Saturday, August 05, 2006

[world trade] the fundamental interconnectedness of all things

I should have called this blog the fundamental interconnectedness of all things because it keeps cropping up in the most interesting ways.

It doesn’t take a great deal of research, you know. It really doesn’t. You just follow your next lead, see something interesting, follow that, then combine or filter it all through your own knowledge and experience. The essential problem is that you always end up with the same three questions:

1 Can I go any further down this track;
2 Can I publish anything about it, even if I do;
3 So what?

It began with a look at speculative capital and the fall of Enron. By a convoluted route, this led to the July 25th Fitch upgrade of Russia:

Russia’s sovereign rating was raised from BBB to BBB+, the highest investment evaluation assigned to the country. Standard&Poor`s and Moody`s are expected to follow. Standard & Poor`s and Moody`s currently rate Russia BBB and Baa2 respectively, which corresponds to the second stage of investment level.

These positive factors are listed for Russia:

· continuously high prices for crude [I touched on this in an earlier article]
· possible settlement of Paris Club debt [no comment]
· sizeable gold/foreign exchange reserves
· stabilization fund

Constraining factors include legal regulation problems in the country. Er, yes, we all know about those. So, cutting to Fitch itself, part of its explanation says:

“Enduringly high commodity prices are strengthening Russia’s macroeconomic and financial position at a remarkable pace, further reducing the likelihood of any future risk to sovereign debt service.”

Fitch said the rating actions reflected its view of the Russian authorities’ improved capacity to support the banks listed below if required:

· Russian Agricultural Bank, upgraded to IDR BBB+ from BBB with a stable outlook.
· Sberbank savings bank, upgraded to IDR BBB+ from BBB with a stable outlook.
· Vnesheconombank (VEB), upgraded to IDR BBB+ from BBB with a stable outlook.
· and so on.

Basically, I was looking around for details of one particular bank. So this took me to the Fitch site and it was therefore just a hop, step and a jump to Fimalac SA.

This immediately brought to view one interesting name - Véronique Morali, whose claims to fame include:

· Former Tesco director
· President, Force Femmes
· Co-opted to Fimalac by Marc Ladreit de la Charriere

That gentleman’s name itself is found on the board of l’Oreal, of which a great deal has been said by others who have been largely discredited, of course. This, in turn, then takes us to a meeting way back in 1991, when the following august people were present:

Queen Beatrix, Prince Bernhard, Lord Black of Crossharbour, Nicholas Brady, Gordon Brown, Lord Peter Carrington, Bill Clinton, Marc Ladreit de la Charriere, Arthur Dunkel, Lawrence Freedman, Fritz Gerber, Katie Graham, Hank Greenberg, Henry Kissinger, Veronique Morali, David Oddson, David Rockefeller Sr, Queen Sophia, Michael Wilson, Grant Winthrop, J D Wolfensen

That’s the point where I stopped but isn’t it great that Russia has so assiduously attempted to pay off its outstanding external debt?

[britain] it all happened on the 11:20 from hainault to redhill via horsham and reigate, malmesbury, tootingbec and croydon west


I know, I know it's not one of our trains but it's the only photo I had; and of course, with one click you can get the text below yourself, without my help but still, here it is - one of my favourite pieces:

(SIR HORACE lies dead on the floor. JOHN (Eric Idle) and LADY come into the room, which is decorated nicely. They are both dressed in nice older style clothing, as are the later characters)

WOMAN: Anyway John you can catch the 11:30 by Hornchurch and be at Beasing at one o'clock. Oh, and there's the buffet car and…oh! Daddy! (Sees SIR HORACE on the floor)

JOHN: My hat! Sir Horace.

WOMAN: Has he been…?

JOHN: Yes, after breakfast but that doesn't matter now he's dead.

WOMAN: Oh poor daddy.

JOHN: Looks like I won't be catching the 11:30 now.

WOMAN: On no John you mustn't miss your train

JOHN: How could I think of catching a train when I should be here helping you?

WOMAN: Oh, John, thank you. Anyway you can always catch the 9:30 tomorrow. It goes by Catterham and Chipsted.

JOHN: Or the 9:45 that's better.

WOMAN: Oh, but you have to change at Lamb's Green.

JOHN: Yes, but there's only a seven minute wait now.

LADY: Yes of course I forgotten it's Friday. Oh who could have done this?

LADY PARTRIDGE (Graham Chapman): Come and hurry up Sir Horace! Your train leaves in 28 minutes and if you don't catch the 10:15, you won't catch the 3:45 and that means…oh! (Eyeing SIR HORACE)

JOHN: I'm afraid Sir Horace won't be catching the 10:15, Lady Partridge.

PARTRIDGE: Has he been…?

WOMAN: Yes, after breakfast.

JOHN: Lady Partridge, I'm afraid you can cancel his seat reservation.

PARTRIDGE: Oh and it was back to the engine, fourth coach along so that he could see the gradient signs of Swansbourgh.

JOHN: Not anymore Lady Partridge. The line's been closed.

PARTRIDGE: Closed?! Not Swansbourgh.

JOHN: Yes, I'm afraid so.

INSPECTOR (Terry Jones): Right, nobody move. I'm Inspector Davis of Scotland Yard.

JOHN: My word you were here quickly inspector!

INSPECTOR: I took the 8:45 Pullman Express from Kings Cross. And missed that bit around Hornchurch.

PARTRIDGE: It's a very good train

WOMAN: Yes, a very good train.

TONY (Michael Palin): (bounding through the French doors of the background) Hello, everyone!!

ALL: Tony!

TONY: Where's Daddy? …oh golly! (Seeing SIR HORACE) Has he been…?

ALL: (matter of fact-ly) Yes, after breakfast.

TONY: (innocently) Then he… he won't be needing his reservation for the 10:15.

JOHN: (Accusingly) Exactly!

TONY: And I suppose as his eldest son it must go to me.

INSPECTOR: Just one minute there Tony. There's a small matter of…murder!

TONY: Oh, but surely he simply shot himself then hid the gun.

PARTRIDGE: How can anyone shoot himself then hid the gun without first canceling his reservation?

TONY: Well, I must dash or I will be late for the 10:15.

INSPECTOR: I suggest that you murdered your father for his seat reservation.

TONY: I may have had the motivation Inspector, but I could not have done it for I had only arrived at Gillingham at 8:13 and here is the restaurant car ticket to prove it.

WOMAN: But the 8:13 from Gillingham doesn't have a restaurant car.

JOHN: It's standing buffet only.

TONY: Did I say the 8:13? I meant the 7:58 stopping train.

PARTRIDGE: But the 7:58 only arrived at Swindon at 8:19 owing to annual point maintenance at Wisbourgh Junction.

JOHN: So how did he make the connection 8:13 which left six minutes earlier?

TONY: Simple, I caught the 7:16 football special which arrived at Swindon at 8:09.

WOMAN: But the 7:16 football special only stops at Swindon on alternate Saturdays!

PARTRIDGE: You surely mean the holidaymaker special.

TONY: Oh yes! How daft of me! I took the holidaymaker special calling at Bedford, Colmworth, Fenton Sutton, Fen Ditton, Wallingworth, and Gillingham.

INSPECTOR: That's Sundays only!

TONY: Damn! All right I confess I did it. I killed him for his reservation. But you won't get me alive! (TONY tears for the door) I am going to throw myself onto the 10:12 from Reading.

JOHN: Don't be a fool, Tony. Don't do it. The 10:12 has the narrow traction bogies you wouldn't stand a chance!
TONY: Exactly!

(dramatic tone)

(curtain falls as characters freeze, TONY at the door, JOHN holding LADY, LADY PARTRIDGE staring in shock at TONY, SIR HORACE dead on the floor, and INSPECTOR at the French doors stage back)

VOICE-OVER: That was an excerpt from the latest west end hit, "It all happened on the 11:20 from Hainault to Redhill via Horsham and Reigate, Malmesbury, Tootingbec and Croyton West."

The author is Mr. Neville Shunt.

[health and spirit] sleep or die, folks

CEOs, ordinary mortals, doesn’t matter who - - your existence is built around four pillars:

1. Diet
2. Exercise
3. Sleep
4. Spiritual calm and being positively valued by others.


My take is that if you religiously practise the first four, the fifth will often suggest itself to you anyway. I’m not a guru – it stands to reason. I have a day job, which is varied. Basically I give consultations, a pompous way of saying that I natter on about things and get paid for it.

This blogging though – it’s taking it out of me. I need sleep and that’s what this is all about today:

Sleep ...

One of the tricks is to schedule rest and sleep. There are enough stats on the web not to clog up the blog with these but in a nutshell, what it comes down to is that a scheduled 20 minute nap in the middle of the day is the best, followed by adequate sleep at night at home. Sleeps during the day are right out!

How to schedule it? That’s easy – you have a meeting with Mrs Jones at that time, can’t be disturbed under any circumstances [mobile off] and the office door is locked. Poontang with the secretary is one thing but a 20 minute snooze, not a deep sleep, is the best.

But it’s not enough to schedule sleep and this takes enough aggressive planning in itself. It’s being able to wind down that’s difficult. Right now I leapt out of bed, via a short prayer, to the computer keyboard, repaired my Microsoft Word which broke down, reinstalled Windows which broke down and changed the valve on the faucet which broke down then sat down to write and wash the clothes and fix breakfast.

Hyped up – that’s the problem. OK, so it comes down to temperament, you say. Some of us are more sanguine than others. Yes, what you say is very true and the Sherlock Holmes thing about his mind being a train ,running wildly out of control and running off the tracks if it’s not connected up with the work for which it was designed, holds water - but stop!

Holmes had his breakdowns as well and I’m sure as hell not going to hit the opium. Sleep. At night. Diet and the others we’ll touch on next time.

Don’t ask me to attribute this next quote, as it’s lost in the mists of time but I've kept these words on stress:

Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings.

As a positive influence, stress can help compel us to action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

Whoa! You thought we were talking about sleep? We were. I also quoted Douglas Adams in a recent post about the ‘fundamental interconnectedness of all things’ a repackaging of an old truism.

So let’s become more scholarly and quote:

A report released by VicHealth yesterday shows that workplace stress is directly linked to up to a third of cases of cardiovascular disease in men and a third ___ depression cases in women.
But it is not only individuals who are paying the price. Businesses are hit by increased absenteeism and employee turnover, the report says.

"Workplace stress costs the entire community dearly in terms of human suffering and lost productivity," VicHealth chief Rob Moodie said.

The report reviewed 90 international studies, assessed exposure to stress in more than 1000 workers, and interviewed public and private employers, employer groups and trade unions.
Professor LaMontagne said exposure to stress at least doubled the risks of leading chronic diseases, including depression, cardiovascular disease and anxiety, and was therefore a significant contributor to the overall burden of disease in society.

[Melbourne Age, By Chantal Rumble, May 26th, 2006]

Suggested solution?

Flexible work schedules, improved communications, family-friendly practices and adequate compensation were key features ___ a less-stressful work environment, he said.
"The first thing all companies can do is communicate ___ their employees and work together in redesigning jobs to reduce workload and give them greater say or control ___ how their work gets done."

And one of the most quoted aspects of stress – was it sleep? Was it heck – most people don’t even consider it a risk. Oh, I only need three hours and a cup of coffee. Rubbish. Bet if I followed you round and did a time ad motion on you, I’d find plenty of examples of how your body was fighting back.

Also, in my neck of the woods over here, stressing out is seen as a badge of honour – a sign of a man who’s making money hand over fist. Retire to Sanitori for two weeks and Bob’s your uncle. Except that he’s not and the overall effect is cumulative and then we finally arrive at that pseudo-scientific syndrome – being burnt out.

Robert Roberts, MD, director of cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston says:

During sleep, blood pressure and heart rate have a chance to rest, and adrenaline quiets down. "That's good not only for the cardiovascular system but also for tissue repair. However, let's remember that the major risk factors for heart disease include high cholesterol and smoking," he says. "And certainly the biggest one today is obesity, which induces diabetes and increased blood pressure. The fact that sleep reduces blood pressure is reason enough to get more sleep."

[Jeanie Davis, Sleep, Less and More, Linked to Heart Disease, reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD on Monday, January 27, 2003, WebMD Medical News: Too Much or Too Little Sleep Can Raise Blood Pressure, Stress Hormones]

And don’t forget sleep apnea:

With each apnea, the brain receives a signal to arouse the person from sleep in order to resume breathing, but consequently sleep is extremely fragmented and of poor quality.

People with untreated sleep apnea are generally not even aware of the awakenings but only of being extremely sleepy during the day. They may, however, realize that they snore or gasp for air during sleep. Loud snoring, punctuated with periods of silence (the apneas), is typical but is not always present, especially in children.

Consequences of untreated sleep apnea include high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease, and weight gain. People with untreated sleep apnea may also complain of falling asleep inappropriately, morning headaches, memory problems, feelings of depression, reflux, nocturia (a need to use the bathroom frequently at night), and impotence.

Sleep apnea is treatable but it’s my guess that if you have it, you’re so stressed out already that you’ll not stop long enough to go out and fix it. Check these boxes:

Are you a loud, habitual snorer?
 Yes  No

Do you feel tired and groggy on awakening?
 Yes  No

Are you often sleepy during waking hours and/or can you fall asleep quickly?
 Yes  No

Are you overweight and/or do you have a large neck?
 Yes  No

Have you been observed to choke, gasp, or hold your breath during sleep?
 Yes  No

[The American Sleep Apnea Association, 1424 K Street NW, Suite 302, Washington, DC 20005, phone: 202/293-3650, Fax: 202/293-3656, www.sleepapnea.org]

Another one:

"We found that ... six ... hours of sleep is not optimal [when compared with eight]," Alexandros N. Vgontzas, MD, tells WebMD. "Two hours of sleep deprivation per night for one week is associated with increased sleepiness, decreased performance, and activation of the inflammatory system." Vgontzas, a professor of psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, is the author of a study on the effects of sleep deprivation.

In other words - fatigue.

Fatigue is a feeling of tiredness, exhaustion, or lack of energy. You may feel mildly fatigued because of overwork, poor sleep, worry, boredom, or lack of exercise.

Any illness, such as a cold or the flu, may cause fatigue, which usually goes away as the illness clears up. Most of the time, mild fatigue occurs with a health problem that will improve with home treatment and does not require a visit to a health professional.

A stressful emotional situation may also cause fatigue. This type of fatigue usually clears up when the stress is relieved.

Many prescription and nonprescription medications can cause weakness or fatigue. The use or abuse of alcohol, caffeine, or illegal drugs can cause fatigue.

A visit to a health professional usually is needed when fatigue occurs along with more serious symptoms, such as increased breathing difficulties, signs of a serious illness, abnormal bleeding, or unexplained weight loss or gain.

Fatigue that lasts longer than 2 weeks usually requires a visit to a health professional. This type of fatigue may be caused by a more serious health problem, such as:

A decrease in the amount of oxygen-carrying substance (hemoglobin) found in red blood cells (anemia).

Problems with the heart, such as coronary artery disease or heart failure, that limit the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle or the rest of the body.

Metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, in which sugar (glucose) remains in the blood rather than entering the body’s cells to be used for energy.

Problems with the thyroid gland, which regulates the way the body uses energy.

A low thyroid level (hypothyroidism) can cause fatigue, weakness, lethargy, weight gain, depression, memory problems, constipation, dry skin, intolerance to cold, coarse and thinning hair, brittle nails, or a yellowish tint to the skin.

A high thyroid level (hyperthyroidism) can cause fatigue, weight loss, increased heart rate, intolerance to heat, sweating, irritability, anxiety, muscle weakness, and thyroid enlargement.

Kidney disease and liver disease, which cause fatigue when the concentration of certain chemicals in the blood builds up to toxic levels.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is an uncommon cause of severe, persistent fatigue.

If fatigue occurs without an obvious cause, it is important to evaluate your mental health. Fatigue is a common symptom of mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression. Fatigue and depression may become so severe that you may consider suicide as a way to end your pain. If you think your fatigue may be caused by a mental health problem, see your health professional.

[Healthwise, Incorporated, P.O. Box 1989, Boise, ID 83701, 2003]

Back to the question of winding down, which is all in the mind and to do with your pre-set character pattern. I find whisky and one’s woman helps immensely but be careful with the latter remedy – a woman can cause the opposite, stressing out, as well. And that’s another story too – mutual stress reduction of two willing partners. Sigh. What an idyll.

So how to wind down? It takes great willpower. You MUST schedule time in your ‘graphic’ for the week. It’s as simple as that. Then, when you get there, it all depends ifyou have a good secretary or not. If you do, then you can trust her not to allow ANYBODY through that door or onto that phone. If you know your 20 minutes is yours – all yours – then that’s a huge boost to be going on with. The next part you can do yourself.

The next article on sleep will deal with Professor Chris Idzikowski’s ‘sleep positions’ – a fascinating study in itself.

And people – I’m deadly serious – schedule some sleep and wind down.


For those who are interested, my archived postings on the rich and the dead [1&2] also addresses this matter. Johnathan Pearce, over at Samizdata knows exactly what I’m saying here.

Friday, August 04, 2006

[world trade] antigua versus ... the u.s. of a.

My interest being in global trade, this little snippet initially tickled the fancy but as I read on, it became something just a little more.

OK, according to Paul Blustein, at the Washington Post, this is what happened:

U.S. prosecutors put Cohen behind bars in 2002 for running an Internet gambling site in the Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda. Not long before the prison gates clanged shut, he had learned that the federal crackdown on online betting might violate global trade rules.

So Cohen [interesting name] got Antigua and Barbuda to instigate a complaint at the WTO. "It kind of helped keep my spirits up," he said.

Fast forward: Antigua and Barbuda, population 69,000, is winning. The US may have to capitulate to a country whose entire population could easily fit into the Rose Bowl.

Never has such a tiny nation brought a WTO complaint against the United States, which is one reason the dispute has implications well beyond the issue of gambling.

And that’s more than interesting, isn’t it?

In global trade, developing countries say their destitute farmers get the short end of the stick because of the subsidies and protections that rich governments give their farmers. Just last week, negotiations to redress such grievances collapsed.

The WTO, the body that referees global commerce from its offices in Geneva, claims to play equalizer: A win for Antigua would improve the WTO's image of requiring all nations, Davids and Goliaths alike, to follow the rules.

At the same time, sentiment against online gambling remains strong in the House, which recently voted to bolster a U.S. ban.

Gambling was legal in Antigua, so Cohen and his buddies figured they would have no problem operating a business that took sports bets from people in the United States. Between golf rounds and fishing trips, they built World Sports Exchange Ltd., one of several dozen Internet betting parlors then springing up in Antigua and elsewhere.

Back in the States, though, many leaders grew alarmed, citing a risk that computer betting would lure teenagers and fuel gambling addiction. A crackdown ensued. "You can't go offshore and hide. You can't go online and hide," said Janet Reno, the attorney general at the time.

In 1998, federal prosecutors charged several operators, including Cohen, with violating a 1960s-era law forbidding the use of phone wires for gambling. Convinced that the law didn't apply in Antigua, Cohen returned voluntarily to U.S. soil.

A jury convicted him, the judge gave him 21 months, and the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.

Out of the blue, not long before Cohen entered prison in Nevada, a strange letter arrived, suggesting the U.S. government's position left it vulnerable to a trade complaint.

Several years earlier, Washington had pledged in a trade treaty to open the U.S. market in "recreational, cultural and sporting services" to global competition.

Cohen alerted the Antiguans. They hesitated to file a case, citing one of the biggest inequities in the WTO system: a dearth of funds and legal expertise that often shuts out small countries. Antigua's budget is $145 million a year, and a trade case promised to cost at least $1 million.

The gambling industry finally agreed to foot the bill. Antigua filed. "Did we not have a duty to our citizens to protect their jobs?" said Sir Ronald Sanders, who was then Antigua's ambassador to Britain and the WTO.

The United States had a seemingly strong defense -- the need to protect "public morals and public order." WTO member countries can ban goods and services that might harm their social fabric, a classic case being the prohibition of liquor imports in Muslim countries.

"Gambling in general, and remote supply of gambling in particular, raises grave law-enforcement and consumer-protection concerns," the U.S. trade representative's office said in a legal filing. Attorneys for the trade representative declined to make additional public comments.

There was, however, a hole in the U.S. position: Numerous U.S. sites, including Youbet.com and Xpressbet.com, let users wager on races from the New Jersey Meadowlands to the Louisiana Downs.

The principle essentially requires a government to treat foreign goods and services the same as domestic ones. To outlaw liquor imports, a Muslim country must ban domestic brewing, too.

Likewise, the Antiguans contended, the United States can bar citizens from using overseas gambling sites only if it bans domestic sites. Yet Congress has refused to enact a comprehensive ban -- in part because horse racing depends on phone and Internet wagers.

WTO judges bought the argument. Antigua won in 2004, and though an appeals panel scaled it back, Washington was still in a tough spot. The final ruling essentially said that the United States must outlaw all forms of online gambling, including on horse racing, or Antigua wins.

The U.S. government has refused to concede defeat.

The Bush administration first vowed to secure legislation "clarifying" that all forms of online betting are illegal. But the horse racing industry has blocked such efforts on Capitol Hill.

Next, the administration cited testimony by the Justice Department in April claiming that all Internet wagering across state lines, including that on horses, violates existing laws. That was news to the horse racing industry.

Scoffing, the Antiguans are asking the WTO to declare that Washington is defying its ruling. Many experts expect Antigua to win again, after months of delay.

Then comes the hard part for Antigua.

The WTO cannot force a country to do anything. Even if found guilty, a country can refuse to change its trade practices. The WTO largely enforces its rulings by giving the victorious country the right to impose punitive duties on the loser's products.

That enforcement mechanism works for big, rich countries such as the United States because other nations fear losing the vast U.S. market. But Antigua's economy is so tiny that few U.S. companies would notice.

"The WTO gives the little guys clout, but it cannot guarantee symmetry of justice," said Claude Barfield, a trade expert at the American Enterprise Institute.
So the Antiguans plan to ask the WTO for the right to impose sanctions that would hurt -- namely, permission to copy and export U.S.-made DVDs, CDs and similar material. Hollywood is not amused.

It's unclear whether the WTO will allow Antigua to exact such a pound of flesh. For now, the Antiguans are trying shame, accusing the United States of being a scofflaw. If Washington refuses to obey WTO rulings, the Antiguans say, other countries may follow suit, undermining global trade.

Now we’re getting down to it. In the wake of the collapsed Doha round, and with Europe looking for leverage on the US to break the impasse, what better way than to fund the Antiguans and allow US pirated audio and video material onto their market?

The WTO would then get its Doha off and running again, Europe could concede a little on Microsoft, the US would secure guarantees for its horse racing and everyone would be sweet, except for some minor egg on the face of a few federal prosecutors but with these stakes, who’d care?

Far fetched you say? Why? Seizing pretexts is not unknown in the rarified atmosphere of world trade. And what if the US went magnanimous on Antigua and backed off completely? Well that one really is in the realms of fantasy.

[middle-east] arab disquiet over hezbollah

Neil Macfarquhar, Damascus
August 5th, 2006

In the Melbourne Age not long ago, there was a very interesting article. What it actually said was par for the course – we all knew that anyway.

The fact that such an article ever saw the light of day illustrates something Hezbollah had no idea would happen – journalists would finally read between the lines and slowly push their editors to print the truth.

"They think they will be the leaders of all Muslims, and I don't want that," a 45-year-old high school maths teacher from Riyadh said. "Hezbollah is Iranian; everyone knows that."

Firstly, Hezbollah are alienating quite substantial sections of the Arab world – please read the Age article.

Secondly, their arrogant manipulation of the western media is slowly backfiring. Of course, Al Beeb will hold out till the end, as will the FCO, but there are ways around the impasse.

This is the power of both mainstream journalism, when it is permitted, and the power of blogging when your traffic is high, as Melanie Phillips’ and Stephen Pollards’ traffic is. Mine is not and yet it’s a little bit to add to the push.

[love and all that] the war between men and women



Her comment ..... His comment


Women tend to be more concerned about their marriages than men. They buy most of the books on marriage to try to improve and they respond to outside advice more. They often complain about their marriages to their closest friends and sometimes to anyone who will listen. They treat marriage as a profession.

‘Complain’ is the word here. Women are forever trying to create problems where they just don’t exist because someone or some magazine told them their marriage must be bad. If they would only stop analyzing awhile and just relate to their men, everything would be much happier.

Marriage is a vibrant and lively river, not a stagnant swamp, of which getting married is only the first part. The two people in the marriage need to grow with each other and within themselves, personally. It’s essentially an onward and upward process.

It’s not unlike buying a quality car. Infinite care, long homework and patience lead you to a certain choice. Having made your choice, knowing in your heart you will always love that choice, you now do everything in your power to get it, paying as much as you need and even more. Then you can relax, sit back and enjoy what you have – you don’t expect it to start acting up and causing you problems – it’s supposed to be quality, after all.

Women file for divorce twice as often as men.

That says everything about women – restless and dissatisfied by nature. They just will not let a marriage grow by itself – they have to force it and it dies. A man has no chance.

Women usually express no hope that their husbands will ever understand what it is that frustrates them, let alone change enough to solve the problem.

What problem? If you start looking for problems, you’ll find them. For a man, it’s far simpler - she’s beautiful, he loves her, he wants to be with her, end of story. What more do people want?

Marital problems are created by husbands who do little or nothing to solve them. Wives are the major force for resolving conflicts, and when they give up trying to solve the problem, the marriage is usually over.

A man’s primary instincts are to hunt and to protect. He goes out hunting for what the family needs and then he comes home and looks for peace and quiet and loving tenderness from her. His job is to maintain stability and to prevent threats to his family, even from within. When a woman starts acting unreasonably, he must ignore it, placate her, soothe her and let time do the rest.

It is the woman who runs the family and keeps it operating, buying the food, looking after the children, cleaning the house. The man makes some of the money and does some of the work but he usually thinks he does so much more than he really does. If he does one little thing for the family, he thinks he should get a medal. The woman does things for the family 24 hours a day, with no one praising her.

When a man marries a woman, he gives up all his rights and freedoms and his resources, financial, physical and mental to the woman he loves. He gives it all. If she eventually leaves him, she takes it all and he pays and pays for the rest of his life. It’s a huge responsibility. Men take their families very seriously. Her thanks is to give him no credit, to put him under enormous pressure to improve his financial position and to constantly try to change him. Most men are emotionally exhausted from the constant battle!

The simpler role of husbands in decades past has now been replaced by a much more complex role, especially in their relationship with their wives. Women are not trying to change their men, just improve them and change the direction they are going in; in the same way women are constantly trying to improve themselves. But men don’t seem to want to improve.

For thousands of years, women have always fallen back on this ancient lie, the word ‘improve’, to justify their impossible, unreasonable and permanently dissatisfied demands. Men have always operated differently. In life, as in lovemaking, a man puts in huge bursts of energy and huge bursts of spending, to be followed by periods of quiet consolidation and relaxation. For her to expect 110% effort 24/7 shows both an ignorance of male biology and unbelievable selfishness.

The most common reason women give for leaving their husbands is "mental cruelty" often meaning indifference, failure to communicate and neglect. This includes both emotional abandonment and physical abandonment. Husbands who spend long periods away from home fall into this category. Neglect is way ahead of all the other reasons, combined, that women leave men.

Have women ever stopped to think why they are neglected in the first place? They drive their man away from them with their bitter, mocking disdain and list of faults. Only a masochist would come back for more of this.

Women need a soul mate, someone they trust who is there for them when they have a problem, who takes their feelings into account when decisions are being made; someone to whom they feel emotionally connected. Is that too much to ask?

Most husbands are mystified by this complaint. A man has to be away from home to make the money, he must take exercise to keep physically fit for her. She enjoys the results of all this pain but has no understanding, nor interest, in how it was achieved; so she turns around and complains that he’s not with her 24/7. Is that crazy or what? He’s with her as often as he possibly can.

A man has many rooms in his daily life – one for his work, one for his mates, one for his sport, one for his children and one for his wife. He visits each in turn and is happy if they’re all balanced. Trouble is, he blocks her out of all his other rooms and it goes against her whole idea of ‘partnership’. She has given him her whole future by having his child, by letting him have sole rights to her and she wouldn’t even think of making any major decisions without her partner being involved. She wants to be integrated into his entire life, not relegated to one corner of it.

A man needs the space to take care of all aspects of his life, one by one. Each, in turn, requires his undivided attention. When he’s making a decision at work, he can’t be exchanging loving words with her on the phone. How seriously would he be taken in his workplace? When he’s at home in the privacy of their bedroom, he doesn’t expect to be interrupted by his mates. It just seems so basic – why the need to even explain it?

Without integration of both partners into one unit, there can be no emotional bonding, no uniting of the spirit, no feeling of intimacy and, in the end, no sex. Each partner's feelings must be taken into account whenever they make a decision. They must avoid thoughtless habits, learn to mutually enjoy a life which is equally theirs and mutually resolve their conflicts. All of this creates marital compatibility.

Once a woman occupies every room in a man’s life, which is her fervent wish, she’ll soon take over completely and rob him of his identity as a person. A woman needs to possess a man, [she calls it ‘devotion’], to turn him into a compliant slave. He then becomes a shadow of what he once was, a wraith.

A woman wants a strong, vibrant, yet calm man who takes an active interest in her and who’ll protect her in time of need. She needs a man she can look up to and respect for his firmness, sense of direction and good humour.

Every man who ever believed that found out the truth the hard way. It was even a woman, Helen Rowland, back in 1922, who said, ‘A husband is what is left of a man when the nerve has been extracted.’ And who extracted it? The truth is that women want compliant service robots who’ll do their will, calling it ‘mutual decision making’. A husband complies because he’s been trained, over many years, that if he disagrees, she’ll cause endless trouble and so he opts for peace and quiet. As for a sense of humour, that is usually the first casualty.

[life and times] dr. hawley harvey crippen [part 1of 2]


This is a magnetic tale of death and love, sin and virtue. There are two sides of the story – the physical, which is sordid, dreadful and revolting, and the spiritual, which is good and heroic.

Number 39 Hilldrop Crescent was near Camden Road, Holloway, North London. By 1910, the neighborhood had slightly gone down in the social scale but was still cobble-stoned, tree-lined and pert.

This smoky July morning, Inspector Dew alit from his carriage and, tipping the cabbie, ascended to jingle the doorbell. A brass plaque beside the bell read, "CRIPPEN". A small, delicate girl, of no more than 16 years of age, answered, "Oui, monsieur?" Dew hoped she understood English.

"Is your master at home?" the detective asked.

"Mashter?" she was quizzical.

Dew had no idea what the French word was for doctor, so he asked, "Yes, Monsieur Crippen. Is he inside? This she understood. From the top of the staircase he now heard approaching boot steps and Doctor Hawley Harvey Crippen entered.

He was a small man in his mid-forties with a fresh complexion, light brown hair, which he brushed carefully over a bald spot, and a straggly sandy mustache above a receding chin," explains Tom Cullen . "His gray eyes, which were magnified slightly by gold-rimmed spectacles, were undoubtedly his most remarkable feature.

"Hello." The little man – no more than 5'5" -- held out his whitish hand. The policeman shook it and found, while doing so, that it was not as weak as it looked. "Dr. Hawley Crippen?" Dew inquired. The other nodded, not sure whether to smile or frown.

"I need to grab just a little of your time to ask you a few questions."

"Oh?" Crippen answered. "Why don't we step into the front parlor, if that’s all right."

The inspector followed the doctor into a room of tasteful furniture and potted palms. There was a definite scent of a woman's fine perfume – but not the maid’s. Noticing trifles were all part of his work, having been a professional investigator for the past 23 years.

The detective liked the fact that Crippen didn't seem at all nervous. Yes, Dew thought to himself, nothing wrong here. "Dr. Crippen, first, allow me to express my condolences over the recent death of your wife, Belle. I understand she is sorely missed by your friends."

The other nodded in appreciation.

"But, because of her passing, there is, I'm sorry to say, a mystery. Dr. Crippen, a number of your wife's professional acquaintances have doubts about her sudden trip to America, which caused her sudden death abroad."

"The Ladies' Guild," Crippen nodded.

"They are...what?... actresses, as was your wife?"

"Music hall people, mostly. My wife, she was a singer, not very famous, mind you, but she enjoyed it. They raise money for charities, mostly."

"Remarkable," Dew whispered, "I can go back to Scotland Yard now and reassure them that nothing out of the ordinary has occurred."

"Inspector, are they saying I've killed my wife or something?"

Dew was surprised. "Actually, they claim that she had many commitments with them in February and thought it out of character for her to flee without a personal word. "Doctor, I must be direct: your living here with another lady. Miss Le Neve, I believe her name is..."

Crippen remained unshaken. "I know...I know it does look suspicious, Inspector... may we talk man to man?"

"Please!" Dew urged.

"Inspector—" he paused, breathed deeply, and went on, " I admit: I lied. My wife did not to go to America to visit a sick relative. She did not die. That was all a story."

Dew sat upright. "Then where is she?"

"Oh. she's in America all right, but... she left me for another man, Inspector." He looked glum. "We never got along, her and I, guess I couldn't please her...in many ways. She told me she was leaving for Chicago, but Lord knows if she really went there or not. Bruce Miller's his name."

"Then there have been marital problems for some time?"

"For years, Inspector."

Dew smiled softly.

"I...I panicked when she left that night in February, for I could see that scandal could ruin my professional standing. I was probably more ashamed of myself, really. No man likes to think he can't hold on to his wife."

"I see." Dew pondered,. "What about your friend, Miss Le Neve, who...shares your quarters here? Does she know Belle exists?"

"She...she believes like the rest of my friends that Belle has died."

The detective grimaced. "Dr. Crippen, do you think it's right …"

"Inspector, Ethel and I have become as man and wife. We love each other to the bone. She knows the history of Belle and I," the other answered, "Belle's unfaithfulness to me, our quarrels. "

"I'm sure Miss Le Neve is a fine lady."

"And a wonderful help in my business!" Crippen perked. "She's my secretary, you know. In fact," he glanced at his pocket watch, "she's at the office as we speak, catching up on some early work. I was about to go to her."

"Yes, well, first off, Doctor, we need to find Belle. A formality, you understand.

"I agree wholeheartedly!" Crippen replied. "Inspector...you think I'm a mouse, don't you?"

"A mouse? Oh, you mean in Shakespeare."

Dew was satisfied. He drew up a quick statement, which Crippen read and signed, and the detective felt it had been a good morning's work.

Crippen shut the door, and exhaled, deeply. His head throbbed. He remembered how he had cut out her heart and had thrown it in the canal after he had killed her and buried her beneath the house.

Belle had wanted glitter and tinsel, he’d wanted to be thought of as something more than just a little man.

Hawley Harvey Crippen was born near the Coldwater River in Michigan, U.S.A. As a child, he would tell his friends he was going to be a physician. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he earned an M.D. then relocated to New York City as an eye and ear specialist. While there, Crippen wooed and won Irish Charlotte Bell, a nurse but she died of apoplexy in January, 1892. He returned east and met Belle.

To a man like Crippen, raised with the idea that work, work, work is all that matters, Belle was a strange and alluring animal. 30-year-old Hawley Crippen fell for her high spirits and free sexuality. Belle, in turn, felt attracted to Crippen by his profession. Hawley Crippen, M.D. could buy her way up. Leaving home at 16 years old, she’d been taught by high-class teachers in exchange for sex. But, fate can be darkly comical. Almost immediately after their marriage, Crippen’s branch of medicine became unfashionable, money had run dry. Belle, stuck at home ironing, suffocated slowly out of her element.

For a while, Crippen practised dentistry. Then Professor Horace Munyon gave him the chance of a lifetime: to establish and manage the first of Munyon's overseas offices. He was going to London, England, guaranteed a salary of $10,000 a year – exorbitant for 1897. Belle covered her wrists and huge cleavage in gems and expensive baubles. She met a swaggering man-about-town named Bruce Miller.

Belle went on stage but failed to charm her nightly audiences – one evening they booed her – and the production closed within the week. Her voice matched her personality, and was loud, vulgar and lacking in feminine charm. Short and big, she sang lyrics such as, "I'm called little Buttercup, dear little Buttercup, though I could never tell why." Audiences laughed.

But Belle loved the nightlife and Bruce Miller proved to be everything that her Hawley was not; he was all muscle, with a beastly-grunt that a woman like Belle desired. Men. She loved men. It wasn't that Crippen was cold to her needs, but she continued to flirt – and sometimes wander home at sunrise, with poor excuses.

Things might have been different if he’d loved her. Or if she’d loved him. They either argued incessantly for days and nights or would sink into unemotional statements of Good Morning and Good Night. When they had sex, it was mechanical.

The one time that Crippen did show support for her, he listed himself as her business manager but Professor Munyon heard about it and Crippen was instantly fired from his $10,000 a year position. To make matters worse, he found letters addressed to Belle from Bruce Miller, who signed off, "Love and Kisses to Brown Eyes." Belle's reaction was not repentant, but defensive.

He found a new job. Monthly income fell far below what he had earned at Munyon's, but the job did have its benefits. For one, he was given a beautiful office of Chippendale furnishings and another benefit was pretty and elegant Ethel Le Neve.

Ethel was 18 years old when she met Hawley Crippen; he was 39. A romantic relationship eventually developed between them, though it took nearly a year. Ethel took her place as Crippen's private secretary and bookkeeper.

Born in Diss, Norfolk, Ethel liked climbing trees, or playing marbles, or shooting with a catapult. For dolls or other girlish toys she had no longing. But, underneath the dirty cheeks of a tomboy a sentimental girl blossomed, dreaming of far-off places and knights in shining armor, and she fell in love with Crippen's noble maturity, something that boys her age lacked. Ethel found Crippen at all times galante. He would treat her to dinner at her favorite restaurant; and, through it all, he never once ventured beyond the role of gentleman.

Their conversations remained professional; even when alone, he never behaved inappropriately.
To Crippen, Ethel had everything Belle lacked – she was sweet, considerate and graceful. She was no beauty, but she had the kind of face that made a married woman clutch her husband's arm a little tighter. Her mouth could be either tragic or sensual. She made him feel like a man again but most important of all, she was the one person with whom he could discuss his shameful and humiliating home life. They fell in love -- deeply, passionately, hopelessly in love. By 1903, the boss and his secretary were inseparable. At least in spirit.

On the other hand, there was still Belle. Belle hadn't noticed. She had joined the Music Hall Ladies' Guild, whom Crippen found to be old hens. In September, 1905, they moved to 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Holloway, for £52 per year. A coal cellar lay just below street level behind the garden steps. Belle redecorated her home. The lampshades were pink, the vases were pink, and even the lights were pink. Crippen found her taste nauseating at times, but learned to ignore it and went with Ethel.

The lovers wined, dined, and kissed but that was all. Ethel and Hawley were both brought up with old-time religion and dared not commit adultery. Crippen remained timid in that direction, promising but not delivering his freedom from Belle.

However, in late 1906, things changed. Belle, it seemed, had changed and had gone back to being modest. The Crippens now took in lodgers for extra money, two German boys. One afternoon, December 6, 1906, Crippen came home from his office earlier than usual and found one of them in bed with Belle. Rushing to Ethel, she gave him her full passion. They awoke in the light of morning in Ethel's bedroom and they referred ever after to December 6, 1906, as their "wedding day".

Even though Crippen continued to live with Belle, he was a happy man. All allegiance to her had vanished. He lived for the day he could cast her off like a dead canary. She had become suspicious, and when she demanded to know who the other woman was, he remained silent.

People began to talk. When Dr. Crippen left Drouet's for another position, he took his secretary with him. Knowing that he’d once practised dentistry in New York, Ethel persuaded him to open a dental practice in a fashionable locale. If Belle hadn't known who her husband's "other woman" was until that time, she knew now. Ethel and Belle had met in person a few times. She raged and bullied and he could bear the ill treatment of his wife no longer.

Things were coming to a head. One morning Ethel admitted that she was pregnant. Crippen took the news as she’d hoped he would, with elation. Although she miscarried, Belle knew that Ethel was in her late twenties and could easily conceive again. Belle bet her booties she would try. This time, though, the wife would stop her. Despite her own adulterous wanderings, Belle did not take "a philosophic view of her husband's liaison".

Towards the close of 1910, their life fell apart. Belle hoped to either scare Crippen out of the house or enrage him so that he would divorce first. Then, her conscious clear, she could find another Bruce Miller. But, the experts agree, Belle may have gone too far, driving Crippen to desperation, calling the beloved Ethel whore and worse. Home-wrecker? Trollop? Whore?

To a man so tempestuously in love with a woman, there was no forgiving those words said of his angel. Belle had crossed the line; she had insulted and had threatened him. No, he would never let those insults pass to public ear. He would die first... or perhaps Belle would.

At the stroke of midnight, New Year's, 1910, Ethel Le Neve and her aunt were miles away from Hawley Crippen. At the same time in London, the Crippens had dinner guests but Hawley, wasn't going to make a wish. He would make his own in 1910.

On January 17, Crippen ordered five grains of the poison hydrobromide of hyoscine from chemists whom he dealt with through his profession. The drug was so lethal that if injected in a quantity above a quarter-grain it could kill instantly. Two weeks later Belle disappeared.

Because Hawley Crippen never confessed to the crime, no one has ever been able to explain in detail what really did happen that morning of February 1, 1910. There remains only conjecture. Here is one such conjecture:

"Crippen mixes a drink for his wife before retiring, something he is known to do. But, this time, he laces it with the drug. His plan is to wait many hours then, feigning shock, telephone a personal friend and colleague, Dr. John S, Burroughs, informing him that he has found Belle dead in bed. Crippen had told Burroughs in mid-December that he had been worried about his wife's health, as she had been feeling ill lately.

Belle does not react to the toxin as expected; she begins to scream. Crippen realizes that he has administered too large of a dose. A half-grain can kill, a little more can cause vomiting, hallucination and lunacy. Crippen panics. Afraid that neighbors will rouse from their beds by her screams, he panics and grabs a revolver. The doctor shoots his wife in the head.

With a corpse on his hands, Crippen must dispose of the evidence, the body itself. The only solution is dissection. It must be performed in Crippen's enameled bathtub, next to the bedroom.

Knowing at this point that he will bury her in his cellar, which isn't very large – two metres by three in fact – he reduces her body into parts, cutting off arms, legs and head. Belle was a thick woman so he literally fillets her, and in the morning he will pulverize what is left. After wrapping the torso in a pair of his own pajamas, he buries it in the cellar, just below the back staircase. He returns to the bathroom, gathers up her limbs, head and severed organs, including her heart, and stores them in the dustbin.

It has long been daylight. He throws his bloody clothes into the fire, and then dozes a little. At the time he would normally get up for work, he rises. Waking, he checks for traces of blood that he may have overlooked through tired eyes. Dressing, shaving, he heads to work, arriving at the dental office on time, 9 a.m.

He acts as if nothing has happened.

Part 2 continues here.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

[oil and gas] from australia to russia – oil is the key

Douglas Adams, in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, wrote of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. So what possible connection could there be between today’s interest rate crisis in Canberra and Turkmenistan’s oil outlet dilemma?

Indirectly, a lot.

The Australian Reserve Bank decision to raise interest rates a quarter percentage point today is extremely damaging in the public perception and the average Australian's panic, more common ... read and comment here.

[world] a ceo in russia makes more money


The average Russian laborer may earn less than a tenth of a Western European worker's wages. But Russia's fat cats face no such indignity, netting even more than their Western European counterparts, a new survey indicates.
Thanks to favorable tax conditions and a booming economy, executives at Russia's biggest companies on average take home 750 euros ($890) more than Western bosses, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a global consultancy firm.Average after-tax pay for Russian managers was calculated at 108,750 euros, as opposed to 108,000 euros for Western European executives.
The report surveyed 125 companies in Russia.
"This is a phenomenon almost exclusively within executive positions," said John Lewis, who authored the report, by telephone from Brussels. "Further down there is still a big gap between how much professionals are paid in the West and Russia."
The average salary for mid-level managers is anywhere between $20,000 and $70,000, another study found earlier this year. That survey, released by human resources firm Ancor, interviewed 68 companies in Russia.
Annual wages across Russia last year averaged some 66,000 rubles, or about 1,900 euros, according to official statistics.
A limited pool of people with the right experience and talent to fill executive positions in Russia plays a part in driving up wages. However, low income taxes play a greater role in giving Russia's top managers the upper hand over colleagues further west, Lewis said.
"In Germany net pay at the executive level is 55 to 65 percent of the paycheck because of taxation," he said, while Russian bosses take home 87 percent thanks to the 13 percent flat tax.
As the economy grows, the trend has been for the gap in Russian and Western gross wages to narrow considerably.
A recent study from PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that executives in Moscow companies with a turnover of over $50 million earn a median of $109,000 before taxes, with average annual bonuses of 20 percent. The Russian edition of Forbes magazine on Thursday published a list of the country's 100 richest people, including 36 billionaires. That is a ninefold increase since Forbes first published the names of four Russian billionaires in 1997.
Businesses catering to high earners are catching on to the fact that some Russians make a lot. On Thursday, HSBC bank announced it would open a Moscow office to offer private banking services for well-to-do Russians.
"As the Russian economy continues to grow, the number of big net worth individuals will grow very fast," Richard Tickner, HSBC's Russia country manager, told Bloomberg. "There is a lot of competition, but this is a growth market."
Forbes added 11 new Russian billionaires to its list of wealthy Russians since the U.S. edition of the magazine released a list of the world's richest people in March. The editor of Forbes in Russia, Paul Klebnikov, said this addition resulted from the magazine using market capitalization figures from mid-April to evaluate Russian moguls -- a period when the stock market was at its peak. Not surprisingly perhaps, ordinary Russians complain they earn too little while their bosses earn too much.
According to a survey released by Fond Obshchestvennoye Mneniye on Thursday, 85 percent of workers who responded said they are not paid enough. Twenty-three percent of those respondents held the state of the economy responsible, while 17 percent blamed their higher-ups, who they said are "the only ones with high wages" and "thieves," Interfax reported. A startling 53 percent of the 3,000 adults surveyed said they were unemployed.
By Simon Ostrovsky, Moscow

[living] today's scoop - the pedant-general in ordinary

EXCLUSIVE! SCOOP!
GARISH, SENSATIONALIST JOURNALISM!

Some have suggested, unkindly, that I’m too soft by half in my treatment of my victims and that I never ask the hard questions.

‘Where’s the dirt?’ they ask.

That may be so but let me turn this around and say that my brief is to present a profile, not a warts-‘n-all expose. I’m hardly placed to do the latter and besides, I have no intention of being blackballed from the Garrick Club. I’m a peaceful man, after all.

In its own small way, it’s the selection of whom to present on this page which constitutes the hard line. In the interests of quality, I present only the best bloggers.

And so to today’s scoop and in my tackiest manner I announce, ladies and gentlemen:

Here, never before published in any blog, never seen before on the web, his photographed visage finally, gobsmackingly exposed to a shell-shocked public, is … is … wait for it … the Pedant-General in Ordinary!!!!!

Yes, it is he*, ladies and gentlemen - Her Majesty’s esteemed protector. The scourge of the blogging world, who has fellow bloggers either quaking in their boots or running for cover, sometimes both … and his real name is … is … er, I don’t rightly know. I didn’t actually get that far.


The Pedant-General in Ordinary.

What’s the man about? Well, his own site gave your intrepid investigator the starting point on that:

The Pedant-General is, by his own description: white, male, heterosexual and married, we can safely assume that I am basically stuffed. I might as well give up now.

But then, seeing as I am also from a landed-gentry family, public school educated, an Oxbridge graduate, licenced to keep and use a shotgun, a practising Anglican communicant, lately a Commissioned Officer in Her Majesty's Armed Forces, paying to educate my children privatelyand right-libertarian in outlook, I have got nothing to lose really.....

Thersites comments: Come the revolution, P-G, you'll undoubtedly be one of the first up against the wall, blindfolded, last cigarette etc.

Even
Wiki has something to say: The Pedant General in Ordinary is here to boldly maintain the purity of the English language!

The P-G in O has helpfully published a
Manifesto:

Whilst much of the origins of the appointment process for the post of Pedant-General in Ordinary are lost in the mists of time (and even those bits that are not remain cloaked in secrecy of the highest order), we can say with certainty that candidates do not have to suffer the ignominy of popular election. I shall pass, lightly, over the ignominy that candidates do have to suffer.

However, I understand that it is customary in a blog of this sort to "set out one’s stall" and to this end, I publish here a manifesto. This, I might add, is not an exhaustive set of policies. But** then, we might reasonably ask, is any manifesto? At least you may be confident that I will stick to this.

Flogging Offences:

· Use of the Grocer's Apostrophe;
· Making any of these basic logical errors;
· Starting paragraphs in a newspaper article with the word "And". Especially if you are a politician;
· Blaming the weapon, rather than the person wielding it;
· Driving in the middle lane of a busy motorway without good cause;
· Advocating Socialism as a means for organising the relationships between communities larger than a small farm;
· Confusing correlation with causation.

Flogging Offences:

Such flogging to be administered on the steps of the perpetrator's club. This is separate category of crime, where it is important that a visible example is set:
· Advocating Socialism for communities larger than a small farm, when one is in a position of power;
· Advocating Creationism when one ought to know better;
· Inviting, on live television, an evidently distressed relative to advocate a ban on whatever it was that killed the recently deceased person in question;
· Confusing "equality of outcome" with "equality of opportunity".

Hanging Offences:

Let's not beat about the bush: We have to make a stand and stop this dangerous nonsense.
· Preferring "equality of outcome" over "equality of opportunity";
· Advocating Creationism when one is in charge of educational policy or children or both;
· Moral Equivalence;
· Unwarranted use of the split infinitive.

But there is another, carefully veiled side to the P-G in O and he will not thank me for revealing this altruistic side; however, this is the sort of e-mail he wrote in my direst hour of template-altering need:

... remembering of course, to change "Blog Roll or whatever you want this to say" to whatever you want the section header for your blogroll to be. (For ref, mine is "Opinion is Free", long before the Guardian shamelessly nicked it) and to change the "yourusername" to whatever your BLOGLINES username is. I have highlighted the bits you need to edit in bold to make it easier for you to see. Then save your template, republish your blog and retire to the mess for tea and medals.

Do fellow bloggers see him as the scourge of the blogosphere? Tim Worstall, after a scathing
analysis of an airline failure:

admits:

The P-G uncovers a very clever piece of manipulation. This is the problem with regulatory organisations, they are subject to capture by those who would benefit most from the rules being drawn up one way rather than another.

And the P-G’s original
point he was originally making?

Given the clarity - nay, purity! - of the stream of knowledge and harmony that is mathematics, your monoglot Pedant-General is exceptionally loathe even to paddle in the stagnant, murky and polluted sewer of economics. However, he is thrilled, not just to spot a monstrous howler as this, but to beat Tim Worstall to it at that.

In order to provide a contigency fund against a one-off event - that of the failure of an airline - and of a largely fixed liability - that of the total number of passengers that an airline could carry at any one time - he proposes an entirely variable surcharge. This seems to be a staggeringly basic error.

Being one of the military fraternity, he is likely to take up his cudgel
to defend same:

Your jingoistic and "gung-ho" Pedant-General is an ardent supporter of HM armed services and the courageous men and women who take HM's shilling. He is less enamoured with the snake oil salesmen who purport to be their political masters. The current minister of defence is an exemplary case in point. This man wouldn't recognise integrity or duty to your men if it came up and slapped him on the top of his bald head.

But is the P-G in O relevant? Does he have anything to say on the crisis which is
the Middle-East? I hope I don’t misrepresent him with these, his own words:

Israel has nothing to gain by a further occupation of Lebanon, other than to subdue the militants. But, now that those nice gentlemen in Iran have equipped Hezbollah with the longer range Fajr rockets, Israel is going to have to occupy a damn sight more than they did last time to provide an effective buffer zone to protect Israel-proper. I can't see how a ceasefire would be in their gift.

So what is the P-G in O - his roots, so to speak? Is he an Englishman? A Scot? Irish? From the Isle of Man? A clue can be found in
this little piece:

Nonsense. The adjectives apply across the board. Scots, English and Welsh people are ALL British. Scots are not English. English people are not Scots. But they are both British.

To give a simple example (for the sake of argument and without prejudice to your real actual place of birth), you are Pennsylvanian. A resident of LA could be described as Californian. But you are both American. The simplest analogy is that Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland are similar to States in the US, with the UK being at the level of Federal Govt.

The analogy is far from perfect since we do not have the strict separation of powers or subsidiarity that is enshrined in the US Constitution, but you get the gist. Creditting California specifically with an achievement of the US as a whole, or worse still of Pennsylvania, would be obviously wrong.

This is a howler of such epic proportions that it profoundly discredits the academic merit of the site in my eyes. It displays an ignorance of things British that I can scarcely credit. An apology and promise to do some fairly basic research would be in order: the updates with the text of emails almost suggest that there is debate on this or a legitimate difference of opinion. There is not.

(Disclaimer: I am a Scot, but I'm proud of my British Passport...)

And my analysis? The P-G in O does his darndest to ‘expunge’ the web of its ‘woolly thinking’ and it’s probably true to say that he’s the scourge of the blogosphere; but what the man fails to disguise is that he is actually, all things considered, really a very nice chap - good people, as they say in America when referring to third person, singular.

The Pedant-General in Ordinary.

[* he ...... James Higham defends to the death the right to adopt subject as object in this particular personal pronoun.]
[**But .......I'm going to take up with the P-G in O the clear use of a conjunction at the beginning of a sentence.]

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

[world] asset swapping - shell, exxon, bp and sinopec

Exxon itself is a particularly interesting company, not least because of its xx antecedents. In many ways it is entirely innocent but being who they are, they are on a hiding to nothing. They have invested in the environment, they have committed to sustainable development and the company itself laments:

Exxon stands as the tallest lightning rod for critics who say the oil industry is profiting at consumers’ expense, and parting payments to its former chairman and chief executive, Lee Raymond, have provoked criticism. Exxon officials said they don’t expect the political anger toward the industry to let up soon.
Article here.

[general] niagara falls - which side is best


Peter Mandel, of the Washington Post, wrote: To know Niagara Falls these days is to know two mist-split shores: the Canadian city and the American town. Newlyweds still book rooms in both, and some say the negative ions from the rush of the falls cause feelings of attraction. But if you're not into ions, there are all sorts of other, mostly positive lures, like the Canadian side's sleek casinos and space needle towers, and the U.S. side's Italian bakeries and a state park, the nation's oldest, by Frederick Law Olmsted. He then proceeds to dissect both sides as dispassionately as he is able. Which is better?

[living] blogger of the day - chris dillow


Graham Chapman, in a Python sketch now lost in the mists of time, once labelled all that was good as woody and all that was beyond the pale as tinny.
Well, Chris Dillow is woody. There are no two ways about it. His politics may not precisely align with mine but I couldn’t give a toss about that. The man has been quoted this way:

The ever excellent Chris Dillow makes some good points about power:

· Power doesn’t merely corrupt. It enslaves. Many rulers are not as free as we think. This, in a different context, is one message of Xenophon’s Hiero.

· What matters in politics is not the particular individual occupying any office. Office determines character more than character determines office.

· There’s something deeply dysfunctional about political institutions. The great thing about markets is that they cause bad people, acting for bad motives, to do good things. Our political institutions cause good people, acting for good motives, to do bad things.

I first became aware of him when he posted an encouraging comment on my site which I now quote quite often:

You can get tons of comments simply by saying something inflammatory about the Middle East - but almost all those comments will be worthless or worse. By contrast, a good post that conveys interesting facts might get no comments at all. Clive Davis and Tim Worstall, for example, get far fewer comments but they're much better bloggers.

[I'd have to modify this quote in that the latter may have fewer comments, but at 2334 hits a day, he's hardly ignored.] Now I’m going to say right up front about Chris that any man who inserts statistical aberrations on the ongoing cricket outrage into his blog – that this man deserves to be read and taken seriously. For example:

The number of county championship titles multiply by a dummy if a county contains a Test ground. Logic tells us that stronger counties - as measured by the number of championships they've won - should produce more Test players. Oddly, though, this is true only of counties with a Test ground.

These two facts alone explain three-quarters of the variation in counties' test caps. What's even more amazing is the size of the home county effect. The home counties have, on average, 206 more Test caps than other counties. As the average county has only 345 caps, this is a lot.

The only other chap I’m currently aware of, [not that that necessarily means anything], who does this sort of thing, is
Norman Geras, who himself has completely scooped me by publishing an interview with Chris in which most questions are answered.

All I can do is quote from it and leave the rest to you:

The normblog profile 112: Chris Dillow was born in Leicester in 1963, at the same time as John F. Kennedy was being buried; someone had to make room. He went to Wyggeston Boys School (a grammar), Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and the University of Manchester. He then drifted into the City for a few years before joining the Investors Chronicle, though he strenuously denies accusations that he's a journalist. Chris lives alone in Belsize Park, and blogs at Stumbling and Mumbling.

Why do you blog? > I'm arrogant enough to think I've got something worth saying, and stupid enough to think anyone cares.

What has been your best blogging experience? > The kind words of many good, intelligent people, which I have been too ungracious to properly acknowledge.

What has been your worst blogging experience? > Realizing that time and inspiration are negatively correlated.

What would be your main blogging advice to a novice blogger? > It's better to be wrong but interesting than right but dull.

What is your favourite song? > 'After All' by Dar Williams – just ahead of Hank Williams's 'They'll Never Take Her Love From Me' and Iris DeMent's 'Childhood Memories'.

What would be your most important piece of advice about life? > Terry Allen gave the best advice for anyone wanting a successful career: 'Don't ever do the best you can do. It's better to be mediocre.'

In what circumstances would you be willing to lie? > Any time. The truth is a precious thing. Like all precious things, it shouldn't be wasted on idiots.

If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything you'd do differently? > There're a few explicit offers of jobs and implicit offers of sex I'd have accepted, but otherwise not much. That's the power of adaptive preferences for you.

Who would play you in the movie about your life? > Mitch Pileggi looks the part. Can he do a Leicester accent?

Where would you most like to live (other than where you do)? > Leicestershire.

If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? > Frank, my grandad's name.

If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner who would they be? > Kathy Sykes, Shania Twain, Gillian Anderson. Hey, I'm a single bloke.
For the political/philosophical aspects, you’ll have to go to the normblog profile [a weekly Friday morning feature], although I can add that he did his PPE at Oxford and then a Masters in Economics at Manchester. In my own correspondence with Chris these thoughts were expressed:

I regard myself as an economic migrant; I only live in London coz I need the work. Unlike many others, I don't regard my blog as primarily a vehicle for promoting a particular political line. I suspect I blog mainly to show off how clever I am; I've never been sure about anyone's motives for doing anything, even myself. Insofar as there is one, the line is anti-managerialist; I try to combat the view that organizations and society can be managed from above.

What distinguishes me from bog-standard libertarians is the belief that central plannning is bad within companies, as well as government, and my view that greater equality of income and wealth is necessary for greater equality.

I think I'm a bog-standard post-Marxist left-libertarian; my main intellectual influences are Jon Elster, John Roemer and Alasdair MacIntyre. A non-line is that I'm passionately uninterested in foreign affairs; I can’t see what the fuss is about in Israel or Iraq.

However, I'm also interested in cricket and music (especially folk-country and I'm learning the guitar). These don't show up in the blog as often as they should.

Chris Dillow.
Stumbling and Mumbling.

[I apologize for the line spacing in this post but Blogger plays havoc with line spacing and reverses what has been saved at the point of publishing. It also ignores spaces between sentences and sometimes inserts some of its own, which I try to reverse with br in the template. This increases posting time to around 50 minutes.]

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

[world] ten u.s. presidents


America has had some august chief executives but also some quirky ones. Here is a small selection of things you might not have known about 10 of them:

1. First U.S. president George Washington rejected a movement among army officers to make him king of the United States.

2. Andrew Jackson, 7th U.S. president, dueled with Charles Dickinson after he insulted Jackson's marriage. Jackson let his opponent fire first, giving himself time to take aim. Jackson took a bullet in the chest and, without flinching, calmly killed his man.

3. James Buchanan, 15th U.S. president and the first unmarried man to be elected president, reportedly took great pride in his tiny feet, although he was a large robust man.

4. Often depicted wearing a tall black stovepipe hat, 16th president of the United States Abraham Lincoln carried letters, bills, and notes in his hat.

5. The 18th U.S. president, Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant, but he changed his name because he did not like his monogram, HUG.

6. Both ambidextrous and multilingual, 20th president of the United States James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other.

7. William Taft, 27th president of the United States, weighed more than 300 pounds and had a special oversized bathtub installed in the White House.

8. The 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, allowed sheep to graze on the White House lawn during World War I; their wool helped raise money for the Red Cross.

9. The 38th president of the United States, Gerald Ford turned down offers to play professional football for the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions.

10. As a young lifeguard at a riverside beach near Dixon, Illinois, future 40th U.S. president Ronald Reagan rescued 77 people from drowning.

Sorry – can’t attribute – I’ve had this a long time - maybe msn.