If you are a pregnant woman wanting to know the gender of your baby, - see below, to the cup of tea you will need after the delivery, the Chinese have a lot to answer for during the seven millenium of history their civilization has spanned. The Chinese Birth calendar that predicts the sex of a child shows that they do have a lighter side but in more recent years it has been the number of children born to a Chinese family that took the headlines.

There was a time when the opinion of the world didn’t matter to the Chinese. Its communist regime steadfast in its oppressive behaviour towards its people immortalized in the photo of a protester standing in front of a tank during the Tianamen Square demonstrations in 1989 was indicative of the regimes disregard for world opinion. Its similar behaviour in Tibet and Nepal has caused outrage and dismay amongst most right thinking people. So it is somewhat of a surprise that as we move towards the summer Olympics of 2008 that are to be held in Beijing that we find the government of China working so hard to distance its actions from the atmosphere surrounding the games.

Many will say that since being awarded the games much has changed in the Chinese republic and this would be true. The emergence of China as the largest, fastest growing economy and leader in manufacturing is true. The economic explosion triggered following the handing back of Hong Kong by the British government in 1997 has seen areas of China expand, not only in economic terms but also in wealth for a limited numbers of its people. The awarding of the games could be said to have been the carrot to the Chinese government to continue on its road of more openness and freedom for its people.

China however, has always been ruled by an iron fist and as the longest surviving civilization the world has ever seen, it could be said that this control is in fact a reason for its longevity. Sima Qian dated the history of the country to 2800 B.C. and in the millenia leading to the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China under Chairman Mao Tse Tung in 1949 the country was ruled by hereditary Emperors under various dynasties.

With such a long history, it is not surprising that many inventions have come from the Chinese. The advancement of its culture, epitomized by the army of Terracotta warriors discovered near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor which dates to 209-210 B.C. is just one example of how far ahead the Chinese had advanced ahead of other civilizations. A coutier, Ts’ai-Lun is credited in 105 A.D. with the invention of paper. The name, paper, came later from a derivative of the Egyptian Papyrus, a method of drying stem section of the papyrus plant to create a writing surface.

Over the centuries the Chinese are also accredited with inventions such as the compass, gunpowder, silk and as an Englishman I am unable to cite Chinese achievements without mentioning tea. Its origins believed to date from around 5000 B.C. under the reign of an emperor called Shen Nung. The emperor, a scientist himself, whose edicts included the boiling of all drinking water, discovered tea by accident. The story goes that he was visiting a province under his reign when some leaves from a nearby bush fell into the pot where the drinking water was being boiled, creating a brown coloured infusion. As a scientist, the emperor was intrigued and drank some of the infusion. He declared it refreshing, and the rest, as they say, is history!

On a lighter note, the discovery in the tomb of a 14 century emperor, of a birth calendar is supposedly able to predict the gender of a newborn baby based on the month of conception and the age of the mother to be. It just goes to show that if a civilization lasts long enough, it will try its hand at anything!

So as we look forward to the Olympics of 2008, we can but marvel at the achievements of a long and proud nation and hope that the interaction of the world in a global experience based in its country, will guide its leaders to think more kindly on its people and their needs.

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Predict the gender of your baby with the Chinese birth calendar. This ancient Chinese birth chart from the 14 century will tell you the sex of your baby!

The fears over a declining housing sector were highlighted again this week with Bovis, one of the UK’s leading house builders calling on the Bank of England to cut interest rates to ease pressure on the beleaguered sector. Bovis CEO Malcolm Harris called for a 0.75% cut in interest rates to 4.5% as the company announced a fall in profits of 6% and a warning that 2008 could be worse if the current level of interest rates prevailed.The comments come on the back of a catelogue of indicators all adding to the pressure for the Bank of England to take action.

Ever since the current downturn was triggered in the US by the sub-prime mortgage crisis which, for UK investors turned into the Northern Rock debacle, credit markets and house prices have stumbled into uncertainty. The situation has been compounded by the fact that whilst the US Federal Reserve moved to cut interest rates to ease the pressure on Domestic mortgage holders, this did nothing to help a weakening dollar that has struggled to maintain levels due to the worries over funding for the Iraq and Afghan conflicts. The ECB, European Central Bank has been conspicuous by its silence and has been unwilling to take any steps to assist the dollar, seeming quite happy to see the value of the Euro soar against, not only the dollar, but also sterling and other major currencies.

It may take the knock- on effect on the housing markets across Europe to stir the ECB into action and force a rate cut as economies across the globe follow the US in their fears over recession. If the central bank were to cut rates this would have a knock on effect that would see the the oil price fall further helping recessionary fears in the US.

So what are they waiting for? Its a little like Nero fiddling whilst Rome burned. Could it be that the now vastly diverse economies of Europe, that span 25 very different economic stages of development, is proving too difficult to manage with only one hand on the tiller.

One of the major fears when the Euro was launched was that, although the different economies had met converging economic standards, the sheer complexities of managing them, emerging against mature, would make setting interest rate policy difficult. Rate movements could be seen to hurt one member country whilst benefiting another. This inability to please all member countries, all of the time meant that political influence may come to bear on the ECB when the stronger members were in trouble at the expense of the poorer members.

It seems that rather than claims to be acting partially, the central bank has opted to do nothing and this sitting on the fence could now be seen as being the straw that breaks the camels back, economically speaking. By the time the bank acts to cut rates it may be too late to stave off recession on a global basis.

I am sure that it is at times like these that the UK decision not to join the Euro and give up its ability to set its own domestic interest rates must seem like great foresight. It is surely a fact the the UK economy for all its posturing calls for rate cuts by industry, is in a much better position to act based on domestic indicators that benefit only itself. The rest of the world waits to see if Brussels has the ‘cojones’ to act decisively. I fear we may be waiting some time.

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Onlystop is a website that covers all your financial need with articles and surveys on the latest developments in a variety of Mortgages, including Fixed Rate Mortgages, Home Improvement Loans and personal loans in the UK.

It is an undisputed fact that the dollar is weak. The trade deficit run up by the Bush Administration in financing the war in Iraq and the sub-prime mortgage crisis are just two of the factors that have driven investors from the dollar to its baby sister, the Euro. The resulting effect has been to see a rise in the price of oil above 100 dollars a barrel as the race for commodities in the markets has left currecy traders trampled under the rush to get out of the way. Oil, gold, even wheat seems preferable.
The US economy is brinking on recession, although we have yet to see one quarter of negative growth ( the definition of recession is two quarters of negative growth).

Definitions aside, you can feel the mood of anticipation when you talk to realtors in some parts of the country. In South Carolina, a real estate market that has not been hit by as large a correction, as say, California, realtors in Mount Pleasant tell an all too familiar story when they say that they are finding buyers sitting on the fence in a waiting game to see how prices will jump before committing to a purchase.
The mortgage crisis which burst the bubble in the US was quick to spread and the tightening of secondary lending soon put UK mortgage lender Northern Rock Bank in a liquidity crisis that needed a government bailout. In a matter of a month the virus had crossed the atlantic and the UK property market caught the same cold as its never ending climb stalled under a realization that prices were not a never ending staircase. This was something that had not been seen for nearly a generation of home-owners and was 1989 since the fears of mortgage debt being higher than property value had reared their ugly head.
The virus continued to spread. Spanish developers who had been building as fast as they could were soon realising that they had more units than they could sell and the holiday property industry in the Spanish Costas fell victim to the same indecision found in the UK. (Unsurprising really as up to 65% of Spanish Property on the coastline of Spain was bought by UK residents looking to invest in a place in sun.

So whilst the world coughs and splutters towards global recession could it be that the Euro could hold the key to releasing the pressure and will we have to wait until the recession bites into European economies before the European Central Bank cuts interests rates?
It is certainly no forgone conclusion that a cut in base rates in Europe would take the pressure off the dollar. Certainly the election result in November could see McCain having to fund an even longer exit strategy in Iraq that would push the deficit to epic proportions. Hopefully voters may have to suffer $4 a gallon at the petrol pumps this summer to alight them to the fact that a Democrat may be a better choice than more of the same.

A Democrat win in November and a cut in European interest rates however may produce a combined effect that would ease pressure on the dollar. The good will feeling normally felt following any election would stimulate the economy in the states and combined with falling oil and gas prices it may be all the economy needs to stave off the recession everyone is feeling.

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Neil Ebsworth is co-founder of AMLAspain.com, The MLS for Property in Spain MLS and Mount Pleasant SC Real Estate.

As the new American election approaches, there are many candidates that will potentially make American History. One of these candidates is Barack Obama. If elected as the next present, he will be the first ever African American president in history. For those who do not know about Obama, here is a brief yet insightful biography.

Obama was born in August 4, 1961. His first experience in politics was when he was the junior United States Senator for his state under a Democratic Party. While receiving such role, he already contributed to history by being labeled the fifth African American Senator in a whole history of the United States.

In 2008, Obama will be running for Presidency. His Democratic Party’s mission is to end the Iraq War, which is quite turn around for the country. It will be quite interesting to see how the election plays out, which may ultimately show the nation’s current stand on the war. Of course each candidate has their own view on the war and it will not be the sole reason why the American citizens will be voting in favor of a specific candidate.

Barack Obama also wants to implement a universal health care system which allows the right to all citizens (and some permanent residents) to health care, regardless of the fact that they can afford to pay for the services or not. This is essential for the United States since they are the only industrialized country that does not grant all of their citizens the right to health care.

If Barack Obama were to be elected as president, it will show how much the United States has gone through pass their decades of discrimination against the African American. Of course racism has already decreased since the 70’s and 80’s but it still lingers within the country if we admit it or not. The sole purpose of voting for a certain senator is not to chose whether he or she is in a specific group (such as race, class or gender) but rather look through such things into their values as a person and goals for the country. This election will be one of the most important elections as there is lots of potential for history to be made and of course, a major impact in the country’s direction.

The results of Barack Obama’s campaign for presidency is not as predictable since the vote is going to be determined by generations of people who have new mindsets. As opposed to decades ago, if a similar election would be held (with a female and black senator running) the results would be quite obvious because of the discrimination between the two. However, the United States are in a new state, but of course those with the discriminating generation are still alive and voting.

As each candidate tour the country hoping to convince voters to vote for them through their campaign, Obama New York as a win would greatly benefit is campaign along with California Obama majority. Tune into the 2008 election as history will surely be made.

Barack Obama is junior senator from Illinois and also the member of Democratic Party in United States of America. He was born on 4th of August, 1961. According to the Historical office of United States, he is the fifth African American Senator in United States of America’s history and only African presently serving in American Senate. He was born to an American mother and a Kenyan father. Barack Obama grows up in culturally varied environment.

He spent his childhood time mostly in the Hawaii of United States of America. He also passed his four pre-teen years in the Jakarta – the capital city of Indonesia which is considered to be a multi ethnic city. He completed his graduation from Harvard Law School and Columbia University. Barack Obama California serviced as an organizer of community, lecturer in university and also a lawyer of civil rights and after that he started his public office. He provided his service to Illinois Senate starting from 1997 till 2004 initiating his movement to the senate of United States in the year of 2003.

He is one of the leading candidates of Democratic Party’s who is in the race of United States president in the 2008 election. After proclaiming his application for this election in February 2007, he has highlighted ending of the war in Iraq and to implement worldwide health care as movement subjects. He got married in the year of 1992. He has got two daughters. Barack Obama New York has written two books which were among the bestselling books. The name of these books are “The Audacity of Hope” and “Dreams from My Father”.

His first book “The Audacity of Hope” was published in oct. month in 2006 just three weeks before the midterm election in 2006. This book was bestselling book and listed in the New York Times list of best selling books on the top in early November of 2006.

Barack Obama was chosen for the Illinois State Senate in the year of 1996 from the USA’s 13th District of the south-side in Hyde Park – a neighborhood part of Chicago. In the year of 2000, Obama prepared a failed Democratic main run for the United State’s House of Representatives seat detained by four times current applicant Bobby Rush.

Obama was once again chosen for the Illinois Senate in the year of 1998 and also in 2002 and he formally resigned in the month of November, 2004 followed by his election to the United States Senate. As a legislator of state, he served with Republicans as well as Democrats in breezing a successful legislation on health care reform and ethics.

He is very helpful senator of America and most of the Democratic Illinois presidential and Senator are hopeful for Barack Obama today identified for a reduction in carbon production in United States of America, basically in case of California’s Fuel Standard of Low Carbon, about which an order was issued by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to start it in January, nationwide. There are many organizations that are making popular to Barack Obama among students and youngsters. They are informing people about the message of Obama of vision and hope for future presidential election in USA.