The Implications of Novelty

Suzanne Koven is a writer and a primary care internist in Boston. She recently interviewed Oliver Sacks who is promoting his new book, "Hallucinations." Her introduction was as interesting as the interview.

A while before the interview she was recovering from shoulder surgery and was unhappy with her slow progress. On the way home from a friend's house, a trip designed to entertain her and improve her post hospital mood, she saw her twenty year old son enter her house before her. She was thrilled to see him but was annoyed he did not leave the door open for her; he clearly saw her as he looked right at her. She hurried inside with plans of introducing him to her friend and searched the house but found no one. She was hallucinating; she had imagined the appearance of her son and his actions. She had no history and no significant medication to account for it.

Sacks' interview included some remarks about his surprising drug-taking history and one startling observation. Later in the interview Sacks says, "..[A]...  parfumier had made something unlike anything ever encountered on earth. And it had a very strong smell which aroused no associations and could not be compared to anything. One realized this was absolute novelty. And I quote Poe on this: absolute novelty can enter some hallucinations and maybe some psychosis. I don’t know if imagination is enough. I think hallucinations in various ways go beyond imagination. These are not necessarily creative ways, though maybe they could be put down to creativity."

Kovan asks, " Almost like a visitation? Or would you say hallucinations sometimes come from a part of the brain that isn’t part of the “self?”

Sacks answers, "Yes, well that’s what the muse is. Or the devil!"

Bicycles, Taxis and History

General von Schlieffen bicycled through the Belgium countryside reconnoitering the grounds of the war he knew would come.

Years later, in 1914, the Germans came back, this time with more than bicycles. General von Kluck burst through Belgium and swept through northern France toward the encirclement of Paris. His forces defeated the British at Mons, then Le Cateau. The path to Paris was freed.

Then von Kluck changed his mind. Ignoring the von Schlieffen dictum to "keep the right strong" he allowed his right flank to drift east, in pursuit of the French army as they retreated in confusion down the Marne. Von Kluck thought he could finish them.

In Paris to the west, the French garrison was led by the aging General Gallieni. When he saw the Germans ignore Paris and slide east and south down the Marne he said, famously, "Gentlemen, they offer us their flank."

The French attacked. Using thousands of taxicabs, they moved their troops from Paris to the Marne Valley and caught von Kluck at his flank, unprepared. The Battle of the Marne stopped the German army cold, turned them and eventually cost the Germans the war.

Sunday Sermon 8/11/13

In today's readings, all the major figures are anticipating but never receiving. Rewards and responsibilities are impending; they are right around the corner. It could be argued that these are worrisome--even threatening--scenarios. Look sharp! The owner of the house may come home early and catch you servants unawares. But these lessons are much bigger than that. What is being asked is that you live your life consistently, honorably and virtuously. Virtue will get you rewarded but it is also the right way to live regardless.

Christ is saying "You know your responsibilities. Meet them whether I am here or not."

Cab Thoughts 8/10/13

 Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see. --Arthur Schopenhauer

The Perseid meteors seen this weekend are swept up dust grains from the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle.

Men are more than five times more likely to be killed by lightning strikes in the United States than women, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control. Golf? Too dumb to come in out of the rain? Sometimes stats mean something but don't mean much.

"It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind." So said Voltaire, a philosopher who lived 1694-1778. He is speaking in the time of kings and dynasties, not republics. That makes a difference. Nations have no natural enemies. Only tyrants are the enemy of mankind.

Magdeen asked, “Does anyone else think the Lord is too concerned with the way our daughters dress and braid their hair?” And the Lord struck him mightily with an open palm and cried, “Is that so? I am the Lord.” But later, He wondered if He had been too harsh....

The Lord said, “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” And the people replied, “No other Gods? Even that one God with a crocodile head?” And the Lord conceded that the God with the crocodile head was hard to compete with.

(From 'Fragments from the Ancient Gospels of “The Church of a Pretty Good God.”'by James Folta and Luke Burns.)

A question about responsibility.
Patty Hearst was Stockholm-ed before Stockholm but was found guilty of robbery (although later pardoned.)
Castro claims his sex with his prisoners was consensual. If one assumes that they were Stockholm-ed like Hearst, was his act a crime? Can he be excused for taking advantages of changes he helped create?

From the world of marketing: A book store put a hint of chocolate in the air of their store. Customers were 40 percent more likely to buy romance novels and cookbooks, and about 22 percent more likely to buy books in other genres when the chocolate scent was present. Customers also spent more time browsing, researchers found. Pleasant smells have long been known to trigger spending: A 2008 study concluded that the smell of chocolate chip cookies made women more likely to make impulse purchases.

Golden Oldie:

http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2009/07/health-care-and-art-of-possible.html

3 new coal plants opened in the first half of 2013 that totaled 1,569 megawatts. While that is considerably less than all the additional wind and solar of all types built in the first half of 2013, the coal plants will generate more electricity as a result of their higher capacity factor. The coal plants will operate in most hours of the year near maximum output. While wind farms produce some electricity in most hours of the year, they rarely operate at maximum output. For wind to produce as much electricity as the 1,569 megawatts of new coal, about 4,500 megawatts of wind would be required. For solar to match the production of 1,569 megawatts of new coal, approximately 7,500 megawatts of new solar would be needed.

The four surviving original copies of Magna Carta will be brought together for the first time in history in 2015, the year of the 800th anniversary of the issue of the Charter by King John in 1215. The unification will be held at the British Library in collaboration with Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral.

Jon Corzine, a Democrat who previously served as New Jersey's governor and U.S. senator, headed MF Global when it collapsed in October 2011 in one of the 10 biggest U.S. bankruptcies. Customers discovered that about $1.6 billion was missing from their accounts. Gone. That money turned out to have been used as stop gaps, which is illegal. How much do you want to bet this will be decided in civil court with fines, no criminal court or jail?

Congressional investigators this week released emails suggesting that staff at the Federal Election Commission have been engaged in their own conservative targeting.

Lance Armstrong should have his seven Tour de France victories reinstated due to the prevalence of doping at the time, according to former cyclist Jan Ullrich. "I would give Armstrong the Tour victories back. ... That's how it was back then," Ullrich told the current edition of Sport Bild magazine. "It doesn't help anyone to draw a line through the winners' list." Ullrich, who won the Tour in 1997, finished second to Armstrong on three occasions -- in 2000, 2001 and 2003.

The Tropic of Cancer is associated with the zodiacal constellation Cancer the Crab. Historically the Sun's position was within Cancer during the northern summer solstice, but because of the precession of Earth's axis, that solstice sun is currently within the boundaries of Taurus.

Who was....Charles Whitman ?

“I could stand up here and say: let’s just get everybody together, let’s get unified. The sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know that we should do the right thing, and the world would be perfect. Maybe I’ve just lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this will be. You are not going to wave a magic wand…” Hillary on Obama, 2008.

It is often said regarding the minimum wage, ‘If the minimum wage had simply tracked U.S. productivity gains since 1968, it would be $21.72 an hour — three times what it is now’; that is a canard. Most productivity gains have been in manufacturing, farming and transportation, not the low-wage sector. A more honest index would be the inflation rate, where in 1968 the minimum wage was $1.60, resulting in a 2013 minimum wage of $10.71.

The American singer Kelly Clarkson bought a ring owned by Jane Austen last year for about $228,000, but British authorities have barred her from taking it out of the U.K. until the end of September in the hopes that a British person will buy the gold and turquoise ring. This from the "adopted" country of the Elgan Marbles.

canard: n. A false or misleading report or story, especially if deliberately so. etymology: from Fr. "duck",Specifically, the term "Canard" refers to a tactic used by a parent duck to deceptively draw a predator away from its offspring or nest by quacking and feigning a broken wing. In other words the "Canard" or "Duck" is lying.

Studies suggest that North Koreans may be up to three inches shorter than South Koreans and have diminished IQs because of malnourishment as children. The latter is a known effect on human beings anywhere who are subjected to a starvation diet. The North Korean population has suffered from severe diet restriction for decades.

AAAAAAnnnnnnddddd.........a graph:

Obama 2

Politics is a world of uncertain acts and results but very certain convictions. Obama, as a rather contradictory guy (Gitmo, Iraq), might be seen as a guy without real opinions but it is more likely these areas are just outside the set of his real interests.

Two very revealing quotes:

1. When asked by ABC's Charlie Gibson if he would support higher capital gains tax rates even if they raised less revenue than lower rates. Mr. Obama said yes. (2008)

2. When he spoke of his plans to eliminate coal as an energy source, he was not unaware of the implications. He said as a result, "energy cost would necessarily skyrocket."

Taxes do not just raise revenue, energy do not just provide power. There are bigger concepts at stake here. And people, their families, lives and comforts must be sacrificed to them.

Popes, Ricca, Swiss Guards and Janet Tavakoli

Janet Tavakoli is a finance and fiction writer, a polymath. Her finance writings include "Structured Finance and Collateralized Debt Obligations: New Developments in Cash and Synthetic Securitization..." and "The New Robber Barons"; her fiction, Archangels: Rise of the Jesuits (Volume 1), is about the Vatican, its finances and its temptations. 

She sent a note to the investment guru/social activist Andrew Tobias, published on his blog, about the recent declarations by the Pope regarding Monsignor Battista Ricca, who is alleged to have had a romantic affair with a Swiss Guard (among others).
It is quite interesting and is included here:

“The Pope appointed...[Ricca]... to clean up corruption in the Vatican Bank so, of course, Ricca had to be blackmailed. The Pope made it pretty clear that 1) his internal investigation did not match with printed reports of Ricca’s having real-time gay partners, but that 2) even if the reports of his past life and breaking vows are true, God forgives and forgets, so those looking to use this as leverage against Ricca are out of luck. In one swoop, the Pope disarmed them. So a priest is gay? Who is the Pope to judge. So he had a wild past? If he asked for forgiveness and received it, the past is just that.”
She then theorizes: “It may have gone like this: Ricca agreed to be the pope’s investigator, and others sought to neutralize Ricca with embarrassing information — real or fabricated. The pope just said: ‘So what, even if it was once true? You can’t blackmail me, because I’m not embarrassed about anything, and Ricca shouldn’t be either; Ricca has my support. Write anything you like. Then try to get a better life.’”
“A Pope,” she says, “has never done anything close to this in the history of the Church.”

Cab Thought 8/7/13

The best way to keep money in perspective is to have some." - Louis Rukeyser

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal warned that the Gulf Arab kingdom needed to reduce its reliance on crude oil and diversify its revenues, as rising U.S. shale energy supplies cut global demand for its oil.

An excerpt from George R.R. Martin's upcoming novella was published Tuesday on the Tor website. The novella, The Princess and The Queen, or, The Blacks and The Greens, is set two centuries before the events of his popular Game of Thrones series, and recounts "the Causes, Origins, Battles, and Betrayals of that Most Tragic Bloodletting Known as the Dance of the Dragons."

A book asks a fascinating question: Apparently poetry preceded prose, did music precede language?

Univision ranked No. 1 among all networks in the adults 18-49 and adults 18-34 demographics during the July sweep period (June 26-July 24), according to Nielsen, a first for the Spanish-language network in any sweep period.

John Newton wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace." His autobiography ("An Authentic Narrative of some Interesting and Remarkable Particulars in the Life of John Newton," 1764) makes clear how lost he was. After several failed attempts as a sailor, he was press-ganged into service on an English man-of-war. He was such a trouble-maker that he was released to a slave-trader then abandoned by the trader to the whims of his "African princess" concubine, who starved him, and encouraged the natives to jeer and throw rocks at her white slave. He eventually returned to England and "was found."

Mexican migration to the U.S. declined sharply in 2008 and has continued to decline. Part of this story is the increase in border protection, but the dominant engine has been the economic shifts on both sides of the border – it has become easier for poor Mexicans to improve their quality of life in Mexico and harder to do so in the United States.

"The Way, Way Back" is one of those coming of age stories that usually become formulaic and silly with a moronic resolution but this one is pretty good. Good acting, not too much reach, and one very well written character who structures the whole story. Worthwhile, if simple.

Paparazzi is the plural of paparazzo, from the name of a photographer in Federico Fellini's 1959 film La Dolce Vita.

After over 40 years of secrecy, the real cause of death of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin has been made public. Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) became the first human to journey into outer space on April 12, 1961. Gagarin died in 1968 when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting crashed. According to a declassified report, there is a human factor behind the tragic incident - an unauthorized SU-15 fighter jet was flying dangerously close to Gagarin’s aircraft, passing close to Gagarin, turning his plane and sending it into a tailspin – a deep spiral – at a speed of 750 kilometers per hour. The specifics had been withheld because of the significance of his death to the program and the nation, the factor of error, as well as the usual State paranoia.

Who was...Mary Jo Kopechne?

K2, the world's second highest mountain behind Everest, was climbed for the first time in 1954. For every four people who have reached the summit, one has died trying.

Golden Oldie:

http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2012/06/truth-that-must-not-be-spoken.html

Gas production in Southwest Pennsylvania jumped 100% from July 2012 to July 2013. Production from that comparatively small area provided 1% of all of America's gas in 2012 and now 2%. The general Marcellus region now supplies about 10% of America's natural gas.

The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing Jackson-Lee to replace Napolitano at Homeland Security, a very curious candidate. Jackson -Lee is famous for wanting to see a picture of the American flag on Mars, placing her in the marines-might-tip-Guam-over intellectual subset, but also is closely connected, financially and presumably philosophically, to CAIR, an unindicted co-conspirator in terrorist money laundering. A strange candidate for Homeland Security. At one annual fundraiser for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, she presented the group with a congressional recognition award — even though the FBI has banned the group from outreach meetings. "How proud I am to have been associated with CAIR's legislative work," she said at a 2007 CAIR event. "We need CAIR and we need all of you supporting CAIR."

Reportedly, the New York Rangers were going after Cooke and offered him more money than the Minnesota Wild did. However, according to a source, Cooke would only go to the Western Conference, partly out of respect to the Penguins and also the Penguins reportedly promised Cooke a job when he retires. Is this preemptive tampering?

Eric Brynjolfsson points out in a TED that Watson, the IBM AI project, having successfully amassed enough everyday knowledge to defeat the grand champions on Jeopardy!, was "now applying for jobs at call centers, and getting them. In finance, and in law, and getting them." The problem will be jobs, he later told an interviewer. "The human mind did not evolve to multiply triple-digit numbers. The robot mind has. "

Eugene O'Neill dedicated "Long Day's Journey Into Night" to his wife, Carlotta. Attached to the original manuscript were O'Neill's instructions, communicated to Carlotta and to Bennett Cerf at Random House, that the play could not be published until twenty-five years after his death, and not performed ever--ostensibly to protect his family from the play's implications. Just two years after O'Neill's death in 1953, Carlotta had the script withdrawn from Random House, and donated to Yale University, with a view to publication and production. She pointed to the disintegration of the family O'Neill's ban was intended to protect -- Eugene Jr. dead by suicide, Jamie lost to heroin (he would commit suicide also), Oona disinherited for having married Charlie Chaplin -- and to a claim that O'Neill had given her permission to publish should she need the money.

A Bucharest court is investigating the October 2012 theft of seven paintings from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam. The works, together worth tens of millions of dollars, are by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Lucian Freud, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin and Meyer de Haan. A man named Radu Dogaru has been arrested and suspected accomplices are being pursued. It is believed the suspect's mother burned the evidence. Apparently, destruction of stolen art is common after the thief realizes how hard stolen art is to sell. We need better educated thieves.

AAAAAAaaaaaaaannnnnnnnddddddd......a graph: