Tuesday July 8, 2014

A day long stopover in Karlsbonner a lively city in Norway where we walked to the city's center and shopped.  Norwegians are healthy looking , prosperous looking people all of whom speak english.  Went to a fish market where there were fish from all over -- lobster from Scotland, crabs, shrimp, salmon, and smoked whale meat no less.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Half day visit to Copenhagen which we spent in Hop on hop off city bus.  Lunch in Compass Rose and long nap in PM.  Dinner in suite after watching Bond movie.  Slow day.

Sunday July 6, 2014

Tenders into maritime city of Karlskrona to two museums reflecting past history of city as a base for the Swedish fleet at the time of Charles II and the frequent wars with Russia and Peter the Great (early 18th century).  Most stores closed.  Dinner in Prime 7 with entire group after H's cocktail party to which the Captain attended.  Girls gave H gift of linen placemats.

Saturday July 5, 2014

Klaipeda, Lithuania.  A walk from ship to old town and an Amber shop for various purchases.  Visit to center square and return to boat. Real amber will float in 30% saline water content, fake will not float. In suite dinner.

Friday, JULY 4, 2014

Visit today to Mariehamn, Finland where the population of 28 thousand is Finnish and the official language is Swedish and where they have a Prime Minister, a Parliament, many political parties, no crime (2 murders in 28 years) very low unemployment as most work in the shipping industry and, according to the guide, everyone is quite happy.  Different.



MARK THIS ONE DOWN AS ONE FOR THE BOOKS:Filling out a government form to assert one's freedom of religious beliefs/

DISTORTION, HYPOCRISY AND SO FORTH:So much disinformation, misinformation and the like.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

An interesting mini tour of Helsinki and a full blown tour of Eric Saarinen's home and studio on the outskirts of Helsinki plus a coffee stop at     's studio and home.  Saarinen's influence on 20th century architecture was major.  Dinner in suite.




CRONY CAPITALISM IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE:Question is, where do we go from here?

WHO WOULD PAY ANYTHING TO HEAR WHAT THIS HORRIBLE HARRIDAN HAS TO SAY:Well now we know the fix is ins at both public and private so-called institutions of higher learning. Pathetic.

THIS WILL NOT END WELL:  Question of the day:  What universe do the economists who manipulate our currency live in?

Further to yesterday’s note on “Behind the Levitation” about the Federal Reserve’s easy money policy, Ron Greiss of The Chart Store kindly sent along these four graphs that display the astronomical expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet in the aftermath of the crash of 2008.  These make for sober viewing indeed.  Hard to see how this ends well (click to enlarge any of these):

Ron Greiss notes that correlation does not equal causation, but still:

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

AM  aboard ship still at StP.  PM excursion exploring many canals of "The Venice of the North".




GLOBAL WARMING?

Now:

Astute readers will notice that the temperatures vacillate up and down, despite the steady massive increase in carbon emissions that characterized the industrialization of the 20th century. This alone disproves global warming theory.