CONNECTED

With a recomndation of a friend I started to read Cal Newport's new book DEEP WORK. The most striking question at the beginning of the book was : "Does it really help my work to be constantly connected.".

How often do we have to be connected? Difficult question..

Long distance communication started with letters carried by travellers and improved by the professional operations by post offices . The time elapsed to carry the information inside the envelope   was related with its distance. The farther the receiver the longer time was needed.

This continued until the invention of the telegramme. Samuel Morse sent an information at electric speed in 1844. But still there was the need of a postman to carry the message to the receiver by foot taking hours..

Than came instant voice communication by Graham Bell telephone in 1876. Followed by mass broadcasting invention by Gugliemo Marconi the radio in 1895.

Telex machine was a distant teleprinter not as fast as voice communication but you have message printed onto a paper that you elaborate. The machine was working even in off hours. Its speed was at the beginning equal to the person typewriting skill. 10 finger writing was important as you were paying the telex connection by seconds. Two way communication was possible.  Machines improved to a quicker transfer of information by pre-punched tapes working similarly to Jacquard loom automation. In nineteen seventees the computerized telex machines allow the messanger to pre-write his message to the screen and send it afterwards. Massages started to be stored in machines in spite of paper.

The messaging speed increased tents of fold by voice-electronic combination devices known as facsimile. In a ess than a minute you were able to send a4 page writing or drawing or photographs.

You still need a machine ,electric power and telephone connection.

In eighties "pager" was able to send instant messages to portable smal rechargeable devices. The message was delivered by phone to the post office operator. Than was transferred to the pager in a minutes . Alerting you by beeping and trembling. This invention freed people to stay at the office waiting a call. In spite hiring a secretary ...

Internet connection of the personal computers through telephone lines by dial up system was the last stage in messaging at electric speed. Making the communication ever cheaper and quicker.

In nineteenninties Cellular car phones was than allowing to make a phone call while driving and making communication easier and freeing people of dieing batteries. As batteries improved cellular phones shrinked to a level to be carried in a pocket.

The appearance of first smart phones at beginning of the new millenia made people read their messages throughout their mobile phones tiny screens.

I recon the first smart phones beeping when a new message was received.How a showy was in the community!

Let me return the the book  that I was reading , where the author now is pretanding that such a speedy messaging is making us less productive and less creative because such continuous poke of messages are distracting us and making difficult to be concentrated in a difficult tasks.

Avram Aji
24.06.2020

MODERN FEARS AND BIASES

We are accustomed to hear and read various disasters all over the world constantly. Fires , hurricanes, landslides, avalanches , floods , pandemics , eruption of volcanoes, tsunamis , earthquakes , wars, terror attacks , murders are the main subjects of actual social media and press. Adding conspiracy theories in it makes them much more attractive. 

Under so much misinformation from our surrounding the new generation became fearful of the following: 

-MEDICATION , MEDICINES ,VACCINES : debilitating the immune system , creating worse side effects in a long run.

-MICROWAVE OVENS : spreading carcinogenic waves.

-FERTILIZERS ,PETICIDES AND RESIDUES: excessive usage is a fact. But organic farming is far to suffice 8 billion world. Residual effect is exaggerated and exacerbated by scholars, private laboratories and coward authorities.

-GMO GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISM : carcinogenic

-HIBRID SEEDS

-DETERGENTS AND OTHER CLEANSING SUBSTANCES : polluting the environment

-PLASTIC RECIPIENTS AND PARAPHERNALIA 

-CONVENTIONAL SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION SYSTEM : not very proper

-NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS : spreading radioactivity

-WIND TURBINES, killing birds, making noise

-5G INTERNET WAVES , disrupting brain

-HYDROELECTRIC POWER STATION , changing the microclimate

Most of the above list articles are not within the scope our expertise if not all. Newspapers, TV's and social media can only atract followers if only delivers  outrageous information, hence none of us will be interested to hear about there was not any earthquake today nor any car accidents , explosion , rape , murder . We are under attack of bad news only most of the time.

Let's think about the electricity that we consume. None of the powers stations are free from environmental disruption. Coal burning is polluting the air, Hydroelectricity is changing the microclimate, nuclear fission is producing radioactivity and there is no safe place for its residues, wind turbines are killing the bees , while producing solar panels there is an invironmental residues et cetera..

But it is sure that we can not live without electricity. Can we ?

Avram Aji
11.06.2020

TRUTH - Hector Macdonald

This is a marvellous , and very recently published book. I highly recommend to everybody. There is not only one and eternel thruth but different views in every fact. Below you have few fragments.

THE QUINOA REDISCOVERED...

The writer start with the fact quinoa consumption icrease in recent years. Gluten intolerance and coeliac patients were extremely enthusastic of this new cereal not hurting them but beingly highly nutritious.The consumption exploded and trippled its price. Poor Peruvians an Bolivians were not anymore able to buy it

Few sensitive Europeans were thinking lik: “The more you love quinoa, the more you hurt Peruvians and Bolivians”

The income of the farmers trippled. Those who used to have only Quinoa in thier daily life started to rejoice the variety of different foods.

THE INTERNET   TRUTH

“The Internet makes the world’s knowledge widely available.
The Internet accelerates the spread of misinformation and hatred.”

“Competing truths inform our mindsets, and our mindsets determine our subsequent choices and actions. We vote, shop, work, cooperate and fight according to what we believe to be true. Some truths stay with us for life, determining the most important choices we make and defining the very nature of our character. Whether we are faced with a police shooting, a company mission statement, a group of refugees, a presidential candidate, a holy book, a scientific finding, a contentious statue or a natural disaster, our response–which may be dramatic, transformative or violent–will stem from our mindset.”

BREST CANCER AND PREGNANCY  CORRELATION

“To keep things simple, we can think about three types of communicators:
Advocates: selecting competing truths that create a reasonably accurate impression of reality in order to achieve a constructive goal.
Misinformers: innocently propagating competing truths that unintentionally distort reality.
Misleaders: deliberately deploying competing truths to create an impression of reality that they know is not true.”


JOHN KENNEDY

“Gross National Product, ‘It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

Avram Aji
11.06.2020

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC AND ITS IMPACT TO THE FOOD SECTOR

Some scholars are naming the actually ongoing “Covit 19” pandemia as the third world war. This is very sad situation. We know that during the first and second world wars more than hundred million people died and enormous amount of assets destroyed.

Due to the measures taken to prevent the contagiousness of this lethal virus,  traveling between countries and even cities ended. Those who are able to work from home were sent and confinement became the new life style for most of us. We do not until when and how the lightening or lifting the will occur. Staying at home for such a long period is not sustainable.

To stay alive we need primarily food, water and shelter. This is the lowest stage and the foundation of Maslow hierarchy. Governments are bewildered . No country had any preparedness for such plague. I have difficulties to understand how easily the Spanish Flu of 1918 has been wiped out from humanity memory while fifty million died. There is no any commemoration day nor any statue but just void. Such as never happened. The Black Death of the fourteen century appear in history books and in many articles.

Nouriel Rubini who has explained clearly the 2008 financial crisis now has published a list of outcome of this pandemia which looks very depressing and gloomy. Starting from huge amount of unemployment , the bankruptcy of giant companies , deficiencies of the governments. Will whole world unite to fight against cruel enemy ? I wish they could …

I want to make a brain storming with you on what can happen and what solutions can be find.

As the disaster is not like an earthquake or eruption of a volcano or a hurricane the existing shelters are in place. Now the major issue is the food production and the distribution chain. The demand did not diminish. As the world population remain to eat 3 times a day. But now mostly at home instead of restaurants .

1) As there are many layoffs along with an increasing amount of unemployment , the income of many families diminished considerably if not exhausted totally.  Hence they will be more hesitant and thrifty in their expenditure.  They will restrict themselves from delicacies for sure. At this point we can easily predict the caviar and champagne sales will die away . The exotic fruit demand will extinguish.

2) It is very common that farm workers move temporarily to assist to harvest in many parts of the world. Now due to movements restriction this will not happen in general . Hence we may expect replacement of local workers higher wages or the crop will be left to vanish at the field. Hence the price of the produce will be more costly thence expensive.

3) Foodstuffs travel from one country to another very frequently during the last decades. Some countries are very dependent to imported foods. Truck transportation is quite essential in Europe and north America which is now a difficulty. Railroads are not ready to take its place or support much. Airline companies are far to take any share due the high airfreights.

4) In view of above difficulties we can come into a conclusion that a price increase is very likely to happen if not already in place.

5)The marine traffic slowed down considerably due to the lack of industrial products demand which is creating a delay in deliveries. We may presume that existing stocks are lowering day by day.

Avram Aji

30.04.2020

THE WISDOM PARADOX - ELHONON GOLDBERG

I heard about this book wile watching a Youtube video of one of favorite doctor and writer Sinan Canan . He said that in this book the author -who is neuroscientist doctor- discovered the shrinkage of his his own brain while making MRI scanning during the years while aging.

The book is full of quite scientific description of brain and its neuro activities during aging. What the researcher  discovered that in recent syposiums held in brain neuroscience , some parts of the brain continue produce neurons despite natural beleif of NNN "no new neurons" after adult periods. Here I want mention few of them. 

Encaged rats having plenty of toys, ladders et cetera develop larger brain compared to ones deprived of it. It has been detected that some part of the brain get bigger of cab drivers, as well as bilingual persons, musicians and jugglers  brain enlargement has been detected. 

"The left hemisphere of our brain decays faster than the right"

"The right hemisphere benefit more from mental exercises."

"The better education is protective factor for brain decay by aging as these persons work more mentally than brawn."

The musical passion of many scientists -like Einstein violin - can be that tacitly they discovered the beneficial side of enhancing their brain in general. 

Avram Aji
30.04.2020

WHY WARS ENDED IN EUROPE

I am having big difficuties in understanding the Brexit , the separation of UK of the EU just for economical motives. While this gigantic institution is latest administrative and managerial breakthrough of humanity. 

Wars mainly faught for territorial  control. Obviously these territories may be rich in natural resources .

Putting aside the Yugoslavian civil war era , Europe entered into a long lasting and sustainable truce since 1945 the end of WW2. 

Imperialism of the last centuries was based on colonialization of undevelopped territories and sucking their natural and human resources. Slavery was not sustainable anyway which ended centuries ago.

After the massive destruction of two world wars Europeans came closer to end up the existing conflicts by making concessions on:

1)Territory 

2)Capital

3)Human resources

In a long term rich and developed countries can not prosper and even exist surrounded by suffering and poor countries. They only have the choice to elevate the economical level of the latters and mostly unwillingly share their knowledge and wealth.

Kuwait-Iraki war, Yugoslavian civil war , Cyprus ambiguity , Noth Korean and Iranian  greed on having nuclear power , Palestine -Israeli conflict maybe recited in this context.

But this high level supranational EU governance may continue only by stabilization the incomes internally as well globally. The flux of unemployed flock is unavoidable. Not only within the EU territory but from all over the world. Hence you can not maintain your prosperity by closing the borders and building walls. Walls was the most ancient invention which did not really work even for China...

The 50 States of USA couldn't absorb Mexico to create equilibrium. No country want to share their wealth for prosperity with his neighbor.. Neither EU went beyond Bulgaria. Neither Russia aggregate the URSS again.

Everybody knows that it is not sustainable.

Avram Aji

12.04.2020

CORONAVIRUS DIARIES 24.03.2020

WILL THE CORONAVIRUS BE THE CAUSE OF THE END OF HUMANITY?

This pandemic showed us the the apocalypse is not far away us. Today the world population is growing by 200.000 person per day. Hence the actual loss of 17.000 in 3 months must not really frighten us. But today 1 billion people stayed at home confined to prevent the propagation of the virus.But they did not stop eating neither heating their homes, washing their cloths...On the other hand we did not use our car neither used the public transportation. Couldn't go out for dinner, neither wedding parties was held...

Not all these people were retirees thus we must admit that there has been an important loss of the actual workforce entailing loss of income. How long we can stay at home? The Wuhan experience is 50 days. In China this is much easy - we know the extreme working conditions and miserable life style - but when it comes to the western world 50 days is very long time. 

Flights came down to one tenth , tourism is in its historically worst situation but there are billions of people making their living with these activities. The cost of the petroleum oil is higher than the actual cost of mining . We have to take into consideration the plummetting consumption which will squeeze producer countries .

Actually the food chain is working satisfactorily.. We see the shelves full in our local groceries..God forbid if this supply chain slow down people will start hoarding which will bring the scarcity of foodstuffs.

The decrease of the incomes will force people to spend less, avoid any kind of indulgence , luxury goods will be unnecessary .

Today the main aim must be to keep the food  supply chain working. For those who live in large cities they have no chance for farming . They either have to move to the countryside or find a labor which can be done at home.

How long you can keep children inside of our homes? How we will continue to educate them ?

Until these people who lost their job find another way for making their living governments have to finance them. Budgets are already upside down. But we can not leave them to starve. 

Without tax income , pension of the retirees are at risk. 

It is time to rethink all the humanitarian system from the beginning... 

Avram Aji

24.03.2020