The Truth About Cancer, Free For You... Well Not Quite

As I was browsing my social media-book page when I came across a "sponsored link" -- i.e. an advertisement -- offering to reveal to me "the truth about cancer". No less! For free.

Disappointingly, the free offer to watch the truth is not very simple.

The advertisement suggests that there are issues that mainstream medical practice (does that refer to Bob - an MD I know and Bob's medico colleagues or something else?) does not address. Aha! So there is intrigue somewhere along the way. To incite us to click on a link leading to a teaser, we are told that 131 doctors and many survivors etc unite to tell us "the truth".

It is unclear what that truth refers to. I clicked.

Clicking on the link leads to a +4 min video with sentimental moments and a bit of crying. The video is actually well made, and the sentimental sentimental moments are worthy of a morning TV show. On the other hand, there is little informational interest -- bar the assertion that you can beat cancer; you are not told how. So you can safely skip the video without losing anything of consequence. If anything, skipping it will save you 5 mins of your time (4+for the vid + the time to click, etc).

If you wish to discover the truth from the united efforts of these 131 + many survivors and learn how to beat cancer, you have to register, give your name and e-mail ("no spam, we guarantee that").

This is the kind of shenanigan that I dislike: if you have something to share, of supreme consequence and importance -- and fighting cancer is one such matter, share it openly with the world.

Or, if you are out for something else, share that something else too; honesty may lead you places you never dreamed of!

The Odds are Stacked

Walking down the street outside my office recently, I caught the expression "...what else can go wrong...?" in a discussion between two bystanders. This got me thinking.

The most plausible answer to the question "what else can go wrong" is, everything.

Think about it: when you wish for something to go in a specific way and have prepared things so that it goes in that way, even then, there is only ONE way it can go right: your way. It follows that all other ways are wrong.

So, the answer to the question "what else can go wrong" is really everything but one!

It would seems that the odds are stacked against us all of the time !

Comforting thought: things do go right, sometimes. So, stay positive, it can work!

Greece Reaches Agreement in Principle With Its Lenders (no surprise there)

The continuing saga of Greece's plight, its governments' aversion to any and all reforms and the lenders' insistence on some reform, are the founding bricks of the now eight (8) year saga of Greece, grexit, heroic resistance to pressure, etc, (yawn).

The truth of the matter is, Greece desperately needs the lenders' presence to curb - at least somewhat - her governments' long and trusty history of cronyism, catering to self-serving unions (de facto 30 hr week at government owned entities anyone?), and generally preserving the status quo by using cooked statistics to allay lenders' inquisitiveness.

Lately, in an effort to show an over target positive balance of payments, the Greek government put a hold on all internal payments (running an overdue bill to the tune of euro ¬3.6 bill) and EU sponsored programmes. Of course, the money in pocket also serves as a fall-back plan B just in case the discussions with the lenders droned beyond July when a multi billion repayment tranche is due.  "bargaining chip"
 
It would be horrifying to think of Greece without the reform pressure of its lenders; while self-serving in of itself, this pressure for reform has brought about some flexibility in labour law, flexibility in opening hours for commercial entities, and some small improvement in the state corruption level. In many ways, media reported comments by IMF's regional chief P Thomsen are more favourable to Greece, the country, than most of its own government's prionunciamentos.

In exchange, the current government has made real estate acquisition a bureaucratic nightmare (the best must be the notarized declaration from the buyer that they are not owners of the real estate they wish to acquire and hence have never declared it!!!), business operation is a hazard for fines (how about 10k euro because there is an unemployed person at your office when labour inspectors visit...). It has also slashed pensions across the board, which means that granddad trying to survive on 600 euro a month can no longer, while state owned PPC execs with monthly payments of 6000 euro can probably still survive on 4800.

Also, there has been no curtailing of the Public Sector at large in Greece; attrition helped bu the present government  filled the gap with new recruits of what it hopes are its (syriza) voters.

In all fairness, Greece's present authoritarian government has passed some useful changes that other governments could not do, mostly because this government's quasi-terrorist cohorts would have created havoc, and have done so in the past.

So, for that, one cheer for Greece's governing Goebbels' in a Stalinist dress!

The Impact of Brexit on the Future of the EU

My take: not much.

Britain will probably lose financially and the rest of us will probably lose culturally.
I believe that Brits have style, literature and humour, and the alchemy of belonging to the same team or system is what we will miss the most, I think.

Brits also have a heightened cultural interest and offer welcoming grounds for artistic innovation and musical events, and those will be probably missed as well; in the very least, they will not be as accessible as now.

Unless Britain finds a way of making the Kingdom as accessible to EU citizens as it is now.

Hopefully it will not suffer much from the aftermath of political expediency and the dark ages of the brexit/ bremain political campaign which must be one the most idiotic in UK history at least in as far as slogans and the dramatis personae are concerned.

Generally speaking, however, the EU is better off with Britain in it rather than outside it.
Too bad for the Brexit, then.

Present Day Use of Nazi Era Communication Tactics

The population of Greece has been systematically mislead to believe that the austerity measures under which it has been suffering for well nigh 8 years is the direct result of strict and forbidding creditors, a hostile IMF, and inflexible Germans, all hell-bent on punishing spendthrift Greeks.

The media report on pressure for more austerity (the contrary is true)and whenever agreement is close, politicians never fail to propagate their personal success and the end of austerity.

In the wake of fresh austerity and danger of Grexit, for example, the present Prime Minister messages: "the spring of growth is here, our efforts are now rewarded". A few days later, pensions are cut and employers cost increases sending a new wave of people to unemployment.

Remind of you of Dr Goebbels?


The difference with Goebbels is not in the language but in the morass of financial support; Goebbels and his pack of merry cutthroats didn't have the euro-backing.

On the other hand, Goebbels and his pack used laws, regulations, and the courts to expropriate money from chosen parts of the population.

This is another lesson the Greek government seems to have assimilated. The present Greek government is doing likewise: high taxes as of middle incomes ("our voters don't earn that much"), tripling of medical costs for contractors, freezing bank accounts at whim, fines imposed with lip service paid to due course... administrative courts rulings miraculously in favour of the Greek state in 97.5% of cases!

So, misinformation is rampant and it has been around for so long that people, naturally, believe it. It is the others who are hell-bent on eradicating us from the planet! It is, a plot!


Presently, this same siren song is being touted as the Greek government negotiates with reps from the creditors (known as "troika" or "institutions") on how FEW reforms it can get away with this time, before the creditors release another dose of cash. All will be well when the greenbacks hit the deep pockets of the Greek governmental money-eating abyss.

And then, things will be OK for a while, until the next episode of series 8 of "Greece Crisis".

Coming 🔜

Greece is lucky in a way; the creditors are pressing for reform which means that their agenda happily coincides with the country's collective well-being to a certain extent.
Greece is unlucky in that its governments prefer to impose heavy austerity and avoid reforming the Public Sector, monopolies, the dysfunctional justice system; or to improve the educational system - just to cite one example.

The creditors press for labour law reform, allowing more flexibility in recruiting and redundancies; the creditors suggest lowering taxes levels for a more just distribution.
The Greek government responds with increased taxes, a cut in pensions, lowering medical cover for its citizens.
 
Inhabitants of Greece are unlucky, in that Greece's governments have proven impervious to pressure to help their country as a whole. Instead Greece's governments prefer to focus on protecting pressure group interests; their voters' vested interests, cronies, party friends and, presumably, in prolonging as much as possible their stay in power and their hands in the till.

For example, Greek governments are ferociously opposed to savings by reducing the Public Sector and public spending; instead, they have created savings by increasing the tax burden to the extent that they have crippled the economy. Inequality rises high in Greece: 10% of taxpayers in Greece account for 65% of total.




It is a pity that no-one seems capable of explaining this to the people. 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩

Today's Fascists and Extremists Aren't All Extreme Right Wing...

...At least not in Greece.

The mayor of Maroussi (an Athenian suburb), a man called Patoulis, proceeded to freeze the bank accounts of 30,000 persons for not paying their parking tickets in Marousi!

No doubt, Stalin would had approved. Patoulis is his sort of guy: freeze accounts for a parking ticket, shoot the bast*s for not using their toothbrush! (Had he thought that his constituents had bank accounts or cars, for that matter).

Way to go!

On the other hand, I bet Hitler hadn't thought of that. (Maybe, if you were jewish?)

Anyway, it seems that the prize of chief dunce politician goes to George Patoulis. May his constituents enjoy him for ever more!

Other than the jest, one cannot help but shudder at what he does to people who owe him money personally... Should we fear baseball bats and recall scenes from "the Godfather"? Or, would it be something creative coming out of a Guy Richie movie.

Great Conductors: Strange People?

I just watched John Freeman's interview of the great Otto Klemperer, for the nth time. While the interview is mostly shallow and the questions sometimes downright silly (are you happy? Do you like American comfort...") it got me thinking.

Can a great conductor be a "normal" person in the conventional sense of the word - i.e. following a 9-5 or 6 job, going out with the kids, attending family lunches on Sundays, watching television and a movie at night, and reading (that's already stretching conventionality) a thriller or two?

Or is it that conductor like Klemperer or his mentor, Mahler, are something of a misfit in the conventional sense and losing much of the rites of conventionality gain that much more in energy, resilience, and brilliance to devote to their talent?

I think it is the latter, at least with many of the great conductors of the early and mid 20th century. There are the superstars of course: the pioneering maestro v Karajan springs to mind as does the younger and equally ubiquitous, Dudamel. The stardom -- which in and of itself is most welcome for having boosted the music and made it and its interpreters far more globally popular than ever before, is one thing,. But is there much more to it than that -- i.e. genius is an infinite capacity for hard work and a little extra.

And great conductors are great because they bring out that little extra extra, they exemplify what it is to take a work of genius and take it further.

That must be it, I think.

Or I wish to think...

The "Truth About Greece" and the Nth Bail Out...

...which is soon to be superseded by the N+1 loan or bail-out or call it whatever you like, whereby EU (& possibly IMF) dish out money so that Greece can continue to support what is arguably the most expensive and least productive Public Sector in modern history .

In a recent blog article (here for an overview), IMF's P. Thomsen claimed that the IMF is not the one asking for more austerity in Greece and imposing crippling taxes. That, on the contrary, Greece would benefit from a more investment-friendly programme; and that there is a lot of work to be done on the fiscal side.

So much is true. I cannot fault Thomsen on the above in the least. After all, it IS the Greek government that is imposing taxes and collecting on them. It is the Greek government that resorts to pensions cuts, cuts in medical cover and education, rather than reduce the Public Sector payroll and mismanagement.  

It is the Greek government that chooses to cut pensions to poverty level rather than work selectively: 7% of pensions in Greece account for 45% of the spending; it is the Greek government that is maintaining a largely unproductive public & semi-public sector at a crippling cost; it is the Greek government that is further raising taxes this year while talking about inspiring and supporting growth; it is the Greek government that is not reviewing the country's inflexible labour law that, for example, can cost an employer a hefty fine simply because someone called in sick and another employee came in the sick one's place (up to euro 10k per case); it is the Greek government that has no survival minimum, no unemployment benefits for +80% of unemployed; best case scenario, it takes 1 month to actually register a new company and many pages in hard copy; total taxes and contributions in case of profit distribution is 69-72%; a license to operate a cafe in a northern suburb of Athens costs between 1500 - 3000 euro in "consideration money". There are 1,5 million unemployed, 1.0 million public sector employees, municipal employees, contractors, and state-owned company employees of all sorts, and ~2.0 million employed in the private sector who are asked to create value to support the country; it is not working.

It is unfortunate that a country that has very low spending on unemployment benefits (minimum), no survival minimum, poor (and thereby inexpensive) medical services and underpaid medical personnel, very low educational spending, etc, should be incapable of balancing out its imbalances.


So, Thomsen is right - and one wonders how much he and his team actually know about what is really going on behind the scenes in Greece.

And when information such as the above comes to light, the government is quick to respond defensively, lashing out in all directions.
Then, the matter is quickly buried and life goes on: the next Troika / "institutions" evaluation, the negotiations, suppliers to the Public sector remain unpaid, etc etc, the evaluation goes through with agreement on "compromise measures" and another lump of money is released;
and thus the story goes!

👶👶👶👶👶👶👶👶👶👶👶

Barak Obama Delivers a Speech at the Niarchos Cultural Centre in Athens, Greece

His last speech on foreign soil as President of the US.
Labelled "remarks" by the White House PR team, the speech was mostly about democracy (after all, a Greek word - and an Athenian invention) and equality.

So I listened to it.

Unsurprisingly, it was very well delivered - President Obama is a master of public speaking; expressive, simple, always with a touch of humour and accessible, friendly.

As to the content, it was in a word, simple as well. It was an excellent speech to motivate youth; I would have liked my son to be there, not only for the thrill of listening to the President of the US speak to you but also because what he says is easy to grasp and that makes youth feel they have communicated, albeit remotely, with an important personality of human history.

In all its simplicity, the speech did have some somewhat daring highlights. For one, Barak Obama did say that politicians know there are things to do - but they lack the political courage to implement them; he also mentioned that investment flow into countries that make things easier for investors - manifestly not the case of Greece at present, for example. On another plain, he did suggest that democracies do not move forward in a linear manner, but sometimes move backward in order to move forward again. And he did not forget to mention that, in a democracy all people are created equal regardless of their differences (which differences, especially economy-related, are exacerbated by the effects of global access to information). The latter may be a diplomatic reference to his successor, who extolled different ideals during his campaign.

Interestingly, he called the European Union one of the "most important political achievements of the 20th century". The audience clapped (the euro-confused Greek government remained silent, fortunately.)

President Obama also pointed out (in more diplomatic terms) that democracy is a global, historical and powerful brand name, older than Christianity itself, invented and first implemented in (ancient) Athens. So Athens is the cradle of democracy, a fact that, presumably, many Greeks and most Greek politicians are happy to forget.

Other than the personal interest of the President, one wonders what the purpose of this visit was. It certainly offered Greece another 15 mins of fame, positive fame this time round. From another standpoint, that of the citizen, his presence and his speeches did make people proud. So in all, Greece reaped psychological benefit. Which, in a sense, is non negligible.




President Obama at the Acropolis of Athens, 16th November 2016 (photo from the White House)


And for all its simplicity, his remarks had a positive effect on many people, not only those present at the Niarchos Foundation. For that too, people in Greece are grateful.
In a nutshell, it would seem that the US President made Greeks a present: the last visit of the first non white President of the United States of America, was in Greece. And that is now a part of history.

Let's hope he enjoyed the visit as well!

Advice to Take On A Spelling Journey

Today I should probably be babbling about the latest US elections, congratulating my American friends on their new president or commiserating with them for having the lesser votes take the spoils (Ms Clinton had slightly more votes in her favour than Mr Trump). But I do not vote in the US so there is not for me to say anything other than, "best of luck!" and, "you never know!"

As a side remark inspired by these US elections, most European countries excepting the strict north are blessed with idiotic politicians anyway; we seem to be suffering in the REIGN of the MORON in many European countries, especially in the south.

As a diversion, I thought I would delve in spelling instead.

And begin with the ubiquitous apostrophe: ' Especially as it confers with s, along with other considerations.

There is a widespread misuse of this apostrophe with the consequent incomprehensible results in the text being offered -- so much so, that it could be intentional, or a fad. But there is no indication of a fashion trend for misusing the apostrophe, so it must be illiteracy. Either that or a glitch in the spell-checker, which comes back to illiteracy -- of the programmer.

Here is a variety of apostrophes:

IT + S:
It's = it is OR it has. Nothing else. As in, "it's a very nice day today", "it's been a long time", 
Its = possessive that which belongs to it: "it's been the longest game in its history", "the sun shone, ITS rays reflecting off the silver...". NO apostrophe when it mes to the word "it".



Use an apostrophe to show possession:
We use an apostrophe to show possession: when the possessor is singular, the ' goes before the s. When plural, after the plural "s". The exception is (1) when the plural word itself does NOT end in an s: i.e., children, people,OR (2) a non-plural word ending in an "s".
John's car= the car that belongs to John.
Julia's bedroom= i.e. the bedroom attributed to Julia.
The car's upholstery= the upholstery of that car.
The voters' response= the response of many voters 
The voter's response= the response of one voter
(1)"The men's chambers"= chambers for many men
(2) "Charles' latest purchase is a bicycle..."



Apostrophe with plurals:
The plural is usually formed by adding an "s" at the end. There is NO apostrophe. No exceptions! To use an apostrophe is a superlative blunder.
One car. Many cars. One girl. Two girls. "Pearls melt in vinegar". "The results of this election are dire". NO apostrophe for plural.




Contractions:
We use an apostrophe to replace letters in contractions, mostly the words, not, is, have, us, are, will...

aren't	are not
can't	cannot
couldn't	could not
didn't	did not
doesn't	does not
don't	do not
hadn't	had not
hasn't	has not
haven't	have not
he'd	he had, he would
he'll	he will, he shall
he's	he is, he has
I'd	I had, I would
I'll	I will, I shall
I'm	I am
I've	I have
isn't	is not
it's	it is, it has
let's	let us
mustn't	must not
shan't	shall not
she'd	she had, she would
she'll	she will, she shall
she's	she is, she has
shouldn't	should not
that's	that is, that has
there's	there is, there has
they'd	they had, they would
they'll	they will, they shall
they're	they are
they've	they have
we'd	we had, we would
we're	we are
we've	we have
weren't	were not
what'll	what will, what shall
what're	what are
what's	what is, what has
what've	what have
where's	where is, where has
who'd	who had, who would
who'll	who will, who shall
who're	who are
who's	who is, who has
who've	who have
won't	will not
wouldn't	would not
you'd	you had, you would
you'll	you will, you shall
you're	you are
you've	you have

 IS: "The weather's moody today"= "the weather IS moody today"LET'S= let us 
Reminder" you / we + have, are:
        -You've= you have, "you've been a good student..."
        -YOU'RE= you are, NOT "your":"you're diligent and your marks have gone up..."
        -WE'RE= we are "we're sure of our course..."
        -WE'VE= we have "we've gone far enough in these fields; Let's turn back..."
    


Time related (temporal):
All in a day's work"= the work of one day

"Three days' notice"= it is more than one day
"A month's salary"= one month
"Six months' bonus"= many months


I hope this can be of some little use to some people, somewhat interested in ridding their texts of common mistakes...

Politically Correct

I read somewhere that two footbal players in Czech, caught making sexist remarks, were punished (to train with the womens' team).

By so doing, the team management showed us that they are sensitive to eradicate sexist attitudes and are decisive about it. In turn, the players accepted their plight, proving they are aware of their transgression.

So, in all, what has been achieved is a public chastisement of a opprobious remark about women said in public -- or dangerously close to public.

We did not eradicate the sexist thought, we punished people for saying it...

Of course any negative, largely unwarranted remark, based on offensive stereotypes, is hurtful to the victim of the remark. So, not saying something is better than its actionable counterpart; at least it spares the victims the public humility.
It also spares the unsuspecting (children, for example) from being gratuitously introduced to such human intolerance.



But what are we doing about eradicating such thoughts? What can we do? Not much, I don't think:
1) it's a matter of social education and this is impossible to ontrol -- and, do we want to?
2) It's a matter of changing peoples' perception of reality and their acceptance of the differences between themselves andtheir surroundings (for that is, basically, the foundation of many politically incorrect remarks).
3) It's a matter of making the phrase "politically incorrect", presently no more than marketing blurb pushed to extremes in its application game, mean something and be perceived as meaning something: i.e. to attain a position of respect.
4) Does not look like it's going to happen tomorrow. Too much control has never succeede; it also requires a melt-down of democracy (which is happening, but very slowly).


For now let's contend with what we have -- a sensure on expressing sexist & racist opinion publically.

Three Little Pigs

A blog can be any number of things to any one of us. For many it is many things: a diary, a public search for company, an antidote to loneliness, literary exhibitionism, opening up to the world, widening the reach - throwing the written voice as far as it will go, garnering interest and building a private virtual harem of followers...

In all cases I can think, however, the commonality is in the sharing. Maybe there is a latent wish to be accepted, to have someone respon, "yes, I can identify with that," or, "I understand you."

I wonder, if acceptance it is, is this acceptance real or virtual? Does the acceptance go all the way, i.e. have I found a kindred soul in each and every -- or some of the -- written pats on the back?

And where do the three little pigs come in -- I don;t really know, it just sounded good to me today and I wrote it quickly before it slipped my mind!

Of course, seen from the story cantage point, the little pigs sought to protect themselves from the outsidewhile the blogger is inviting the outside in.


I would upload a pig, but I the image uploads do not work these days!