Saturday, July 21, 2007

[birthday survey] thank you so far

I'd like to thank all those who've taken the survey so far [top left sidebar or popup] and the responses, especially the written ones at the end, have been invaluable. However, it's thrown up the eternal problem again:

Long or short posts

What to do, what to do? All right, one can run very witty little comments on something someone wrote [usually not quoted but linked to save space] and providing the links don't exceed three, it works. Tim Worstall and UK Daily Pundit use this method very successfully but it's more suited to a political blogger commenting on current events.

What though, if the blogger wants to create his own longer piece - such as Chris Dillow? Chris uses a strict 7 or 8 paragraph restriction and point form. If it doesn't fit into the space, it doesn't go in. Then it forms part of another post. Blogosphere attention spans are notoriously short so this is a good method. Chris also uses smaller fonts.

What if you need to include a fair bit of info because you're composing a serious piece using much quotation? Is there a place for these on a blog? I suggest there is.

For example, I can't see how I could have refuted that Marxist without quoting Marx and others. This takes space and then there's your own comment. Suddenly you're up to 29 paragraphs. Aaaaagh!

So some people suggested [on the survey] that the trick is to run a one paragraph summary at the start and link it to another blogpage. Yes, good idea but how many people will follow that link?

If, however they start reading and it looks like it's getting a bit long, they might stay with it because they see it's almost finished.

I don't know the answer to all this.

[prime minister] the road to power

The stand-off between PM Howard and Treasurer Costello is so uncannily reminiscent of Blair/Brown except for certain key differences and I don't mean geographically or that they're from opposing parties.

For a start:

Peter Costello and John Howard simply do not like each other. This sort of antipathy goes on in all sorts of workplaces every hour of every day. That's why most Australian voters have accepted and endorsed the Howard Government at the past two elections, when it was clear that Costello was becoming increasingly desperate for Howard to shuffle off to a retirement home somewhere on Sydney's North Shore.

There's the rub. Without a clear Devil's Deal in their case, Costello is dependent on John having intimated or "given to understand" that he'd retire and allow Costello a decent tilt at elected PMship. I wouldn't put it past Howard, an astute numbers man, to suddenly and magnanimously step down if the apparent charge of Rudd's Labor goes unchecked, Costello knows it and therein lies his deep antipathy.

As far as I can see, the populace wants not a bar of Costello the PM, although they were happy enough with him at the Treasury. Ditto Broony. Treasurers often go on to make bad PMs, e.g. Paul "ow-are-ya-me-darlin-queen-liz" Keating and now all he has left is his beloved clocks.

A check of PMs of Britain, Canada and Australia reveals nothing surprising.

True, Howard was Treasurer in an outgoing government but he didn't come directly to the PMship from there. Keating did. Hawke came directly from the ACTU, on the strength of his conciliation and arbitration work, Fraser took over in the coup d'etat in 1975, Whitlam threw out the Liberals, McMahon was Foreign Office [former Treasurer], Gorton came down from the Senate and that's as far back as it's necessary to go.

In the UK, Brown is a former Treasurer [allow me to continue the term when discussing the three countries], Blair came in on a wave, Major was the Treasurer, Thatcher came to power, Callaghan was Treasury, Home and Foreign Office, Heath came to power from Trade, Wilson also from Trade.

In Canada, Harper was critic for Finance and then came to power, Martin was Treasurer then came to power, Chretien left politics, came back and won the election, Campbell [woman] was Defence and came to the PMship then lost the election, Mulroney won by a landslide, Turner was closer to the Treasurer made PM but actually resigned then came back, Trudeau - best not to worry about him.

Interesting about Turner:

John Turner was a Prime Minister in waiting for too long. By the time John Turner had waited out the Trudeau era and was elected Leader of the Liberal Party to become Prime Minister in 1984, the country was fed up with Liberal government.

So, from all that, I do conclude that sweetheart deals and serving Treasurers acceding do not seem to be overly successful. The real statesmen tend to be swept into power in the first place by popular acclaim. After all, that Time interview with Gordo had me choking on my coffee with the canny Govan boy's sheer honesty:

Time: You're rumored to be planning a 100-day program of big policy initiatives as soon as you become Prime Minister.

Gordon Brown: That's not my aim, actually. You cannot do what people assume politics was about in the old days; you cannot just pull levers and expect things to happen. I don't see politics as one or two people just making or delivering announcements — it's also about winning public support and the public enthusiasm. You've got to win public support.

Yeah, right.

Friday, July 20, 2007

[karl marx] great man or humbug


In April I ran a post, a rant really, on humanism and humanitarianism but in the comments section, it seemed to become an argument over Communism, for example
Winfred Mann's comment:

It is obvious that socialism/communism has failed to provide for the masses as promised. Capitalism has a great deal of inequality but provides a lower bottom rung, so to speak.

That was in April. Now a dear reader who claims to be Someone Who Actually Reads Things, has added a comment:

Not content with quoting what the manifesto says will be SAID by BOURGEOIS CRITICS as if it were the OPINION OF THE MANIFESTO, not content with yanking it out of the middle of a paragraph, not content with adding about as much COMPLETELY FAKE CRAP PULLED OUT OF YOUR ASS* to the one sentence, you are building a "case" against all humanists as the eternal Atheist/Masonic/Satanic/Communist enemy and attempting to create a moral panic. I bet you HATE being compared to Birchers and Nazis, dontcha. Well, guess what. It totally, totally sticks. Idiot.

Leaving aside the misspelling of "ass" [the word he requires has four letters to it], he/she concludes his/her critique with:

If Satan is the "Father of Lies" you are one of his beloved children.

If you were to follow my friend's link, it leads to a children's reading site in which he/she is clearly involved. I wonder if any parents who deal with this site are aware of the type of language my friend indulges in.

However, now this rare opportunity has presented itself, I suppose the onus is on me to address his/her concern:

My dear anonymous friend,

1] On your criticism that the remarks were taken out of context and that criticisms were falsely quoted as those of the authors themselves:

|Manifesto 478| You share a specific concept with all foundered ruling classes, whereby you transform your production- and property circumstances from historical -- in the course of production transitional -- circumstances into eternal natural laws and laws of reason. What you conceive as the traditional concept of property, as feudal property rights, you must no longer consider for the rules governing the property of citizens.

Abolition of the family! Even the most radical get riled up about this shameful intention of the communists.

What is the present family based on? On capitalism, the acquisition of private property. It exists in all of its meaning only for the bourgeoisie, but it finds its complement in the enforced lack of families of the proletarians and public prostitution.

The family of the bourgeois naturally falls by the way-side with this, its complement, and both will vanish when capitalism vanishes.

This was MML's sleight of hand. Quoting his critics in his own terms, then failing to directly answer the criticism he himself has paraphrased! Instead, speaking in utter simplication that the family is based on capitalism, failing to consider that the family existed long before usury became the norm and the guilds gave way to the bourgeoisie.

Then, feeling he's established the capitalist connection to the family, he proposes, four pages later:

|Manifesto 482| 10. Public and publicly funded education of all children. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Unification of education with material production etc.

Which looks wonderful on paper until one realizes that this means enforced state education of children [mentioned later if one reads through] and for what purpose? To overcome the influence of the capitalist, connected to the family [p 478]

This was the logic of Karl Marx in context and not paraphrased. The man was a total humbug in his scholastic methodology. Then we get onto other things:

"We must war against all prevailing ideas of religion, of the state, of country, of patriotism. The idea of God is the keynote of a perverted civilization. It must be destroyed." [1848]

In his poem 'The Pale Maiden" Karl writes:

Thus heaven I've forfeited,

I know it full well,

My soul, once true to God,

Is chosen for Hell.

[Karl Marx, "Des Verzweiflenden Gebet" ("Invocations of One in Despair"), p.30.]

Or from The Player:

The hellish vapors rise and fill the brain,

Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed.

See the sword?

The prince of darkness

Sold it to me.

For me he beats the time and gives the signs.

Ever more boldly I play the dance of death.

Or Lenin on Marx:

"Atheism is an integral part of Marxism. Marxism is materialism. We must combat religion. This is the ABC of all materialism and consequently Marxism."

And what was the nature of this man who wished to overthrow the building blocks of a society?

Franz Mehring; "Although Karl Marx's father died a few days after his son's twentieth birthday, he seems to have observed with secret apprehension the demon in his favorite son.... Henry Marx did not think and could not have thought that the rich store of bourgeois culture which he handed on to his son Karl as a valuable heritage for life would only help to deliver the demon he feared." [Henry Marx, Mehring p.32.]

"He parted from me as an overzealous Communist. This is how I produce ravages....." [A. Melskii, Evangelist Nenavisti (The Evanelist of Hate, Life of Karl Marx) (Berlin; Za Pravdu Publishing House, 1933, in Russian) p.48]

And what of those inspired by either the Marxist ideal or the possibilities afforded by it?

"A silent, unavoidable revolution is taking place in society, a revolution that cares as little about the human lives it destroys as an earthquake cares about the houses it ravages. Classes and races that are too weak to dominate the new condition of existence will be defeated."

Milovan Djilas: "Was it not so that the demonic power and energy of Stalin consisted in this, that he made the (Communist) movement and every person in it pass to a state of confusion and stupefaction, thus creating and ensuring his reign of fear...." [Milovan Djilas, Strange Times, "Kontinent," 33, p. 25]
2] You object to the grouping of the eternal Atheist/Masonic/Satanic/Communist enemy and attempting to create a moral panic.

There is nothing in Marx's writings, when taken in context, not out of context, as you accuse me of doing shortly before doing so yourself, to lead one to come to any other conclusion than those which we already have.

This is the typical Marxist - blurring truths and applying pseudo logical syllogisms to establish that which is unsustainable. It was not Lenin or the failure of Russia to be "ready". It was the sheer lack of understanding of human nature underlying the communist's mindset which will eternally condemn it to eventual oblivion.

Churchill's quote, referring to the goal of Marxist inspired agitators, becomes more and more apt with every reading of Moses Mordecai Levy. These people are consumed by:

...the overthrow of civilization and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence and impossible equality...

I remain, your humble and obedient, James Higham

[enough's enough] new tory leader required

It's all over the Brit blogosphere and regular readers know I'm not into party politics but this is one clear case.

David Cameron must go.

Just look at his performance so far. Run a checklist. Is there no talent in the party or anyone else of stature?

The problem is in DC's preselection by the same powers promoting Gordon and then, in a more orthodox arena, by the branch and national preselection process which cuts out talent.

He doesn't convince the electorate because he shifts position so often - top Tory leaders have always known what they were about and were able to communicate it to the people.

He can't. Nice enough chap but he's not going to win anything. Bullingdon boys, by definition, lack the gravitas. Boris Johnson could tell you all about that.

That's why the move should be made NOW. Not in two weeks or two months or prior to the election.

Now. So the Tories will have half a chance and so ALL Tories can get behind their leader with confidence.

[friday] your captions please

[who governs] and why they're not benign


Another worthy but ultimately futile discussion of our situation, this time on terrorism, at one of my favourite blogs, Beaman's World.

The essential reasons such debate is futile and the reasons why we're heading for the new feudalism include:

1] While you truly believe that you are in a representative democracy, where your voice is actually acted upon, then the real forces driving the agenda are free to continue unfettered;

2] The real forces rely on the great mass of people reading, discussing and researching within a narrow pool of actuality - newspapers, journals, magazine articles, TV and radio programmes and tomes of wisdom of the great and not so great … but no further;

3] The humanistic life outlook tacitly embraced by the vast majority of westerners encourages them to feel that they're ultimately in control of their own destiny, which is patently false, as you'll see further down.

On the other hand, the man or woman with a strangely wired brain seeks and researches more laterally, unafraid to delve into "kook territory" and comes up with a different literature - less accessible but still accessible for all that.

The reason it's still accessible is that it's usually written up or posted sensationally by the weirdos whose investigative skills far surpass their reasoning or writing ability and so it's a simple thing to pick holes, debunk and mock, using catchcries to circumvent any real revelation which might have been thrown up. [Watch this post's comments section for the first commenter to say "conspiracy theory" although usually readers just skip over this sort of post.]

So I'm not going to get dragged into that stuff. Instead, here are some statements by people who really should have known what they were talking about and I challenge anyone to call these people "kooks" or "deluded":

# President Woodrow Wilson, in 1913, published "The New Freedom":

"Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the U.S., in the field of commerce and manufacturing, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."

# It (the Great Depression) was not accidental, it was a carefully contrived occurrence. The international bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so that they might emerge as rulers of us all. [Congressman Louis McFadden]

# The Federal Reserve caused the Great Depression by contracting the amount of currency in circulation by one third from 1929 to 1933. [Milton Friedman]

# History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance. [President James Madison]

# Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russian, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament , or a communist dictatorship.

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All I have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. [Goering at the Nuremberg Trials]

# This truth is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of capital to govern the world. By dividing the voters through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance. Thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves what has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished. [Sir Denison Miller]

# Debts must be collected, mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When through the process of law the common people lose their homes, they will become more docile and more easily governed through the strong arm of government applied by a central power of wealth under leading financiers. [1924 U.S. Banker's Association Magazine]

# When you control opinion, as corporate America controls opinion in the United States by owning the media, you can make the (many) believe almost anything you want, and you can guide them. [Gore Vidal from 'The Golden Age'.]

# If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched. George H. W. Bush told a White House reporter. [This last is my weakest reference so feel free to ignore it.]

Here are links to some of my articles.

So, in the context of the above, terrorism per se, as discussed at Beaman's World, is merely a furphy, easily provoked and funded and in this dualistic attitude lies the real identity of the force driving the oncoming misery. Look into the eyes of the Janjaweed of the Sudan for further confirmation of this force.

The only question is wresting back control but I fear that the people are so fragmented and the driving force so in control that it's a forlorn hope.

[nuclear waste] spring board meeting


NUCLEAR WASTE SPRING BOARD MEETING

[Certified transcript of meeting]

Dr. B. John Garlic, Chair

Dr. Ronald Ratpoison

Dr. Mark Abcess

Dr. U.N. Cleremus

Dr. George Horngetter

Dr. City U. N. Slicker

Paul Ronald

[Foreword by James Higham: If you see anything remotely humorous in this, stop it immediately! All the eco-gobbledegook in this post was actually genuine, not one word in any eco-sequence was altered and so no one has any right to find anything amusing! The complete text can be read by going here, then clicking on May 15, 2007 Transcript. The rest of the jargon came from this post.]

8:00 a.m.

Garlic: Good morning.

As you know, our custom is to introduce the Board members individually. We're going to depart from that process a little today, a bit of value-add with no bells and whistles and announce that we have gone to a little different practice here. I would like to at least allow you to be able to match the face with the name but I'm not gonna.

[Interruption]: I'm sorry but that's not altogether user friendly, is it?

Garlic: Er - can you identify yourself please.

Ronald: Paul Ronald, geophysics consultant, Warburg Drill Rigs International. Gentlemen, wouldn't it in fact be more efficacious to run the presentations first, then the questions?

Horngetter: George Horngetter, John, Board, Paul, I think you have to remember here, Paul, to think outside the box, to stretch the envelope, to interface with unknown paradigms, to -

Garlic: Thanks, George. So, to continue, after pre-morning-tea cocktails, we will have a presentation on the waste streams that might be generated by our little idea. And, following the mid-morning break, we will have a presentation on waste package design and prototype development, and then lunch in the Swamp Pit. An update on probabilistic volcanic hazards will follow in the early afternoon.

And now to the win-win total solution to the old dilemma - disposal of nuclear waste. I would like to recognize one distinguished group that’s with us today, and that’s the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste, which I understand is now the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste and Materials, an important distinction, so we congratulate the Committee for its complete bamboozling of the green lobby. Over to you, Ronald.

Ratpoison: Ronald Ratpoison, John, George, Board, Paul. The TAD canister system could improve facility throughput at the repository. However, as we have pointed out in our letter, in our reports, the success of TADs is very dependent on such uncertainties as the actual startup date of the repository, postclosure performance, and sometimes unknown degrees of conservatism and whether any money is actually available for this gobbledegook -

Abcess: Mark Abcess, Ronald, John, George, Board, Paul, are we referring here to some sort of rectal probe?

Garlic [intervening]: After afternoon snifters, Mark. Not now. Please continue, Ronald.

Ratpoison: As you know, we're 110% results-focused here and sometimes that necessitates solutions out of the loop. At the end of the day, we're talking big bikkies, so here's the game plan. We've contracted two B52 Stratofortresses to drop five XCV18, ground penetrating peaceful purposes over northern Iran and then airlift the sludge there and dump it.

Ronald: Dr. Ratpoison, are you aware that there are layers of basalt at the eastern end of that geological shelf to 1800 feet and any attempt to split said layer will result in the activation of the long dormant Sharzi volcano?

Ratpoison: Well, that's where you're wrong, buddy. Our preliminary feasibility study indicates the location of future events by the inverse of their age, and the volume of those events being a really strong discriminator, and the larger events, the future events will be closer to the larger. And, so, there was examining the potential influence of different weights on those alternatives and we looked at the whole dual porosity system and so we decided to drop the f---ers.

Ronald: I'm sorry, gentlemen but are you aware of the magnitude of the risk and are you satisfied with the level of risk assessment?

Ratpoison: Yes, because these are not directly assessed. These are the product of a series of assessments.

Ronald: And, where was the last one again?

Ratpoison: Ballpark? About 80,000 years ago.

Ronald: Where?

Ratpoison: Near Sharzi.

Ronald: And, there was like a -

Ratpoison: Yes, volcano.

Ronald: Discovery Channel volcano?

Garlic: Gentlemen, enough, we're going to put this one to bed.

Abcess: Mark Abcess, Ronald, John, George, Board, Paul, are we referring here to some sort of rectal probe?

Horngetter [muttering]: We need some thought leadership here, some total quality, we need ticks in boxes -

Garlic: George, that's enough -

Slicker [interrupting]: City U. N. Slicker, Mark, Ronald, John, Paul, George, Ringo, Board, physically, what does dual porosity system mean? What does that mean, physically?

Garlic: City, the Chair did not call you.

Slicker: How can a chair call you, John?

Garlic [flustered]: Get on with it then.

Cleremus: U.N. Cleremus, City, Mark, Ronald, John, Paul, George, Ringo, Board, if I may answer this one? [Garlic and Ratpoison nod] Okay. Yes, dual porosity system is a system that has basically porosity that’s flowing, and porosity that’s full of water, but not flowing. So, essentially, the flowing porosity is your primary porosity for transporting the stagnant porosity, or what’s often referred to as the secondary porosity, is porosity that is in mass transfer communication by diffusion with the primary porosity, but it’s not actually flowing. So, it’s essentially acting as a storage porosity that tracers or contaminants can diffuse into surfaces in that porosity, and then they have to diffuse back out of the porosity.

Abcess: Mark Abcess, Uncle, City, Mark, Ronald, John, Paul, George, Ringo, Board, are we referring here to some sort of rectal lubrication?

Garlic: That's clear, Uncle. Er - I may call you Uncle, no?

Cleremus [smiling] Everyone does. That and other things.

Ronald: I'm sorry, gentlemen, I'm not satisfied with this explanation. There's been next to no feasibility study done, a dubious entity with military connections has been called in and all you seem interested in is gobbledegook and cocktails.

Horngetter [apoplectic]: Well, if you don't mind, buddy. Now listen up. What we're on about here is touching base, closing the loop, pushing the hot button, guesstimating, buddy, placing implicit faith in the key players, developing killer abs, focusing collectively as a group, teamwork and transparency, don't you see any of that? These gentlemen here today are the benchmark and it's a slippery slope once you start this lefto-liberal eco-speak -

Ronald [quietly]: Dr. Cleremus, what, in fact, is the probability of a volcanic eruption?

Cleremus: Well, Paul, using only quaternary centers as in this case, or the Pliocene only, or the combination of the two, especially on Fridays, it’s an extremely low probability.

Garlic [hurriedly]: Okay, any other questions? Board? Staff? Audience? Okay, well, thank you very much. I also want to thank everyone today. We did an excellent job of conforming to the 50 percent rule, 50 percent gobbledegook time, and 50 percent question time. And, we got done on time too, and we appreciate that very much. And, unless somebody has an announcement or wants to make a comment, I think we are in a position to adjourn to the bar.

[Wild applause]

Thursday, July 19, 2007

[alstec] bag-nav throughputting and the café latte

This post falls into the category we all experience sometime where we're very proud of what we've written but almost no-one else shares that view. I think it might have something to do with the sight of all the biz-speak and capitals. Actually I'm completely taking the p--s and I'm so glad Shani saw that. Give it a try - I confess I've reposted it from April.

I was at Terminal 2, being farewelled by my SIG-OTH, sipping at our final CAF-LAT when, over the tannoy, following the obligatory ringtones, a young lady's sing song voice quelled the hubbub of terminal conversation:
"Ladies and gentlemen, from check-in to baggage reclaim, tens of millions of passengers entrust their belongings to ALSTEC's baggage handling systems at Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 & 3 and Gatwick North Terminal in the UK and at many other international airports."
It was time to check in. The smartly uniformed cynosure of all eyes went through her routine, then added:
"Do you trust ALSTEC or BAGLOSS?"

"Er … ALSTEC."

"Fine. Because much of ALSTEC's success can be attributed to innovation both in system design and equipment. The latest evidence of this is ALSTEC's low maintenance linear drive carousel, which is setting the standard in terms of performance."

"It carries the bags in a line, in other words?"

"Sir, the screening of all hold baggage presents problems in terms of maintaining levels of throughput within the baggage handling system. ALSTEC has solved these problems, with proven 100% HBS systems where there is no significant impact on passenger throughput. Have a happy throughput".

"Er … thanks."
Tearfully, my SIG-OTH disappeared down the concourse and I went through. Four hours later, at the other end of the longhaul, the cheerful Customs and Immigration official perkily asked:
"How was your throughput, Mr. Higham?"

"Fine thanks."

"That's due to the proven HBS and BAG-NAV."

"BAG-NAV?"

"Originally developed for London Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport, BAG-NAV is arguably the most advanced baggage handling system control and management software suite available today."

"Suite?"

"BAG-NAV brings together all parts of the baggage handling process into a single easy to interpret and manage system. Would you care to hear the listed Benefits:

* No delays at check-in
* Bag screening remote from passengers
* No bottleneck in baggage handling system

… you can stop me at any time, sir, by kissing me just … here."
I tickled the tonsils of this Snoggable-Nubile-Official [Govt.], she sighed and the clunk of stamp on passport was all that disturbed the heady atmosphere of terminal bliss.
"Have a happy perambulatory TRIP-BIZ in our country, sir. Next! Hello sir. BAG-NAV brings together all parts of the …"
Throughputting via the green channel, I reflected that I'd completely forgotten to ask her about Babcock continuing its successful strategy of acquiring and developing technically sophisticated businesses in growing infrastructure and asset management markets, plus the acquisition, on a debt free basis, of Alstec Group Limited for a net cash consideration of £44.9 million, funded from existing banking facilities.

I sighed.

Due to the down-modem software support to facilities management with a team of engineers permanently on site to operate and maintain the facility, it had all gone too swiftly and I'd been whisked away from my new IMMIG-DEPT-LOVE, perhaps terminally.

And yet I could also breathe a sigh of relief, to be honest because the 5 Level Whetstone Scanning Device [SCAN-DEV-WHET] had 100% overlooked my second heart and the keys to the TAR-DIS.

[sorry] couldn't resist it again

Certain people were kind enough to show interest in this country spread of readers from earlier in the day and I threatened then to balance that with a U.K. weighted chart later.

So now's later and the Brits have not let me down here [he breathes a sigh of relief]. At this moment, Americans are in their morning and most of my British readership won't come in for another two hours. The 40% usually blows out to about 50% at the point I myself am asleep. In fact these two hours just now are two of my slowest for visitors. The Aussies will wake up soon and some will have a look in.

Also, the days are remarkably consistent. Monday and Tuesday are my best, then starts a slight slide, then a plummet on the weekend. Saturday night is a shocker for me. I've seriously had under 100 uniques on some Saturdays. Always has been bad. Sunday picks up a bit, Monday's good and then it's Tuesday again.

That's my story [click for larger view] - what's yours?

[turkey] let them in, shut them out [3]

I have absolutely no problem with you passing over my introductory post on this but please visit the Pub Philosopher's. It's one of the best put together I've seen.

[divorce] good career move in china


In China, anything can be faked, including divorce.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the divorce rate more than doubled from 1985 to 1995, and by 2005, the rate had more than tripled, to 1.37 divorces per 1,000 people. In 2005, 1.79 million couples divorced, while 8.23 million couples ignored the rising divorce rate and tied the knot.

And the explanation for the rash of divorce?

Consider the case of one of the couples, Liu Fangzhai and Ma Xiuyun. Just 25 days after they were certified for divorce, they registered for marriage again. It happened that the county government wanted to demolish part of the village and requisition the land for a development project. The evicted villagers would be compensated.

But the compensation would be granted on the basis of households and, as a married couple, Liu and Ma would be compensated as a single household … Local officials were fully aware of the ruse but they could do nothing about it.

In the eastern Shanghai suburb of Pudong, more than a dozen couples were suddenly divorced last July. The area where they lived was targeted for redevelopment and they hoped to be compensated with bigger floor spaces as separated households.

It doesn't stop there.

There is a social-security program in Beijing to help the unemployed, disabled and others in need. The welfare is granted in such a way that it does not increase proportionally in accordance with the number of people in a household.

And yet another reason.

With the reform of state-owned enterprises in recent years, the number of laid-off workers has been so large, some local authorities launched new rules that they would only help one partner of a laid-off couple to find new employment.

Of course, this is just surmise. There are no official stats.

[sorry] couldn't resist it

So proud this morning. Click for larger view:


Truth is though, I'm usually U.S. weighted in the morning [please don't stop] when the Brits sleep and the Brits usually overtake this in the evening [please, please don't stop]. When [if?] that happens, I'll post it in the interests of balance.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

[attraction] the eternal mystery

Welshcakes and I dancing recently. Lop off about 20cm, cut back on the brawn and c'est moi.

When one falls blindly for the other and the other is swept along by being loved, the momentum is enough to last some time. However, it must eventually drop back to a point where one of the two loves the more.

This one is usually the less beautiful of the two, the less capable in matters social, the more serious and trouble is on the horizon, as it's a case of, in Welshcake's words:

... ignoring the warning signals – and there always are warning signals – because, like many lovers before me, I had wanted to believe.

The less besotted will tire more quickly and the eye will once again roam, which is precisely the wrong thing with the besotted because for this person, despair is just round the corner:

it’s not about not having friends or even family. It's about not being first with someone.

My last "romance" was strange - I was besotted first and then the roles changed a little. I'd had to work pretty hard at it and when she finally fell, I suppose I dropped back to "cruise mode", thinking I'd achieved the desired result and in so doing, lost all.

The signs were there but I didn't understand the dynamics. Placed on an unrealistic pedestal which flew in the face of the "me" I really knew, I allowed myself to think I was younger, more handsome, more a "catch" than I was. Don't we always hope against hope for that?

With her, there were elements of the dilemma Ruthie pointed out:

The danger, I suppose, is in placing too much responsibility for your happiness in another person. I often hear that a person can't be happy in a relationship unless he/she can be happy alone, and that's probably true.

My darling could never be alone. She wanted me to bale her out of things I wasn't capable of - I'm a very ordinary person who appears to be something more in some people's eyes. Perceptions - it always comes back to these in the end.

Thus she started saying yes to invitations where before she wouldn't have. Thus I became first suspicious then upset; thus I became less pleasant as a person and let things slide at precisely the time I should have worked on attraction.

Fast forward and Ellee said:

There is a difference between being "lonely" and "alone"; one is chosen, the other is not. It's always lovely to have a special partner, but from what I've seen, they are few and far between. Most people make do, people's lives are often not as you imagine.

Assuming, for the moment, that there's nothing grossly offputting in you like a third eye, a giant protrusion or a sudden, uncontrollable temper, then often it comes down to very subtle things which turn the other away.

For example, there's one good friend who tends to close in to 30cm and grab your arm. I find myself backing away, sometimes backing the whole way round the room over a 40 minute period. Every time I take a half-pace back, she'll close in again.

She thinks I'm not interested because she's not a beauty.

Then there are the clearly mixed signals. Has it happened to you? You know you're no David Beckam and yet when you walk in, people outside your range whom you could never hope to attract gravitate towards you but the instant she sees you're interested she finds an excuse to slip away.

So you go over and talk to others and then become conscious that the same one is back again and as friendly as ever. The moment you suggest the balcony she finds an excuse again but then reappears again later. It's always this way.

I don't understand it and I really think it's better to be alone. I really believe there are people for whom a partner will never be. The trick then is to come to terms with that and even find happiness in other ways.

Maybe.

[flight information] call this blog [2]


I'm really terribly sorry to push this point and all that, especially in the light of the latest disaster but I really must ask you to:

1] look back over this post which, despite its semi-jocular tone, has a far from jocular message embedded within;

2] consider a summary of the latest crash:

A TAM Linhas Aereas Brazilian Airbus A320, carrying 176 people, was flying into Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport from Porto Alegre in southern Brazil when it lost control on landing. It skidded off the rain-soaked runway and flew over a bustling avenue just below, hitting a petrol station and cargo termina and bursting into flames.

Last month, two passenger planes clipped wings while taxiing at Congonhas, increasing concerns about safety. Last September, 154 people were killed when a Brazilian passenger plane collided with a small executive jet and crashed in the Amazon jungle in the worst air accident in the country's history.

The Congonhas airport, located in the heart of South America's largest city, has had runway problems for years and recently repaved one of its landing strips. Earlier this year, officials tried to ban wide-bodied jets from the airport because of fears they could skid off its short landing strips.

Air travel in Brazil has repeatedly been disrupted since the September crash unveiled a series of problems, including insufficient infrastructure and overburdened, underpaid staff.

3] notice the supposed cause of the crash and the type of aeroplane it was. It was an Airbus yet again.

Against this, aviation sources repeatedly stress that air travel is the safest way to go and that most disasters are due to pilot error.

So what's for us to do?

1] I feel we need to be a little more circumspect, a little more critical and a little less trusting in accepting "air packages". The major carriers are fine but it's the "connecters" I'd like to know more about.

2] I'd also like to know if the airport I'm flying into, like Los Rodeos for example, has a previous history and whether anything has been learnt from this. Surely we need to look at national character as well while we're there and not give a damn if it steps on toes and wounds national pride. Who gives a toss about that when it comes to maximizing your chances of living?

Go through the records yourself and find out here up to 2001 and here after 2000.

3] Possibly you'd agree with the above but not with my final criterion. I'd really like to know that someone like, say Larry McDonald, wasn't on board our Korean Air Lines (KAL) flight 007 and the plane wasn't flying over, say, Sakhalin or that John Kennedy Jnr wasn't on the flight list despite it being all his fault or indeed that yours truly wasn't entered on any passenger manifest.

I don't wish to travel on any flight which would accept me as a passenger, thank you, Groucho. But this is stretching incredulity too far, isn't it?

[turkey] let them in, shut them out [2]

Further to this, please go to this and the issue might be a bit clearer.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

[food quiz] know your fruit & veges

1] Rich in vitamin C, derived from a wild mustard plant, Cato the Elder praised this vegetable for its medicinal properties, declaring that "it is first of all the vegetables" and thus it is our first this evening.

2] From the nightshade family, was first captured and domesticated in southern Peru and northern Bolivia, had a part in the disaster of 1845 and bears white to purple flowers with yellow stamens.

3] The elephant garlic and Egyptian kurrat are also in this family, are hardy -many varieties can be left in the ground during the winter to be harvested as needed, essential to vichyssoise.

4] Status disputed, also from the nightshade family, as are its close cousins tobacco and chili peppers, has a weak, woody stem that often vines over other plants, possibly not grown in England until the 1590s.

5] Contains no fat, very few calories and a great source of fibre, can be peeled, steamed and then eaten warm with butter, extracts obtained from the roots are used industrially as red food colourants, good for for fevers and constipation.

6] Often eaten boiled with roast dinner, particularly at Christmas, contain good amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and dietary fibre, are believed to protect against colon cancer, due to their containing sinigrin, hated by some.

7] Member of the Brassicaceae family, relatives include the mustards and turnip, summer varieties include "Rainbow Mix", red, white and purple, "Cherry Bell" and "Flamboyant Sabina" which is cylindrical, winter varieties include "Black Spanish Round".

8] A biennial plant which grows a rosette of leaves in the spring and summer, is a domesticated form of Queen Anne's lace, the β-carotene is metabolized by humans into vitamin A, can be used to treat digestive problems, intestinal parasites, and tonsilitis.

9] Provides more than one fifth of the calories consumed by humans in their global diets, can be grown practically anywhere, even on steep hillsides, is controversial due to talc coating and processing and is the 66th Secretary of State.

10] Our Lady of Thermidor, used to take baths full of them to keep the full radiance of her skin.

Fontenelle, gourmet of the 18th century, considered his long life was due to them, considered poisonous in Argentina until the mid-nineteenth century.

Answers here.