnout reaching 85%.
Four candidates contested the election, with Mohsen Razai and Mehdi Karroubi only registering about 1% of the vote each.
Iran is ruled under a system known as Velayat-e Faqih, or "Rule by the Supreme Jurist", who is currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It was adopted by an overwhelming majority in 1979 following the Islamic revolution which overthrew the autocratic Western-backed Shah.

But the constitution also stipulates that the people are the source of power and the country holds phased presidential and parliamentary elections every four years.
All candidates are vetted by the powerful conservative-controlled Guardian Council, which also has the power to veto legislation it deems inconsistent with revolutionary principles.

Swedish Pirate Party (legalize internet file sharing) Wins Euro Seat!

Sweden's Pirate Party has won a seat in the European Parliament.

The group - which campaigned on reformation of copyright and patent law - secured 7.1% of the Swedish vote.
The result puts the Pirate Party in fifth place, behind the Social Democrats, Greens, Liberals and the Moderate Party.
Rickard Falkvinge, the party leader, told the BBC the win was "gigantic" and that they were now negotiating with four different EU Parliamentary groups.
"Last night, we gained political credibility," said Mr Falkvinge.
"People were not taken in by the establishment and we got political trust from the citizens."

In April, a court in Sweden sentenced the four men behind The Pirate Bay, the world's most high-profile file-sharing website, to a year in jail and ordered them to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages.
Mr Falkvinge said it had played a significant role in getting them the vote.

Many people just don't see illegal file-sharing as a crime, however hard the media industries try to persuade the public that it's just as bad as shoplifting

"The establishment is trying to prevent control of knowledge and culture slipping from their grasp.
"When the Pirate Bay got hit, people realised the wolf was outside the front door.
"That happened one month before the ballot opened, so it had quite a rallying effect," he said.
Parties within the European Parliament tend to join one of the big voting blocs, otherwise their MEP can become marginalised.

Mr Falkvinge said they were still considering their position.
"We're looking at four different EU Parliament groups," he said.
"However, we're probably going to join either the Green block or the ALDE group."
The biggest loser in Sweden's election was the eurosceptic June List party, which saw its share of the vote fall by more than 10 points to 3.6% of the vote. The Left Party also saw its vote halved to 5.6%.

D-Day Normandy Tribute - June 6th 1944 (65th Anniversary)

Saving Private Ryan - D-Day Omaha Beach


The scene is influenced by the events of the Normandy Invasion on 6th June 1944.
Very realistic of actual landings.



Landing on Utah Beach



These are actual accounts from D-day and other WW2 events. The audio clips are taken from Richard Holmes book, D-Day Experience.



Royal British Legion D-Day 65 launch event



The Royal British Legion launched its D-Day 65 events with a 1940s themed party. On June 6 2009 events will be held on both sides of the channel - a commemorative event in Normandy and a celebratory party in Portsmouth

UK Govt falling apart, with 11 ministers resigning,but PM Brown rearranging deckchairs on "HMG Titanic"

China vs the USA " The Battle for Oil "

Chinas sky-rocketing growth and shortage of sufficient resources is forcing China to set its sights outside its borders in a frantic search for oil, but the major producing countries are kept off-limits by the United States, forcing China to do business with the rogue states, African dictatorships, Iran and former Russian states - to get the oil they desperately need. Featuring field encounters, archival footage, news reports and maps to outline the latest threat in world geopolitics.






Video 1






Video 2






Video 3






Video 4






Video 5






Great documentary on the battle for Oil betweem USA & China!

Brian Simpson
Alba Oil and Gas Community
http://www.albaoil.com

The Banker

What businesses are succeeding on the Net?

***********************************************************
What businesses are succeeding on the Net?
************************************************************

This week we will address the most basic question any
Internet business owner will have to answer at one point or
another…”what should I sell?”.

After the settling down of the dot-com bubble, sanity checks
have brought realistic expectations to the fore. Initially,
a backlash was seen, forecasting the doom of the Internet.
Finally, merits have made the Internet gain its rightful
place. In breakthroughs that show the promise of e-commerce
wasn't all smoke and mirrors, four dot-coms recently
reported their first quarterly profits. The list of the
Internet’s publicly held moneymakers includes eBay Inc.,
Amazon.com Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Overture Services Inc.,
Expedia Inc., FindWhat.com Inc. and E-Trade Group Inc.
Several privately owned dot-coms, including search engines
Google and DealTime, say they have been making money, too.

In 2001, the last full year where numbers are available, the
Department of Commerce broke out e-commerce sales versus
total U.S retail sales which revealed the $3.16 trillion
retail industry saw a total of $37.7 billion in sales take
place online -- comprising 1.2 percent of the total. This
year e-commerce is tracking about the same. Through the
third quarter, the last full quarter where numbers are
available, total retail sales were $856 billion versus $11
billion in e-commerce, about a 1.3 percent share.


There were big gains made in Home and Garden, a 78 percent
increase; Furniture and Appliances, a 75 percent increase;
and Toy shopping online with a 61 percent increase in the
year 2002. There is no doubt that online shopping is
growing.

Nielsen//NetRatings found that more than 35.5 million U.S.
Internet users made shopping trips to virtual department
store sites during the week ending November 3, 2002 - that's
a 20 percent increase from the week ending October 20 and
roughly 14 million more than almost the same time period in
2001.

There is a growing tendency amongst Internet users to pay
for valuable content online. There are many reasons for
this. First, only a few websites operated by big companies
can afford to provide valuable content without being
compensated. The rest of us can't be so generous. And trying
to recapture our expenses by selling advertising on our
websites has failed to pay the bills. Online advertising and
click-through rates are on the decline.

Second, many people are now more than willing to pay to
receive quality services and products even if they were
offered for free earlier. Several paid content websites have
already proven this unmistakable trend. The discerning buyer
values his/her time as also the quality of information or
service and is willing to pay for it.

However, not all products can be sold on the Internet. Some
products may be better suited for online sales than others;
others simply will not work on this new commercial medium.
According to an Ernst and Young study, the most popular
online purchases are computer related products (40%), books
(20%), travel (16%), clothing (10%), recorded music (6%),
subscriptions (6%), gifts (5%) and investments (4%).

Businesses offering paid services have also prospered
enormously. The top three categories (Business
Content/Investment, Entertainment/Lifestyles and
Personals/Dating) accounted for 62% of all paid content
revenues in the first three quarters of 2002. The total
market for paid online content in the U.S. grew to $361.4
million for the quarter, a 14 percent gain over the previous
quarter and a 105.3 percent gain over Q3 2001. An
interesting statistic put forward by this report is that 85%
of money spent by U.S. Consumers for online content goes to
the top 50 sites in most of the categories.

The graph below (Top 3 Content Categories) is indicative of
this change.

In terms of “stickiness” of different categories, Business
sites - especially finance and investment rank the highest.
In other words, users are more likely to spend longer time
surfing through a business website compared to other
categories. This study was conducted by Nielsen//NetRatings.
The table below shows the most addictive web categories for
2002.

Category Time per person(hr:min:sec) Audience
Business – Finance and Investment 0:21:33 51,586
General News 0:15:47 64,822
Entertainment 0:14:32 45,922

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

According to the above figures a person spends about 22
minutes on a finance website on an average.

************************************************************
Should you be selling a product or a service?
************************************************************

The Internet is primarily used to communicate, entertain,
educate and research. It is thus no wonder that
nonperishable, information-intensive products - including
computers and software, books, travel, consumer electronics,
magazine subscriptions - are the most popular online
products at present. Content-rich sites, subscription-based
sites to advertiser-supported sites focusing on a wide range
of topics, have been sprouting all over the Internet.

Services such as hotel reservation, air travel and
investments have successfully translated themselves to the
Internet.

Unique services such as Online driving schools have been
prospering. Some states in the US have set up online payment
sites for Government services. Residents of a state can log
on to a common site to pay all bills and other expenses,
such as parking tickets to the local/County courts.

However, all kinds of services cannot be run entirely on the
Internet. The Internet is less effective when face-to-face
selling is needed to close a deal. The Internet can give
lots of preliminary information that's useful in setting the
scene for the closing. But the actual closing takes place
offline - i.e., not on the Internet.

Products can also be marketed and sold successfully on the
Internet. The kinds of products and services that sell best
on the Internet are those that take advantage of the
convenience of the Net. Remember that convenience is the
primary reason why consumers flock to the Internet in the
first place. People can shop any hour of the day at any
site. They can avoid crowded stores, irritating sales
clerks, and even avoid pickpockets.

Offbeat or unusual products and services often attract
online attention and sell strongly. You would generally not
try to sell items people can get at the corner store. Thus,
few toothbrushes are sold on the Net; the same thing with
daily food and beverage purchases. But special cheeses, rare
cigars, Turkish plates, long-aged wines, even diamonds, can
and do sell on the Net.

Most products sold by catalog and mail order also sell well
on the Net. However, people tend to buy only those products
that could be shipped at a reasonable price. Higher shipping
costs diminish the price competitiveness of online products
and turns-off a lot of potential buyers. In fact, high
shipping costs is the primary factor that discourages people
from buying online more than any other single reason. An
Ernst and Young report shows that 53 percent of online
shoppers are concerned with shipping costs that are too
high, compared to only 19 percent who are concerned with
credit cards being stolen.

As an online merchant, you have to work out the advantages
as well as disadvantages of selling either products or
services. However, in the recent past, online services have
known to flourish. Nevertheless, if you chose to sell
products you need to rethink your product offering if the
total costs of the product and the shipping are higher than
what is offered elsewhere.

Take some time to evaluate your products or services. There
is a growing market of potential customers on the Internet,
you just need to offer the products and services they are
looking for.

For Your Success!

Brian Simpson
AlbaIM Social Network
http://www.albaim.com









Realise Your Potential

"PM Brown Doomed After Poll Slump"

Complete and utter drivel from a pathetic and
useless prime minister!


The British people are demanding a general election NOW!









The vultures circle Brown: I'll fight on, vows PM as backbenchers plan to get rid of him
By IAN DRURY
Last updated at 12:04 AM on 01st June 2009



Defiant: Gordon Brown yesterday on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show

A gang of desperate Labour MPs is plotting to topple Gordon Brown in a grass-roots revolution.

With Cabinet ministers unprepared to act, the threat to his leadership will come from the back benches.

One senior member with Blairite sympathies vowed: 'I am going to do all I can to undermine him. I want Gordon Brown out.'

Fears are mounting among the Labour rank and file that the party will be wiped out at the General Election if Mr Brown remains at the helm, following an expected drubbing in Thursday's local and European elections.

But in a pre-emptive strike against the plotters, and those demanding an immediate General Election, he has made clear that he has no intention of quitting.

On another day of frenzied activity at Westminster:

A national opinion poll put Labour in third place for the first time since 1987.
Mr Brown promised a 'major and surgical' overhaul of the political system. A Constitutional Renewal Bill, including a new legally-binding code of conduct for MPs, will be brought before Parliament in the autumn. He also said police should investigate the worst cases of fraud.
The LibDems demanded that Alistair Darling step down as Chancellor, accusing him of being 'caught with his fingers in the till'.
David Cameron came under scrutiny for paying off a loan on his London home shortly after taking out a £350,000 taxpayer-funded mortgage on his constituency property.
Veteran Labour MP Frank Cook was forced to apologise after an office mixup meant he tried to claim back £5 donated during a church service to commemorate the Battle of Britain.
The Labour plotters against Mr Brown are putting together a plan to force him out by destabilising him with a steady drip, drip of interventions. The first could come at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party tonight.

Senior Cabinet figures who could have told the Prime Minister his time was up, such as Lord Mandelson and Jack Straw, have signalled that they are not prepared to move whatever the outcome of Thursday's elections.


More...
Brown unveils legally-binding 'code of conduct' and police probes to stop MP fraudsters
David Cameron 'ready to repay suspect mortgage'
Veteran Labour MP Frank Cook claimed for £5 in a church collection
Chef's having a panic attack... send out the breadsticks: QUENTIN LETTS watches the PM's fightback on TV
Lawyers want to quiz MPs to see if they've broken criminal law in expense claims
Alistair Darling accused of claiming expenses on flat he rented out
The backbencher who spoke to the Mail, who is not regarded as a serial rebel, complained: 'There are no men in grey suits, just grey men in suits.'

The plotters believe that installing a new leader, with Health Secretary Alan Johnson emerging as the favoured choice, will not save Labour from defeat in a General Election but might limit the damage.

A national opinion poll yesterday put the Tories on 40 per cent, the Liberal Democrats on 25 and Labour on 22. In the European elections, Labour risks coming fourth behind UKIP.

"A Parcel of Rogues in a Nation"

A Poem from Rabbie Burns,Scottish Poet


A Parcel of Rogues in a Nation!



1.
Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory!
Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name.
Sae famed in martial story!
Now Sark rins over Salway sands,
An' Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark where England's province stands
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

2.
What force or guile could not subdue
Thro' many warlike ages
Is wrought now by a coward few
For hireling traitor's wages.
The English steel we could disdain,
Secure in valour's station;
But English gold has been our bane --
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

3.
O, would, or I had seen the day
That Treason thus could sell us,
My auld grey head had lien in clay
Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But pith and power, till my last hour
I'll mak this declaration :-
'We're bought and sold for English gold'
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

David Cameron took out maximum taxpayer-funded mortgage - then paid off own £75k loan four months later

By GLEN OWEN
Last updated at 12:45 PM on 31st May 2009

The Sunday Mail (UK)


David Cameron was dragged personally into the expenses row last night after it was revealed that he paid off a loan on his London home shortly after taking out a £350,000 taxpayer-funded mortgage on his constituency house.

The disclosure followed a powerful call by the Tory leader yesterday for the ‘full force of the law’ to be deployed against MPs who have abused allowances.

Following a Mail on Sunday investigation Mr Cameron could now face searching questions about his own expense claims.

He took out the £350,000 mortgage – close to the maximum amount that can be claimed for – to buy a large house in Oxfordshire in August 2001, two months after winning his Witney seat in the General Election. By nominating it as his second home, he was able to claim for the mortgage interest payments under the now-infamous Commons’ Additional Costs Allowance (ACA).

Just four months after securing the £350,000 mortgage, Mr Cameron paid off the £75,000 loan on his London home, taken out only six years earlier.

There is no suggestion that he broke any rules. But mortgage experts say that if he had kept the loan on his London home and borrowed £75,000 less on the Oxfordshire property, taxpayers could have been saved more than £22,000 between 2002 and 2007.

The revelations came as Gordon Brown was warned that he faces a new threat to his leadership if Labour is beaten by the UK Independence Party in Thursday’s European elections.

And in today’s Mail on Sunday, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable calls for ‘immoral’ Chancellor Alistair Darling to resign for ‘being caught with his fingers in the till’ by abusing his expenses.

Last night, Mr Cameron insisted that his mortgage claims had been ‘perfectly reasonable’ and denied that reducing his Oxfordshire loan would have helped the taxpayer.

A statement said: ‘David Cameron paid off his London mortgage with his own money which came from the sale of shares and money built up while working at Carlton TV. He bought a home in his constituency and claimed for mortgage interest payments, which is perfectly reasonable and the intended use of the second-home allowance.

He later paid down a part of this mortgage and claimed for some basic utility bills.

‘He made it very clear several weeks ago that he would not claim for a second home if he became Prime Minister and lived in No10.

We are pleased that Gordon Brown and other members of the Cabinet have now adopted this policy and will no longer be able to claim for their second homes while living in grace-and-favour apartments.’

A later statement said: ‘If he had paid £75,000 toward Oxfordshire it would not have been cheaper for the taxpayer, as that mortgage is far higher than the amount he was able to claim for – particularly in 2001, when the amount you were able to claim for was much lower.’

Ten days ago, at a meeting with his Witney constituents to answer their questions on expenses, Mr Cameron candidly admitted claiming ‘close to the maximum’.

But he failed to mention that he had paid off his London loan shortly after he had secured it.

‘From 2001 to 2007, the only thing I really claimed for in respect of my second home was the interest on a mortgage – not the repayments, but the interest,’ he told the meeting.

‘It was a very large mortgage. It was £350,000 worth of mortgage. It was about £1,700 a month that I was claiming. That was quite close to the maximum you could claim at the time but I did not at that stage claim for anything else.

‘In 2007, I was able to pay down the mortgage a little bit [by £100,000], so it was a £250,000 mortgage, paying about £1,000 in mortgage interest every month, and so I also claimed for what I would call some pretty straightforward household bills – council tax, oil, gas and other utility type bills and insurance on the property.

‘I now claim less than the maximum. I don’t claim all of those utility bills. I claim a percentage of them, because I think that’s right and fair.’

Today’s disclosures may spark fresh criticism among some Conservatives about Mr Cameron’s forceful handling of the expenses row. They believe he is using the scandal as an excuse to clear out traditionalists who stand in the way of his modernising project, while largely protecting members of his inner circle.

Until now, Mr Cameron has made only one concession on his expenses – admitting that he was wrong to claim £680 to have wisteria removed from the chimney of his Oxfordshire home. He has repaid the money.

Now The Mail on Sunday can provide a more detailed account of his property dealings and how they relate to his expenses.

According to Land Registry documents, in 1995 Mr Cameron paid £215,000 for a house in Kensington, West London, which was part-funded with a £75,000 mortgage from Alliance & Leicester.

In August 2001, just a month after the second-home allowance went up by a staggering £5,840 per annum – from £13,628 to £19,468 – and two months after he entered the Commons, he paid £650,000 for the constituency house in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, and used the property as security for a £350,000 loan from HSBC.

Mr Cameron’s spokesman said last night that his offer on the house had been accepted three months earlier in May 2001.

Then, in December of that year, the Land Registry removed the Alliance & Leicester charge from its records for the Kensington home after the loan was ‘discharged by electronic means.’

Mr Cameron sold the Kensington property in 2005 for £1,150,000 – a profit of £935,000 – and bought another house nearby. His Oxfordshire home
is estimated to be worth just under £1million, a paper profit of more than £300,000.

His mortgage claim is potentially contentious because, coincidentally or not, experts say that it corresponds approximately to the upper limit of the ACA, which covers the costs of running an MP’s second home. In the financial year 2002-03, the first full year Mr Cameron claimed under the ACA, he received the maximum £19,722.

In 2003-04, he claimed £20,328, just £5 less than the maximum, and in 2004-05 he took the maximum of £20,902.

In total, between 2002 and 2007 he claimed £102,874. If he had paid off £75,000 of the Oxfordshire loan, rather than clearing the mortgage on his London home, the bill would have been about £22,500 lower.

In an interview yesterday, Mr Cameron said: ‘When I was first elected, I was renting rather than owning a home and I couldn’t find my rent bill. The fees office said, “Don’t worry, just claim for food.” I said, “I haven’t had any food,” and I went and found my rent bill.’

In the interview, Mr Cameron maintained his hardline stance by calling for any MPs who have used taxpayers’ money to pay for ‘phantom’ mortgages to be investigated by the police.

He said he was outraged by Sir Peter Viggers, who claimed for a floating duck house, Douglas Hogg, who claimed for his moat to be cleared, and Anthony Steen, who recouped the cost of tree surgery and guarding his shrubs against rabbits.

All three – regarded by modernising Tories as anti-reform ‘bed-blockers’ – have announced that they will stand down at the next Election.

Only one Cameron ally, his adviser Andrew MacKay, has been forced to leave the Commons following revelations that he and his MP wife Julie Kirkbride had claimed more than £250,000 in second-home allowances by ‘double dipping’.

On Friday, Mr Cameron said that Bill Cash, a veteran Eurosceptic regarded as a troublemaker by the party leadership, had ‘serious questions’ to answer about claiming for rent payments to his daughter.

One Tory MP last night attacked Mr Cameron’s alleged ‘double standards’ crackdown on some MPs and soft handling of others. ‘It’s like living through one of Stalin’s purges,’ said the MP.

‘It’s all deeply divisive. Some people are being asked simply to apologise while others are being told they have questions to answer. That’s code for: let’s get all the lunatics in a local constituency to stage a public execution.

‘Although MPs have simply been obeying the rules as they were, Cameron is saying that’s not enough. He seems to want to make burnt offerings of other MPs. Fine, but on that basis, why doesn’t he repay years of mortgage interest claims above £1,250 a month that he’s claimed for?’

In his defence, it could be argued that what Mr Cameron has done with Commons expenses pales into insignificance next to Tony Blair. He used the ACA to help pay for a £296,000 mortgage on a house that he had bought for £30,000 in 1983. He claimed just under a third of the interest back from the taxpayer.

He remortgaged the constituency home in Trimdon, County Durham, in 2003 – shortly before he paid £3.65 million for a London townhouse which became his post-Downing Street home.

Gordon Brown has also been at the centre of controversy after claiming for payments of £6,577 to his brother Andrew over a 26-month period for a cleaner shared by the pair.

Moreover, Mr Cameron has said that if he enters Downing Street, and has use of the official country residence of Chequers, he will give up his second-home allowance completely, a ban that would extend to other Ministers who are entitled to use grace-and-favour apartments.

Sky News - Cameron Calls For MPs To Face Police!

Sky News

MPs who claimed expenses for non-existent mortgages should be arrested and prosecuted, the Conservative leader says.

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Billy's scottish tourist information,
(XXX rating)


But really funny!



Link to the real Scotland tourist info (No Billy)

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Israel-Iran threat of War!

Iraqis concerned at US hosting of oil conference

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Sky News on The British MPs Expense Scandal

Seems to be getting worse Daily!

Johnny Cash! (Folsom Prison Blues)

Truth about British MPs Expenses

Latest News from AlJazeera

BT announce job cuts!

Dont think this was in BTs Plan!

BT's Internet Broadband Plan

BT to invest $1.5 Billion in fibre-optic broadband plan; Analysis by Hanif Lalani, BT CFO

UNHCR aide reaches Sri Lanka

Go To Scotland ( Billy Connolly)

Billy's scottish tourist information,
(XXX rating)

But really funny!

UK set for 70% economic stake in Lloyds

Financial Times UK
By George Parker and Jane Croft
Published: March 5 2009 23:49 | Last updated: March 6 2009 09:22


The enormity of Lloyds’ ill-fated takeover of HBOS will be exposed on Friday, as the bank’s board considers a Treasury rescue plan that could see the taxpayer take an economic stake of about 70 per cent in the merged bank.

Alistair Darling, chancellor, has agreed an outline deal that would see the government insure toxic assets of £258bn, but it would come at a heavy price.

EDITOR’S CHOICE
Martin Wolf: Big risks for the insurer of last resort - Mar-05

Bank pumps £75bn into economy - Mar-05

Notebook: Tesco banks on a modest HQ - Mar-05

Capital base solid, says Nationwide - Mar-05

Mr Darling’s officials have peered into the HBOS loan book and concluded that the final insurance fee charged by the taxpayer must reflect the high-risk nature of many of its investments.

After more than a week of negotiations, Mr Darling’s officials have proposed a fee that would see the government’s economic stake in the Lloyds Banking Group rise to about 70 per cent, through the issue of non-voting, but dividend-paying, B shares.

If the government were to increase its economic interest it would be a blow to the bank’s chief executive, Eric Daniels, and the chairman, Sir Victor Blank.

Mr Daniels said last year that he regarded the government as just another name on the share register but he did not wish state ownership to rise above 43 per cent.

One big investor suggested that Sir Victor’s head should roll. “His move to buy HBOS has blown the bank up.”

The Lloyds board is also considering a separate – but related – proposal that could see the government’s £4bn in preference shares converted into ordinary shares, a move that would also give the taxpayer majority voting control of the company.

The preference shares are an expensive form of capital for the bank, carrying a 12 per cent annual coupon and incurring an interest charge of £480m.

But a conversion of those shares into ordinary shares – as Mr Darling may insist – would take the taxpayer’s voting stake in the company up from 43 per cent to closer to 60 per cent. The additional block of non-voting B shares – the fee for the insurance scheme – would take the government’s economic interest to about 70 per cent.

Shares in Lloyds gained 4.7 per cent in early trading on Friday to 42.2p.

The Lloyds board has resisted handing over direct voting control to the taxpayer and the bank insisted on Thursday night that negotiations were continuing, but it may conclude it has little choice.

Mr Darling’s officials say they are “relaxed” over whether Lloyds converts the preference shares, but point out that when the Treasury struck a similar deal with RBS it insisted on turning them into ordinary shares.

“There are still extensive negotiations and the Lloyds board still has to get their head around this and agree to it,” said one person with knowledge of the situation, who suggested there was a 60 per cent chance of a deal being struck on Friday.

Peter Mandelson, business secretary, said on Friday that talks over Lloyds’ participation in the scheme were difficult.

”Obviously when you’re making a change like this, introducing new measures or instruments to enable the banks to to recover, it involves a negotiation about the terms, the pricing and all sorts of conditions that are attached and that involves a fairly difficult, tough negotiation between the government and the banks,” he told Sky News.

If the preference shares were converted into non-voting but dividend-paying B shares, the bank could use those to bolster its capital ratios but the voting stake of the government could remain at 43 per cent.

Last week, RBS announced it was putting £325bn of assets into the government’s asset insurance scheme, where the bank agreed to pay a “first loss” on bad loans while the taxpayer agreed to underwrite 90 per cent of remaining losses. The government could end up with a 95 per cent economic stake.

Another big investor said: “It is a great pity that Lloyds’ management got itself into this mess by agreeing to buy HBOS and there are investors who might be unhappy with Eric Daniels.”

Lloyds said its position had not changed and talks continued with the Treasury.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

------------------

Cost of UK Bank Bailout - Bloomberg!

Financial crisis to hit the poor!

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is warning that the global economic downturn could create a widespread humanitarian crisis in the world's poorest and most vulnerable countrie

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