Economy of Syria

The economy of Syria is based on agriculture, oil, industry and services. Its GDP per capita expanded 80% in the 1960s reaching a peak of 336% of total growth during the 1970s.^{[citation needed]} This proved unsustainable for Syria and the economy shrank by 33% during the 1980s. However the GDP per capita registered a very modest total growth of 12% (1.1% per year on average) during the 1990s due to successful diversification. More recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected real GDP growth at 3.9% in 2009 from close to 6% in 2008. The two main pillars of the Syrian economy used to be agriculture and oil, which together accounted for about one-half of GDP. Agriculture, for instance, accounted for about 25% of GDP and employed 25% of the total labor force. However, poor climatic conditions and severe drought badly affected the agricultural sector, thus reducing its share in the economy to about 17% of 2008 GDP, down from 20.4% in 2007, according to preliminary data from the Central Bureau of Statistics. On the other hand, higher crude oil prices countered declining oil production and led to higher budgetary and export receipts.^[7]

Since the out break of the Syrian civil war, the Syrian economy has been hit by massive economic sanctions restricting trade with the Arab League,^[8] Australia,^[9] Canada,^[10] the European Union,^[11] (as well as the European countries ofAlbania,^[12] Croatia,^[12] Iceland,^[12] Liechtenstein,^[12] Macedonia,^[12] Moldova,^[12] Montenegro,^[12] Norway,^[13] Serbia,^[12] andSwitzerland)^[14] Georgia,^[12] Japan,^[15] Turkey,^[16] and the United States.^[17] These sanctions and the instability associated with the civil war have reversed previous growth in the Syrian economy to a state of decline for the years 2011 and 2012.^[18]

Crude oil futures tumble after Syria accepts Russian proposal

Investing.com - Crude oil futures tumbled on Tuesday, after Syria’s foreign minister said Syria will accept Russia’s proposal to put chemical weapons under international control.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at USD107.60 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, down 1.75%.

New York-traded oil futures held in a range between USD107.56 a barrel, the daily low and a session high of USD109.01 a barrel. The October contract settled 0.9% lower at USD109.52 a barrel on Monday.

Oil futures were likely to find support at USD106.55 a barrel, the low from September 3 and resistance at USD110.70 a barrel, the high from September 6.

Oil prices tumbled after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said that his country will agree to turn over its chemical weapons to international control, easing concerns over a U.S. military strike against Syria.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that he would put plans for a military strike against Syria on hold if the country agrees to a Russian proposal to place its chemical weapons under international control.

While Syria is not a major oil producer, investors fear that the two-year-old civil war could spill over to affect oil supplies in nearby countries.

Oil prices surged to a 27-month high of USD112.22 a barrel on August 28 amid indications the U.S. was close to taking military action against Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for October delivery dropped 1.6% to trade at USD111.89 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD4.29 a barrel.

London-traded Brent prices fell to a session low of USD111.86 a barrel earlier, the weakest level since August 27.

Gold slightly lower on increased risk appetite

Investing.com - Gold futures traded slightly lower in the early part of Tuesday’s Asian session due to increased appetite for riskier asset following a stellar day for U.S. equities.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery inched down 0.08% to USD1,385.60 per troy ounce in Asian trading Tuesday. The December contract settled up 0.01% at USD1,386.70 per ounce on Monday.

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,361.80 a troy ounce, Friday's low, and resistance at USD1,416.30, Tuesday's high.

Following a spate of bullish Asian economic data points released over the weekend and during Monday’s Asian session, U.S. stocks raced higher Monday with the benchmark S&P 500 index surging 1%.

Through the first five trading days of this month, U.S. stocks have betrayed September’s reputation for being the worst month of the year in which to be long equities. Bullish moves in stocks has erased some of gold’s luster due to the yellow metal’s safe-haven status.

Last Friday, U.S. jobs data fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve may hold off announcing plans to begin winding down its USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases at its Sept. 17-18 policy meeting, though by Monday, many investors backtracked on that opinion, betting that the Fed remains on course to begin scaling back its asset purchases this month even if just by a little.

Some market observers have said the Fed will not formally announce tapering if the U.S. is engaged in military operations against Syria at the time of the FOMC meeting.

Elsewhere, Comex silver for December delivery fell 0.06% to USD23.703 per ounce while copper for December delivery inched down 0.01% to USD3.280.

Assad threatens 'repercussions' if US launches strike on Syria

yrian President Bashar Assad, during an interview that aired Monday morning, threatened "repercussions" from any American attack on Syria. 
The Syrian leader, speaking with CBS News, said the U.S. can expect "every action" if America strikes. He suggested retaliation could come from the opposition, as well as his own government and its allies.
"You should expect everything," Assad said. Asked to elaborate, he added: "You should expect everything. Not necessarily from the government. ... You have different parties, you have different factions, you have different ideology."
Asked specifically if the attack could trigger more chemical warfare, Assad suggested the rebels would be the ones who would use them. He said that outcome depends on whether "terrorist" rebels possess those weapons, adding: "It could happen."
Assad used the interview to challenge the Obama administration's claims that his regime used chemical weapons in an attack that killed hundreds on Aug. 21. He said his soldiers were "in another area" at the time of the attack.
It comes as President Obama prepares to deliver a national address on Tuesday making his case for a military strike on Syria. The matter is currently before Congress, which will begin a set of votes this week on a resolution authorizing the use of force.
Obama on Monday also planned to make his case, in a string of interviews, for punishing Assad.
Top administration officials are heading to Capitol Hill for more classified briefings. And White House national security adviser Susan Rice is scheduled for a speech at a Washington think tank timed to the public relations blitz aimed at ensuring people the administration isn't contemplating another commitment like Iraq and Afghanistan.
In an interview Sunday in Damascus, Assad told American journalist Charlie Rose there is no conclusive evidence about who is to blame for the chemical weapons attacks and again suggested the rebels were responsible. Rose said Assad also warned him previous U.S. military efforts in the region have proved disastrous.
And Assad argued the evidence Secretary of State John Kerry has disclosed amounts to a "big lie" that resembles the case for war in Iraq that Secretary of State Colin Powell made to the United Nations over a decade ago.
Appearing Monday at a news conference in London with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Kerry said of Assad: "What does he offer? Words that are contradicted by fact."
"We know that his regime gave orders to prepare for a chemical attack. We know they deployed forces," the secretary said. He added that the United States knows "where the rockets came from and where they landed ... and it was no accident that they all came from regime-controlled territory and all landed" in opposition-held territory.
"So the evidence is powerful and the question for all of us is: What are we going to do about it? Turn our backs? Have a moment of silence?"
He said that if Assad wanted to defuse the crisis, "he could turn every single bit of his chemical weapons over to the international community" within a week. But he said that Assad "isn't about to do it."

Roulette Sniper ver 2.0

I know many people know about this software, it is claim to be the accurate prediction for the next roulette’s result. I tried the trial mode but not using the real money and with less then 5 minute I doubled my winning. Can someone tell me does it really work? The price is about usd 39.00, too expensive for me to pay.

Money Management

After a month working hard to earn money, we receive our pay roll with x amount. most of us spending money on food and daily transport. So when should we start saving money?

The good answer was : as soon as we got the payroll and save 10% from it.


Save money and spent later!!

Saving = payroll x 10%
Spent = payroll - saving

Learn a little secret how to manage your money and live with happiness.

Free download and free to use. 

download here 

capitalism lab game

I am sure many people already play the Capitalism 2 either they purchase it or using the free download with a crack file.

Maybe some people don’t like the game much because it is not an action game such Counterstrike or RTS game. 

Like others simulation game, every event were randomly generate by the application it self. In real world, event also were randomly generate by the weather, politics and many more.

But the game is good starter for those who want to be a CEO one day. Learn the basic tools before jump into real business.

Capitalism 2 actually has the hidden cheat code, but in the real business there aren’t cheat code provided. Once you go, there is no turn back point.

After waiting many years of new Capitalism game, finally Capitalism Lab has been releases sometimes in 2012. The new version claim to be more complex, but it is good for me and perhaps to other player.

In Capitalism Lab there are many new product, more competitors and more city number had been added, that makes the new version differ from the old version.

Player can analyze each city before setup any businesses, the city provide with GDP, unemployed %, Product Supply and Demand and also money supply or money demand. So give it a try.

If you never played the capitalism 2 before, I suggest play that version before jump to Capitalism Lab. Otherwise newbie will got such a headache.  

Before I go,  I have suggestion to the Game Owner, can you provide with Foreign Exchange Rates with Candle Stick Graph attach to it. I mean the rate were generate from the game it self.

So perhaps Forex player like me can learn something new from it instead of watching the endless Candle Stick Graph from Meta Trade platform.

Download here

The untold story of Muhambur the legendary giant :Chapter II: Harvest to starve.

It was mongomot (harvesting) season. Villagers need to gather all the paddies their have and process it into rice as soon as possible. Brewing rice weren’t an easy task, they must fill all the brewed rice into hundred of jars and must preserve the siopons at least 5 months before it fully mature. The idea was to use Siopon as a decoy to drunk the giant, when the giant fall asleep then the villagers shall bind the giant with a strong rope that was made from rattan. Finally the last jar was complete, each villagers were told to kept the jar at their own Sulap (granary) for 5 fully months.

It seems to be a heavy rain since their complete the last jar and continuously for a week. Daily activities were stopped, none were doing anything instead watching the endless dark cloud from the east, keep spreading the rains and soon there will be a flood.

After sometimes, the rain has stopped. Sun rises from the east and the sky was perfectly clear, bringing new hopes to the villagers. But it wasn’t a free deal, they have to pay for it, the flood has destroyed all the vegetation including dairy farm. These situations becoming more difficult as a previous harvest are getting low. Sulap should be full of paddy so it can supply food for a year instead making mass of siopon. But those days, no one can ever predict the weather and now they are facing with the real problems – starvation!

It took a week for the flood to fully flown away, food supply were limited forcing villagers to organize a group of hunters with selected young mans to hunts toward Mount Kinabalu. Many young men volunteered to join the hunting party but only 10 of them were selected, others were ordered to stay so they could protect the village from the giant’s threat and enemy from the south believes to be a head hunter from other tribes.

As the hunters left, villagers were told to ration all the food their have so they can survive until the hunters comes back.

Villagers were mitabang (cooperates) to replant vegetation that had been destroy during floods.  Rebuild the barn and repairing every damaged house.

And suddenly a young boy ran toward the busy villagers with a fish at his arm, the fish size was about in 12 inch longs and 2kg weight, it was big enough for a young boy to carrying it.

The boy shouts “I found fish! I found fish! One of the villagers replied “None of us here were gone fishing, can you see we all busy to save this village, how could you say you found a fish!

The boy shows the fish to them and says,” I saw lots of fishes compiled near the Maralamin Hill and it still fresh!” an old man grab the fish and watch carefully. Villagers start to wonder why the old man seems to be confused with the fish but they knew the old man is a wise man because he has more knowledge then the villagers.

It took a while before the old man explained. The fish were from the sea, someone with a boat could goes far from the shore to catch a fish like this and at least it took a day from Maralamin hill to nearby shore by walking distance. 

With curiosity, villagers decided to see for them self but they knew the danger ahead, the giant. So they brought weapons such parang (short sword), spear and sopuk (blowpipe). Not to attack the giant but to defend their self from any threats towards them.

sopuk or blowpipe the deadly weapon. silence and fast

As they reach at place mention. They saw plenty of fresh salt fishes were in nicely compiled. The villagers look at each others, wondering who put the salt fishes there. Everyone was quit and finally one of the villagers says “Does anyone have a mature siopon? If do, please bring back two jars siopon here!” Then a man running back to his sulap, he remembers last night there were some siopons that already mature and ready to drink. A moment later he came back with two siopon jars at his arms.

Villagers seem to understand what actually they must do. Without wasting any more time, they took the salt fish home and exchange it with the siopon jars as a gift. Not like any other night, dinner was served in seafood.

The next morning, they return to Maralamin Hill, along with two siopon jars and wish to know what happens to yesterday’s jars. Soon as they reached there, yesterday’s the jars were empty and more salt fishes were nicely complied then yesterday. So the villagers took the salt fishes and left the siopon jar as they done it before.

---------- To be continue -----next week update on Friday

The untold story of Muhambur the legendary giant

Many year ago, before the electricity had came to our village, Kampong Tinambak. Villagers use oil lamp too bright up the dark during night and there aren’t many entertainments for the children to do, nowadays children have TV, radio and internet so they can stay till midnight.

Those days were different, after having dinners, my cousins, siblings and I sat together infront of our late grandfather while he drinks bahar. (A local tuak was made from pure coconut liquid has been added with rosok and overnight preserved) and begging for him to tell us susunud (English called it fairy tales). If he drunks enough, we were that luck for bedtimes stories otherwise we felt asleep in the darkness night. There were many susunud that he already told us, but only one of his stories has caught my attention, Muhambur, the legendary giant, the tales of Muhambur were almost same with the western fairy tales, Gulliver’s travelers , but in Dusun Native version?. Oh come on.

Chapter I: New Village and Threat

 Muhambur was described as a taller person, same height with the Bambangan tree. (Bambangan tree height was in between 3-4 storages building). His body was solid with muscles; the nearest description I ever got was Hercules. He was not totally bold; he has some kinds of longs hair that has been tight together like the Aladdin’s gene. No villagers ever knew exactly where did Muhambur came from, because those day most of the Dusun native were nomad peoples, seeking a good land for planting paddy and gathering more foods from the forest. If they are lucky enough, they will find a good spot to envelope , luckily kampong Tinambak was one of them.

As the time passes by, resident at kampong Tinambak were getting crowded and more forest nearby has been cutting down to open a new land for paddy field and built more houses (almost like the Age of Empire games).Since villager need to gather more foods , they need to gather deep inside the forest. Ever since villagers start to encounter a huge man hiding behind a hills (Maralamin Hills), sometimes villagers saw a footprint 5 times bigger then a man and the worst things were, buffalos were start to missing and plants were stolen.

  “Before machine was introduced into agricultures, buffalos were very useful animal, not because it has a raw meat but it can act like a “machine” from ploughing till carrying heaving things or gift to you future in law family. Own a buffalo mean your own a tractor, it also measure as your current asset.





Because of these matters, villagers were starts to wonder ,who stole their buffalos and plants. Ever since they came here, there were never such an incidents like this before, why now? One morning, all the villagers were told to attend a meeting, it was a surprise meets because the disappearance of buffalos are getting worst, it was difficult to worked at paddy field without the buffalos to carry a heavy harvest. One of the villagers explains that he has seen a giant eating lot of bananas, pineapples and coconuts. Buffalo’s bones were every where near the Maralamin hills, he added. That explained where all the buffalos had gone. How could we catch a giant? We don’t know how strong the giant is? Could it take a hundred mans strength?, suddenly a drank man passing by, Then he yield “ I want more siopon...I want more siopon…” then the drunken man fall asleep because he has already took to much siopon since last night.
  
Then one of the villagers got an idea how actually they are going to catch the giant.
 ---------- To be continue -----next week update on Friday.


“siopon is local traditional liquor was made from brewed rice”.

A Brief History of Gold

A child finds a shiny rock in a creek, thousands of years ago, and the human race is introduced to gold for the first time. Gold was first discovered as shining, yellow nuggets. "Gold is where you find it," so the saying goes, and gold was first discovered in its natural state, in streams all over the world. No doubt it was the first metal known to early hominids.

 Gold became a part of every human culture. Its brilliance, natural beauty, and luster, and its great malleability and resistance to tarnish made it enjoyable to work and play with. Where does gold come from ? Because gold is dispersed widely throughout the geologic world, its discovery occurred to many different groups in many different locales. And nearly everyone who found it was impressed with it, and so was the developing culture in which they lived. Gold was the first metal widely known to our species. When thinking about the historical progress of technology, we consider the development of iron and copper-working as the greatest contributions to our species' economic and cultural progress - but gold came first.

 Gold is the easiest of the metals to work. It occurs in a virtually pure and workable state, whereas most other metals tend to be found in ore-bodies that pose some difficulty in smelting. Gold's early uses were no doubt ornamental, and its brilliance and permanence (it neither corrodes nor tarnishes) linked it to deities and royalty in early civilizations . Gold has always been powerful stuff. The earliest history of human interaction with gold is long lost to us, but its association with the gods, with immortality, and with wealth itself are common to many cultures throughout the world. Early civilizations equated gold with gods and rulers, and gold was sought in their name and dedicated to their glorification. Humans almost intuitively place a high value on gold, equating it with power, beauty, and the cultural elite. And since gold is widely distributed all over the globe, we find this same thinking about gold throughout ancient and modern civilizations everywhere. Gold, beauty, and power have always gone together. Gold in ancient times was made into shrines and idols ("the Golden Calf"), plates, cups, vases and vessels of all kinds, and of course, jewelry for personal adornment.

 The "Gold of Troy" treasure hoard, excavated in Turkey and dating to the era 2450 -2600 B.C., show the range of gold-work from delicate jewelry to a gold gravy boat weighing a full troy pound. This was a time when gold was highly valued, but had not yet become money itself. Rather, it was owned by the powerful and well-connected, or made into objects of worship, or used to decorate sacred locations. Gold has always had value to humans, even before it was money. This is demonstrated by the extraordinary efforts made to obtain it. Prospecting for gold was a worldwide effort going back thousands of years, even before the first money in the form of gold coins appeared about 700 B.C. In the quest for gold by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Indians, Hittites, Chinese, and others, prisoners of war were sent to work the mines, as were slaves and criminals. And this happened during a time when gold had no value as 'money,' but was just considered a desirable commodity in and of itself. The 'value' of gold was accepted all over the world.

Today, as in ancient times, the intrinsic appeal of gold itself has that universal appeal to humans. But how did gold come to be a commodity, a measurable unit of value? Gold, measured out, became money. Gold's beauty, scarcity, unique density (no other metal outside the platinum group is as heavy), and the ease by which it could be melted, formed, and measured made it a natural trading medium. Gold gave rise to the concept of money itself: portable, private, and permanent. Gold (and silver) in standardized coins came to replace barter arrangements, and made trade in the Classic period much easier.

 Gold was money in ancient Greece. The Greeks mined for gold throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East regions by 550 B.C., and both Plato and Aristotle wrote about gold and had theories about its origins. Gold was associated with water (logical, since most of it was found in streams), and it was supposed that gold was a particularly dense combination of water and sunlight.

Granny Smith Green Apple

Granny Smith Apples The Granny Smith apple gets its name from its founder, Mrs. Mary Ann (Granny) Smith. Granny Smith apples are crisp, juicy, and tart which makes them perfect for either baking in pies, stewed in sauces or eating out of hand. They're also great in salads because once cut, they keep their color longer than other apples. Scientific Binomial Name: Malus domestica Selection Information Usage: Very good for eating fresh, cooking & salads. They're also the primary ingredient for a Granny Smith Apple pie. Selection: Good-quality Granny Smith apples will be firm with smooth and clean skin. Granny Smith apples are a deep green with an occasional pink blush of the cheeks. Test the firmness of the apple by holding it in the palm of your hand. (Do not push with your thumb). It should feel solid and heavy, not soft and light.

These apples may be less attractive, but the flesh is still good to eat after cutting. Storage: To store, keep apples as cold as possible in the refrigerator. Apples do not freeze until the temperature drops to 28.5°F. Avoid: Avoid product with soft or dark spots. Also if the apple skin wrinkles when you rub your thumb across it, the apple has probably been in cold storage too long or has not been kept cool. Grannies occasionally show "russeting," a brownish network at the stem end. Seasonal Information Fresh Granny Smith Apples are available from Washington from September through November while cold storage product is available the rest of the year.

 Granny Smith Apple Nutritional Information Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 medium apple (154g) Amount Per Serving Calories 80Calories from Fat 0 % Daily Value* Total Fat 00% Saturated Fat 0g0% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0mg0% Sodium 0mg0% Total Carbohydrate 22g7% Dietary Fiber 5g Sugars 17g Protein 0g Vitamin A 2%Vitamin C 20% Calcium 2%Iron 2% *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. Source: PMA's Labeling Facts Granny Smith Apples are very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. They're also a good source of Dietary Fiber and Vitamin C. Apple Tips & Trivia The Granny Smith apple gets its name from its founder, Mrs. Mary Ann (Granny) Smith. Rub cut apples with lemon juice to keep slices and wedges creamy white for hours.

 Store apples in a plastic bag in the refrigerator away from strong-odored foods such as cabbage or onions to prevent flavor transfer. Apples are the second most important of all fruits sold in the supermarket, ranking next to bananas. The history of apple consumption dates from Stone Age cultivation in areas we now know as Austria and Switzerland. In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage; catching it was acceptance.

POPULATION, FOOD and the ECONOMY

Population

 Each year human populations are increasing due to high quality of healthy style even some countries have policies on birth controls or starvation even a plunge disaster. Good result of medical research has given us a good condition of live, new vaccine created every year and new drugs has been developed to fit human condition. According to some researcher, population will continue to growth if there’s no war, no nuke disaster and an endless food supply. These main factors will be the main variables for the population to growth.

 Food

 Since food demand are increasing, scientists has doing some research on food production with maximum output every years. Including fertigation system and improved tools development. With developed agricultures sector, farmers nowadays could harvest with huge vegetation supply to nationwide or to other countries. Can food has a better nutrition fact and less food poisoning.

 Economy In capitalism theory

 supply and demand are the main factor for money to flow. Demand should always low then the supply, which is how economy should works. Less inflation, more cheap food and creating better environments. But nowadays, supplies were less and demands are higher. Situation like this has given a huge negative impact for us, people becoming more materialistic then spirituals, face the fact that money are everything to us now. Strong economy doesn’t guarantee the country will survive for ever even an ancient Rome was buried after hundreds years of ruling the Europe and the Middle East due to lack of management skills perhaps. To build something, we need a plan and spend huge time for it, but to destroy something that we had built, it only take a couple of minute. UP and Down History always repeat itself, what goes up must goes down and it is an endless cycle that we shall face. So every time we are at the top, always alert that, there will be a time that we are at the bottom. Today; Population, Food and the Economy are at the top, but there shall be at the bottom somehow.