IMF economic output forecasts

IMF is forecasting economic output growth for 2009 & 2010 for China 7.5% & 8.5% and for India 5.4% & 6.5% respectively.
The US -2.6% & 0.8% and the EU -4.7% & -0.1%

GG: Methinks that I should seriously consider going back into China and India stocks that have served me so well in the past, where although I liquidated my position six months ahead of their peak, booking some serious profits, I avoided the meltdown.
That's what I going to do when I return from Sifnos. I do miss the adrenaline rush riding those maveric stocks.

GM is coming out of bankruptcy!

GM came out of bankruptcy on Friday after a 40 day holiday in the Chapter 11 "resort".The company’s chief executive, Fritz Henderson, a 25 year old GM veteran, plans to ask more than 400 of the 1,300 executives in the United States to resign or retire.

Do I think that GM is going to make it. Absolutely not. Why?

Well, look at the first photo:

-On the left, global warming denialist Bob Lutz “unretiring” to become a vice chairman responsible for creative elements of products, marketing and customer relationshipsot. Am I in a parallel universe here? Bob Lutz? The person that has expemplified for the last 45 years all that has been wrong with the US auto industry, with his stints in all the Big Three. The Dracula has been resurrected. Isn't there somebody that can drive a wooden stake through this guy?

-In the center, Fritz Henderson, President & CEO, has been with GM for a quarter of a century, the epitomy of the "old" GM.

-On the right, Thomas Stephens, Vice Chairman, Global Product Development, a 40 bloody year GM veteran, responsible for bleeding product, mother of God, development! Mercy!

If the US government, proud owner of 61% of the"new" GM, cannot do any better than this, and Obama thinks that this top team is going to take GM on the road to propesperity, then....BRING ME THE BUCKET!



My reaction when somebody said that GM is now safe and ready to start building great cars again!

View from my hotel room in Sifnos this morning

The speed of light record finally broken!

I just saw it, a bit dated, but it reports that scientist John Singleton insists that Albert Einstein wouldn't be mad at him, even though at first blush Singleton appears to have twisted the famous physicist's theories about light into a pretzel. Most people think Einstein said that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, but that's not really the case, Singleton said. Einstein predicted that particles and information can't travel faster than the speed of light — but phenomenon like radio waves? That's a different story, said Singleton, a Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow. Singleton has created a gadget that abuses radio waves so severely that they finally give in and travel faster than light.

GG: I didn't know that that anything can travel faster than the speed of light. It appears, though, that the famous Einsten rule on the speed of light still holds because it covered only particles and information and not radio waves. Pheeeew!

It had me worried there for a minute.

Are today Americans the modern Turks of the past?

I was watching CNN this morning and saw a report by UNESCO on the dammage American troops have done to the city of Babylon in Iraq and the site of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (The hanging gardens of Babylon) as they used it as a military base. It reminded me of the Turks, when they occupied Greece, using the Parthenon as an ammunition depot that eventually exploded.
What bozos! Americans and Turks alike.

Iraq's U.S.-led invaders inflicted serious damage on Babylon, driving heavy machinery over sacred paths, bulldozing hilltops and digging trenches through one of the world's greatest archaeological sites, experts for UNESCO said Thursday.
"The use of Babylon as a military base was a grave encroachment on this internationally known archaeological site," said a report which the U.N. cultural agency presented in Paris

Off to Sifnos

I am going today to my favourite Greek island, Sifnos, for a week.
It is quite, with a beautiful beach, a reasonably priced hotel on the water and fabulous restaurants, as Sifnos is probably the place with the best food in Greece.
Of course every year, I go and I see the encroachment of the Barbarians, and I know that some day they will '"sack" the island as they have done with most of the other Greek islands. I sincerely hope that the "sacking" will not occur during my life time.
BTW, I might be posting from there.

Down memory lane

I had made arrangements with friends to go, today, for lunch, to an old taverna, a dive in fact, at 12:45 a.m that I used to go 25 years ago, next to a very small office my team and I had rented as I was leading the effort of the $36Million acquisition of IVI on behalf of Pepsico.

The reason was, that the meat served there, then, was exquisite but most importantly it was served on a big kitchen paper ("lathokolla") and no dishes whatsoever.

By 10:30 a.m I had finished a meeting with a consulting client and to kill some time I went to a nearby mall to do some shopping and have my Starbucks "double tall caramel macchiato to go". As I was savouring my hot (only 7% of people in Greece drink their Starbucks hot during summer) macchiato there is John P., a friend I hadn't seen for 25 years. After the typical hugging and kissing we reminisced the youthful days in Beirut and the never ending poker games in Dubai and the hilarious situations created by my friend of primary school days George L.. Aaaaah! the memories. I almost missed my taverna date.
Ah, you want to know how was the meat in the taverna? Exquisite as always. Nothing had changed. No "upgrades" or "improvements". The same old dive. The same fantastic meat.
And of course no dishes, as the photo proves. (Sinopis Str., Ambelokipi, 30m from the "Tower of Athens")

Drinking Wine in Australia Now Cheaper Than Drinking Bottled Water

News.com.au
Unprofitable vineyards in Australia as a result of a wine glut is pulling prices so low that in some cases, bottled water is now more expensive. Across Australia, 31 vineyards have been sold by Foster's, the largest winemaker in the country.
Overoptimism during the last decade due to strong sales abroad has run head-on into a number of factors, including competition overseas, the global financial crisis, and an oversupply of cheap wine.
GG: Sydney here I come!

Anti smoking ads

The story of Pam


Graphic

The epitomy of ignorance and stupidity!

A two-year-old Chinese boy is thought to be the world’s youngest smoker.
Tong Liangliang was taught how to light up by his father, who believed the habit would alleviate pain caused by a hernia.
The toddler now smokes a pack of cigarettes a day and throws a tantrum if he can’t get his fix.

GG: Wipe off that smirk off of your face you moron of a father!

"The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen

This is a good novel. Very well written. The story deals with a mother and her Alzheimer striken husband, that is trying to organise the last Christmas party in the town that she raised her now grown up children that are now living in various cities. As the protagonists are converging towards that Christmas party, their characters, private lives and interactions with the rest of the family are revealed with great lucidity and a straightforwad prose. It is funny, in some places very funny, and in some poignantly dramatic.

Rating 3 out of 5

Dog beer?

Yep it exists. I was given, as a present for Bobby, a bottle of dog beer, from Harrod's, called Bowser Beer, and he loved it, see photo. It is, obviously non alcoholic, contains chicken stock, malt extract, glucosamine and other ingredients. Produced, of course in the States, where else?


GG: Like master like dog

Negotiations seminar

Monday, back in a central London hotel, Milestone Hotel, in Kensington Court, see photo left, where I spent the whole day, Monday, in a one-on-one seminar with a high level executive of a FTSE 250 company. Hence no posts with a twist. I will be catching the "red eye" to Athens same day and will arrive in Athens the wee hours of Tuesday. If I am still awake I might post something of interest. We will see.

Statford-upon-Avon

Great party last night. Saw my Aussie and Kiwi friends and had great laughs.
As usual didn't have the time to visit the lovely and pittoresque town of Stratford-upon-Avon. To tell you the truth given the trade off between spending time with old friends and visiting nice and historical buildings and houses always the former wins.

London!

When you will be reading this I am in London, on my way to Stratford-upon-Avon to attend a party of my friend Joe's daughters and meet the Aussie gang. Last night I had a great sushi dinner with a dear friend of mine at the Japanese restaurant, Matsuri, on Bury Street. Great company, great food, great Kirin Ichiban beer.

Baclofène-The forbidden cure for alcoholism?

A great article in Le Monde in French about a book ,"Le Dernier Verre", translated in English as " The End of my Addiction" written by a cardiology professor, Olivier Ameisen, who found that the muscular relaxant Baclofène cures very effectively alcoholism, liberates the alcoholic of his irrepressible desire to drink ie the end of craving, however, although Baclofène has been commercialised as a muscular relaxant for thirty years now, bureaucracy has prevented the drug to be put in the market with an indication that it can treat alcoholism.

Come on guys, make up yr minds, it either works or it doesn't. It's too serious a malady to be left in the hands of bureaucrats.

Iran. Part II

In continuation of my June 23 post titled "Iran"
I may not know a lot about Iran as I have visited the country and its major cities only 4-5 times and that in the late 80's. I know a bit more about Islam and Islamic republics. I am dead certain, however, that Lila Ghobady, Iranian journalist and filmaker that escaped her country and went to Canada as a refugee, knows much more about Iran. She wrote a powerful article and I would like to quote some parts of it that refer to Mousavi, the other bozo that complains about election irregularities, and in support of whom the West is going out of their way.
She says in her article:

"... There has been no real election. Candidates are all hand-picked and cleared by a central religious committee. It is a farcical imitation of the free nomination/ election process that we have pictured in the free world. There is no possibility that a secular, pluralistic, freedom-loving democratic person who loves his or her country can become a candidate to run for president (or any other office) in Iran..."

".... Mr Mousavi, if elected, will not make any changes, not because he is powerless to do so (as Khatami’s supporters claimed during his presidency), but because he doesn’t believe in a democratic state as his background shows. He belongs to the fanatic dictatorial era of Ayotollah Khomeini and he believes in the same command-and-control system of government. We should not forget Khomeini’s statement in one of his speeches after the revolution about democracy. He said that “if all people of Iran say ‘yes” I would say no to something that I would believe is not right for the Islamic Nation”.
Let us not forget that Mousavi was Prime Minister of Iran in the 1980s when more than ten thousand political prisoners were executed after three-minute sham trials. He has been a part of the Iranian dictatorship system for the past 30 years. If he had not been, he would not be allowed to be a candidate in the first place...."

GG1: Check mate
GG2: Some things never change (see photo). If you want democracy, amigos, get rid of the Ayiotollahs

Animated Statistics

Hans Rosling has developed a fascinating software called Trendalyzer, now acquired by Google and is freely available as a Google gadget, that converts international statistics into moving, interactive very impactful and immensely enjoyable graphics.
I am sharing with you a speech he gave in 2007 where you can see how animated graphics can give you a different view of the world. It's a bit long, 19 minutes, but one doesn't need to watch it all to get the drift of his message. If you want, for better understanding, click "View subtitles" and select "English".
Enjoy it.

The Single Unified Theory of Parenting

This is a very simple but extremely effective theory. Its core concept is "boundaries". In other words, the parent sets boundaries to his child that are:
1-Simple
2-Crystal clear
3-Non negotiable
4-Continuously enforced

Examples of boundaries:
Eating- Where: sitting on a chair from a table. How: using fork and knife. When: On specific times. NOT: lying on the sofa, floor, watching TV, using fingers and whenever they feel like it
Playing- Where: certain playing areas of the house. How: put toys back to where they are usually stored. When: During playtime. NOT: Wherever they want in the house, whenever they want, and leaving everything scattered on the floor after they finish
Sleeping- Where: in their own bedroom. How: with the parent helping the child to fall asleep for 10-15 minutes. When: At specific time at night. NOT: Sleeping in his parent bed, whenever they want, watching TV
Same principles apply with studying, sleep overs, watching TV etc.
It's hard at the beginning but then its a breeze. Trust me it works. Of course, the younger the child the easier this theory is accepted, however, its never too late.

Off to the beach with my grandson today to continue the mentoring of the Kenny Rogers theory summarised in his epic (!) song The Gambler:
"... if youre gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.
You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em..."

New horizons for charities!

A charity in the Saudi capital Riyadh has come up with a novel incentive to encourage young men to quit smoking - an all-expenses-paid wedding.
Hundreds of men have expressed interest in the anti-smoking drive, including a non-smoker who was ready to start the habit just so he could take part.
Banners in Riyadh are advertising the campaign slogan: "Kicking the habit is on you, and marriage is on us."

The name of the grand prize winner will be decided in a draw on 6 August. Twenty runners-up will get free furniture.

GG: Only in Saudi!

Finally.

Top mobile telephone suppliers have agreed to back an EU-wide harmonisation of phone chargers, the European Commission said today, hailing the pact as good news for consumers and the environment.
The agreement by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, RIM, Samsung and Texas Instrument and other industry majors will mean that telephones compatible with standard charging are available in Europe from next year, said the EU executive, which has pushed for such a deal.
"People will not have to throw away their charger whenever they buy a new phone," said EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, estimating that unwanted phone accessories accounted for thousands of tonnes of waste in Europe each year.
GG: A tad late you guys, but better late than never.

I' ll be darned!

Did you know that in certain states in the US it was illegal to collect rain water, and only now, some states are reversing these old laws?
Amazing!
Photo showing a farmer illegally harvesting rain water. As of now, however, he will not be considered a "criminal"
Too many laws, almost all are enforced. Too much control. I don't like it!

Parenting

Yesterday, my daughter, Maraki, came over and we went out to lunch and spent some fantastic quality time together. As you may know, Maraki has read at least 250 books on parenting, the authors of which, I believe, should be hanged in a public place for the destruction of the last two generations of our youth. During our time together, Maraki, for the first time since George Jr. was born, agreed to my Single Unified Theory of Parenting! Not only agreed, but will proceed to start executing it, and asked me to take over as project manager, of the subset that has to do with George's studying when schools open in September, whilst of course ,continuing my beach mentoring of George till then, as apparently, George has been very positively affected by it.
Yihaaaa! I am ecstatic.
Ah! you want to know what is my Single Unified Theory of Parenting? Well, read tomorrow's post. Hahaha!

Do you think this summer fashion is going to catch on?

My birthday girl

Today is Maraki's birthday
Kissing one of the three loves of my life. George Jr. and Popi being the other two.

"The Proposal" by Anne Fletcher with Sandra Bullock, Ryan Nelson

Finally, a very enjoyable movie. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to spend a couple of hours, preferably in an open air cinema (if you drink a couple of ice cold Corona's while watching it, so much the better), watching a light american comedy with a funny plot, great comic situations (the routine with the Latino male stripper was absolutely hilarious), great one liners, (te "Mama Cas" punch line at the very end of the movie just cracked me up) and excellent and timed delivery by Sandra Bullock and surprisingly by Ryan Nelson, whose acting in the past had underwhelmed me. BTW, Ryan has great abs, eat your heart out Matthew McConaughey. Sandra after a series of films that bombed royally, she is back with this one.

I had months to laugh so much. I had a great time, and that's why I am giving it a 4 out of 5 rating

"In the Electric Mist" by Bertrand Tavernier with Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman

This movie is based on James Lee Burke's best selling novel "In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead" and is proof that there are some great books that cannot be transferred to the silver screen. The whole plot with these surreal dream sequences etc work in a book, its an unmitigated disaster, however, when you see them on the screen. The final straw that broke the camel's back for me was when the hero solved a murder case based on a vision he had, where he saw how the murder was done, and got advice from a dead Confederate general. Bring me the bucket!

Rating 2 out of 5.

"Taken" by Pierre Morel with Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen

This is an action movie where Liam Neeson, of all people, is a total killing machine, that spreads mayhem in Paris so unrealistically, that makes you wonder how an actor, of Liam's caliber, didn't throw the script in the waste basket when he read it the first time. Maybe he needed the money, "who's to know" as an old Americanised Egyptian colleague of mine used to say, whenever he didn't know the answer, which was very very often, to a business problem. Liam, was totally out of place as was his lame acting. There were some good one liners but Liam's delivery, always one click too late, made them sound ridiculous.

This movie would have been better served if Jason Statham (see photo right) was in it, in lieu of Liam, you know Jason of the "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", "Snatch", "Collateral", "Bank Job" fame.

Rating 2 out of 5

"The Burning Plain" by Guillermo Arriaga with Charlize (goddess) Theron, Kim Basinger

I went to see it although it played in an open air cinema with very uncomfortable seats that require one year of physiotherapy after you sit in them for more than an hour, only because goddess Charlize was in the movie.

The biggest mistake I made was that I didn't listen to a friend at intermission to "blow the joint" and stayed till the end. A mistake of giga proportions. End result is that the movie gets very leniently a 1 in 5 rating and I got a terrible pain in my back because of the awful seats. What a bummer.

Sexual pecadillos across the political divide by Paul Krugman

I loved the quote. Tought you might love it too:
"First of all, there’s a difference in what bothers them. When a liberal politician engages in sexual betrayal, what bothers his erstwhile supporters is the betrayal. When a conservative politician does it, what bothers the supporters is the sex."

GG: You are a 10 in my book, Paul

The Parthenon marbles poll

If you believe it's time for the Parthenon marbles to return to Greece go to
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/poll/2009/jun/24/elgin-marbles and vote.

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF VOTING!

2012 Presidential race- A piece of cake for Obama

All the Republican presidential hopefuls for the 2012 race are imploding on sexual impropriety issues.
John Ensign: Republican Senator for Nevada. On June 16, 2009, he admitted that he had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff. According to an aide, the woman's husband was also a member of Mr. Ensign's official Senate staff. He was very active in "Promise Keepers" a Christian evangelical ministry. Promise Keeper what an irony!

Mark Sanford: Republican Governor of South Carolina. He admitted on Wednesday to an extramarital affair and to misleading people about his whereabouts for a week after going MIA (Missing In Action) and AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave).
As a congressman, he voted to impeach President Bill Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky affair. “He lied under a different oath, and that’s the oath to his wife,” Mr. Sanford said at the time on CNN. “So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.” Another irony here.

GG: Sarah Palin looks terrific compared to these bozos. Go Sarah, become the GOP presidential candidate. Hahaha!

Faites vos jeux!

Staff at Goldman Sachs can look forward to the biggest bonus payouts in the firm's 140-year history after a spectacular first half of the year, sparking concern that the big investment banks which survived the credit crunch will derail financial regulation reforms.
A lack of competition and a surge in revenues from trading foreign currency, bonds and fixed-income products has sent profits at Goldman Sachs soaring, according to insiders at the firm.

GG: The casino has opened again!

The three stages of mentoring George

The pick up

When George Jr caves in to his papou, he salutes militarily (with a twist of GG's irony)

When GG caves in, George Jr is all over his papou, forcing a military salute

Spending time with George makes my life worth living for!

Resveratrol. The elixir of life

In case you haven't seen it

On the new law, in Greece, banning smoking in public places as of July first 2009

A very good friend of mine, Christine, sent me this below, to remimd me that the problem in Greece is not lack of laws but lack of enforcement of the existing laws. For those who do not speak Greek or do not understand "clean" Greek this is a law published by King Otto of Greece and signed by Queen Amalia on his behalf, dated 31 July 1856, banning smoking in government offices!!

BTW, we are 6 days away from the enforcement date and I haven't seen a single night club building these glass boxes that will cage the smokers as per the new law. Immortal Greece!

That's the way Barack! Sock it to them!

Barack Obama today signed a bill that gives the FDA unprecedented control over the tobacco industry. The new law places very tight restrictions on the nicotine levels, flavorings, packaging, and advertising of tobacco products.
The president cited his own inability to stop smoking as a reason for passing the legislation and claims that most smokers are lured by tobacco companies at or before the age of 18. "It is a law that will save American lives," Obama said.

I wish I would live to see the day when a Greek defeated PM would praise his opponent

Speaking on 'Face the Nation' defeated Republican presidential candidate John McCain said that while there "really hasn't been that change in the climate in Washington" since the election Obama has done well thus far.
"I think he's done well... If you want to look at a legislative scorecard, he has achieved literally every one of his legislative (goals)," said McCain.

GG: McCain you are truly a statesman!

"The Brothers Bloom" by Riam Johnson with Mark Ruffallo, Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody

How could one give this movie a miss? Two Oscar winners, Weisz ("The Constant Gardener") and Brody ("The Pianist"), Ruffalo's respectable filmography, in addition to Weisz's beautiful and classy looks. WRONG! The movie on the life of these two con brothers was very boring and the various twists and turns of the plot, quite predictable. Net it was so BORING, that I walked out of the cinema at intermission. AGAIN. Walking out of movies half way through has now become a common occurence for me, either because my level of tolerance has recently lowered and my fuse shortened or the movies coming out of Hollywood recently are crappola, or both.

Based on the first half of the movie I give it a 2 out of 5 as the acting of the three heroes was above average.

Iran

I really don't understand all this ballyhoo of the West about the election results in Iran. Elections, in Iran, do not follow "Queen's Rules", never did and cannot do, for a few more decades, because of obsolete infrastructure of voters registries etc., and that's why they mark the voters fingers with unwashable ink etc. Rigged means false counting a la Florida. Rigged means casting votes inappropriately. So the West believes that 11 million votes were rigged? Is this the problem? Are our high faluting principles of democracy being molested by Iran and this calls for a reaction from our part or is it that we don't like the bozo that won? Well that's one of the problems of democracy. If a bozo wins fairly and squarely, a la Hamas in the West Bank, then shut up and swim as the joke goes.
Can one please enlighten me, because I am really getting cheesed off here. We accept the Saudi king and all the unelected emirs in the Arab Peninsula, we accept Hosni Mubarak's election results all these years that have been fodder for the best Arab jokes, "noktas", for the last 50 years, we nod approval when Hosni is passing the "baton" to his son, "democratically", following Assad's example in Syria, or the ascension to the Presidency of Pakistan by the despicable Zardani, aka Mr. 10%, crooked husband of slain Benazir, the totally rigged election of criminal Robert Mugabe for the presidency of Zimbabwe etc, and we are upset with Ahmedinejad who won with 11 million votes difference? And do you think the other guy, Mousavi, is less of a bozo than the current guy, or less trigger happy with the nuclear switch? How about the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's "Supreme Leader" of this theocracy, anybody with a title like this must be trouble, and his recent verbal garbage against the British government? BTW, Ayiatollah means in Persian, "Signs of Allah". Whenever you see the name of Allah used in naming political parties a la Hezbollah ("Party of God") or political leaders a la Nasrallah ( "Victory of Allah") or title a la Ayiatollah etc pack a gun.
In all of this, one should keep in mind that Islam, intrisically, does not accept the core principle of democracy, that gives people the freedom to choose its leaders (btw, Islam means surrender). Let's also not forget that the Iranian leadership see the West and the US in particular, as the strong supporters, providing weapons to an Iraqi dictator, who waged war against them for 8 years, costing them 1 nillion dead (whilst he was gasing Iraqi citizens (Kurds)), and put Iran's development 20 years back. And then saw the same infidel allies of the dictator, turn against him and destroy him along with his country. And you think that they will bow to them kafirs (infidels), now, because of some election irregularities? You must be smoking cheap Moroccan hashish if you believe that.
They will press the nuclear button before they redo the elections.
Adding salt on open wounds mate, is not the right strategy here. Too much fuss for a lot of theoretical BS.
Bring me the bucket.

PS: In the event you didn't know, let me give you two directives vis a vis Christians and Jews from the Qu'ran, which, by the way, is not just a holy book but a book written by God himself :

"From those, too, who call themselves Christians, We did take a covenant, but they forgot a good part of the message that was sent them: so we estranged them, with enmity and hatred between the one and the other, to the day of judgment. And soon will Allah show them what it is they have done." Qu'ran 5:014

" O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors (over the Muslims): They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily God guideth not a people unjust" Qu'ran 5:051

Also remember that Iran is called The Islamic Republic of Iran, run by Ayatiollahs where Sari'a is the law of the land, where they still hang people because of their homosexuality and are putting acid in the eyes of a person that caused blindness to another person following to the letter the ancient biblical law "An eye for an eye"! (see post of 2/21/09 with the same title)

"O ye people of the West wake up" GG 101

High -heeled, red-soled Christian Loboutin shoes in Royal Ascot

Banning white coats for doctors!

The American Medical Association voted last week to recommend that hospitals ban doctors' iconic white lab coats, citing evidence that the garment contributes to the spread of infection. Indeed a number of studies have shown that the coats harbor potentially harmful bacteria in addition to the classic "white coat hypertension" syndrome where patients exhibit higher systolic blood pressure at a doctor's office.

A recent US study showed that although only 1 in 8 doctors wear a white coat at work, patients are more likely (73%) to trust a doctor if he were wearing a white coat instead of any other attire.

GG: I really don't care what doctors wear at work, as long as they are good in their profession

The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness

I read this extremely interesting paper by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers both from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where they show that American women’s satisfaction with life has declined since the 1970s, both absolutely and relative to men.This is puzzling, because there can be no doubt that since the 70s women’s real freedom has increased hugely. They have more and better educational and job opportunities, better control over their fertility, are more able to flee bad partnerships and - thanks to technical progress - can spend less time on household chores. The paradox of women’s declining relative well-being is found across various datasets, measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups and industrialized countries. It suggests freedom doesn’t improve well-being.A new gender gap is now emerging, one with higher subjective well-being for men.
One possible explanation for this paradox, and I tend to agree with it, is given in a paper by Daniel M. Haybron of St Louis University who postulates that increased freedom of choice increases the probability of chosing wrongly.

A Lebanese night to forget

Just back from "The Garden of Eden" Lebanese restaurant in Glyfada. I was stunned. The food there bore absolutely no resemblance to Lebanese food or even general Arabic food for that matter. The "fool" (beans) was absolutely horrible, The "tambouleh" salad was unrecognisable, the "falafels" uneatable, the "homos" terrible and the "kebabs" were so bad that I didn't take any with me for Bobby knowing that my dog wouldn't come near to these monstrosities. The young men and women were smoking their "hubbly bubbly" (water pipes), projecting the image of being "in" as water pipe smoking in Athens is now quite fashionable (bring me the bucket) as attested by the proliferation of "sisha clubs"in the city. The music was pseudo modern Arabo disco, with some beaty interludes. Gave me the shivers. Then there was this young belly dancer that was totally clueless, with the prime objective of shoving her gyrating belly button in your face. And the funny thing was that the patrons of the establishment looked like loving the "exotic" food and actively participating in what they perceived as authentic oriental dancing. Blissful in their ignorance.
NEVER again this restaurant. NEVER!
PS: Water Pipe=Shisha=Narghile=Goza=Hubbly Bubbly

Modern speak for $300 an hour consultants (sent by Maraki)

Useful stuff for me as I've started consulting again!

• Disambiguate: To remove ambiguities. To make clear. (Ironic, yes)? Apparently used extensively by software developers, as in: "Before we go gold, we need to disambiguate the help menu verbiage."
• Centergistic: Focusing on one main goal or purpose. "We need to keep this meeting centergistic if we're going to make our deadline."
• Leveraging knowledge capital: Stealing someone else's work or idea (program code, presentation, etc.) and then changing a few things to make it your own.
• Prepone: To move forward in time. The opposite of postpone. "The Wednesday meeting has been preponed to Tuesday."
• Budgetunity: An "opportunity" for innovative budgeting, such as: "The shortfall in revenue has given the governor a budgetunity." (So that's how all our economic trouble started).
• Conversate: To have a conversation. Created by those who (for some bizarre reason) don't think "converse" or "talk" are adequate.
• BFO: Blinding Flash of the Obvious. "Jack is having another one of his BFO moments."
• Blamestorming: A group process where participants analyze a failed project and look for scapegoats other than themselves.
• Innovicide: (Loving this one) To kill a new idea. "Jack's concept was brilliant, but management committed innovicide again."
• PowerPoint Singalong: (Adoring this one) A presentation read verbatim from the slides, without extemporaneous observations, notes, comments or asides of any kinds. Monotone delivery optional.