Thursday, October 07, 2010
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
"If things are so bad, why is the market going up every day?"
From Seeking Alpha:
The answer to that is easy - it's money printing. While it may seem that we are all richer because the market raced almost 10% higher in September, and is starting October in the same way, the truth is that because the dollar is turning into toilet paper - the value of your increased investment portfolios was offset by the loss of your purchasing power. If your investments went up 10% - those same investments afforded about 10% less goods. So all in all, it was a month of illusions to make you feel better. Take a look:
(Courtesy of StockCharts.com)
This is the S&P 500 priced in a basket of 17 commodities that most people use through yesterday. Today, that price is lower yet again. While it seemed like the stock market was making everyone richer last month, when priced in a basket of goods most people need to survive, the market went nowhere. As a matter of fact, as you can see, since May of this year, the stock market is 16% LOWER against the price of goods. The S&P 500 that you see printed in the financial news is priced in US Dollars. This is what that chart looks like:
Is it just me, or do you see anything different between the two?
This tells me there is a great fraud being committed against the American people, and its name is undercover inflation. It also makes me realize that America needs a new direction of leadership from the kind it has seen the past 30+ years since fiat currency was allowed to steal from the prudent. Make sure you vote next month with this in mind.
Finally, it tells me that things aren't as rosy as the media wants to tell you or the market is saying. For that reason, we suggest you remain as we are, "optimistically scared" when you choose investments, and own only companies who sell products people have to buy and pay dividends to you in the meantime.
The answer to that is easy - it's money printing. While it may seem that we are all richer because the market raced almost 10% higher in September, and is starting October in the same way, the truth is that because the dollar is turning into toilet paper - the value of your increased investment portfolios was offset by the loss of your purchasing power. If your investments went up 10% - those same investments afforded about 10% less goods. So all in all, it was a month of illusions to make you feel better. Take a look:
(Courtesy of StockCharts.com)
This is the S&P 500 priced in a basket of 17 commodities that most people use through yesterday. Today, that price is lower yet again. While it seemed like the stock market was making everyone richer last month, when priced in a basket of goods most people need to survive, the market went nowhere. As a matter of fact, as you can see, since May of this year, the stock market is 16% LOWER against the price of goods. The S&P 500 that you see printed in the financial news is priced in US Dollars. This is what that chart looks like:
Is it just me, or do you see anything different between the two?
This tells me there is a great fraud being committed against the American people, and its name is undercover inflation. It also makes me realize that America needs a new direction of leadership from the kind it has seen the past 30+ years since fiat currency was allowed to steal from the prudent. Make sure you vote next month with this in mind.
Finally, it tells me that things aren't as rosy as the media wants to tell you or the market is saying. For that reason, we suggest you remain as we are, "optimistically scared" when you choose investments, and own only companies who sell products people have to buy and pay dividends to you in the meantime.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
They are part of the selection that will join more than 100 other prize-winning photographs, including the overall winning images, when the exhibition debuts at the Natural History Museum, London, on 22 October. It will then tour nationally and internationally after it's debut in the capital after 11 March 2011. More than one million visitors are expected to have seen the exhibition once the tour is complete.
Now in its 46th year, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is an international showcase for the very best nature photography. The competition is owned by two UK institutions that pride themselves on revealing and championing the diversity of life on Earth - the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine. It is an international leader in the artistic representation of the natural world and a competition that photographers worldwide, professional and amateur, aspire to win.
Each year thousands of entries are received and judged by a specially selected expert panel. The winners are announced at an awards ceremony that takes place later this month at the Natural History Museum, London.
The 2011 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition opens for entries in January.
Photo captions: (Above) A carcass-eye view by Juergen Ross (Germany). Category: Behaviour: Mammals -Highly Commended. A feeding lioness is framed by the carcass of a giraffe at South Africa's Kruger National Park.
(Top of page)Sunset moment by Olivier Puccia (France). Category: Urban Wildlife - Highly Commended. Overlooking Ramtek in Maharashtra, western India, Hanuman langurs find the highest point from which to admire the sunset. Squeezed out of their forest homes by deforestation, Hanuman langurs have become part of urban life in many parts of India.
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
China's army of coach potatoes
A new survey has revealed that more than a quarter of China's 1.3 billion people have now officially been classified as overweight or obese Photo: AP
Despite hopes that the 2008 Games would instil a healthy new appetite for sport, the vast majority of the host nation will spend the entire fortnight watching their heroes on television rather than emulating them in swimming pools or running tracks.
There is, however, a good excuse for such slothfulness: while the Peoples' Republic has spent vast amounts of money hothousing individual athletes through intensive training programmes, hardly any has been spent on public sporting facilities.
As a result, China is home to to what could one day become the world's largest army of couch potatoes - their ranks boosted an increasing fondness for Western junk food.Beijing teenager Wang Sen is among them. Aged 14, he already weighs 12.5 stone, and is well aware of why. "I like Big Macs and pizza," he admitted to The Sunday Telegraph. However, it is not just his diet alone that is to blame. Although he attends two PE lessons a week at school, his parents - anxious for him to succeed in a highly-competitive job market - would prefer to see him get into university rather than spending time on an athletics track.
"I prefer playing computer games, I think they're more interesting," said Wang. "My parents would rather I concentrate on my studies than sport. I have an English lesson with an American teacher every day after school and do music lessons as well."
For all the attention lavished on the Olympic Games by the state, a new survey has revealed that more than a quarter of the country's 1.3 billion people have now officially been classified as overweight or obese. Experts predicting that could double by 2028, posing a serious threat to China's health system and putting a brake on the country's economic growth.
"The impact of poor diet, inactivity and obesity on medical costs, labour productivity and national production are very large," said the author of the study Barry M Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina's Population Centre.
More demanding jobs and increasingly hectic lifestyles mean that even those Chinese keen on sport have no chance to do any. More.
SHOOT: This means over 300 million Chinese are obese or overweight; that's the entire population of the USA. I shouldn't talk, I'm overweight right now. My BMI is 26 and it should be 18-23. What's yours?
The one-in-a-million photo of Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods gives us the greatest golf photo you'll ever see
Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.
Check that photo from the weekend's Ryder Cup action. No, it's not staged or Photoshopped. That's really Tiger Woods hitting a golf ball straight at the camera.
How'd it happen? By mistake. The cameraman, Mark Pain of the Daily Mail, was in the proper position on the 18th hole when Woods flat-out duffed his shot. The ball hit Pain's camera and dropped to the ground. But unlike many instances when Woods and caddy Stevie Williams have taken issue with photographers, Tiger had nothing to say here. He knew he was in the wrong, not Pain.
(Aside: best part of the gallery in this picture? The smiling dude with the cigar on the right side of the frame. He's the only thing about this photo that looks fake.)
[Photos: See more of Tiger Woods at the Ryder Cup ]
Of course, the fact that the photographer was in the right didn't stop Woods from offering Pain a withering glare as he left the course:
Bravo, Mr. Pain. It's the rare photographer that can claim to have taken a golf shot to the face.
Monday, October 04, 2010
The View from my Bicycle [COLUMN]
What's Natural? - by Nick van der Leek
Over the past 8 days I have visited 4 different private game reserves, and the 2 game drives per day had become a routine. Yesterday, driving back to Port Elizabeth, and the sea, through the grotty, litter strewn landscape of areas such as Motherwell, I felt a very deep paradigm shift. Shacks piled onto the verges of open cesspools, flapping garbage on a landscape as far as the eye could see, and human locusts moving about through the slum. The only thing I saw that left me with a little hope were solar geezers fitted to a few dozen shacks, with at least one of them already vandalised. What was this paradigm shift you ask?
During just 8 days in the wild, barely a week, and just 1/50th of a year, I came to appreciate the plight of animals in nature that I'm not sure if I have before. Against the background of Rhino poaching in South Africa [and on route to these reserves were advertisements for Rhino 'tip off' lines], I started to appreciate the daily toll on animals.
For example in Shamwari we came across a slain adult male lion. It had been killed by an enormous cat, a rival younger male, who did not countenance this last foray into his territory. You must remember, all these creatures are driven by instinct, but they are buffeted by the limits [the fences] of a reserve. If a territory is lost, a lion can't go off and find another one. In any event, the old male [born at Shamwari] had its hip broken by the new king, the sounds of their 2am tussle heard by the rangers at Eagle's Cragg. Later in the morning, the king breathed his last.
It is interesting to see the reaction the rangers and tourists have to a dead lion. Lying in the road, I even felt disinclined to take photos. The rangers also say that this is an animal they won't allow to just lie there; they will bury it. Our ranger noted the extent to which the rangers become attached to individual animals, their minds filled with a cache of recollections - where these same animals enthralled celebrities and ordinary visitors.
It is not only the large animals that made an impression. At a camp called Idwala a Rock Thrush repeatedly pecked at its reflection in my bathroom window. A unit below mine had sunbirds doing the same thing. One was so actively chasing its own reflection it found its way into the room and the next resident had to shoo it out. These are birds are simply doing what nature has hardwired into them, an effective strategy to keep their species in the survival game. See, being territorial is a personality trait which invites confrontation between the same species. So if it isn't bad enough trying to survive the depredations of man, and other predators [for sunbirds it might be snakes, cats, crows and other raptors], they also have to stay fit enough to maintain their own territories against rivals.
On a game drive in Addo my guide played the beautiful call of an Olive Bush Shrike and sure enough, the shrike stopped its own song and cautiously approached the vehicle. In spite of our presence, it was driven to find tghe intruder. But the shrike always cleverly remained in the thick core of bushes, not once sitting in an exposed branch poking into the sky. Bokmakkieries were even more aggressive.
At one point we witnessed 3 lions moving over a wide plains. Zebra, Blesbok and one or two other species all froze in unison, and for around half an hour all activity, among perhaps a hundred animals or more, came to a compete standstill. There was no eating, all horned heads turned to watch the lions. All waiting for the move from a lion, and that would mean certain death for one of the herd. The move never materialised while we were there, and at dusk, the lions were still resting. But it occurred to me as we left, that while we could go home to dinner and a warm shelter, both the lions and the Blesbok [which were still near to each other] would go through the night - either the lions would go hungry or the Blesbok would have to find a way to get enough rest and stay alert. Imagine that; having a killer occupying an area where you are meant to be sleeping. Sleep too soundly and you're dead. Sleep too little and the deprivation could ruin your ability to respond to an attack. All the while you are exposed to the elements. And even a small injury can be disastrous - cutting a leg on a piece of wire, or a thorn, or a sharp stone. Catching an infection off a tick or a bird or another animal.
All of these dramas played out, and I had to remind myself that beyond the confines of a reserve the pressure would be even more immense. Returning to Port Elizabeth I read about Andre Nel attempting suicide after his pregnant wife discovered he had been sleeping with several prostitutes. Malema bleating greedily about mine nationalisation. And not much else. It occurred to me then, as it does now, how petty our individual wants and needs are, next to the ordinary but immense pressures of survival. It seemed to me that many of the animals I encountered were happy. And perhaps happiness is a fleeting opportunity to be young and strong, and in one's prime. That is why we are here. And when we ask ourselves, what is natural, the answers may be surprising. Should we wash our teeth with toothpaste, when animals can live out the course of their lives without? What should we be eating to discount the use of toothpaste then? When we wash dishes, is it really necessary to use soap, given that immediately after cooking dishes are covered in soft water-based fluids and oils. Each time we use soap we foul the environment at the end of the drain.
When I think of those fragile, long-beaked sunbirds flying into their own reflections, I cannot help but feel sorry for the animals, and the painstaking efforts and sensitivities programmed into them to assure their survival. The presence of man creates havoc. Think of moths that fly circles around lights all night. As Richard Dawkins writes in THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, "The fact of our own existence is almost too surprising to bear." But when one considers the existence of the other creatures that used to be part of our common experience, when one considers how our normal experience has been replaced with lights and signals and noise, we humans have become divorced from nature. In the cities we develop injuries of the soul that never heal. We only feel those wounds out here, with the animals. But all too soon, we're back at our machines and distractions, forgetful of what is natural and good.
Over the past 8 days I have visited 4 different private game reserves, and the 2 game drives per day had become a routine. Yesterday, driving back to Port Elizabeth, and the sea, through the grotty, litter strewn landscape of areas such as Motherwell, I felt a very deep paradigm shift. Shacks piled onto the verges of open cesspools, flapping garbage on a landscape as far as the eye could see, and human locusts moving about through the slum. The only thing I saw that left me with a little hope were solar geezers fitted to a few dozen shacks, with at least one of them already vandalised. What was this paradigm shift you ask?
During just 8 days in the wild, barely a week, and just 1/50th of a year, I came to appreciate the plight of animals in nature that I'm not sure if I have before. Against the background of Rhino poaching in South Africa [and on route to these reserves were advertisements for Rhino 'tip off' lines], I started to appreciate the daily toll on animals.
For example in Shamwari we came across a slain adult male lion. It had been killed by an enormous cat, a rival younger male, who did not countenance this last foray into his territory. You must remember, all these creatures are driven by instinct, but they are buffeted by the limits [the fences] of a reserve. If a territory is lost, a lion can't go off and find another one. In any event, the old male [born at Shamwari] had its hip broken by the new king, the sounds of their 2am tussle heard by the rangers at Eagle's Cragg. Later in the morning, the king breathed his last.
It is interesting to see the reaction the rangers and tourists have to a dead lion. Lying in the road, I even felt disinclined to take photos. The rangers also say that this is an animal they won't allow to just lie there; they will bury it. Our ranger noted the extent to which the rangers become attached to individual animals, their minds filled with a cache of recollections - where these same animals enthralled celebrities and ordinary visitors.
It is not only the large animals that made an impression. At a camp called Idwala a Rock Thrush repeatedly pecked at its reflection in my bathroom window. A unit below mine had sunbirds doing the same thing. One was so actively chasing its own reflection it found its way into the room and the next resident had to shoo it out. These are birds are simply doing what nature has hardwired into them, an effective strategy to keep their species in the survival game. See, being territorial is a personality trait which invites confrontation between the same species. So if it isn't bad enough trying to survive the depredations of man, and other predators [for sunbirds it might be snakes, cats, crows and other raptors], they also have to stay fit enough to maintain their own territories against rivals.
On a game drive in Addo my guide played the beautiful call of an Olive Bush Shrike and sure enough, the shrike stopped its own song and cautiously approached the vehicle. In spite of our presence, it was driven to find tghe intruder. But the shrike always cleverly remained in the thick core of bushes, not once sitting in an exposed branch poking into the sky. Bokmakkieries were even more aggressive.
At one point we witnessed 3 lions moving over a wide plains. Zebra, Blesbok and one or two other species all froze in unison, and for around half an hour all activity, among perhaps a hundred animals or more, came to a compete standstill. There was no eating, all horned heads turned to watch the lions. All waiting for the move from a lion, and that would mean certain death for one of the herd. The move never materialised while we were there, and at dusk, the lions were still resting. But it occurred to me as we left, that while we could go home to dinner and a warm shelter, both the lions and the Blesbok [which were still near to each other] would go through the night - either the lions would go hungry or the Blesbok would have to find a way to get enough rest and stay alert. Imagine that; having a killer occupying an area where you are meant to be sleeping. Sleep too soundly and you're dead. Sleep too little and the deprivation could ruin your ability to respond to an attack. All the while you are exposed to the elements. And even a small injury can be disastrous - cutting a leg on a piece of wire, or a thorn, or a sharp stone. Catching an infection off a tick or a bird or another animal.
All of these dramas played out, and I had to remind myself that beyond the confines of a reserve the pressure would be even more immense. Returning to Port Elizabeth I read about Andre Nel attempting suicide after his pregnant wife discovered he had been sleeping with several prostitutes. Malema bleating greedily about mine nationalisation. And not much else. It occurred to me then, as it does now, how petty our individual wants and needs are, next to the ordinary but immense pressures of survival. It seemed to me that many of the animals I encountered were happy. And perhaps happiness is a fleeting opportunity to be young and strong, and in one's prime. That is why we are here. And when we ask ourselves, what is natural, the answers may be surprising. Should we wash our teeth with toothpaste, when animals can live out the course of their lives without? What should we be eating to discount the use of toothpaste then? When we wash dishes, is it really necessary to use soap, given that immediately after cooking dishes are covered in soft water-based fluids and oils. Each time we use soap we foul the environment at the end of the drain.
When I think of those fragile, long-beaked sunbirds flying into their own reflections, I cannot help but feel sorry for the animals, and the painstaking efforts and sensitivities programmed into them to assure their survival. The presence of man creates havoc. Think of moths that fly circles around lights all night. As Richard Dawkins writes in THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, "The fact of our own existence is almost too surprising to bear." But when one considers the existence of the other creatures that used to be part of our common experience, when one considers how our normal experience has been replaced with lights and signals and noise, we humans have become divorced from nature. In the cities we develop injuries of the soul that never heal. We only feel those wounds out here, with the animals. But all too soon, we're back at our machines and distractions, forgetful of what is natural and good.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Solar Insights
In any event when I went to photograph the above vehicle all of the other 4 teams were still on the road, and an hour later had still not arrived.
In the end I left, drove 20 km on the N2 towards the other vehicles and still did not see them! Maybe solar power is coming along, but South Africa is a way behind. Organisers say they expect around 20 teams at the next challenge; hopefully we'll see a continued increase in quality as the quantity of competing teams increase.
Interestingly, the Japanese team were charging the battery for the entire time I was there. This is in case tomorrow's weather is not sunny. This afternoon's sunshine then provides the impetus for their journey tomorrow, even if the sun doesn't shine.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The religious don't know much about religion [SURVEY]
A new survey of Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths.
Forty-five percent of Roman Catholics who participated in the study didn't know that, according to church teaching, the bread and wine used in Holy Communion is not just a symbol, but becomes the body and blood of Christ.
More than half of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the person who inspired the Protestant Reformation. And about four in 10 Jews did not know that Maimonides, one of the greatest rabbis and intellectuals in history, was Jewish.
The survey released Tuesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life aimed to test a broad range of religious knowledge, including understanding of the Bible, core teachings of different faiths and major figures in religious history. The U.S. is one of the most religious countries in the developed world, especially compared to largely secular Western Europe, but faith leaders and educators have long lamented that Americans still know relatively little about religion.
Respondents to the survey were asked 32 questions with a range of difficulty, including whether they could name the Islamic holy book and the first book of the Bible, or say what century the Mormon religion was founded. On average, participants in the survey answered correctly overall for half of the survey questions.
Atheists and agnostics scored highest, with an average of 21 correct answers, while Jews and Mormons followed with about 20 accurate responses. Protestants overall averaged 16 correct answers, while Catholics followed with a score of about 15.
SHOOT: They should do a survey on Christians to assess how many Christians have studied how their bible was written, and how the language evolved. For example many will be surprised to learn that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. This is possibly where the saying 'it's all Greek to me originated'. And perhaps it should have remained so.
Another fascinating insight into the bible is that the story of Joseph is considered one of the oldest works of fiction [almost like a novel] in history, and was conceived in order to connect the first five books [or Pentateuch] of the bible into a more cohesive whole.
And I find it interesting that of the Jews living in Israel, a majority are atheists, and there are more Muslim Christians than Jewish Christians. Jews know their own religion is a con, but the biggest suckers of all are the Christians who took on a religion 'made for' Jews and expanded the chosen people theme to themselves. While the bible may be filled with ironies and subjectivity's, it is a mistake to dismiss it as unimportant. It may not be the truth the way we hoped or believe it was, but the cultural impact of humanity is, of course, enormous, and in that respect alone deserves a modicum of respect.
Monday, September 27, 2010
The View from my Bicycle [COLUMN]
I'm at Shamwari Game Reserve, and my routine is based around 3 hour game drives. After the third game drive [around 9 hours exposure to the wilderness] you start to appreciate what survival entails. It means spending most of the day foraging for food, and dealing with the elements, whether it be cold or heat or dry, or in today's case, wind. The animals are out there whatever the weather. When the sun goes down, they're still out there, and here's where it gets particularly tricky. The cat and mouse [lion versus impala or leopard versus kudu or badger versus snake or cheetah versus eland] games don't stop when it's bedtime. Imagine a life where snoozing too lightly [and thus being sleep deprived] could cost you your life because you've lost the edge to your usual state of alert. On the other hand, sleep to soundly and you're just as likely to be a nocturnal snack.
You may think predators have an easier life than their prey. But consider a leopard in a game park. In Kruger for example all the territories have been claimed; all territories are taken. That means if a new leopard enters an area he has to fight another leopard and these tussles are often fatal. A leopard that has to exit one territory then finds himself in another one, and a fresh encounter awaits him there. Territory defence is one way nature has kept the best of the best leopard predators in the hunt for natural and sexual selection.
This provides an interesting contrast to human beings who do their best to be seen. In our world the most dangerous creature is another human being, and commonly, another human being in a vehicle is a deadly combination, often capable of slaughtering handfuls of people at seemingly random intervals. Even so, these slaughters are reasonably few and far between. Man though has a bunch of 'stuff' to deal with which animals are probably grateful they don't. For example, man is the only animal that lives his [or her] life with the knowledge that death is part of the game, no matter how cleverly the game is executed [granted many if not most human beings suspend this belief, this knowledge, either indefinitely or at least until the next funeral they attend]. Equally, man is also capable of humor. And irony.
Shamwari is an exceptional environment and I've been privileged to visit and encounter animals as diverse and compelling as leopard, cheetah, lion, hippo and rhino. Earlier today we heard a rhino calf shadowing his large father uttering a plaintiff cry that sounds much like a dolphin, a wheezy noise that elicits a balloon noisily by lyrically losing air. There are too many encounters to describe [for the purposes of this blog post] but, suffice it to say, these experiences leave an impression on the inner human being.
I have come to Shamwari on my own despite extending invitations to one or two of people. Beyond the monetary value of experience, the nourishing impact of these nature experiences are invaluable, I feel refreshed, and buzzing with ideas. And also, infused with a better sense of my place in the world. And this seems to be one of the strangest casualties of our consumerist age - nobody really knows what to do, what to be and worse, why one choice is better than another. Oh, other than in 'money terms'. The few people who turned their nose up at joining me [for free] on this trip, it seems to me, reflect a sense of being 'spoilt'. Spoilt because we are either to busy to appreciate something, or too caught up in distractions to know the value of something meaningful when it arrives at the door on a silver platter.
It is wonderful for me to be able to live out my dream; to follow my passions, to investigate the stories, experiences and realities of this world in a way that seems to address my personal set of 'what is meaningful'. When we are 'spoilt' we know longer recognise the gifts or fruits or blessings of this world. Through our individual obsessions we have not only lost our connections with a greater community, but also our immediate neighbours, and so it shouldn't be a surprise that we feel empty, miserable and finally depressed for the course of much of our lives. Nature is where beauty and truth resides, it is where we find ourselves and understand ourselves including in terms greater than ourselves. We gain a proportion of the size and wonder and difficulty of things, not only for ourselves and others but for a wider spectrum of life. I for one hope that I can maintain my appreciation, this gratitude for the wonder of things. Being spoilt literally spoils the experience of life for you and those that cross your path. The antidote is compassion and gratitude. It's how we learn to love and celebrate life, and hopefully I can stay on track to do just that.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
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