Time for bed
Unlike the funny pic posted yesterday which clearly has been ‘edited’ this one looks to be genuine.
Thanks to Dan G for forwarding it. Classic!
By Paul Handover
Category: Musings
Carts and horses!
“Don’t chase the money! Chase personal development and let the money chase you!”
This was the parting shot that came to my mind a couple of years ago, at the end of delivering a one week training course to a group of new graduates.
In general, my approach to training is less well suited to people at their stage than it is to people who are motivated by the need to get a job done. However, that is, of course, my “problem”.
Nevertheless, at the end of that particular course, I felt the need to pass on something from my years of supposed experience, however irrelevant that experience might seem to a group of young, newly minted, investment banking people.
Cause and effect
Although I do not remember the source of the quote, it seemed quite apt. I liked the way in which the opening exhortation seemed completely opposed to their motivation. That woke them up! Then the second part gave them a different entry point and restored the connection with that original motivation.
Perhaps the strongest aspect of the quote is, of course, that it attempts to clarify the direction of causation between money and personal development.
It seemed neat at the time, and it still does!
By John Lewis
The Swine Flu “Pandemic”
When is a Pandemic a Pandemic?
[I owe Chris an apology as this Post was prepared for publication on the 20th August and somehow got lost in the works. I believe it is still a relevant and important topic and has not lost any impact from this unintentional delay. Ed.]
The swine flu “pandemic” is to me a very interesting phenomenon. Sadly, it seems typical of the sort of combination of marketing hype and hysteria that is all too common.
I am principally interested in seeing beyond all the media lies and spin to know the TRUTH about what is going on. From what I have so far read the following seems to be true, but if anyone is able to correct me on some issues I would be most grateful.
A view of England – from France.
A work trip to Brittany, France and a chance to reflect on the differences.
I’m sat writing this in my hotel room on the outskirts of Quimper in Brittany. Usual overcast and drizzle but considering I’m only a couple of hundred miles south of home, that’s the only similarity with the Devon weather.
They simply seem to have no comprehension about the recession. There are small signs of some new office building being empty but more buildings seem to have appeared and business appears to be booming. The super market where I have lunch is even busier than last year and the shops are full of people buying things.
What’s the difference?
I’m sure my friend Chris [Chris Snuggs, another author on this Blog] who I used to work for here will be able to say, but I can’t believe it’s all about the main business of food and agriculture, which predominates in this part of the country.
Back home in Devon, the same set of circumstance ought to hold true as it’s mainly agriculture and tourism, just like in Brittany. However there is a vibrancy in Quimper that I find refreshing. And a lack of charity shops!
What can we learn from this?
I was bought up in an environment that did not trust the French and it wasn’t until I got an opportunity to work here 10 years ago I realised that it wasn’t all that I’d been told.
I really like Brittany and its people who are friendly and very welcoming. There is definitely something to learn from this.
By Jon Lavin
The Polanski Affair
France, Polanski and respect for the Law.
I have always associated France with surrealism after, at a fairly young age, seeing those amazing photos of early 1920s surrealist art by Duchamp, Ernst and others. In recent days this surrealist experience has returned with a vengeance in the bizarre case of Roman Polanski, with a reported 62% of French people believing that the arrest of Polanski in Switzerland was an unjustified affront to a long-standing resident “artist” and citizen of France.
The strongest condemnation of this arrest was initially by the French Minister of Culture, Mr Frédéric Mitterand, who said the affair “had no sense” and who expressed his “profound emotion” at the arrest of this “film director of international repute.”
CERN
Is CERN investing in fundamental science or wasting money?
Frankly, any rational assessment of CERN must conclude that it is the most humungous and nonsensical waste of money at a time when millions or even billions of people are threatened by a) starvation and/or death from lack of water and/or b) flooding, burning or freezing caused by Global warming not to mention the wars that are inevitable as 
people (probably mostly in the Middle East, Asia or Africa) start to fight over scarce resources.
The billions spent on this rather esoteric and ridiculous research would be better spent on practical steps to save people and the planet. And, “yes”, I do know that basic research can lead to useful “products”, and I have nothing against research into, for example fusion power. But why we really have to know what happened in the universe one millisecond after it blew up is beyond me, especially given the cost.
Insulting us?
Is this, in the end, how our Governments are treating us?
Yves Smith runs the incredibly successful Blog, Naked Capitalism. Frankly, I have no idea where she finds the time to put together her Posts, many of which are constructed on the back of in-depth research.
On Friday, 16th October there was a Post which has huge implications. It is all about Access Journalism. It needs to be read. Here’s an extract.
Let us start with the cheerleading in the media over Wall Street, and in particular, Goldman earnings. Matt Taibbi, in “Good News on Wall Street Means… What Exactly?,” tells us why this is so distorted:
It’s literally amazing to me that our press corps hasn’t yet managed to draw a distinction between good news on Wall Street for companies like Goldman, and good news in reality.
I watched carefully the reporting of the Dow breaking 10,000 the other day and not anywhere did I see a major news organization include a paragraph of the “On the other hand, so fucking what?” sort, one that might point out that unemployment is still at a staggering high, foreclosures are racing along at a terrifying clip, and real people are struggling more than ever. In fact the dichotomy between the economic health of ordinary people and the traditional “market indicators” is not merely a non-story, it is a sort of taboo — unmentionable in major news coverage.
The press has been on a downslope for at least a decade, as a result of strained budgets and vastly more effective government and business spin control (and it was already pretty good at that, see the BBC series, The Century of the Self, via Google video, for a real eye-opener). I met a reporter who had been overseas for six years, opening an important foreign office for the Wall Street Journal. He was stunned when he came back in 1999 to see how much reporting had changed in his absence. He said it was impossible to get to the bottom of most stories in a normal news cycle because companies had become very sophisticated in controlling their message and access.
As I said, please read the Post in full. Oh, and I see Baseline Scenario picked up on this as well.
By Paul Handover
Insulting us, postscript
Just a few figures that underline reality.
US rent indexes declined in September. Last time this happened was 1992.
US Consumer Price Index fell 1.3%, year on year, in September 2009. Note that it bottomed at -2.1% y/y in July 2009, making it the largest annual contraction since 1949.
September’s US food prices fell (-0.2%) in September, the first annual decline in over 40 years.
US industrial production, as of August, was down (-10.7%) compared to August 2008.
Just a US problem?
Japanese industrial production, as of August, was down (-22.7%) compared to August 2008.
Britain’s industrial production, as of August, was down (-9.3%) compared to August 2008.
Eurozone area industrial production, as of August, was down (-15.9%) compared to August 2008.
Meanwhile the banks steam ahead reporting huge profits ……
Crazy world!
By Paul Handover
The loss of a dear friend?
More than a grain of truth in a ’round robin’.
The Internet has produced many changes to the way we all behave. One of them is the ease by which all sorts of material may be circulated rapidly. Much of it is tittle-tattle but a recent one caught my eye. I was in two minds to publish it but having seen ahead of time Paul’s forthcoming Post about Access Journalism (visible from the 19th onwards) convinced me I should. Make of it what you will.
Use of words – correctness matters!
An opinion survey that generated a very strong opinion!
Most incoming emails that ask me to complete a survey move fairly speedily to the “trash” folder. But, this one seemed 
to be worth looking at. So I did and completed the survey called “Networking and the Sexes” in a few minutes.
But, then I felt compelled to write to the surveyors. I’d be interested to know whether you think that my stance makes sense.
I wrote to them as follows:
Read more about this Post
Learning from Dogs 