Be yourself

Be understanding.
Be loyal to your friends.
Be strong enough to face the world each day.
Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything alone.
Be generous to those who need your help.
Be teachable to show maturity.
Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything.
Be foolish enough to believe in miracles.
Be willing to share your joys.
Be willing to share the sorrows of others.
Be a leader when you see a path others have missed.
Be a follower when you are surrounded by the mists of uncertainty.
Be first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds.
Be last to criticize a colleague who fails.
Be sure of your final destination.
Be willing to change.
Be loving to those who love you.
Be loving to those who do not love you; they may change.
Above all, love animals, enjoy Christmas, smile, be yourself.

Have a great day!

The cutest animal on the planet

What is the cutest animal on the planet? That will be in the eye of the beholder, of course. For many people it will be their pet: a cuddly kitty, a playful puppy, a furry ferret, a clever parrot.

There are so many cute animals on the planet we are spoilt for choice: two otters holding hands (viewed more than 15 million times on YouTube), Heidi the Cross-Eyed Opossum, chinchillas in love or the fearless honey badger.

One simply can't ignore the giant panda, polar bear, proboscis monkey, platupus, or smiling dolphin. There are just so many cute animals on our lovely planet.

Our favourite animal here in Lapland? You guessed it! It's Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

A very merry Christmas

Faith makes all things possible, Hope makes all things work and Love makes all things beautiful. May you have all the three for this Christmas. Wishing you a very merry Christmas!

Santa did not bail out Julian Assange

Santa has not said much about WikiLeaks Cablegate but did have a good chuckle about what friends had to say about friends.

We do not have a Christmas WikiLeaks in Lapland. And it is impossible to hack our Naughty-or-Nice list. Alabaster Snowball is the best coder in the whole universe. He can also complete the Rubik cube with his eyes closed while eating Christmas pudding and having his toes tickled all at the same time.

Santa did not offer any part of the bail or the whole of the bail for Julian Assange. But he did mention that Julian might receive a big Christmas gift... if he can get to a Christmas tree in time. Norwegian trees are better than Swedish trees for Christmas.

The short road to immense profit

If you want to know the simple truths of life, ask someone who has been around long enough to separate the wheat from chaff.

We understand the concept of the housing bubble very well: sell houses at inflated prices, launch the bubble, and you end up owning the houses AND you still have people who owe you money for those houses they do not have. You can sell the houses later when the market recovers (and the people will still be paying on the houses they do not have). In the meantime, while the FED interest rate is at zero, borrow even more money so you can lend it back to people later at a nice high rate.

What we did not understand is why governments launch public road constructions to houses that people do not own anymore. So we asked Santa.

It's simple, really. If you want the price of toys to increase, burn down the trees - as they do in the Amazon Rain Forest and in Indonesia. The value of the property where the trees stood will plummet. Buy it cheap with money the government will lend you at an incredibly low rate. Convince the government you need new roads to it to grow new trees because it will also create government-sponsored low-paying jobs. Then grow the trees; the price for wood will now be very high. The value of the tree property will go back up. And buy into the toy making industry. It is the short road to immense profit.

That is why, Santa says, we rather keep the location of Santa's village a secret. In this way we ensure that children will always have toys at Christmas.

But why the road construction because once it's completed there will be no more jobs? That (the end of these jobs) is not a concern to those who got the property on the cheap. What is of concern to them is that, as research shows, the property along new public construction projects significantly increase in value. They will now add toll taxes and other suchlike fees - charged to the poor will need to borrow from those banks who got the money cheap - and enjoy the profits for many years to come. So, it all started with creating inflation on property prices and end in road construction and new taxes.

Well, now we know. And we're very glad that those who create bubbles in the economy do not know the road to Santa's village.

Why the world needs oil

Our beautiful planet works like a timeless machine. All the gears and pulleys are well-oiled to keep us circling around the sunny sun almost forever. But, as for a car engine, when the oil dries up the gears will seize. When too much oil is taken out of the earth the tectonic plates start grinding each other and cause earthquakes - which lead to tsunamis and other extreme conditions - and volcanoes to erupt. Eventually the whole system can seize and explode. And that will be the end of Christmas. Which is why the world needs oil to stay in the ground.

Bankers give back bonuses

April Fool's Day! Bankers will only give back their bonuses when they are kicked in the butt, strung from a ledge, or become genuinely religious (not pretentious, like Stephen Green from HSBC and all those other naughty fibbers).

Still, hope you're having a great day!