Fun, was it?

It’s been almost three weeks since Irish voters have strongly endorsed the European Union's Lisbon Treaty - 16 months after their first vote rejecting it plunged EU reforms into deadlock. About 67% voted "Yes", official results from the latest referendum showed. The treaty - which is aimed at streamlining decision-making in the 27-nation bloc - cannot take effect until all 27 member states ratify it. According to final results, 67.1% of Irish voters approved it, while 32.9% voted "No". Turnout in the three-million electorate was 58%.

Ireland was the only EU member state to hold a referendum on Lisbon, though there have been calls for referendums in several countries.

Lisbon 2 delivered more thrills, spills and laughs than most sequels, and offered us a revealing glimpse into the state of the national psyche in 2009. This latter point was one of the more sobering aspects of the campaign, as, if the evidence presented is anything to go by, we would all appear to rarely be more than one or two irrational beliefs away from going over the edge.

Otherwise reasonably sane people seemed to completely lose the run of themselves as the clock ticked down to polling day. No one seemed immune to the Lisbon hysteria. Even people who are known to the the epitome of controlled calm lost the plot.

And it wasn’t just the professional political classes who were adversely effected. How many pub conversations in the weeks leading up to the poll descended into arguments about the merits of a yes or no vote? Friends of long-standing exchanged many a harsh word, and, if you believe the anecdotal evidence, people had to agree not to talk about it if they wanted to remain civil with each other.

Some of the worst of the browbeating took place on social networking sites like Face book. Lengthy posts from people pleading with their friends to vote a certain way were commonplace. Not only was it annoying, it was also something much worse – condescending. Typically, these posts weren’t about encouraging people to inform themselves, instead the core message was an appeal for readers to come to their senses and vote as the poster demanded. The sometimes random CAPPING of words only served to add to the impression of a whole cohort of PEOPLE having gone completely MAD.

This would have been more remarkable if it hadn’t all happened before. Yes, Lisbon 2 was a sequel, but in terms of the temporary psychosis it induced, it wasn’t a successor to the first Treaty vote. The first Lisbon campaign was unhinged in its own right, but was much more intense this time out, tapping into our capacity for rabid irrationality in a way that is almost unprecedented.

Families and friends divided, raised voices in pubs, no uninformed opinion left unvoiced, unimpeachable certainty on both sides, blanket coverage across television, radio and the news papers… Does any of that sound familiar? The Face book parallel would probably hold up too, were it not for the fact that social networking websites had not taken hold here by 2002.

So, is there anything we can learn from all this? Perhaps it’s that if we spend less time being so convinced about the things we believe, we might be able to listen to what others say. Perhaps it’s that we need to appreciate that if someone disagrees with us, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they’re wrong. Or may be it’s this damn, we could have won that match or whatever.

Click here to read more about Lisbon Treaty.

When Luck favours you :

 

Many say the man in the video escaped because of faster legs. I would still say it’s luck. What else can explain this. He has been plain lucky. Had he started crossing one or two seconds later, he might have ended up dead. Fortunately for him, that didn’t happen. Be careful when you cross the road. Look right and left. Get back to the basics.

Credit Card Mistakes

How Bad Are Your Credit Card Mistakes?

by Erin Peterson

Grade yours on a 10-point scale.

Nobody's perfect. When it comes to our financial lives, we've all done things we later regretted -- whether it's getting slapped with a $3 fee for using an out-of-network ATM or going on a Las Vegas bender and losing the house on an overly aggressive poker bet.

The key is to understand the scale of the transgression. With credit card blunders, that's no easy task -- is it worse to take a cash advance or to pay a bill a day or two late? Experts graded a range of credit card mistakes on a scale from 1 (losing a few bucks to a cash machine) to 10 (losing the house). Find out which worry the pros most -- and which may (almost) get a free pass.

Paying Late
How bad is it? 6
The details: Credit card companies are notoriously prickly about late payments -- even a payment that's late by a few minutes can pile up fees, interest charges and other penalties. Depending on how late the payment is, your card issuer may also report the problem to any of the credit bureaus, which can wreak havoc on your credit score. The good news, says Stacy Francis, president of Francis Financial, is that the error may be reversible. "You do have the option of giving the credit card company a call and asking them not to report it," she says. "If you've generally been an on-time payer, they may waive the fees and not report it."

Paying Only the Minimum on Your Card
How bad is it? 4
The details: Credit card companies love it when you pay off your debt slowly, but you should loathe it. It won't necessarily affect your credit score, but that doesn't mean it's a good practice. Sending in only the minimum payment "is definitely going to keep you in debt longer, and you're going to pay a heck of a lot more in interest," says Francis. "You may be paying twice as much -- or more -- as you would by paying in cash."

Buying On a Card Just For Rewards
How bad is it? 1
The details: If you're paying off your balance on time and in full, using your cards to grab extra rewards isn't necessarily a bad plan, says Gail Cunningham, spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counselling. "You can win the rewards card game if you know how to play," she says. "But you do have to know yourself." Because most people spend more when they're paying with plastic than with cash, be cautious and recognize when you're buying something only because plastic makes the purchase painless.

Missing a Payment
How bad is it? 9
The details: Not only are you going to be slammed with fees, interest charges and other penalties when you miss a payment, but you'll likely see a rise in your interest rates. If that weren't bad enough, you'll also have to contend with a significant hit to your credit report -- about 35 percent of your credit score is based on your ability to pay bills on time. As a result, you'll pay more when you try to get a loan. "Missing a payment has both immediate and long-term consequences," says Clarky Davis, Care One Debt Relief's Debt Diva. "You may be dealing with the fallout for years."

Having Too Many Cards
How bad is it? 6
The details: If you're the type to apply for a card just so you can grab a discount on clothes or other merchandise, you likely have a huge stack of cards in your purse or wallet. You're probably not getting enough value from the card to make it worth the high interest rates or additional complications from additional bills and junk cluttering your mailbox -- and you're increasing the likelihood that a payment slips through the cracks or that you'll be a victim of identity theft. "There's rarely a good reason to get a new card if you've already got a general-purpose card, a rewards card and a low interest card," says Cunningham.

Maxing Out a Card
How bad is it? 7
The details: Maxing out a card can have a serious impact on your credit score, since about 30 percent of your score is based on "credit utilization" -- the amount of credit you've used relative to the amount you have available. More important, says Davis, is the fact that it likely signifies a distressing trend in your personal finances. "Maxing out a card may not have an immediate financial pull, but it's a sign that you're not budgeting or spending your money wisely," she says. "It means you don't have enough saved up to cover unexpected expenses."

Playing the Balance Transfer Game
How bad is it? 5
The details: Moving your debt from a high-interest card to a low-interest card with a balance transfer isn't as smart a move as you think, says Francis. "About 15 percent of your credit score is affected by your recent credit applications," she notes. Pile up a few transfers and your score will take a hit. "Credit bureaus don't (differentiate) that these cards are for the same [debt], they just see it as you getting pre-approved for more and more credit." Add in the fees that generally accompany balance transfers and you're not gaming the system -- you're getting hammered by it.

Debt Settlement Plans
How bad is it? 9.5
The details: If you're overwhelmed by debt, negotiating down your balance with the credit card company (also called debt settlement) sometimes helps you pay pennies on the dollar on your debt -- but you'll pay a steep price. First, there's the tax hit you'll take for the amount of debt that's forgiven -- it will count as income during that tax year. And your credit score will be decimated, so don't expect you'll be able to take out a loan soon after consolidation. Next to bankruptcy, debt settlement "is the most negative thing you can do to your credit score," says Francis.

Getting a Cash Advance?
How bad is it? 8
The details: It may feel like free money, but the truth is that it's anything but: You'll likely have a fee associated with the advance, and you'll likely pay a higher interest rate than you would by using the card associated with it. "You also have no grace period," notes Cunningham. "You'll start accruing interest from the moment you get the money." While these are all dangerous attributes in and of themselves, they're not the worst part, says Cunningham. "When you start using cash advances, you have to understand why you're using them as they're likely symptomatic of a deep financial problem."

Using a Card in a Pinch
How bad is it? 2
The details: If the fridge went on the fritz or the furnace conked out in mid-January, you might not have the means to fund its immediate replacement. Putting the bill on a credit card -- and paying it off quickly over the course of a few months -- is a pretty solid option, says Cunningham. "You don't want something like that to become standard operating procedure," says Cunningham. "But it's OK to have a balance on a card for a few months when you're going through a rough patch in your financial life. Just make sure it's on a card without an annual fee or with a very low annual fee."

Source : Yahoo

Enigma – The Return to Innocence (Lyrics)

More meaningful and practical when we look at it a second time.

That's not the beginning of the end
That's the return to yourself
The return to innocence.
Love - devotion
Feeling - emotion

Love - devotion
Feeling - emotion

Don't be afraid to be weak
Don't be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence

If you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself don't hide
Just believe in destiny

Don't care what people say
Just follow your own way
Don't give up and use the chance
To return to innocence

That's not the beginning of the end
That's the return to yourself
The return to innocence

Don't care what people say
Follow just your own way
Follow just your own way
Don't give up, don't give up
To return, to return to innocence.
If you want then laugh
If you must then cry
Be yourself don't hide
Just believe in destiny.