Year: 2010

“He Hamster”

For anyone lucky enough to be around in the 1970s, the British comedy program Fawlty Towers was a must to watch, and still today has a cult following.

In the last episode Manuel the waiter has a Siberian Hamster called Basil, which just happens to be the name of the hotel owner, who is convinced that the creature is a rat, and all this when the health inspector is due to arrive.

Fawlty Towers - Manuel on the right!

With this idea and memory firmly in my mind I would never have looked at getting a Hamster, but for some reason our middle daughter Stephanie wanted one, and kept up constant daily pressure to get one.

I knew something was happening, because there were phone and internet messages about cages, and finally Poppy arrived.

We now have the cage which because it is made of clear plastic means you can see the little creature all the time, and watch her activities. The children have learnt the meaning of being responsible; fresh water, buying food, and making sure the bowl is topped up have become part of the daily routine. Keeping the cage clean and making a warm comfortable nest are big things in a young persons life !

This is a very up-market cage, even the toilet area is a Harrods tea caddy laid on it’s side.

Poppy has become part of our lives, a lovely little animal, who we take with us in a special box sometimes when we go out. Stephanie picks her up first thing in the morning, and keeps her in the pocket of her dressing gown. We have a special exercise wheel which is set up in the lounge of an evening. The dogs lay and watch this spectacle but don’t touch!

We have had bits of fun, especially when Stephanie put Poppy in her dolls house while she was cleaning the cage, and Poppy got stuck up the chimney. Paul, her brother, has left the lid off the cage a couple of times, and learnt from Stephanie about the need to pay more attention to his role in all this. Poor chap !

The love and care for a little creature is very special, and the having Poppy is proving a great learning tool for the children, and even I have weakened and enjoy her being with us.

Funny what can happen in family life!

By Bob Derham

The secret life of the dog, Concluding Part

Concluding this fascinating insight into the extraordinary relationship between dogs and man.

If this is your first sight of this multi-part article about dogs then you will need to start at the beginning:

Part One is here.

Part Two is here.

Part Three is here.

Part Four is here.

Part Five is here.

By Paul Handover

Actual Unemployment is Worse

Unemployment statistics and the real world.

Keep in mind, even as the number of first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose again recently, that the 10% U.S. unemployment figure understates the actual number of unemployed. Even the 17% underemployment figure, which includes those who are either unemployed or who are working part-time but would like to work full-time, fails to include many of those who have lost their jobs but, because they fail to qualify for unemployment, are not being tracked.  I know several such people personally; one has been unemployed for over a year.

My point? Structural unemployment is a serious economic issue. But the solution is not to funnel more unemployment benefits to the unemployed.  The best thing the government can do is to reduce the barriers it has erected to a vibrant economy, including oppressive taxes, fees, paperwork, bureaucracy, and regulations that repress business productivity and raise prices.  By reducing these explicit and implicit costs, there is absolutely no doubt that the private economy will be able to employ more workers as it produces more output at lower prices.

The best thing we can do as private citizens and neighbors is to treat each other right.  Keep the economy moving.  Put in a good day’s work.  Volunteer or learn a new skill if you can’t find a job.  Fill a need.  Buy smart.  And, finally, elect business-friendly local and national politicians.  It matters.

By Sherry Jarrell


Lucky sea dog!

Another wonderful story about a dog rescue

Having recently published a couple of posts about Los Angeles firemen rescuing a dog from a swollen river it was wonderful to catch a short story on the BBC about another dog rescue, this time a dog that had floated miles away from land on an ice floe!

Baltic the lucky dog

Anyway, the BBC have a nice video clip that will put a smile on your face.

By Paul Handover

The secret life of the dog, Part Five

Continuing this fascinating insight into the extraordinary relationship between dogs and man.

If this is your first sight of this multi-part article about dogs then you will need to start at the beginning:

Part One is here.

Part Two is here.

Part Three is here.

Part Four is here.

By Paul Handover

Great way to make friends

Maybe it’s me but there must be better ways to manage foreign relationships!

Ahmet Oguz Celikkol

Most people in their private and business lives find that a genuine interest in, and respect for, those that one engages with leads to better outcomes.  Surely that is just common sense.

So a recent report from Stratfor telling of an ‘incident’ between Israel and Turkey leaves me, frankly, speechless.  Here’s how the report reads:

Last week a small crisis with potentially serious implications blew up between Israel and Turkey. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon summoned Turkish Ambassador to Israel Ahmet Oguz Celikkol to a meeting Jan. 11 to protest a Turkish soap opera that depicted Israeli agents kidnapping Palestinian children. When the ambassador arrived, he received a lower seat than Ayalon — and was photographed in that position, making it appear that Ayalon was speaking to an inferior. Ayalon wouldn’t shake hands with him during the televised parts of the meeting, and had an Israeli flag visible on the table. Topping it all off, Ayalon told an Israeli cameraman in Hebrew that the important thing was that people see Celikkol sitting down low “while we’re

Danny Ayalon

up high.”

Turks saw the images as a deliberate Israeli insult, though Ayalon argued that the episode was not meant as an insult but as a reminder that Israel does not take criticism lightly. While it is difficult to see the relative height of seats as an international incident, Ayalon clearly intended to send a significant statement to Turkey. The Turks took that statement to heart, so symbolism clearly matters. Israel’s intent is not so clear, however.

Continue reading “Great way to make friends” →

The secret life of the dog, Part Four

Continuing this fascinating insight into the extraordinary relationship between dogs and man.

If this is your first sight of this multi-part article about dogs then you will need to start at the beginning:

Part One is here.

Part Two is here.

Part Three is here.

By Paul Handover

Capitalism and the Daimler-Chrysler Saga: Part 3 of 3

In a new departure for Learning from Dogs, Sherry Jarrell publishes a three-part article on the Daimler-Chrysler merger.  Learning from Dogs is indebted to Professor Jarrell for both giving so freely of her time to the Blog and for sharing such erudite material.

Here is Part Three, the concluding part.  If you missed Part One then it is here and Part Two is here.

Where is DCX today?

The Daimler-Chrysler merger was troubled from the beginning.

Investors sued over whether the transaction was a ‘merger of equals’ or a Daimler-Benz takeover of Chrysler. A class action lawsuit was settled in August 2003 for $300 million. A lawsuit by activist investor Kirk Kerkorian was dismissed

Jürgen E. Schrempp

in April 2005, but claimed the job of the merger’s architect, Chairman Jürgen E. Schrempp, who resigned in response to the fall of the merged company’s share price. The merger was also the subject of a book Taken for a Ride: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off With Chrysler, (2000) by Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz.

It is questionable whether the merger ever delivered promised synergies or ever successfully integrated the two businesses. As late as 2002, Daimler-Chrysler appeared to run as two still-independent companies.  In 2006, Chrysler reported losses of $1.5 billion.  In 2007, it announced plans to lay off 13,000 employees, close a major assembly plant, and reduce production at other plants in order to try to restore profitability.

It was all for naught.  In May of 2007 Daimler-Chrysler announced that it would sell 80.1% of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management of New York, a private equity firm specializing in troubled companies. Daimler continued to hold a 19.9% stake. Daimler paid Cerberus $650 million to take Chrysler and associated liabilities off its hands, an amazing development given the $36 billion Daimler paid to acquire Chrysler in 1998. Of the $7.4 billion purchase price, Cerberus Capital Management invested $5 billion in Chrysler Holdings and $1.05 billion in Chrysler’s financial unit. The de-merged Daimler AG received $1.35 billion directly from Cerberus but invested $2 billion in Chrysler LLC itself.

On April 27, 2009, Daimler AG agreed to give up its remaining 19.9% stake in Chrysler LLC to Cerberus and pay as much as $600 million into the auto-maker’s pension fund.  On April 30, 2009, Chrysler LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced a plan for a partnership with Italian automaker Fiat. On June 1, Chrysler LLC stated they were selling some assets and operations to the newly formed company Chrysler Group LLC, with Fiat retaining a 20% stake in the new company.

On June 10, 2009, the sale of most of Chrysler assets to “New Chrysler”, formally known as Chrysler Group LLC, was completed. The federal government financed the deal with $6.6 billion in financing, paid to the “Old Chrysler.” The transfer does not include eight manufacturing locations, nor many parcels of real estate, nor equipment leases. Contracts with the 789 U.S. auto dealerships who are being dropped were not transferred.

By Sherry Jarrell

The secret life of the dog, Part Three

Continuing this fascinating insight into the extraordinary relationship between dogs and man.

If this is your first sight of this multi-part article about dogs then you will need to start at the beginning:

Part One is here.

Part Two is here.

By Paul Handover

The secret life of the dog, Part Two

Continuing this fascinating insight into the extraordinary relationship between dogs and man.

If this is your first sight of this multi-part article about dogs then you will need to start at the beginning:

Part One is here.

By Paul Handover