Quotation from "The Gambler"

Fyodor Dostoyevsky writes in his story The Gambler (1866): "He (Mr Astley) also says that we Russians know nothing, can do nothing, without European help." (Chapter XV)

Bombings in Moscow?

World news can be quite shocking. One wakes up in the morning and hears about killings and bombings and death and catastrophy and agony in the news. This morning though, Monday March 29th, Muscovites did not hear anyhting about the suicide blasts that had hit two underground trains and stations of Moscow's Metro until 2 hours later. National radio and TV kept broadcasting morning shows, advertisements and soaps, but nothing about the devastation in their city. People left homes for work, still embarking trains, clueless about the threat. This practice of delaying news reports or even conceal them must have reminded everyone of the autocratic and secretive way officials handled reporting of current matters in socialist Russia.

In the attacks, occuring at Lublyanka station and Park Kultury, 38 people were killed and dozens more injured. Russian officials blamed Islamist separatists from the Caucasus for the attack in the heartland of Russia. (Picture by Time Magazine)

Beyond Boundaries

Scientists have identified 9 areas that are crucial for the assessment of life on planet Earth as we know it. Exceeding their boundaries means a serious threat to the natural world and resources. They are:

-Fresh water use
-Change in land use
-Rate of Biodiversity loss
-Climate change
-Nitrogen cycle
-Phosporus cycle
-Stratospheric ozone depletion
-Atmospheric Aerosol loading
-Chemical polution
-Ocean acidification
Now, the graph shows that humans have overstepped 3 of the 9 planetary boundaries and are close to transgressing others. The ultimate impact: unknown. The way of limitation: unknown. Wow, what a prospect. (from New Scientist 2010)

Sausages

Bill Clinton quoted in his book My Life: "Someone once said that the two things people should never watch being made are sausages and laws. It was ugly and uncertain." (535)

France & McDonald's

The Times newspaper recently featured an article about French women growing bigger. So far they have been known for being skinny and very body-conscious. Now they waist numbers enlarge, and they are said to like it. French society - even though I think it is more the fashion industry, which is hard to understand anyway as a reasonably rationally thinking human being- is asked to drop they expectations in terms of weight and body shape.

A woman voice in the article further laments how McDonalds, which eventually came to a small French town, lured the people into its halls with people queueing at their counters and cars queueing at their Drive-thru. As if McDonalds were to blame for heavier if not obese bodies?!! Ultimately, it is a person's own choice what they want to eat. I am convinced that everybody is educated enough by now to know what healthy food and lifestyle is about. Speaking of lifestyle, perhaps it is particularly that what the French people want to taste and experience at McDonald's?

Teenagers??!!

Well, one hears 'teenager' and thinks 'gosh, teenager, yes....no wonder. There is quick help in dealing with teenagers, using your common sense, because ultimately common sense and psychology together have produced some key tips, which are said to help 'survive' dealing with teenagers. Surely, they can be demanding, but at the same time inspiring, energizing and just down-right wonderful. My daughter is, at the age of 13. I could have 10 of them now....anyway, 5 good tips are those:
1. Listen actively by acknowledging what they are saying and empathising with them and their feelings that come with it.
2. Acknowledge their anger and frustration in particular; sometimes they cannot quite identify frustration as such.
3. Keep bonding by doing special things together, and alone, just the two of you.
4. Keep reminding them of rules and stick to appropriate boundaries; they may not like it, but certainly respect it.
5. Reins shall be loosened; negotiation may help to do it gradually.
6. As parents, embrace new technology by sending texts or communication via social networking sites.

Five Emotions You Never Thought You Had

The magazine New Scientist, vol. 205 no 2743, reports that they are more than the six basic emotions, one never knew they had. Psychologists agree on the fact that there are the six basic emotions: joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. All of them are expressed in and by our face and have been thought to be important for survival.

Since times are changing, new emotions come under researchers' radar. Such emotions mostly do not have an immediate facial expression, but serve a purpose in our lives: that of motivating activities that help us thrive. Those new emotions are: elevation, interest, gratitude, pride, and confusion. Elevation is for uplifting and linked to the release of oxytocin, which makes people feel more open and trusting, just what is needed for strengthening and repairing relationships. Interest is for curiosity and learning for the own development. Gratitude is said to be the relationship-boosting emotion. It moves us to return kindness and also helps us find individuals who want us well and be there for us in the future. It activates the give-and-take cycle. Pride is the ambiguous emotion: arrogant and noble at the same time. It is important because it makes us look and evaluate ourselves and motivates is to do well and gain respect. Finally, confusion is the emotion indication it is time for change. Still, some psychologists do not accept it as a basic emotion. Nonetheless, this one has a distinctive facial expression, unlike the others, and proves that the way our brain is working does not work at the time of assessment. It motivates us to adjust our activities and, ultimately, brings new knowledge and encourages new relationships.

The Lancet & HIV

I have come across ‘The Lancet’ on the Imperial College London website. An Imperial-based research paper on HIV treatment published online in The Lancet  was voted a must-read research paper in 2009. The Lancet is one of the world’s most prestigious medical research magazines whose mission it is to gather and grow evidence that shows how the global medical community should combat burdens of diseases that span continents.

The bespoken research paper entitled “Routine versus clinically driven laboratory monitoring of HIV antiretroviral therapy in Africa (DART): a randomised non-inferiority trial”, showed how thousands more people in Africa could be treated for HIV if routine lab tests which are very expensive were reduced to clinically necessary cases or even abandoned. The study was related to the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), involving approximately 3,000 Africans in remote areas who had not had ART before. ART is basically necessary to keep the HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) at a low level, which keeps the immune system from further weakening. Ultimately, patient live with HIV without AIDS really breaking through. (Source of image: Wikipedia.org)

The study found that ART can be delivered effectively without routine laboratory tests on toxic effects. Saving costs on expensive tests would free money for more actual ART treatments, reaching more patients. The DART study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, the Rockefeller Foundation and the UK Department for International Development, and officials in politics and health organisation now hope that existing HIV policies and programmes incorporate the findings of the study since it has shown how simple, but effective measures can be undertaken and delivered by health workers in even remote areas of Africa. Primary care for HIV positive patients becomes a key issue, allowing them access to ART.

Thubron on Why Russians Drink

"Many Estonians and Russians drank away half their salaries. They drink because they are bored-they've nothing else to think about. They've nowhere to go, nothing to do. When they remember the emptiness of their lives, they drink." (Quote from Among Russians-From the Baltic to the Caucasus, 1984, p.110)

Bulgakov about Vodka

'In my time', began the editor [...], 'when I worked on Vanya Sytin's Russian Word, people used to drink themselves into seeing elephants.' (Mikhail Bulgakov, The Fatal Eggs,1925, Chapter X)

Bulgakov is referring to Ivan Sytin (1851-1934), who became one of the greatest entrepreneurs Russia's when he started publishing books on a large scale, for the first time in Russia. This was extraordinary considering Russian population being predominantly illiterate and his own background, him coming from the class of unlettered peasants (90% of Russia's people that time). His printing plant as well as Moscow daily newspaper were called Russian Word.

"Vodka-the colourless innocence!"

Already back in 1984, Colin Thubron commented in his book Among the Russians-From the Baltic to the Caucasus on the famous Russian drink as follows: "Vodka-the colourless innocence! It's the curse and the liberation of Russia, a self-obliterating escape from tedium and emptiness, from interminable winter nights, and the still longer, darker nights of the soul." (68, Vintage, London) (Image: Amazon)

2010-The Year of Earthquakes?

It seems, Earth has been shaking itself relentlessly this year. Only 2 months after the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, Chile was struck by a seism of a magnitude as strong as 8.8. It was one of the most powerful ever recorded in this country. Those who survided the actual quake, had to face the killing tsunami. Overall death toll: up to 800. This happened at the beginning of March 2010. Just yesterday, 8 March 2010, another earthquake struck. It struck in eastern Turkey, killing at least 57 people, according to officials. Its magnitude was 6.0. The region which is scarcely populated is, nonetheless, heavily affected since resources are limited. (Images by BBC Online News)

A Good Man's Life

"According to Wordsworth, the best portion of a good man's life is his little, unremembered acts of kindness and love." (Bill Clinton, My Life, 2002)

Mother Teresa

I wondered whether todays' youth get to know about Mother Teresa? I have not heard anybody or the news talk about her in ages. She died in 1997, leaving a massive legacy in form of her Charity established to continue to help the poor, suffering and children throughout the world. Shewas awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

(Picture: nobelprize.org)

Mother Teresa & Confidence

"Mother Teresa's famous observation that she knew God would never giver her a heavier burden than she could carry, but sometimes she wished He didn't have so much confidence in her." (Bill Clinton, My Life, 2002)

Advocating Social Justice

Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, restlessly advocating social justice, said: "A dying person does not have time for the peripheral or the accidental ...it is wrong to waste the precious gift of time given to us on acrimony and division." (from Clinton's book My Life, 2004)