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.

Swoosh

Laurance in town for the day between Croatia and California so Lars and I visit him for lunch in South Kensington.  Laurance's career continues at hedge fund Passport Capital, which made a mint shorting the sub-prime market, while Laurance manages $700 M of energy stocks - specifically, horizontal drilling , which reminds me of my first valuation at First Boston, Burlington Resources, who introduced this concept increasing their proven and probable reserves but some factor.  That was 1989. Laurance up 60% this year and similar performance in 2010. Nice going.

I have known Laurance since the Internet go-go years when he started a company that made it out of block but failed to cross the finish line, like many of us early Internet jockies. From London he moved to San Francisco and investing, married in Carmel Valley, and bought a chunk of land off Lucas Valley Road which looks over rolling hills to the bay.  I had no idea you could still do this sort of thing.  Laurance designing, and building, a house so he and his wife take an architecture class. Now that, we can all agree, the way to go about it.

Me: "Are you ready to go back to school?"
Madeleine: "Yeah, I'm really excited about it."
Me: "Great, what are you looking forward to most?"
Madeleine: "Art class on Thursday. Every Thursday, at lunch, I think: Art class is next and I am really happy."
Me: "It's nice to have things like that."
Madeleine: "Yeah. But sometimes I don't  like Sundays though."
Me: "Me, too. I used to get really anxious. All that work ahead."
Madeleine: "Do you still have that?"
Me: "Not as much but sometimes. Monday is my second favorite day of the week. B/c I can get stuff done."
Madeleine: "What's your first?"
Me: "Friday."
Madeleine: "Me , too."

4 and 44

Eitan in Elm Grove kit. He is given number "4", same as Cesc Fabregas of Barcelona.

And a reality check : here are the things I like about 44 :
Not worrying about what I will become.  For most of my 20s all I wanted was out of what I was doing. My 30s : more of whatever it was. Now : it is what it is. A Chinese proverb, or so I was told 20-years ago by a Chinaman: "At 45 you know your destiny"


Loneliness: gone with Eitan
Financial security : some years good, others close. Badda-bing, badda-boom. Same as it ever was

Interesting, fabulous, friends in lots of cool places
Local state primary school
Being the oldest at a concert and not caring.  Going to a concert
Health : wife and kids. Mine, too
Making a perfect martini or Dukes
Having exactly the dog I have always wanted
Reading Gravity's Rainbow with 40 pages to go. Not caring ten years later

Comprehensive health care insurance. That didn't happen until, like, too recently
The world's important museums inside walking distance along the Thames
Lake Alpine, Big Trees and the Rockies' Western Slope
Going from 20-strokes for a 25 yd swimming lap to 12.
Five perfect photos from 1000s
The Globe theatre, Claridges and Richmond Park
Summer solstice
Not living in Ohio
The New Yorker
Sonnet

And things I don't:
Cal football: 53-years, no Rose Bowl
Running : tendinitis , both Achilles
London's cost of living. Most drivers
The Underground
Winter sunrise, 9AM
Not being near the Pacific Ocean
Failing to break 3-hours in the marathon
Anything beyond the M25
The Republican Tea Party
Pining for the California of my yuf
"Every age has its charms"

Jaws

Eitan, for these past several months, begs me to watch Jaws. And last night I relent. It is as good a time as any as Sonnet and Madeleine to Chichester to see the Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahla exhibition (Sonnet notes the gallery mainly Kahla's self-portraits from a collection in Mexico "and it is amazing that this little museum in Chichester can negotiate a loan of this size from a place like that.").  In 1975, when Jaws in the theaters, I, too, begged my parents to see Jaws but got a donut; said Grace: "No way." Instead we waited for "The Eyes of Laura Mars".

So me and the boy and Jaws. Inconveniently England plays Bulgaria in a Euro 2012 qualifier when we wish to watch the film and I tell Eitan: "Now or never" so we go with the shark. I am pretty sure he can handle it, BTW, save the first seen where the women gets munched in horrific fashion ("It hurts! Oh, God, it hurts!") but Eitan more concerned by any nudity.  By the time Quint chomped in two (blood spurting from mouth, mouth making funny sounds like "Arrgghh!" and "Glurgleglurgle!") we are familiar with severed legs, eyeball-less skulls and a 12-year old going under.

Afterwards I ask Eitan about the experience and he shrugs. No nightmares, either. This morning he is at a five-a-side football tourney representing his primary school. They end up second out of 25. How strange it will be, one day, when he and Madeleine off to college or where ever they go ?

Madeleine Bakes

Me: "What's your favorite food."
Madeleine : "Chinese food."
Me: "Any particular dish?"
Madeleine: "Dim sum."
Me: "Anything else?"
Madeleine: "I like pasta pesto."
Me: "Coolio."
Madeleine: "Dad, do you know if we have sea salt? We have to put it in."
Me: "Put it in what?"
Madeleine: "In here." [points to her Tomato pesso]
Me: "What's the difference between sea salt and any other salt?"
Madeleine: "I don't know."
Me: "Does one taste more like the sea?"
Madeleine: "Yeah, I guess."
Kamila: "This one says 'from Atlantic.'"
Me: "Do you want to be left to your work?"
Madeleine: "Yes, please."

Eitan Cooks

We're back to our routine which means : Eitan cooks.  Here, the boy bakes a chocolate cream pie including the hard bit : the crust.  Says Eitan: "All you do, is, um, um, you crush the rich tea biscuits until they resemble fine crumbs. Then you mix it with soft butter. Then you bake it for eight minutes." Madeleine works on a Tomato pappa, using the last of the summer tomatoes which, by the way, have grown to my height and produce, so far, many tens of fruit. The secret, Aneta told me, to pick the small stalks from between the large branches then, once fully grown, strips the plants of their leaves.  Any way, it worked.

Me: "Anything you want to say for the blog?"

Eitan: "Poo!"

Madeleine: "First of all, I am getting a Gecko.  Also: Dad's hair is really messy at the moment."

Eitan: "Here's one: I don't know the difference between Tesco eggs and Able & Cole eggs."

Me: "Nice thoughts for the cosmos .. ."

Madeleine: "Thank you."

Mayfair

I'm back to work, sort of, and in Town for meetings &c. I sit in Green Park, pictured, answering emails and making calls - it is a glorious late summer's day and good to be alive.

Green Park in London's Mayfair  : beautiful people in expensive clothes. Everyone and everything on display : Range Rovers! Models! Ferraris! Mini-skirts! Toned physiques! At Cecconi's, where I breakfast, I recognise at least four investor heavyweights who munch on toast and drink coffee : Back to the salt mines, dude. England snaps to : the final summer bank holiday ushers in autumn, new school and old industry.

Europe's cycle differs from America which pretty much works all year round with a mere two-weeks vacation, on average, and Mom and Dad both holding jobs. Britain, by contrast, shuts for August along with France, Germany and Italy while the Scandis gone for July. The Greeks and Spaniards : well, they never work at all.  London's streets become navigable as traffic down maybe 15%; I get a seat on the train. Tourists pop up everywhere. The citizens chillax.

Taking advantage of summer's end , Eitan at Cyrus's over-night b-day party (probably doing maths tables) and Madeleine invites Marcus for an overnight : as Marcus has two older brothers, this like heaven for each. They watch a movie stuffing their faces with butterscotch "popcorn."

Ortho

I take Eitan to the Orthodontist.  This offers a nice reason to hang around the boy mid-week, mid-morning (In anticipation, Eitan brushes his teeth for six minutes ensuring unintentionally, Dear Reader, his gums bleeding for our visit).  Every six months or so since '08 we see the same dentist and have yet to be charged - a substantial investment for the Doc yet, given Eitan's boulders, I understand the bet: his an English smile.  But today yields hope - X-Rays show adult molars and encisors moving in perfectly repositioning teeth that otherwise go every-which-way.  Ortho rubs chin : "We still may need braces in a year or two. Definitely."


Eitan, for his part, all for braces or, at least, not concerned by the dentist who does work for the Chelsea squad and friends with Frank Lampard, Drogba and Stevie "G" (Of Liverpool).  Eitan thinks this is cool.  I think it means Expensive.

Aftewards we walk along Parsons Green in Fulham to a cafe for hot chocolate, pictured.  Eitan a delight and all sorts of curious in the innocent way a (soon to be) 11-year old can be. He refuses to discuss girls or puberty and I probably force too much on him but, as I tell Eitan, I would rather he be embarrassed now than ignorant later.

Glee

At Luton Airport. Madeleine: "Dad, do you realise you just left Eitan?"

Me: "It will teach that little chocolate muncher a lesson."

Madeleine: "No offense, Dad, but you are not very responsible to your kids."

Me: "What do you think Madeleine will be like as a teenager?"

Eitan: "Party animal."

Me: "Why do you think that?"

Eitan: "I dunno."

Bond

Nat and Noa @ 2,500 meters.

After Mont Fort, we bike a winding trail down from the snow capped mountain-peak through alpine terrain to lush grass valley fed by glacial streams; cows wander with large clanging bells. Just like Disney only here it is.

The Alps different, BTW, then the mesa or Sneffels Wilderness : the gradients steeper and the vistas cover multiple spiky ranges. From Verbier, the trails (or gondolas) take the hiker or biker to the top , no hesitation. Of course this is a ski resort : 35 lifts to 33 runs, two snowparks, one "Jardin de Neige" (a relatively flat area that is used for small children learning to ski), four cross-country pistes and two walking areas. But Verbier perhaps best known for its "off piste" trails which open the mountain in an entirely different way. Heli-skiing also an option.

Mont Fort

We visit Mont Fort at 3,300 meters, accessible by two gondolas, and snow capped despite August. The peak offers a world-class ski drop used for speed and, well, getting one's crazy on. A small hut (white arrows), reached by a third gondola, provides a 20 meter red "chute" where skiers drop in the one-kilometer piste : nearly straight down (NB there are about 30 of these courses world-wide and the distance standard for record-taking; most high altitude, reducing air resistance). Top speeds judged b/t 400-500 meters (the "timing zone") while the last 500m for slowing down. And stopping. One hopes.

The current world record for skiing is 251 km/h, held by Simone Origone. Speed skiers regularly hit 200 km/h , which is faster than the terminal velocity of a free-falling skydiver; about 190 km/h in the belly-to-earth position.

Speed skiers wear dense foam fairings on their lower legs and aerodynamic helmets to increase streamlining. Their ski suits made from air-tight latex or have a polyurethane coating to reduce wind resistance, with only a mandatory back protector to give some protection in the case of a crash. The special skis used must be 2.4 metres long and maximum 10 cm wide with a maximum weight of 15 kg for the pair. Ski boots attached to the skis by bindings. The ski poles bent to shape around the body, and must be a minimum of 1 m long.

Readers

Justin and I hang a print (behind the kids) - real man's work, which requires a new drill, leveler and various other power tools. I apply my metro-sexual as we contemplate this, and other hangings, in the apartment sans fee, as I indicate to Natalie.

Me: "This is good cake."

Sonnet: "It's chocolate cake and chocolate icing."

Madeleine: "And coconut."

Me: "Well , it's good. Well done."

Madeleine: "It's called a chocolate mountain cake."

Me: "Oh, yeah?"

Madeleine: "Because it looks like a chocolate mountain."

Sonnet: "If anybody comes into our room tonight I will kill them."

Madeleine: "Really?"

Me: "I wouldn't mess with mom right now."

Eitan: "Can we watch 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' on the computer?"

Madeleine: "Yeah, dad can we, please?"

Me: "Sure, watch the movie."

Sonnet: "What happened to no-movies on the computer because you'll go blind?"

Me: "You can't watch the movie."

Eitan, Madeleine: "What!?"

Eitan: "Mom you are such a tell tale."

Madeleine: "And you never want us to have any fun!"

Sonnet to me: "what's up with that?"

Me: "I can't keep track of this stuff."