Notes from Nepal

Marcus reports from Kathmandu :
Had an earthquake last night. I was cooking southern baked beans from scratch after we discovered a smoked ham hoc for sale by a Russian couple at an organic Sunday market up the way. The pressure cooker had just started to hiss when the room started rockin. We live on the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors of a concrete apartment building with another family below. We could hear them yelling to get out. My friend Michelle in one swift motion swiped up her 3-year old, Alice, and started bolting down the stairs – which were shaking noticeably. Our Oklahoma 25 year-old volunteer paused and ran back to turn off the gas on the beans. She was braver than I was because I was right behind Michelle. We all spilled into the street with everyone else and watched the lamp posts dance for about another 30 seconds. Took about five minutes for everyone to calm down and start back up the stairs. Reports were that a much larger earthquake in India at around 6.9 sent waves down a shared fault line. Rough estimates are that by the time it hit the city it was at about 4.5. An already crumbling wall at the British embassy collapse and reports are that it killed 11.
Photo from the web.

The Pasty Company

The West Cornwall Pasty Company, here at Waterloo station, is a fast food chain selling "pasties" : A butter pastry case filled with beef, sliced or diced potato, yellow turnip and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper, and baked. It is the food most associated with Cornwall, regarded as its national dish, and accounts for 6% of the Cornish food economy.

I usually come across a pasty at a train station, pictured, or roadside pullover like "Welcome Break" or "Moto" on the outside of he M25.  The kiosks always plunked next to a Costa Coffee or Burger King and host maybe twenty items under a heat-lamp looking like they have been there for a month.  The chain founded in '98 by Ken Cockings and there are over 50 shops in the UK, including 18 in London; somehow Cockings sold the company to its management for £40 million in 2006.

"Enjoy a piping hot pasty."

--The West Cornwall Pasty Co.

V A : Postmodernism

Susan and I join Sonnet for the opening party for the Postmodernism exhibition. The main entrance, beneath the Chihuly, transformed into a Champagne bar and Annie Lennox, of the Eurythmics, performs a medley of recognisable, nostalgic, songs (NB: I ask Kamila if she likes Annie Lennox? and I get a blank stair).  Here is the description from the V & A :

EXHIBITION: This is the first in-depth survey of art, design and architecture of the 1970s and 1980s, examining one of the most controversial phenomena in recent art and design history: postmodernism. It shows how postmodernism evolved from a provocative architectural movement in the early 1970s and rapidly went on to influence all areas of popular culture including design, art, music, film, performance and fashion. By the 1980s consumerism and excess were the trademarks of the postmodern.

The exhibition explores the radical ideas that challenged Modernism; overthrowing purity and simplicity in favour of exuberant colour, bold patterns, artificial looking surfaces, historical quotation, parody and wit and above all, a newfound freedom in design. See over 250 objects across all areas of art and design and revisit a time when style was not just a ‘look’ but became an attitude.

“I mean, I'm 48 years old and I've been through a lot in my life - you know, loss, whether it be death, illness, separation. I mean, the failed expectations... We all have dreams.”

--Annie Lennox, 2001

Susan

I am with fabulous Susan , another Northern Californian, this time from Orinda. Susan's husband also a transplant: Anthony at Berkeley in the' 70s and we share a love for the Telegraph Ave. of old times, Fat Freddy and the Freak Brothers, People's Park and Blondie's pizza (Anthony now an i banker and much more).  When I met Susan in '99, she was chief commerce and marketing officer at News International Digital Printing, which she built to 120 people, and before that, Barnes and Noble responsible for the online business.  From there, ten years ago, Susan founded the Boster Group, which advises large corps including American Express and Ernst & Young on their arts programs.  She is known by London's cultural institutions , where her efforts have impacted money flows to worthwhile exhibitions that otherwise might not see the light of day. She is unique. Photo in South Kensington.

Lizard Skins

Here is what a pair of €12,000 shoes looks like, thank you Hermès . The matching belt €1,925.

I am up for my 7AM run across Concorde, through Touilerise then along the Seine until Île de la Cité and around Notre dame; then back along the Right Bank , under the Louvre and then the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel , and finally the US Embassy and Le Crillon then my hotel. All this inside four miles. Unfortunately my achilles wrecked from my 2009 marathons and I no longer enjoy pain free running. Without the bounce, each step "flat" and by the end I feel, well, 44 years old.

As the Hermès Parisian store across the street on rue du faubourg saint-honoré, I am tempted to buy my favorite beauty artifact: an Hermès tie. The company's designers spend years creating new print patterns, individually screen-printed with vegetable dye. Each added color dries for a month before the next color is applied. Designers chose from over 200,000 different colors. Every man knows when the other wearing one.

Me: "Do you want to see a pair of $20,000 shoes?"
Eitan: "No way!"
Madeleine: "And they aren't even matching."
Eitan: "They're made of lizard skin?"
Madeleine: "Cruel!"
Eitan: "Killing a lizard to make shoes..."
Madeleine: "Tell me about it."

McDonald's Corp

I'm awake, 4AM, and read Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" (published 2001):
"
In 1968, McDonald's operated about one-thousand restaurants. Today it has about thirty-thousand restaurants world wide and opens almost two-thousand new ones each year.  An estimated one out of every eight workers in the United States has at some point been employed by McDonald's.  The company annually hires about one million people, more than any other American organization, public or private.  McDonald's is the nation's largest purchase of beef, pork and potatoes - and the second largest purchaser of chicken.  The McDonald's Corporation is the larger owner of retail property in the world. Indeed, the company earns the majority of its profits not from selling food but from collecting rent.  McDonald's spends more money on advertising and marketing than any other brand.  As a result it has replaced Coco-Cola as the world's most famous brand.  McDonald's operates more playgrounds than any other private entity in the United States. It is one of the nation's largest distributors of toys. A survey of American school children found that 96% could identify Ronald McDonald.  The only fictional character with a higher degree of recognition was Santa Claus. The impact of McDonald's on the way we live today is hard to overstate. The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian Cross. (Photo from the web)

Holy catfish.

Elm Grove, Game 1

Eitan's first game with Elm Grove a success: 3-2 vs. Kings Park Royals, who were No. 2 in the Premiere Elite last season.

Eitan plays "striker" then "defensive back" , both unusual positions for him , requiring a new feel for the action. The boy plays his heart out. Unfortunately Eitan called for a hand-ball as the game's final moments and Kings Park scores on the penalty as the whistle blows. He could not have avoided it and his coach and team mates console him. Eitan shares "Man of the Match ".

Says he: "I was anxious and excited before the game, and so a bit shaky during the first bit , but then got more confident by the end."

So Rocha

Sonnet takes Madeleine to see the John Rocha catwalk at Somerset House - Fashion Week, dude. John Rocha , a CBE for his contributions to the UK's fashion industry, born in 1953 in Hong Kong of Chinese and Portuguese descent ; he is now based in Ireland after being educated at the Crodyon School of Art in London (Kate from Croydon). Rocha tells Sonnet his spring/ summer inspirations 2012 "Seaweed, sculpture and handcrafting". Madeleine scandalised by the model's , you know, breasts visible through the chimerics of Rocha's design.

Photo from promo site.

Rough House

Madeleine and my rough-housing goes too far and she grabs my glasses, angry. I warn her that if she doesn't give them back NOW I am going to pin her to the ground and spit on her forehead. She throws the glasses, pictured, and I pin her down and spit on her forehead. I also tickle her mercilessly.  She is upset for at least the afternoon but that is how it goes in the Big Top.

Madeleine: "I know what we can do about the Christmas tree."
Me: "The Christmas tree?"
Sonnet: "You said you never wanted to see another Christmas tree in the house. Because it makes a mess."
Me: "I did?"
Madeleine: "We can get a fake one! Then there will be no leaves."
Me: "A fake Christmas tree?"
Madeleine: "Yeah! And we can use it over and over again."
Me: "Good plan."
Madeleine: "Thanks, Dad."
Me: "And why don't we put it on the roof of the house during the rest of the year?"
Madeleine: "Can we?!"
Sonnet: "Your Dad is just joking, Madeleine. Jeff now stop that."
Me: "Who said I was joking?"

Madeleine: "Do you think a fast dog or a slow car is faster?"

Chump Change

Madeleine and Tallie, who is about six months now, and otherwise belongs to Sonnet's cousin Maire and Turk (photo taken in Denver last month).

Really, these banks : a "rogue" trader in "Delta One" blows $2 B from the UBS balance sheet. This is a shitload of money for one guy even with the billions and trillions sloshing around to save our banks and i bankers. Since you asked BTW : Delta One creates securities that allow retail clients to instantly trade indices or other underlying assets like gold or shares, as closely as possible, which is not easy to do for the average punter. The banks responsible for hedging these exposures (hence , balance sheet exposure). The profit is made from the hedges and margins or fees from clients.  If the trade goes wrong, or the hedge not applied, the bank can lose a lot of money. The only good news from the UBS debacle is, once again, it suggests that i banks should be separated from commercial banks.

Three years ago Lehman went under. Three other banks failed, too : Citibank, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS. Without government intervention, our economy would have stopped, ie, we would not have had an economy.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

CYD

CYD, a 1962 Jaguar E-Type, with David since '97 and recently spruced up and glowing. The two-seater a proper touring auto with enough room in the boot for two leather week-enders and perfectly matched for the British countryside or the summer Alps.

Me, I had a vintage '73 BMW 2002 in college, purchased from a Brown prof with my own money in '87 , and only 25K miles. Unfortunately I was no mechanic and the machine spent some considerable time in the shop : like the time a water hose burst and melted the engine rods on the fist-day of classes with me caught at a cross-walk between the Sci Li and the engineering center. Not only embarrassing but costly : repairs about what I paid for the thing. Still, behind the wheel, I felt like a million bucks : young entrepreneur, in college , cool car. Life, ahead.

The Jaguar E-Type manufactured by in Britain between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring. A great success for Jaguar, more than 70,000 E-Types were sold during its lifespan.

In March 2008, the Jaguar E-Type ranked first in the Daily Telegraph's list of the "100 most beautiful cars" of all time. In 2004, Sports Car International magazine placed the E-Type at number one on their list of  Top Sports Cars of the 1960s.

Butty

David, Eitan, Johny and I out the door to the Saturday farmer's market for a bracing cup of coffee and a bacon butty, which would be a bacon on two slabs of white, buttered, bread+HP Sauce, optional. The butty can also be sausage or, my favorite, a chip butty , to be read with The Sun and a black coffee , or beer, in a white van on the way to work somewhere, without seatbelts , middle passenger asleep over the gear stick and probably hungover.

Eitan realises mom not around so begs for a chocolate chip cookie, and I relent, followed later by lollies. Kids and sugar. I read an article that sugar is toxic which is not surprising as US sugar consumption increased from 30 pounds a year in 1980 to 84 in 2009, in line with obesity and diabetes. 16% of an American's daily caloric intake now comes from sugar additives, up from 11% in '77. Teens (ages 14 to 18) consume 129 lbs a year. Think about this at the grocery store as you handle a pound of it. A Dairy Queen Health Blizzard BTW has 24 added teaspoons of sugar; 20 oz Pepsi: 17. M&M's have 7 and one oreo: 3.5 (Sources: US Dept of Ag, Company websites)

"A chip sandwich, chip barm, chip cob, chip butty, chip muffin, piece-n-chips (Scottish), or hot chip sandwich (Australian) is a sandwich made with bread or bread roll (usually white and buttered) and hot chips (i.e. French fries), often with some sort of sauce such as ketchup or brown sauce. It was originally considered a working-class meal and was served in pubs. The word butty is a contraction of 'bread and butter', that came from northern England, perhaps Yorkshire or Liverpool. Variants include chip bap or barm, using a floury bap or barm cake instead of white sliced."

--Wikipedia

Whoop!

'Netta, who has given up Hanna Montana (Sooo yesterday) and now into Harry Potter and building forts bonds with Madeleine over Harry Potter and .. building a fort.  The latter made from sticks, straw and grass and leaves, behind a hedgerow, that provides further cover. Actually, Madeleine corrects me : "It is a camouflage, Dad". Eitan, excluded, tries to do harm and yours, truly, charged with yelps of rage from the gals. Yep, seems about right.

AC And The Microscope

We spend the weekend with Dave and Tabitha  - here, AC checks out a Corn Flake @ 40X.

Larry Lieberman

My uncle Larry, the husband of my Dad's sister, Joy, has passed. Larry's life blessed with family and friends as well as interesting work and causes. He made a difference, and will be missed by us all.

The St. Louis Today obituary by Michael Sorkin, below.

"When Larry Lieberman, who died this week, and his wife tried to get a loan in 1962 to build an addition to their University City home, they were turned down because "the neighborhood was changing."
That was the beginning of what became known as "block busting."
As African-Americans started to move into nearby homes, real estate agents offered nervous white residents low prices to move out. The agents then sold the homes to black families at higher prices and high interest rates.
"All the white families other than mine moved away," recalled a daughter, Denise Lieberman of St. Louis.
Larry Lieberman was appointed to the City Council in 1965 and was elected the following year. He served for a total of 29 years, with a 10-year break in the middle. He fought block busting and championed fair housing laws in University City, which became one of the first municipalities in the state to adopt an open-housing ordinance.
Lawrence Lieberman died Wednesday (Sept. 7, 2011) at Barnes-Jewish extended care facility in Clayton. He was 85 and was diagnosed in February with congestive heart failure, his family said Thursday.
Mr. Lieberman was the only son of two Russian immigrants who opened a corner grocery on the south side of Chicago during the Depression. They gave credit to so many hungry neighbors that they nearly went broke.
They were the only Jewish family in the neighborhood. Young Larry was short and carried a violin and often had to run home to avoid being beaten by neighborhood bullies.
At 18, Mr. Lieberman left college to serve as a radioman on the Indianapolis and other ships in World War II.
He returned to the University of Illinois, where he noticed Joy Orenstein on her first day on campus. He immediately asked for a date, proposed a month later and they married a year later.
They moved to her hometown, University City. He became a civil engineer at McDonnell Douglas and worked on the space and defense programs.
On the City Council, Mr. Lieberman cast the tiebreaking vote to give Joe Edwards the liquor license that enabled him to open Blueberry Hill in 1972.
"Larry was one of the few who thought that Delmar would come back," Edwards recalled. "He supported me then and over all these years."
Mr. Lieberman also supported the business district on the Olive Street corridor, now known for its many Asian shops and restaurants.
On race relations, Mr. Lieberman was always at the forefront of fighting for equality, recalled Paul Schoomer, a former book store owner who served on the City Council with Mr. Lieberman.
"In municipal politics, individuals don't do things," Schoomer added. "Decisions are collective. But he was brilliant at helping to form coalitions and consensuses."
Former state senator Wayne Goode recalled Mr. Lieberman's "caring nature about people. He always tried to do things well, do things right."
Mr. Lieberman was president of the Missouri Municipal League, president of the St. Louis County Municipal League and served on the governor's Council on Aging.

He was a founding member of the African-American/Jewish Dialogue Task Force, sponsored by the Urban League and the Jewish Community Relations Council, who have met monthly for 20 years to explore conflicts.
His wife, Joy Lieberman, served 24 years on the University City School Board.
Mr. Lieberman retired from the City Council in 2004. He continued to publish his popular "U City News" newsletter, which frequently described events in a sentence or two.
"He just got right to the point," Edwards said.

Survivors in addition to his wife and daughter include another daughter, Sharon Cohn of Tucson, Ariz.; three sons, David Lieberman of Portland, Ore., Mark Lieberman of Denver and Daniel Lieberman of Normandy; and nine grandchildren."

Slow Burn

Here is something I did which Sonnet didn't like too much, pictured. That would be  the "Rapidfire Chimney Starter"(TM) for the BBQ coals which I flame up on our stove-top.

Here are some further, astounding, stats from Uncle Sam  :
-America's entitlements (SS, Medicare and Medicaid) in 2010 equaled  India's GDP, the 9th largest economy in the world

-US interest payments would be 188% higher at historical rates (30 yr average) of 6%, which would add an $290 B to the 2010 budget (and $370 B to 2009)

-57% of US tax-dollars go to entitlements, 20% defense, 16% "other" and the remainder, 6%, to Interest

-America spent $97 B on education in 2010 and $724 B on healthcare or 7.5X more on healthcare

Is this the right way to spend our money?
Young people had better wake up and , at the very least, vote.

Self Portrait XX

Every day , until September 11, the BBC gives 30 minutes of prime morning time to 9-11, allowing ten artists, writers and poets to reflect upon the moment.  There are also interviews of survivors, their families, fire fighters and New Yorkers who remember the day.  Despite being an American tragedy, 9-11 owned by Britain and much of the world.

Madeleine and I walk the dog in Richmond Park.
Madeleine: "Can we talk about geckos?"
Me: "Sure. Aren't you going to get a Leapard gecko?"
Madeleine: "I like them but I would have to feed them a baby mouse. Every month."
Me: "Really?"
Madeleine: "Yes. They would be frozen."
Me: "That doesn't sound too bad. I bet they are like a gummy bear. You eat those, don't you?"
Madeleine: "A gummy bear dead mouse? Right, Dad."
Me: "I'm just suggesting. ."
Madeleine: "It would still be a dead mouse. And I couldn't do that."
Me: "You love animals, don't you?"
Madeleine: "Yeah."

Counter Terrorism

Members of China's armed police demonstrate a rapid deployment during an anti-terrorist drill held in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province July 2, 2008, roughly one month ahead of the Beijing Olympics.(Xinhua/Fan Changguo Photo)

US counter-terrorism spend since 9/11: $1 trillion (The Economist; estimate, true figures top secret and unknown). There is little to no oversight, either. Hi-tech equipment, often developed for Iraq or war, now used by contractors on US citizens outside the law and without a warrant, as reported by the Washington Post. The largest US anti-terrorist facility located next to the Baltimore airport and a massive complex housing communications, equipment and people and multiple programs outsourced by the Government often without Congressional approval. "Wastage" could be greater than 60% of expenditures.

"[After 9/11] The government said, 'We're facing an enemy we don't understand, we don't have the tools to deal with it, here's billions ... of dollars and a blank check after that for anybody with a good idea to go and pursue it,' Not only does the government find it difficult to get its arms around itself, [but now] it doesn't know what's inside, it doesn't know what works, it doesn't know what doesn't work. And nobody still, 10 years later, is really in charge of those questions."
--Dana Priest, co-author "Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State" and Washington Post reporter

Cord - Healthcare - A quote

After intense deliberation, anxiety and back-tracking : we choose an interior colour for 45, pictured. It goes on today.

Here are the bullets on American healthcare you should know (source KPCB.cm, USA Inc.) :
- More Americans on government healthcare programs than ever : 1 in 50 received Medicaid in 1965. 1 in 6 in 2009

- Medicaid enrollment up 12X and benefits have increased 4X since 1966

-Enrollment has grown faster than the population over 40 years (12X vs 1.6X)

-Healthcare costs rising: 1.2% to 8.2% of GDP from 1960 to 2008, respectively (or 7X increase)

-We outspend other nations in healthcare:  US healthcare spending equals all 34 OECD countries (our Western World peer group) combined


-Yet this investment not paying off:  the US ranks #1 in MRIs, #30 in obesity and #22 in heart attack

And it won't get better somehow : Aging population+declining work support. Case study #1: Japan. Case study #2: Greece

Sonnet attends traffic school for various driving violations : Quote from her course leader, Angie, who says, in all seriousness with an East End accent, "You may think you're going out for a drive to admire the bluebells, but it's really the Killing Fields out there".

School, Day 1

We now have a fifth- and a sixth-grader in the house. Go figure. This morning the usual school-work day scramble as both kids up late having become a bit too comfortable sleeping in until whenever. Jackets lost, new shoes - misplaced! - bags filled. Of course : rain.  Sonnet madly blow dries her hair. Cereal! Toast! Juice! Bowls clatter, the counter covers w/ detritus. Madeleine debates walking to school by herself but we agree to wait a few weeks. The clock ticks to 0830h, which puts Eitan on edge: "We have to go!" I don't help things much by insisting on a photo, pictured.  Lee, who is painting our inside house "caramel" - drinks his coffee, in a protected corner, as the activity moves by him.  Rusty gets into the action, bouncing about with some rubber thing, then chews my back pack refusing to give it back.  Finally, all sorted, and everyone : Eitan, Madeleine, Sonnet, Kamila, Rusty gone.