Anisu

Warwick

Anisu — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:53:59 +0000

A weekend of nostalgia and memories.

The same places, and some of the same people.

A lot of things I would have done differently if I could go back.

I’m lacking the words to describe the feelings.

Προσεχώς από μια ζωή που έγινε ξένη

Anisu — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 20:11:40 +0000

Από ένα πολύ καλό άρθρο της Μαρίας Κατσουνάκη:

“Ποια θα είναι τα χαρακτηριστικά της αυριανής κοινωνίας όταν όλο και μεγαλύτερα τμήματα του πληθυσμού ζουν με διαρκείς ματαιώσεις; Οταν έννοιες όπως «ποιότητα της καθημερινότητας» απεμπολούνται για να πάρει τη θέση τους η στοιχειώδης επιβίωση; Οταν ο φόβος κλέβει από τη χαρά και τη δημιουργική ονειροπόληση; Οταν η αγωνία επιταχύνει τους σφυγμούς και κόβει τις ανάσες; Οταν η κατήφεια κερδίζει έδαφος, περιορίζοντας τις πηγές ανανέωσης και ψυχικής τροφοδοσίας;

Η ανθρώπινη συνθήκη δεν εξαντλείται στην ανάλωση και την ανακύκλωση του υπάρχοντος. Βασίζεται σε απόθεμα αξιών, αναγκαίο για τη σκυταλοδρομία των γενεών. Παιδιά που βλέπουν τον άνεργο γονιό να καταρρέει και την οικία να κλονίζεται, που ακούν μόνο ψυχρούς υπολογισμούς, διηγήσεις για «εφιαλτικά σενάρια», που δυσκολεύονται να παρασύρουν τη μητέρα ή τον πατέρα στο παιχνίδι, γιατί «κανείς δεν έχει τη διάθεση».

Η μοναξιά και το περιθώριο δεν υπόσχονται ευημερία και παραγωγικότητα. Ούτε η δαμόκλειος σπάθη της ανεργίας μπορεί να εγγυηθεί διεξόδους και προοπτικές. Μόνο ανακουφιστικό συναίσθημα, η εδραίωση ενός πλαισίου νομιμότητας. Οι μικρές μετατοπίσεις που αφήνουν χαραμάδες αισιοδοξίας ότι το δίκαιο που κυριαρχεί δεν είναι μόνον του, πολιτικά και οικονομικά, ισχυροτέρου. Γιατί αν η αποτυχία είναι συνολική, η απορρύθμιση και η διάλυση δεν θα έχουν τέλος.”

Pamplona

Anisu — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 15:17:54 +0000

We are coming!

Offshore drilling

Anisu — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:03:48 +0000

I read with great interest the criticisms of the Obama administration around the Gulf oil spill.

It seems all of the American right wing media has found a million things Obama should have done or should be doing about all this.

Funny how the same media in 2008 had a very different view about the issue. It seems suddenly everyone forgot that it was, actually, a key issue of the American elections whether to allow offshore drilling or not. Obama was against the idea.

Let’s read a random article from 2008 (there are thousands of similar ones):

John McCain called for an end to the 27-year ban on offshore oil production.

“It’s safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage from the battered rigs off the coasts of New Orleans and Houston,” said Mr McCain. “Yet, for reasons that become less convincing with every rise in the price of foreign oil, the federal government discourages offshore production. I believe it is time to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use.”

Safe enough…

An OECD study

Anisu — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:28:25 +0000

What a coincidence that I read about this OECD study from the developing world:

The rapid growth of emerging economies has led to a shift in economic power: forecasts based on analysis by late economist Angus Maddison suggest that the aggregate economic weight of developing and emerging economies is about to surpass that of the countries that currently make up the advanced world.

This is big stuff. It’s the OECD announcing that in 20 years time, it will no longer represent a powerful group of countries. Or at least not the most powerful.

Sitting here and writing this I don’t see it as unlikely at all. Only one thing can stop it – and that is the economy of developing countries overheating and crashing. This would have profound effects if it were to happen.

Greenwash

Anisu — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:28:19 +0000

Green tea really is greener: the milk in a cup of white tea or coffee creates more CO2 than boiling the water.

I wonder how much CO2 writing the article in the Guardian about this cost.

I recently have started being very annoyed at the pathetic calculation of CO2 emissions of ordinary daily activities.

I understand of course, that small sacrifices can make a big difference to the planet. But I don’t feel that the focus should be on small sacrifices.

Take supermarket bags.

I am sure I can save a lot of carbon dioxide by re-using plastic bags. Like a few kilos a year or something. And if we convince thousands of people to save hundreds of thousands of bags, without wasting that much energy convincing them…

How about something a bit easier?

How about we convince a single planning officer in a single local authority to plan shopping areas so they are closer to where people live, and close to existing public transport links?

Surely if Tesco was just this little bit more conveniently located than a 2 mile drive, and surely if there were other options within a short walk, this would save more CO2 than the shopping bags ever will.

Similarly for the various car sharing schemes.

My office is located in the middle of fields, 2 miles from the nearest train/bus stop, with a train an hour servicing it during peak times. There is no way of getting to it than by car.

Though I like the scenery, one has to ask how someone got planning to build this, and how much CO2 is wasted daily by the thousands who work there and commute daily.

Surely more than can ever be saved by good souls who can share a car?

Dragon boat race!

Anisu — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:14:52 +0000

Today I went to some more villages and watched the dragonboat race.

Quite a cool spectacle.

Every family (people with the same surname) races a boat up a river in a form of competition. There are fireworks and cheers.

The overall losing team buys suckling pig to the winners.

I was there with a very kind family and a man who spoke French (!) so I could communicate.

I also visited a “tier 2″ city – these are the ones which are considered newer cities in developing areas, but which don’t have the political clout that Beijing or Shanghai have. Unexpectedly, it was actually a very nice city – I think they have learnt from developing the first array of towns and made the second lot a bit more spacious and tidy.

People are very friendly. I am surprised that even in the villages, nobody stares at me. I am pretty sure there haven’t been many white people there.

I have been eating lots of crazy stuff. Today I had pigeon for breakfast and shark for lunch. (Sorry to all the animal lovers out there, this is what people eat over here).

Tomorrow I have one more day of travelling before I return to HKG where I can have some Starbucks.

If you think you’ve seen efficiency, try the USA

Anisu — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:43:51 +0000

Whenever I travel to developing or less developed countries, one thing that stands out is how inefficiently these places run.

The classic example is the restaurant. You often see more staff than customers, seemingly struggling to find something to do. Yet when you ask for the bill, you still have to wait for a long while. Coming from the UK where you expect waiters to be running around and trying to get you to eat fast and go, this seems very peculiar.

My transit though Atlanta though made me question how efficient even the UK is.

Apparently, this airport is by some distance the busiest in the world. Yet when you are here, you won’t be blamed to think this place is smaller and less busy than Stansted.

I recall once reading an article about Easyjet – back then a new business model for Europe. The article described with fascination how people queue up to board before the plane has even arrived to the jetway, and how airports no longer read the calls to board.

Here, this seems old school. Here people aren’t actually queuing and pretending getting on a plane is a big event. The announcement to board is read by a computer. The door opens by a computer. People land, run around the terminal and get to the plane by the departure time or they get rebooked on the next one. There is no real “waiting area” by the gate. No duty free shopping. Generally people arrive “just in time”, walk to the next plane, and off they go again.

It goes on. If you miss your flight, you scan your passport on a machine that prints a new boarding pass for the next one and a meal voucher. Customer service “desks” are actually staffed by telephones, not people, that connect you to a call centre. Flight departure times look peculiar (mine leaves at 5:23). 10 minutes late is considered a “delay”.

Pilots don’t arrive in style with the crew. They run from one gate to the next to catch the next flight, often picking up a McDonalds to go on the way.

The experience feels like I am travelling in a fast food restaurant where every process is programmed for as little human intervention as possible.

The whole thing is so efficient that I feel if any of these businesses set off to run something in Europe, they would clear millions and make Easyjet look as archaic as British Airways.

The question, of course, is why they don’t. This is a fundamental one. The US has always shown to the world how to do things, and made an economy out of this. The failure to continue this model is at the heart of the current crisis.

One explanation I can find is that politically, it is now “cool” to not be like an American. What once would be considered an innovation, would now be deemed a step backwards. In that sense, the US would need to re-invent its image and relationships with the rest of the world, and become a place people aspire to again.

Another possible explanation is that Americans themselves no longer feel they are part of a wider world which they can look out to. By focussing on their very narrow political discourse, they have forgotten that their future is in looking outwards, not inwards.

In the latter case, this would be a very interesting lesson for Europe. At this difficult time, the media focusses on internal matters, ignoring even what happens within EU borders. Perhaps the solution is quite the opposite.

Hi From Atlanta!

Anisu — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 20:43:05 +0000

My first transatlantic flight was actually shorter than many other flights I have taken recently.

I have been extremely busy, without time to write much here. I hope to get some “free time” about the end of the month.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer.

Μοναξιά

Anisu — Sun, 30 May 2010 14:00:36 +0000

Η κουβέντα με την παρέα
Άλλοτε για το ποδόσφαιρό, άλλοτε τα οικονομικά, άλλοτε την πολιτική.

Το τηλέφωνο που χτυπά ασταμάτητα.

Η “κοινωνία της πληροφορίας”.

Βουητό

Χθες βράδυ ονειρεύτηκα ένα παλιό μου φίλο.