2012 — 7 October: Sunday
The other partner of Dean1 is 55 today. How's that for whimsy? Heavens, I retired at that age.
Another autumnal start. I'm guessing we may well be on track for winter, not to mention my own natal anniversary. (For one part of the "celebration" of which I'm lining up a visit to a Chinese restaurant.) Right; time for a spot of virtual "boot" investigation and research. My present pair is continuing to cause a blister or two despite that moleskin.
Dr Jekyll and Mr (Formalde)hyde
Good gracious me. This opening paragraph is clear enough, wouldn't you think, by way of a summary?
[Formaldehyde's] status was first listed in 1981 as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen" based on sufficient evidence from studies in experimental animals. Since that time, additional cancer studies in humans have been published, and the listing status was changed to "known to be a human carcinogen" in the Twelfth Report on Carcinogens (2011).
Nicholas Kristof has an excellent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times in which he asserts, (as he says in his blog), "the chemical companies don't like the direction the scientific consensus is taking, and so the industry is doing exactly what it did in the case of tobacco and asbestos and many other dangerous substances. It's trying to sow doubt and leverage uncertainty and gum up the regulatory process." He adds: "Big Chem apparently worries that you might be confused if you learned that formaldehyde caused cancer of the nose and throat, and perhaps leukemia as well."
I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked, to learn that even carcinogens have their Washington lobbyists. (Or I would be, if I hadn't watched Boston Legal.) It all ties in with a slightly silly piece (reviewing a new book that yet again observes apparent similarities between psychopathic traits and some of the characteristics of successful Captains of Industry [etc.]) over in the Grauniad/Observer.
I am, of course, equally shocked to hear the boy Dave saying he will block the proposed "Mansion Tax". Although we're all in it together, the Rich are to remain different from the Rest. (Link.)
Having just...
... heard Richard Hawley play the Doors song "Indian Summer" (all the while trying to remind myself which one it was) it occurred to me that it's far too long since I last played the album it's from: Morrison Hotel. Can you believe that was back in 1970? Good grief. So that's now my pre-prandial listening, and mighty fine it is, too. They were a very good band indeed. And that's probably why I have 15 of their albums — I'm including the posthumous Jim Morrison 'solo' album An American Prayer in that figure, but not Ray Manzarek's fascinating The Doors: Myth and Reality double album as it's largely spoken voice anecdotage and history.
The last track comes from the "Chilled Ibiza II" album. Come to think of it, there's also a strangely enjoyable Nigel Kennedy / Jaz Coleman orchestral album The Doors Concerto. Just as well I'm not one of those odd 'completeists'. (Which reminds me... where's my anorak?)
You can find...
... humour just about anywhere, it seems to me. Having noted the (alleged) psychopathic characteristics of surgeons this morning, here's a tiny example from the chapter called "Slices" in neurosurgeon Katrina S Firlik's memoir Another Day in the Frontal Lobe:
As one of my mentors puts it, a brain biopsy is "two scared people separated by a needle"... On a more serious note the concept of hedging your bets is not necessarily frowned upon in neuropathology. A biopsy report might read something like: "could be A but cannot rule out B". This type of report drives a surgeon nuts. Neurosurgeons, on the other hand, are often ridiculed for being "frequently wrong but never in doubt".
Good job my brain doesn't hurt :-)
It amuses me, from...
... time to time, to look back over what is now rapidly approaching 30 years of email exchanges between me and my friend Carol over in New York. She retired a decade ago after 42 years or so in IBM. Seven years ago, for example, we were exchanging views on IBM's pension plans on both sides of the Pond:
Carol: I'm most intrigued by your description of IBM's pension shenanigans, all in the name of paying less in taxes and compleat with the full complement of disclaimers. Apart from the loss of revenue, the other thing your Gummint might worry about is what IBM et al do with all that promised pension money. The US rules on the funding of pension plans have proved woefully inadequate lately, leaving many who worked hard all their lives without enough for retirement. The government insurance fund for pension defaults does not cover nearly all the loss, and it too turns out to be egregiously underfunded given the antics of Enron and the many others. Of course the CEOs and their minions are doing just fine, wafting on their golden parachutes, thank you very much. I suspect your government is smarter than ours (let's hope, anyway — bar isn't very high these days).
David: As for the depradations and shenanigans of a certain mid-sized computer services company; I sourly observe that, once again, they managed to spend $1.7 billion in 3Q buying back bits of paper with their name on them, rather than diverting this useful amount of cash in the direction of my sagging pension fund. They simultaneously sent me a note warning me of the "Market Value Adjustment" (a post-Modern euphemism for reduction) that one of my retirement funds now applies to any disinvestment prior to retirement. This being the fund cunningly in the hands of an outfit that (a) promised inflation-proofed returns without the funds to enable it and (b) fought, and lost, an expensive action in the House of Lords that failed to ratify their ridiculous (and essentially worthless) guarantee, then compounded their folly by sueing their auditors for failing to spot said worthlessness and advise them not to bother trying...
My web browser appears to swallow one of the two spaces Carol invariably leaves after each full stop :-)
Later that day, as it happened, I had a brief chat with Peter on the topic. He was just starting to wonder about pension schemes having taken a job in central London. My (independent, free) advice to him was:
- marry rich,
- become the boss,
- work for yourself, or
- inherit, win the lottery, or pursue a successful life of crime.
And, not to forget, you cannot take it with you!
Jarvis Cocker has just finished playing some RD Laing material — he was born on this day in 1927, apparently. I was mildly surprised to realise I culled the three books of his that I had had since my student days. "Knots" was the most readable one, and not just because Gentle Giant also made good use of it on their album "Octopus".
Just back...
... after watching Mike's Blu-ray of Prometheus on his big screen. I fear it's convinced me not to get my own copy. Just too many plotholes. The documentary 'extras' were both sparse and rather weird, too. Sorry, Mr Ridley!