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?
Saturday, August 05, 2006
[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.
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.
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.
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.
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