- May, 11, 2011- First tremor of 4.4 on the Ritcher scale hit around 17:05.
- Location: between 5 and 10 km from Lorca´s center. Earthquake felt in the Murcia province, but also in some cities of Almeria and Albacete provinces.
- Six tremors between 1.4 and 2.3 on the Richter scale follow.
- At 18:47, the largest tremor (5.1 on Richter) hits Lorca, followed by 18 successive tremors between 0.7 and 4 on Richter scale, until 22:45.
- Various buildings collapsed.
- 8 deaths reported so far – 3 people in critical state – 119 people injured.
- At least 10,000 people spent the night outdoors fearing additional tremors. Luckily, the weather was pleasant.
- This was the most mortal earthquake in Spain in the last 50 years.

Today Marbella Family Fun is ranked by Alexa.com (a neutral site ranking popularity across the globe) as the 7,580th most popular website in Spain, and the 270,782th in the world (in the last month), out of many million websites. This is quite an achievement in a short time, and with no money spent! It shows how great our traffic has become and how fast it is growing. A big Thank You to our readers!

And that is only our English version. Our Spanish version, Marbella en Familia, is not far behind. We hope to have two sites in the top Alexa 100,000 very soon. This would be amazing for not knowing anything about the net and spending just one hour or two a day on the project!

This family initiative has also led to an unexpected outcome. I decided to share the experience with the people who could really benefit the most from this business model: individuals earning less than 1,500 euros a month. I calculated they are more than 700 million in the OECD countries (top 33 economies)! They are people struggling to make a living, unemployed, students, retirees… I believe most of them could achieve financial independence with a content site. It would only take some effort and discipline. This is not a miracle solution, but it does work over time. Do you know any better way to achieve financial independence?

I wrote a book called Here´s an ide@ explaining all this. It is being printed right now and will be available very shortly. You can find more information about it and this business model on a blog at Here´s an idea. Let me know what you think?

So common sense finally prevailed today; but watch for more setbacks on this topic before the summer…

You need to watch this video to grasp the magnitude of the changes our children will face in their business (and social) life. Apparently it was shown to Sony management at their executive conference this year.

Two ways to look at this:
- you can worry, ignore or resist an inevitable world transformation
- or you can prepare your children for a new reality, see it as huge opportunities and embrace the change.

Not unlike the choices faced by many at the onset of the industrial revolution…

Except for Isabel Pantoja, the famous diva and mistress of the Mayor, all the actors of this scandal were represented in this TV show. Central to the plot was Juan Antonio Roca, the infamous official for City Planning, who is considered the mastermind of the corruption and is currently facing trial for this case.

This is a great show for foreigners (speaking Spanish) who are interested in understanding the underground of Marbella politics and discovering the main players in this scandal.

As shown on the map in this press release (mostly talking about the extreme cases like Russia), all countries in Western Europe or North America represent a low risk, except Spain and Italy!

These are exceptional events. Everywhere else the weather is normal, winter-cold in the Northern hemisphere with its usual snow storms, like in Boston where the Mayor just lifted a city snow emergency Thursday, one day after blizzard conditions pounded the city and created hazardous travel conditions across New England….

During that time, it is sunny and 18C in Marbella. The weather forecast predicts the same pattern for the next 10 days…

We feel so privileged to enjoy such a weather while the skies are castigating so many people. Naturally, we also complain about the climate: some find it too hot in summer, others are still reminiscing about last winter when it rained almost constantly for three months, my children vent against a two-degree drop in temperature when we go cycling to school…

The world is the same everywhere: people focus on their own problems and have a hard time empathizing with events occurring far away. And yes, the weather remains Marbella´s principal asset.

The full list of the ranking can be viewed here. The freest economies are Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Interestingly the USA rank 9th, UK – 16th, Germany – 23rd, Spain – 31st, France – 64th, Russia – 143rd.

Here is the summary for Spain:
Spain’s economic freedom score is 70.2, making its economy the 31st freest in the 2011 Index. Its score is 0.6 point higher than last year, reflecting improvements in half of the 10 economic freedoms that offset a decline in freedom from corruption. Spain is ranked 17th out of 43 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score is well above the world average.

Challenges include fiscal freedom, government spending, and labor freedom. Total government spending is over 40 percent of GDP. Wage growth has outpaced that in other European countries, and home ownership has been heavily subsidized. Recent large fiscal deficits and rising public debt necessitate sound public financial management and a return to a sustainable level of public spending.

The new regulation is very strict and has generated some uproar, particularly among bar and restaurant owners. One of Marbella´s own could not avoid becoming the standard-bearer of this rebellion. The owner of El Asador of Guadalmina posted a sign saying that he won´t respect the law and that customers are welcome to smoke in his establishment. He risks a fine between 6,000 and 600,000 euros. He also made the news in many newspapers and even appeared on national TV.

Naturally, reactions have come from all sides:
- Some people have interpreted his actions as a great marketing ploy, reminiscent of the cocky behavior of the Gil era (in reference to the former mayor who treated Marbella´s assets as his own and disregarded many national laws).
- Some have empathized with the facts that 80% of his customers smoke and that he is rightly defending his livelihood.

Although a non-smoker, I am very sceptic to any new regulation restricting personal freedom. However, this law was passed by a divided parliament based on damning health care statistics that even a strong pro-tobacco lobby could not refute. So I tend to think it is a good thing.

Some may reply that similar restrictions could be applied to serving alcohol or fatty/sugary dishes that also generate a health burden on society. So where do we draw the line? Second-hand smoking is the answer. Contrary to alcohol consumption or a poor diet that only affect the health of the consuming individual, smoking affects the health of people not necessarily sharing the experience. When your activity puts in danger the life of others, it should be curtailed (the no-drinking and driving law follows the same principle). The problem with the previous regulation (with separate smoking and non-smoking areas) is that the separation was never good enough as smoke tend to wander around. It also forced the staff of the establishments to serve in smoking areas and suffer the consequences of second-hand smoking.

As for the owner of el Asador Guadalmina, his business will survive. It would only fold if all people completely stopped going to restaurants, a very unlikely event. If restaurants continue to exist, his customers will probably remain loyal to his place as they will not find another venue where smoking is allowed. His stance is an acceptable ploy to try curbing the law, but he should be ready to face the consequences of his acts in the probable event that his actions do not result in a modified legislation.

- I just reviewed a text on the industrial revolution as part of my son´s homework. One of the pre-conditions to the revolution was the perception by the British people at the time that success could come from their efforts. Have too many people lost this perception in Europe, just when we are in the midst of a new technological revolution?

- I like the idea of measuring a country well-being by a coefficient of happiness instead of GDP per capita. See the results of a worldwide happiness study. If you rank countries according to people´s daily experience, the happiest are Panama, Paraguay, Iceland, Indonesia….

- French are word champions of pessimism (see worldwide poll). 61% think that 2011 will be a difficult financial year vs 28% on average in the rest of the world (22% in Germany, 41% in Italy, 48% in Spain et 52% in the UK). 37% of French people think their personal situation will worsen. It places France in the top 5 most pessimistic countries in front of Irak and Afghanistan.

- The reliance of French people on the State structures may explain this pessimism. Too many people may have given up a large control of their life to a model that shows its limitations.

- “The best way to predict your future is to create it” – Peter Drucker

- Why can´t I find a translation of Atlas Shrugged in French?

- I have never believed much in conspiracy theories, but why do I get the increasing feeling that our governments have too much to hide from us?

- Is wikileaks bringing to light the fact that much of the free press is superficial and self-censored?

- Despite inevitable shortcomings, are the USA still the best example of freedom of expression in the world?

- Is the major failure of our educational system that it prepares children to fit in a society of the past, and does not help them create their own future?

- Why is our educational system almost exclusively oriented towards working for a corporation, as opposed to working for oneself? Too little place is given to teach entrepreneurial spirit in schools and universities.

- Have political correctness and zero-risk tolerance gone too far?

- When I was in Ukraine in the early 90´s, I witnessed how the Soviet people experienced a revolution in personal values. This was profound and touched the core of a person´s beliefs. Sometimes I have the feeling that we are experiencing something similar in the West (although of minor proportions). So many established truths are being challenged. Either that, or I am getting older and my view of the world is changing….

Reading back this post, I concluded I definitely have too much time on my hands to think. Time to start a new venture.