Just a Coffin full of Dreams

Nosy Be February 2010

just me — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:26:30 +0000

A favorite destination at Nosy Be, Ventana Club, Andilana Beach. The team is professional, there is a strong Italian and French flair, once in this resort, you feel like you are at home away from home. The beach is lovely and from the minute you arrive, you feel very welcome surrounded by beautifully manicured gardens and comfortable, luxurious bedrooms. Venta Club is ideal for conference and incentive groups and can accommodate sufficient cinema style seating for events of this kind. From a recreation perspective, the club offers varied options besides of scuba diving opportunities like bicycle rental, volleyball court, fitness room, spa, etc. This club will be very suitable to the European tourism market and after evaluation we believe it is a highly recommendable destination.

There are a few more pics in the album here… as well at my Twitpics account.

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Merry X-Mas – Feliz Navidad – Frohe Weihnacht – Geseende Kersfees

just me — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:48:20 +0000

The best part of the season is remembering those who make the holidays meaningful.
I wish you all the love and happiness this season can bring.
May it follow you throughout the coming Year.

Merry Xmas to you all !!

Merry X-Mas – Feliz Navidad – Frohe Weihnacht – Geseende Kersfees is a post from: Just a Coffin full of Dreams

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Unfortunate Product Names

just me — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:28:24 +0000

Real product names from “Pee Cola” to “Megapussi” – wondering what them folks been smoking when they came up with them names… Crack’s me up!!

Cock flavoured mix (soup)

Jussipussi (bread) – So that’s how Finnish bread tastes like.

Megapussi (potato chips) – “Megapussi” is a Finnish word for a “mega bag” and not actually the product’s name.

Pee Cola (soft drink) – A soft drink from Ghana.

Shitto (sauce) – Shitto is an allegedly delicious Ghanaian sauce with a name that makes Americans laugh, while everyone in Ghana seems to love it.

Vergina (beer)

Wack off! (insect repellent) – Australian repellent “used by the armed forces.” They surely need it.

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What about you?

just me — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:45:43 +0000

I will be blunt. Not brief. This may be the wrong time for brevity.
Deal with it.
It is possible that there will be at least one less member of the greater off-road
community around, come November 22, 2009. Someone could die because of their involvement
in the Baja 1000.
Dead. Gone.
Will it be you?
“Of course not”. “No way”. “That stuff happens to other people!”
If it pleases you, just toss this thing now. After all, it’s just the ranting of one of
those guys who never lacked an opinion, or wasted the opportunity to thrust it upon you.
Now is the time. There’s a trash can around here somewhere. Toss it if you want to.
If, on the other hand, you might be open to what one guy with a little experience has
to offer, read on.
People, the single biggest danger to our safety as we involve ourselves in this race is
us. Us. We represent the single largest jeopardy to our own well being out of all the
freak things that could happen. On the surface, it would seem that those most in danger
of clobbering themselves are those that have less experience down there. I wonder.
I am one of those with experience, and I know how seductive it is to tell myself that
my experience gives me license to risk more than those without it. “The rules are for the
new guys” “I can compress time frames”. “I can eat later”. “I don’t need to take a nap”.
“If I follow this stupid overloaded truck all night, I’ll miss my deadline”. “I’ve got great
lights, and I can see past all 6 vehicles ahead of me and take them all in one pass”.
This race is one long son of a gun. All drivers will feel the pressure to drive past sunset.
It’s a given. It’s a must! There are loads of stories about Baja at night. What is interesting
is that very few of the really scary stories come from the race cars. The most
amazing and most tragic come from the highway travelers. Is that you? Have you had
“Your Story” yet? It’s out there, waiting for you. There have been times when the situation
happens very far north. Like a tanker full of fish crashing around Santo Tomas, and
closing the highway for over 5 hours. Now your time frames are shot. What do you do?
The history of what goes on and how we deal with it is not something to take lightly.
Motorhomes crash. People fly, land, and suffer. Tractor-trailer rigs roll over and burn. A
pickup full of drunk locals veers over the line and smacks a perfectly good Bronco with
chasers in it.
It is not a case of “Will it happen?”, but a fact that it will happen. To whom, we don’t
know. We will know when the flash comes on the radio. Not right away mind you, but only
after all the wrong information has had its chance to stab the hearts of those that know
names, and care.
Know this. Medical assistance for emergencies comes late, and is lacking. You have to
hope that someone associated with the race will be close by and help you. It is first aid
at best. Worse is going through a nasty wreck, and you coming through it fine, but your
buddy is bleeding and out cold. You were behind the wheel. How do you feel? He trusted
you to take care of business so he could sleep.
Here is what you should do to increase your chances of staying out of harms wa

Eat food even if you are not hungry.

Drive for a maximum of 6 hours and give it to your partner. (There is only one Ironman)

Leave early.

Plan on getting to your destination late.

Don’t drink alcoholic stuff. Period.

Do not use drugs. Period.

Ask yourself, “Are we important enough to the people in the race car that they will feel good about us getting maimed trying to catch them?”

Ask yourself, “Would I do this if my kids were with me?”

Now…
Think about the great time you will have when you make it back home.
Think about the great feeling of being involved in the toughest off-road race in the
world, and getting back home to tell the tales.
Think about how those at home will roll their eyes, and be patient, when you start on
one of your stories.
Think about how proud of yourself you will be when you hear a horror story about
someone else and realize you did things the right way, and went through the danger successfully.
It may sound corny, but think about how happy your Mom & Dad, or wife, or sister or
brother, and yes, your kids, will be when you talk to them after you are home, safe and
sound.
You’ve just had the adventure of a lifetime, and you are back! Wagging your tail, your
mouth going like a ducks butt, telling everyone what an experience it was.
I’m going to the Baja 1000. I am going to have a ball. I won’t forget a moment. It will
be the biggest, baddest damn race ever.
And, I’m coming back from it.
With stories. With experiences. With laughs. With memories, and with the pride that
comes of doing a good job.
What about you?
“Life Is A One Lap Race!”
Credits: Bob Bower

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Global economic crisis

just me — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:29:29 +0000

This is what that so-called speech should have sounded like. I agree with every point mentioned here. The sad thing is, those idiots in Washington don’t have the same thinking mechanism. They go in with the agenda of what can I get instead of what can I contribute. I fear Obama is all talk and no walk. I don’t see the US government for the people at all. It seems all the talk is centered on corporations, who would not even be in the predicament they are in save for their greed in the first place. Consequences need to be put in place, as they do for the people.

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San Diego – Team AGM

just me — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:06:14 +0000

Team All German Motorsports – The team loves San Felipe and Mexico for desert off-road racing. It shows. In particular, the mid-engine Class 1 of All German, loved the technical canyon racing the San Felipe 250 offered this year. From the race reports after the finish line-”Former World Rally Championship star driver Armin Schwarz, of Germany, and Martin Christensen, Escondido, Calif., split the driving to finish fourth overall and capture the unlimited Class 1 race win in a BMW-powered Jimco open-wheel desert race car. With just over one year of experience in SCORE desert racing, Schwarz pulled off his first SCORE win while the veteran former SCORE class champion Christensen earned his first ever win in Class 1.With a time of 4:08:22 and an average speed of 56.02mph, it was also the first time a BMW-powered vehicle has ever won a class in a SCORE race.” Christensen has a desert off-road racing hobby and an All German Auto-Motorsports business, in Northern San Diego County. Martin assured this reporter, motorsports success is all about the Team. Famous driver, Armin Schwarz, is one of the drivers on the All German Motorsports racing team that won the recent Class 1, SCORE race in San Felipe.

The Car Two seat A-arm all chrome-molly chassis, built by Jimco in El Cajon, California. Based on its structural integrity and overall handling, the choice to go with a Jimco chassis was an easy decision, especially considering the number of champions that have used a Jimco chassis over the years.Given the quality of the Jimco product and the long-term relationship built with them over the past several years, AGM considers Jimco a key partner and integral piece of the overall package.

The Engine The AGM car utilizes a 2001BMW E39 engine, straight out of a BMW M5. The M5 is the pinnacle sports sedan from BMW, providing 394 BHP @ 6600 rpm and 368 ft. lbs. of torque @ 3800 rpm in its stock configuration. With some minor tuning (using Dinan components), a new exhaust and other modifications, the BMW engine package is capable of 500+ BHP, while still maintaining a configuration designed to run for 200,000 miles on the street, or 3000 miles in Baja. The BMW engine package is definitely a signature mark of the AGM car. The very impressive heritage of BMW Motorsports on road courses and the off-road performance of the AGM Class 1 car dispels any doubts that the AGM BMW car is destined for the podium. The AGM car is the only car in it’s class utilizing a BMW engine, giving the AGM team a proven and competitive advantage.

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Will the Horse Drink?

just me — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:53:34 +0000

Almost everybody prefers inflation to deflation. Certainly, economists and politicians do. And the general public prefers inflation too. Why do you think Viagra sells so well? But you have probably noticed that those TV ads for drugs to cure erectile deflation warn that if you experience medically induced concupiscence for several hours, you should see your doctor.
And that’s exactly our economic dilemma these days: we are printing so much money to conquer deflation that we might be hit with fearful inflation as soon as we recover. According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States has pledged to spend, invest, or loan as much as $10 trillion to fight deflation. President-elect Obama wants to toss in another trillion bucks soon, probably to be followed by much more. The government and the central bank will get some of this money back, but much of it could turn into inflation. The Federal Reserve has not only lowered short-term interest rates to almost zero but it has also run the monetary printing press to buy bonds so that long-term interest rates, particularly on mortgages, will come down.

To make sure that deflation doesn’t quickly morph into inflation, the Fed will have to be nimble to raise interest rates as soon as the economy appears to recover. It has never displayed such agility, partly for political reasons. Politicians love easy money; it’s like distributing booze to voters on Election Day. On December 16, the Fed lowered the federal funds rate, the interest banks charge each other, to a range of zero to one-quarter of a percentage point — a big markdown from 1 percent and the lowest rate on record. But in some senses, it was meaningless: banks haven’t been loaning to one another, so the rate was effectively around zero already. Also, the Fed has already been buying bonds to bring long rates down. Bottom line: neither strategy has been working. The economy seems to get worse every day, and both consumer and producer prices are falling.

Monetary policy has clearly not whipped deflation. In their private moments, policymakers are afraid of a rerun of the 1930s. Why is deflation scary? Buyers delay their purchases, figuring that prices will be lower in the future. This leads to a down-spiral. Deflation encourages saving because money will be worth more in the future — the reverse of inflation’s incentive. As people save, they purchase less. The government and central bank want them to resume the old habits of borrowing too much to consume too much. “It’s not clear to me that we could or should make people consume more,” says James Hamilton, economist at the University of California, San Diego. “Running up the debt is part of the problem that got us here in the first place.” Amen.

Critics say that Japan tried zero interest rates to no avail during its 1990s depression. The money the Japanese government poured into infrastructure spending didn’t jump-start the economy either. But Todd Buchholz, San Diego author-economist with degrees from Cambridge and Harvard, says Japan is not such a good analogy. “I wrote an article calling their strategy ‘Hoover Economics,’ ” says Buchholz. “They raised taxes. The yen went up, and they couldn’t do much about it. It took years for them to recognize that their financial institutions were zombies that they wanted to keep propping up. It was a zombie economy.” Buchholz believes that the United States’ policy of driving down both short rates and long rates will succeed. But others argue that this is not a credit crisis. It is a debt crisis. As in the 1930s, people do not want to borrow money to spend. Period. The Fed can pour money into banks, as it is now doing through several strategies, such as buying equity in the institutions, but it won’t work if the horse that is led to water simply won’t take a drink. In trying to get consumers to spend, the central bank will in effect be pushing on a string.

Some years back, the government and its central bank decided — secretly — that the best strategy would be to induce inflation of asset prices instead of inflation of goods and services. Everybody would be happy. So first we had a stock market bubble, then a housing-price bubble, then a commodities bubble. All the bubbles popped ignominiously, wiping out investors who would probably have preferred having their grocery and gas prices go up. “I don’t remember another time when we had a [tech-stock], housing, and commodities bubble in such a short period of time [as we did leading up] to 2008,” says Buchholz. “I hope we learned our lesson.” He doesn’t think the Treasury and Fed are plotting another bubble, even though interest rates are lower now than they were during the other crazes. He doubts that the people will stand for it. (Some argue that point.) But Buchholz doesn’t foresee consumer inflation: “It’s going to be a trick, but I don’t believe high inflation is baked in the cake.”

Ross Starr, economist at the University of California, San Diego points out that “in the 1930s, interest rates were near zero, the banks were very liquid, had immense cash reserves, but there was a shortage of lending opportunities.” People just didn’t want to borrow; they were too insecure — hardly surprising, with unemployment so high. Starr concedes, “It’s perfectly possible that today the strategy of quantitative easing [running the monetary printing press] and zero interest rates will fail.” But he doesn’t think so. He thinks people now delaying real estate purchases will take advantage of lower interest rates. “Prices are now more reasonable; now we need the credit to permit them to buy.” The federal government will pump money through the system by making direct gifts to ailing states, propping up unemployment benefits, financing public works that are already in the pipeline, and creating new energy programs. The trick with these infrastructural programs is to get the money into the system quickly. He agrees that “households are looking at their balance sheets; they were robust a few years ago because of real estate values and 401(k) values, and they may save money to replenish their balance sheets. But I hope there are enough consumers out there to buy homes that have been postponed.”

Starr thinks the recession will hit its trough in the summer of this year, but unemployment will continue to grow into early 2010, eventually hitting 10 percent or above. Because the National Bureau of Economic Research, arbiter of when a recession begins and ends, says the downturn began in December 2007, this will be the longest post–World War II recession. “The good news is that Federal Reserve and fiscal policy will be on the case, working to generate that recovery.” And deflation? Starr says it is mainly commodities deflation now (largely energy) “and will run its course in the next couple of months. A year from now we will be talking about moderate inflation of 1 to 3 percent.”

Everybody will be happy — just like those who are saved by Viagra.

Warning: Viagra doesn’t work every time.

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500,000 spectators celebrate Teams at Dakar start.

just me — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:54:20 +0000

Unadulterated enthusiasm: The Dakar Participants drivers experienced an atmospheric opening to the Dakar Rally as they drove over the start ramp in Buenos Aires on the evening of 2 January. Half-a-million enthusiastic spectators lining the “Avenida 9 de Julio” – the world’s widest major road – in the heart of the Argentine capital gave the Volkswagen drivers a rousing send-off during the ceremonial start to the 9,500 kilometre long rally classic. Carlos Sainz/Michel Périn (E/F), Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D), Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) and Dieter Depping/Timo Gottschalk (D/D) contest the world’s toughest motorsport cross country event with four Race Touaregs between the 3 and 18 January.

The first competitive stage and opening 622 kilometres of the “Dakar” are on the agenda on Saturday with the route from Buenos Aires to Santa Rosa de la Pampa. The rally also finishes in Buenos Aires on 18 January after a total of 14 stages across the most varied terrain, crossing the Andes twice and a section through the extremely dry Atacama Desert.

The Dakar Rally was traditionally an off-road multi-stage race from Paris to Dakar, Senegal. However, due to fears of terrorist attacks, the Rally was cancelled last year – and this year moved to an entirely different continent, South America. 540 teams started the 2009 Dakar Rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina on January 3rd, and, after 9,578 kilometres (5,951 mi) in 14 stages, will return to Buenos Aires on January 17th. Back in France, a small group of die-hard African Rally fans decided to stage their own version of the Dakar, folllowing the traditional route despite any terrorist threat, and have dubbed their version the “Africa Race”, and 27 drivers started out from Marseille, France on December 28th.

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Best hotel in Maputo – Pestana Rovuma Hotel

just me — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:06:14 +0000

Efficient, functional hotel centrally located in Maputo. Better than its 4 stars would indicate for essential services although no ostentatious luxury (pay three or four times the price if you want to be pampered at the Polona). I stayed 3 weeks for a business mission and had no problems with Internet (wifi in the spacious and airy rooms).
Good service in all departments, clean and spacious rooms, food not in the “haute cuisine” category but copious and a reasonable menu.
Staff I came into contact with were all very friendly, and most can speak/understand English.
Taxis are always available at a cab stand in front of the hotel ($4 to go to the more upmarket Polona district where most restaurants and 5 star hotels are located).
Other places of interest in easy walking distance (15m to Fortaleza, Railway station or Central Market, 5m to Jardim Botanic or Art Museum).
Hotel does not accept travellers cheques but takes Visa/Amex etc. If bringing travellers cheques go to Barclay’s Bank on 25 Setembro (10m walk – the only place I found that would make the change – you need to drop your request and come back 3 hours later to collect the money !!!)

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Mass anti-crime rallies in Mexico

just me — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 22:11:11 +0000

Marches are being held throughout Mexico to protest against a wave of killings, kidnappings and shootouts sweeping the nation. The rallies are being held in each of Mexico’s 32 states, with up to 500,000 people expected in the capital Mexico City alone, organisers say. Many protesters say the government is unable to curb the violence. Some 2,700 people have been killed in Mexico this year, most of them victims of drug-related attacks. More people are now kidnapped in Mexico than in Colombia or Iraq, with more than 300 reported attacks so far during 2008. The protests are being organised by a number of anti-crime groups, who have urged demonstrators to march in silence with candles or lanterns. The message is: Get to work or we will hold you accountable. We are angry
Demonstrator. In Mexico City, demonstrators – many dressed in white – gathered at the Independence Angel monument before before marching to the capital’s main plaza, the Zocalo.

Many carried national flags – a sign that they want a unified country in the fight against crime.
Others carried banners bearing slogans such as “No more impunity” and “No more revoking sentences”. Others carried pictures of their children who had been kidnapped. “The most frustrating thing has been the indolence of many of the authorities, their insensitivity,” said the father of Monica Alejandrina Ramirez, who was kidnapped in 2004 and has not been heard of since. “I have often asked myself, why? Why me? Why my daughter?”

Some 4,000 police officers have been deployed in the capital to provide security during the march. Many protesters blame the government for what they say is its inability to combat crime. “The message is: Get to work or we’ll hold you accountable,” said Eduardo Gallo, whose 25-year-old daughter was kidnapped and murdered in 2000. “We are angry.”
Their anger comes despite a series of tough measures unveiled in recent years by President Felipe Calderon, including the deployment of more than 25,000 police and troops around the country to wrest Mexico from drug cartels. Last week the country’s political and security leaders launched an emergency programme to try to combat the rising wave of violence. Measures include sacking corrupt police officers, two new prisons for kidnappers and strategies to combat money-laundering and drug-trafficking. Our correspondent says the rate of violent crime has led to a sense of crisis, with politicians blaming each other.

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