The crash is beginning…..

Your spot on. I contribute over there as well. GHPC has opened my eyes a long time ago but but it goes to far some times. This is clearly evident in there posts or avatars. Many have a deep seeded hatred of investors and they constantly attack them in every post. This is a clear indication that you will rarely get a balanced argument.

Decades before the word "dotcom" slipped past our lips as the answer to all of our problems, the internet was created by the U.S. military, who vastly underestimated how much people would want to be online. Commercially the internet started to catch on in 1995 with an estimated 18 million users. The rise in usage meant an untapped market–an international market. Soon, speculators were barely able to control their excitement over the "new economy."

Companies underwent a similar phenomenon to the one that gripped Seventeenth century England and America in the early eighties: investors wanted big ideas more than a solid business plan. Buzzwords like networking, new paradigm, information technologies, internet, consumer-driven navigation, tailored web experience, and many more examples of empty double-speak filled the media and investors with a rabid hunger for more. The IPOs of internet companies emerged with ferocity and frequency, sweeping the nation up in euphoria. Investors were blindly grabbing every new issue without even looking at a business plan to find out, for example, how long the company would take before making a profit, if ever.

Obviously, there was a problem. The first shots through this bubble came from the companies themselves: many reported huge losses and some folded outright within months of their offering. Siliconaires were moving out of $4 million estates and back to the room above their parents' garage. In the year 1999, there were 457 IPOs, most of which were internet and technology related. Of those 457 IPOs, 117 doubled in price on the first day of trading. In 2001 the number of IPOs dwindled to 76, and none of them doubled on the first day of trading.

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Cobo Condos

Chicago Condos

There is no need for any filters. I say get rid of the evil broadband altogether and go back to the 110 bps acoustic couplers, lets see you try downloading porn or pirated movies over that.

And who said Rudd wasted his time in China at the taxpayers expense ? He picked up a lot more then just the Mandarin language from the Maoists but just imagine what a GREAT leader he'd be if he had the chance to study under the KGB and Stasi ?
Make if we send him on a fact finding mission OS and some training with Putin, Kim & Mugabe, hopefully before the next election,  then have a proper referendum on becoming a republic he could become The chosen one.

Hey harb, you say global warming is a scam and scientists are ripping everyone off saying there is global warming. how do you no that the honest scientists arn't the scammers trying to earn that quick buck . my mum lives on the water front and shes been saying for the last few years the sea levels have been rising up the wall outside the house, i didn't take much notice then the other week they had motor scrapers going up and down the beach removing half a meter of sand, have they been outside your house lately. 

I agree. Apparently earlier ice ages started with a warm up. the warming affected ocean currents and this brought on a ice age in the norther areas. Australia should be fine. This means with everyone leaving the freezing s@#t holes to the north. We will experiance massive immigration. Up go house values YEAH YEAH. Might take a while though.

The climate on this planet is cyclic, it has to do with the 'wobble' of the earth on it's axis and a build up to polar shift. There is notthing any of us can do about it. Climate Change due to polar shift is real, is happening and is not our fault. It has happened before and mankind has survived it. I could be wrong but I think it comes around every 12K years. 

Global warming, on the other hand, is a get rich quick scheme for the scientific community. The scam is convincing us that we are responsible for what is happenning to the planet and that we need the scientists to save us. What we are experiencing is natural, cyclic and unstoppable. All we can do is prepare.

Off topic, but had to add my observation on Harb's comment about rising water levels.

I have been visiting the Mornington Peninsula since I was about 7 years old (I'm now 47).

We now live in Dromana, not far from the pier.

The water level has not risen 1mm on the pier pylons in all that time, and the water is as cold as ever. It does get slightly warm in summer for a short time though – about Feb.

Think about this; the earth's surface is 80% covered by water. That's just the area it covers; it doesn't factor in the volume and depth.

Or, put another way; only 20% of the earth's surface is land.

Part of that 20% is the two poles – north and south, and over their respective summers, they each lose about 1/3rd of their ice.

It'd take a very, very big ice melt to even nudge the water level.

Yeah, all those atmospheric scientists driving Ferraris, theoretical physicists sunning themselves on yachts and molecular biologists skiiing in St Moritz.

They're *clearly* in it for the money

How about in it for the industry? Proof of future employment? Convince the public that there is a reason to need the scientific community and not opose the grants.

Also, like Harb noted, there is a political side to this. Governements need a crisis to keep the public in control. The right has opted for terrorism and war, the left likes the environment. Either way, it isn't so much about making individuals rich as it is about convincing the public that there is a reason for those individuals to be employed.

  I've never liked Michael Yardney,  He looks evil,  Anyone who has done any study into physiognomy would probably agree with me.

Have a look at your icon ?!?!