Serbian Floods and the EU

[Black Stuart]

Alex,
not trying to start an argument but all I seek is neutrality as far as is humanly possible since this allows more of the original signal to be expressed.

You mention 50uF PIOs - gave up on all PIOs a long time ago because they are anything but neutral. One thing I really like about the k73-16s and for that matter the American ERSE caps is that they disprove the tired old adage that to be good a cap must be large.

I don't understand why you cannot source components from outside Serbia unless your Duaone are holding you to ransom.

BTW and much more important that audio talk - the terrible floods in Serbia and Bosnia. It must be a nightmare for those that have lost family members and their homes literally washed away.

It is clear that much of Serbia/Bosnia is flat countryside - there is only one real solution and that is to build dykes like the Dutch. It is not cheap but it is the only viable solution and you have the bonus of roads that are built on top of the dykes so life can carry on normally no matter what is happening with the rivers.

It's going to be a long time until life gets back to normal - you have our best wishes and I know that the EU will help financially and logistically as it should.

[Alex Kitic]

Originally Posted by Black Stuart

Alex,
You mention 50uF PIOs - gave up on all PIOs a long time ago because they are anything but neutral. One thing I really like about the k73-16s and for that matter the American ERSE caps is that they disprove the tired old adage that to be good a cap must be large.

The 50uF PIO caps I am mentioning for illustration purpose are 440 or 660V AC motor run caps. I really would not know how they fare in crossovers, but they are hard to replace in the power supply of tube amps, particularly with high voltages... I guess your favorite caps would explode at those voltages, so we cannot assess their worth in power supplies

Originally Posted by Black Stuart

I don't understand why you cannot source components from outside Serbia unless your Duaone are holding you to ransom.

Assuming you buy something for 10 EUR, and transportation and packaging costs get you another 40 EUR (which is not uncommon), you would have a total of 50 EUR in terms of customs declared value (! I guess not in EU countries ! but in Serbia this is exactly the case !).
Now besides the fact that transportation/carrier costs are 4x the price of cheap items (there are several examples for this) or even more, we incur 10% of customs fees on most of the items we are interested in here, and another 20% of applicable VAT to the total value (50 EUR plus 10% customs).
But the best is yet to come. If we get to this point, there will also be additional costs to "redeem" the BL (!) and agency costs (because most people are not able to fill in customs documents, and even if one is able, this would also incur a huge loss of time waiting at the customs offices). These costs are rather fixed and amount to some 60 EUR.
To recapitulate, 10 EUR of goods has become approximately 126 EUR. Now, compare that to buying WIMA (or, whichever available) caps in a shop and I guess the difference in price becomes obvious...

Originally Posted by Black Stuart

BTW and much more important that audio talk - the terrible floods in Serbia and Bosnia. ...

It is clear that much of Serbia/Bosnia is flat countryside - there is only one real solution and that is to build dykes like the Dutch. It is not cheap but it is the only viable solution and you have the bonus of roads that are built on top of the dykes so life can carry on normally no matter what is happening with the rivers.

It's going to be a long time until life gets back to normal - you have our best wishes and I know that the EU will help financially and logistically as it should.

Thank you for mentioning the catastrophic weather conditions that hit the region, and the people who suffer.

Serbia and Bosnia are everything BUT flat countryside! In particular, the regions that were hit most hardly by the floods are hill-mountainous! The problem were huge quantities of rain (200 liters per square meter) that flooded small rivers and streams, part of which are so small as to disappear during the summer.
Besides that, floods in other parts of the Danube region, and a very rainy spring, have filled the major rivers to the point that they were not able to receive all the water from the smaller tributaries - fast enough to avoid spills and floods.

Thus we have to leave the dykes to the Dutch, and spend some money towards the procurement of contemporary (easily installable when needed) solutions to prevent spills (like they use nowadays in the Check Republic and Germany), as well as some additional work on the banks of some of the mentioned smaller tributaries.

As for EU help, I hope we can use it to improve on the conditions of those areas, and that our authorities are agile and skilled enough to fulfill the requirements in order to get access to EU solidarity funds.

[Black Stuart]

Alex,
all the flooded areas shown on TV show show large expanses of flat land, what we call flood plains.

Serbians and Bosnians are no different to anyone else why build on flood plains or in the mountainous areas why not restrict all building anywhere near a river. If you must build in these flatlands then it is only common sense to build - off the ground or surround properties with re-inforced concrete flood walls. This is insurance and like all insurance a waste of money - until you need it.

In the UK I simply cannot understand anyone buying property built at ground level near a river - totally divorced from reality.

A good explanation about costs Alex - quite simply you are being screwed, time to take action methinks because those who are benefiting from these rip-off charges will never give up these easy profits.

[Alex Kitic]

Originally Posted by Black Stuart

Alex,
all the flooded areas shown on TV show show large expanses of flat land, what we call flood plains.

...areas why not restrict all building anywhere near a river...
This is insurance and like all insurance a waste of money - until you need it.

A good explanation about costs Alex - quite simply you are being screwed, time to take action methinks because those who are benefiting from these rip-off charges will never give up these easy profits.

Geography of the region: while some of the flooding has happened in the plains, most of it is far rrom plain. Do not trust your TV and do some research if you are interested...

Building near rivers: well, it has not been built yesterday, most of those settlements are decades old to say the very least (even centuries). 200 liters of rain per square meter is a once in a lifetime experience in this region, if I am correct the last record rain for Belgrade was in 1903 or something like that, and much less rain had fallen, maybe 30 or 40 liters per square meter less...

Money and insurance: to invest in insurance you must have the funds. If you are making ends meet like most people here, you are less inclined towards building walls that might be useful once in a lifetime.

Profits and rip-offs: do you suggest a revolution, perhaps?
This is just a manifestation of the socialist protectionist system in action. Most are not aware it exists, and some are taking advantage, perhaps. It is more damaging to the economy than it brings benefits to those eventually protected, and it will eventually be removed once we are to enter the EU. Until than my life will eventually fade away, but there is little I can do about it...

We have a saying: "the well fed cannot understand the hungry" (paraphrased). You are a good example for that - not qestioning your good intentions, you obviously know very litte about this region. And you are not even aware how lucky you are.

[Shane]

Let's just hope there's still an EU for you to join, Alex. The way things are going here, that's looking increasingly doubtful!

[Alex Kitic]

Originally Posted by Shane

Let's just hope there's still an EU for you to join, Alex. The way things are going here, that's looking increasingly doubtful!

Being an economist, probably the only relevant thing I do not know about it is how does it feel being there 24/7/365... The UK has never been really supportive of the EU, due to the (percieved) disparity of outputs towards it and the inputs from it, and never entered the EURO zone, although easily exceeding the convergence criteria.

For the good of all of you, I hope there will be some EU, hopefully stronger and more empowered in the fiscal domain. What is lacking is "fiscal solidarity" as the US implicitly have.

It's probably going to be too late for me to enjoy any real benefits, but I have children, and am teaching them to get the hell out of here and never look back, even if it means leaving me for dead.

[Greg.]

Oh dear, Alex, I'm following you here and on audiotalk. You are telling your children to move out......understanding you have a desire to do the same, why can't you do it?

A man of your comprehension and quality use of the English Language must be a bonus to the Uk, the quality of which is exactly what our government spouts about all the time. Despite all the anti EU politics at the moment, you are the kind of person I would love to settle here. If the house next to me goes on sale, you'll be the first to know