Sometimes the best things are 'the nots.' Like not having to empty the cat litter first thing in the morning. Or not having to make your own cup of tea.
Yesterday was filled with these delightful nots.
Instead of making lunch Mr Small and I drove into town and went to a little Vietnamese restaurant for lunch with my husband instead.
Instead of staying home and doing the laundry, we went shopping together for a birthday dress for me. Though how Mr Small ended up fully kitted out for winter from head to toe is a complete mystery to me.
It was not a quiet day, but one filled with phonecalls, messages and texts wishing me well for the year ahead.
There were even some beautiful balloons from family and lovely flowers from a kindred spirit.

I didn't do the bedtime, bathtime routine. Instead I went to a party with my husband that I was kind of dreading. Once the director knew it was my birthday however, there seemed to be a never-ending supply of cocktails headed my way.
Delightful and refreshing.
Of course today is back to normal. With the faint buzzing that accompanies this richly deserved hangover, I had to make a new set of sandwiches for the kids. Mainly because I left the ones prepared yesterday out on the work surface all night.
While I asked the offspring to please, please let mummy sleep all the night, the night before my birthday I should have thought that through and asked they do it the night after ;)
That's my problem, not thinking things all the way through. Something for me to work on this year.
So today the wee foster kitties have forgotten where the litter is and have made a huge and stinky mess.
The laundry from yesterday is still here today.
Today I need to do a couple of phone interviews and hone my pitches.
I'm just going to make myself another cup of tea first.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Hi everyone,

I hope this blog post finds you well. I also hope you have been enjoying / tolerating my rambling posts about baseball cards.

I wanted to let you know that I wrote a book. It is the same title as my personal blog, "So, Do You Like ... Stuff"" and can be purchased here.

The book has nothing to do with baseball cards, like, many would say, my baseball card posts. It's about, well, other stuff. If you like my writing in general, I think you would like the book, too, is all I'm saying.

Our own esteemed Ben Henry provided a very kind back cover blurb for the book, and so it's almost like, if you don't buy it, you're kind of doing a disservice to Ben. Those are his words, not mine.

Of course, I kid. Buy the book, buy several books ... whatever. Doesn't matter to me. I will be still be your Internet/blog friend regardless.

Enjoy the season!

Mike Kenny

[Image: Tokyo at night, courtesy of NASA's Earth Observatory].

At the height of the Cold War, the sprawling, decentralized suburban landscape of the United States was seen by many military planners as a form of spatial self-defense. As historian David Krugler explains in This Is Only a Test: How Washington D.C. Prepared for Nuclear War, "urban dispersal" was viewed as a defensive military tactic, one that would greatly increase the nation's chance of survival in the event of nuclear attack.

Specially formatted residential landscapes such as "cluster cities" were thus proposed, "each with a maximum population of 50,000." These smaller satellite cities would not only reshape the civilian landscape of the United States, they would make its citizens, its industrial base, and its infrastructure much harder to target.

"This might seem the stuff of Cold War science fiction," Krugler writes, "but after World War II, many urban and civil defense planners believed cluster cities, also called dispersal, should be the future of the American metropolis."

These planners, like the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, imagined atomic firestorms engulfing American cities and advocated preventive measures such as dispersal. Just one or two atomic bombs could level a concentrated metropolitan area, but cluster cities would suffer far less devastation: enemy bombers could strike some, but not all, key targets, allowing the unharmed cities to aid in recovery.

Krugler points out that this suburban dispersal was not always advised in the name of military strategy: "Many urban planners believed dispersal could spur slum clearance, diminish industrial pollution, and produce parks. Not only would dispersal shield America's cities, it would save them from problems of their own making."

However, the idea that urban dispersal might be useful only as a protective tactic against the horrors of aerial bombardment overlooks other threats, including earthquakes and tsunamis.

Earlier this week, Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan was advised "to decentralize Japan" out of fear of "Tokyo annihilation danger." Indeed, we read, the recent 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and partial nuclear meltdown at Fukushima together suggest that "the nation must reduce the role of its capital city to avert an even greater catastrophe."

Takayoshi Igarashi, a professor at Hosei University, explains: "I told the prime minister that nationwide dispersal is the first thing we need to do as we rebuild. We have no idea when the big one’s going to hit Tokyo, but when it does, it’s going to annihilate the entire country because everything is here." His conclusion: "The lesson we need to take away from this disaster is that we have to restructure Japan as an entire nation"—a seismic decentralization that relies as much on horizontal geography as on vertical building code. This could thus be "the nation’s biggest investment in urban planning in decades."

The idea that urban design might find a reinvigorated sense of national purpose in response to a threat in the ground itself is fascinating, of course, perhaps especially for someone who also lives in an earthquake zone. But the prospect of large-scale urban dispersal remaking the urban landscape of Japan—that Tokyo itself might actually be broken up into smaller subcities, and that future urban planning permission might be adjusted to enforce nationwide sprawl as a form of tectonic self-defense, from megacity to exurban lace—presents an explicit spatialization of Japanese earthquake policy that will be very interesting to track over the years to come.

(Spotted via @urbanphoto_blog).

Read more »

3/24:
So another big turnout on the hill last Thursday, and a bonanza day for PRs. By my count a full 50 percent of the 32 starters recorded PRs, in addition to the three newcomers on the hill who established times to beat. Of course, this was the first full daylight run in months, and the mild (but not cold) temps combined with the lack of wind and ice were also factors. Still a definite sign that the Fort Collins Trail Running Crew is rounding into good shape as we approach the spring racing season.

PRs: Aaron, Alex M, Brent, Celeste, Dan J, Danny, Fred, Jenn M*, Marie, Mike L, Mike M, Nick M, Ryan, Slush, Steph, Tina.

* Of course, when Jenn Malmberg hits a new PR, it generally means a new FKT for the women on the hill: 34:59. Steph and Sarah are knocking on the door though, so the fight for bragging rights could be interesting here in the next couple of months, especially as I continue to try (in vain) to stoke their competitive fires.

Almost as exciting is the 2011 streakers list. We are now down to four perfect-attendees, so congrats on that Alex May, Celeste, Slush and Pete.

Of course, some of last week's times could be way off, as I received them on a scanned copy of a dog-eared scrap of paper scrawled with a pen that barely worked. Please email or leave a comment if you see errors in my timekeeping.

4/7:
A record turnout (I think) of 35, with 22 of those setting personal records, or running for the first time. Good stuff again.

PRs: Aaron, Slush, Fred, Dan Bla, Greg, Brent W, Brent B, John F, Felix, Kyle, Ramon, Chris K, Mary B, Brian W, Mike L, Carson, Ron, Steph, Mike Mac, Heather, Cat, Dan J.

4/21:

FKTs: Sam Malmberg (28:32), Jenn Malmberg (34:16)

PRs: Chris H, Jenn M, Jenn S, Molly, Sam M

Perfect-streakers list remains at three with Pete, Slush and Alex May all in attendance tonight. Celeste, Cat and Brian are waiting in the wings with just one missed session on the year.

A quick note on equivalencies: We have a very rough Towers to marathon estimate of 33 minutes: 3 hour marathon. Senor Slusher ran 2:53:37 (over 10 min PR) in Rhode Island today (4/16) off a 31:00 Towers time last week. Based on his 31 we were predicting a 2:49 for Scott (his A goal), but he was safely under his B goal of 2:55. So congrats Scott, clearly you are quite the hill monster, and of course a speedy marathoner too.

As a point of comparison, my 2:36 from New Orleans in February is supposed to equate to a 27:xx Towers time, so obviously a few more data points are needed to smooth the outliers, but until then I guess the data are suggesting I am more suited to the roads than the hills. We'll have a few more data points from Boston on Monday and then May 1 we'll have all the FoCo marathon data to include, by which time we should have a more accurate equivalency picture.

Blah, blah, blah. Same time, same place next week. See you there.

2011 Times & All-time PRs through 4/21/11:

..............PR.....1/13..1/27....2/9....2/24..3/10..3/24....4/7....4/21
Aaron....35:34..................................38:00...........36:03..35:34..41:00
Alex A....38:07..43:00..46:00..46:11..42:50............43:15..38:33
Alex M....36:57..42:34..38:27..41:04..41:03..39:30.36:57..38:40..37:57
Amy.......42:00.....................................................42:00
Brent W.37:49............40:44.......................40:30..39:24..37:49
Brent B..36:32...............................................................36:32..38:57
Brian K...37:12.............37:12
Brian S...40:30..42:20...40:30............42:46
Brian W...44:52..51:10..49:04..51:21..45:56..47:07...........44:52..50:15
Carson.....40:18.............................................................40:18
Cat.........42:33..45:40..44:54............gold*..42:54..43:34..42:33..43:09
Celeste...44:23..47:59..46:06..52:11..46:30..46:09..44:53............44:23
Chris C...35:53......................................................35:53
Chris H..42:15.......................46:45..43:41..44:03.......................42:15
Chris K...43:21.......................50:10..46:50.......................43:21
Cherilyn..38:19..42:ish..40:34..43:20.................................39:30
Dakota...30:30.............30:30..35:00..31:00.............33:06..32:38..32:00
Dan B.....41:21.............41:21
Dan Bla..45:22.............50:20.............47:15..47:22..45:22
Dan J.....35:58.............37:30..39:40.............37:14..36:17..35:58
Danny....44:30.......................................................44:30
Dave T...44:47.............................................44:47
Diana H..42:09..46:28...................................42:09...........43:44
Don.......44:06.............49:13
Dustin....45:00.............................................45:00
Eddie......38:33............................................38:51
Elizabeth:48:15................................................................48:15
Eric........40:30..40:30
Eric B.....29:37..............30:51
Felix.......36:09..................................40:30..38:32..37:22..36:09
Fred.......47:20..............................................gold*.48:40..47:20
Glenn.....40:35..............43:00
Greg.....49:55..................................................................49:55
Heather..52:00.............................................54:00............52:00
Jaime.....55:00.......................55:00
Jeff K.....37:43..43:00....39:08.........................................37:43..37:48
Jenn M...34:16..37:47....35:09.......................37:30..34:59..........34:16
Jenn S....51:12..................................56:51..52:12.....................51:12
Jenn B....54:30.........................................................................54:30
Jenn G...46:54..........................................................................46:54
John F....41:00.................................................................41:00
John H...49:46........................49:46
John W..36:00..................................................................36:30
Jordan....46:55.............................................46:55
Joselyne.52:40...............gold*..57:22..55:24..57:24
JZ..........38:45...........................................44:00..43:06..41:45..43:13
Kyle.......33:54..............34:42.........................................33:54..46:54
Laura.....39:37.............................................42:00
Lindsey..45:50..............................................45:50
Marie.....41:30..............44:33.............42:38............41:30..41:52 Marlene...................................................................gold*..........gold*
Mary B...41:25............44:31..51:18...47:13..44:21..42:05..41:25..46:58
Michelle D.........................................................................gold*
Mindy Cl..54:44..54:44..............57:00.............55:10..59:22
Mindy Ch.50:00.........................................................................50:00
Mike L....40:30..47:50...43:50..............46:23..42:25..41:00..40:30
Mike Le..44:00....................................44:00
Mike H..??...................................................................................??
Mike T....45:06..47:31
Mike M...41:14..............43:00........................42:59..41:50..41:14
Molly......61:02.........................gold*...64:43..62:15..75:00..........61:02
Nick C....29:26..32:01....29:26......................37:02..gold*..33:28..30:25
Nick M....34:55..38:56....35:42..................................34:55
Nick Med.......................................................gold*
Nichole..43:00...........................................................................43:00
Pablo..42:55......................................................................45:21
Pete.....32:41..39:40.....35:40..36:32..36:28..34:38..38:45..34:32..35:40
Ramon..46:11.......................................................48:31..46:11..46:33
Ron.........44:46................................................................44:46
Ross.......45:00...................................48:00..45:00
Ryan B...30:58..33:45....31:32..33:10..32:33.............30:58
Sam M...28:32..32:59.................................................................28:32
Sarah H..36:10..............36:10..37:04.......................36:12
Slush......31:00..34:54..32:56..35:34..34:43..33:48..32:52..31:00..33:56
Steph.....35:28..............41:21..40:32.......................36:47..35:28
Steve G..58:30........................................................58:30 Tina.......40:27.....................................................43:05...40:27..41:00
Tom K...48:55....................................50:00..48:55
Travis....40:59...........................................................................40:59
Woody....44:30..............44:30
...80..................20........32.......20.......23.......34......32.....35......27

Top times:
Sam Malmberg: 28:32
Nick Clark: 29:26
Eric Bergman: 29:37
Dakota Jones: 30:30
Steve Folkerts: 30:36

Women
Jenn Malmberg: 34:16
Stephanie Lynn: 35:28
Sarah Hansen: 36:10
Cherilyn Sackel: 37:07
Amy Hartley: 38:14

Northwest:

--Riley McCarthy was caught in an avalanche with two friends as they ventured out of bounds at the Stevens Pass Ski Area.  Riley took a slightly different path then his friends, striking a tree and being partially buried.  His friends were able to partially dig him out, however when they found him he was not breathing. McCarthy was a University of Washington Sophomore, and is the fourth death in the Cascades avalanche season. To read more, click here.

--It's camera footage that captures the deathly darkness that ends the lives of other avalanche victims. But for Oregon resident Chris Bilbao, those images recorded on a chest camera during a ski plunge down a mountain in British Columbia are a graphic reminder of how fortunate he is to be alive. The American was with a group of friends plowing through a bowl of fresh powder in the Monashee Mountains, east of Kamloops, when a snow slide struck. Bilbao shouted out several "avalanche" warnings as the snow began to slide. To read more, click here.  To see the video, click here.

Sierra:

--To save the endangered Big Horn Sheep in the Eastern Sierra some feel the Department of Fish and Game has gone to inhumane lengths to kill Mountain Lions before they kill sheep. Groups and citizens have accused Fish and Game of illegal and inhumane treatment of lions. In response, Fish and Game will reportedly come up with new protocols in their destruction of lions.To read more, click here.

--A woman from Saugus snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain on Friday had spent the day on the hill with her husband and friend. In late afternoon, she decided to make one last run. At the bottom of Chair 2 she ran into a Snowcat and suffered major injuries. To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--Seven people were caught in a massive avalanche on Horseshoe Mountain in Utah over the weekend.  The thought is that the avalanche was triggered when three men were digging a snow pit to test snow stability.  Rescue crews were unable to fly into the area, and were required to travel 15 miles in the backcountry to reach the victims.  Ten hours after the avalanche, six of the individuals caught in the avalanche were reunited with friends and family, with one perishing in the accident.  To read more, click here and here watch the video below.



--The Supreme Court decided on Monday not to take up a dispute over a land transfer involving the federal government that could lead to the construction in California of the nation's largest landfill. The proposed transfer, involving land near Joshua Tree National Park, is between Kaiser Ventures LLC and its subsidiary, Mine Reclamation Corporation, on one side and the Bureau of Land Management on the other. To read more, click here.

Alaska:

--Jason Stuckey and Cascades local John Frieh grabbed the second winter ascent of Mount Huntington, via the West Face Couloir.  The route was first climbed in winter in 2007 by fellow locals Colin Haley and Jed Brown.  Stuckey and Frieh climbed the route in 23 hours, and were in and out of the range in a record 48 hours.  Truly a "smash and grab" operation.  To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--Parks Canada officials rescued two ice climbers Sunday night who were stranded for several hours on the Weeping Wall off the Icefields Parkway. Brian Webster, a visitor safety specialist, said the climbers from Edmonton cut their rope in half after it became stuck during their rappel. They then tied the two pieces of rope together, creating a knot in the rope that the first climber on the descent could not bypass. To read more, click here.

-- Eight skiers and snowboarders who took the Minturn Mile backcountry route off Vail Mountain Monday ended up stranded overnight before Vail Mountain Rescue teams were able to get them down Wednesday. The group finally got off the mountain around 2 pm. Tuesday, shaken from the experience of spending the night in the backcountry with nothing more than standard ski gear and some flashlights.To read more, click here.

--A 65-year-old skier from La Crescent, Minnesota, who hit a chair lift tower at Welch Village Ski Area on March 16th died of a heart attack, perhaps even before he hit the tower, the Goodhue County medical examiner said on Monday. To read more, click here.

--Alain Robert is more likely known by his nickname, the "French Spiderman."  He has made a name for himself by free-soloing many tall buildings, often being arrested immediately after topping out.  This time, he made arrangements with the owner to climb the tallest building in the world.  Alain successfully climbed the 2,717 foot Burj Khalifa in just over six hours.  To read more, click here.

--Climber Josh Wharton is known for being a super hardman in the mountains...but he's also a bit of a a consisour of history.  The following video of him retrieving Jeff Lowe's backpack from the North Face of the Eiger -- left twenty years ago -- and returning it to him is very cool:


Jeff Lowe's Pack Retrieved from Eiger North Face from Jeff Lowe on Vimeo.

--The American Alpine Club is embarking on a new five-year strategic plan that calls for significant and exciting program changes. The 109-year-old club is becoming a community-driven organization that acts locally to unite climbers through community events, conservation projects, mentorship and other programs.  To accomplish these ends, the AAC seeks enthusiastic climbers to build a sustainable support system for members, starting with local volunteers and Club activists. Two positions currently open are Community Programs Director and Regional Coordinator (Northeast Region). To read more, click here and here.

Manufacturer Recalls and Equipment Issues:

--Petzl has recently discovered Chinese counterfeit versions of the Croll, Attache, Ascension and Rescue Ptezl products. There is a significant risk that these counterfeit products could open or otherwise fail at low loads and under normal use.  To read more, click here and here.
--Problems have been sighted with the #5 DMM Dragon Cam.  There are cracks in the aluminum axle boss.  To see photos and to learn more, click here.

Part 2 of "When Steve met Jimi"
from November 1967 and the gig
at Manchester University, Students
Union.

This is a rather long how-to, so I am going to try to keep my long winded-ness to a minimum.  We'll see how that goes =)

Hi, Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, here. Hey, Gleeks (and fans of other great TV programs in the U.S.), this is for you: the entire first season of “Glee” --with every song and dance and all the drama from the halls of McKinley High -- will be available starting tomorrow to watch instantly streaming from Netflix. Glee’s availability is part of an announcement we made today with Twentieth Century Fox, which gives Netflix members in the U.S. access to the first season of the pop culture juggernaut “Glee,” and the first two seasons of the cult favorite “Sons of Anarchy.” We’ll also be adding great shows like “Ally McBeal” and “The Wonder Years” to be instantly watched from Netflix at this time. This deal kicks off a multi-year partnership that will have additional seasons added every year. The addition of these shows is an expansion of our deal with Fox that also includes “Prison Break,” “Arrested Development,” X-Files,” “24,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” among others. Gleek On!

Mark Gubicza and John Russell, 1990 Fleer "Superstar Specials" series

MARK GUBICZA and JEFF RUSSELL, you have henceforth been selected to consecutive AL All-Star Games and are now featured on Fleer’s “Super Star Specials” series as “STARTER & STOPPER.” Please try to contain your excitement!







Thank you.

It is possible that both MARK GUBICZA and JEFF RUSSELL remain perturbed that their respective names have not received the proper name recognition as the more celebrated hurlers in baseball at this time of 1990—players like Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. Perhaps CAPS LOCK will do the trick?



Neither MARK GUBIZCA nor JEFF RUSSELL carries the name recognition of the more celebrated hurlers in baseball.

Person: Hey, have you heard of MARK GUBIZCA?

Other person: Who? No! That name sounds silly and difficult to spell.

Person: What about JEFF RUSSELL?

Other person: Why are you screaming at me? And yes—I went to kindergarten with a Jeff Russell. He used to eat his boogers and poop in his pants and there was a big rumor once that he put his boogers in his poop.

Person: No, I am talking about the major league pitcher.

Other person: You mean Roger Clemens? Yes! Let us celebrate him with a toast!

But now that each has been selected to represent the AL in the last two All-Star games that should change.

Whew! The last thing I want is for two guys making lots of money who play baseball for a living and are All-Stars and who every person who follows baseball is aware of regardless of any misconception that they are wallowing in obscurity (deep breath … ) to be not afforded the proper name recognition.

Let’s start with GUBIZCA. What would you say is most impressive about GUBIZCA?

Most impressive about GUBIZCA is his tenacity.

Awesome! Please elaborate.

Over the last two seasons he has pitched 524.2 innings.

Good gracious that is tenacious! What about RUSSELL?

RUSSELL earned a save or win in 53% of the Rangers’ victories.

The 1989 Texas Rangers slogan was “Got RUSSELL?” Because the milk ads had yet to surface, this made little sense to both fans and other MLB teams. In fact, confused, the Atlanta Braves responded with their own slogan: “Yeah. John,” which made even less sense bereft of context. As a means of escalating the Russell war, the Rangers countered by signing John Russell the next season, and as a result, 96% of Rangers wins and loses were at least partially influenced by a Russell in the year of 1990.

Any rare feats I should know about?

Thus, he made the All-Star team as a starter in 1988 and as a reliever in 1989.

Okaaaay …

A rare feat!

Oh, cool!

GUBIZCA and RUSSELL would go on to star in the popular UPN sitcom, “The Starter and the Stopper,” in which a black major league starting pitcher and a white major league closer—who are best friends—solve crimes. GUBIZCA and RUSSELL played local shop owners.

Read more »

And there are some days that she sends me a post which stops my heart for a minute or two. Today is one of those days.

At first glance, newsreader Charmaine Dragun and I seem to have nothing in common. Charmaine was a broadcast journalist and presenter, while I am the recently promoted Woogsworld work experience girl. Notice I said Charmaine was an Australian journalist and presenter because sadly she is no longer with us due to the negligence of our mental health system. Both our lives have been touched by undiagnosed bipolar disorder and we have been really let down by our nation's health services.

Following Charmaine's death, an inquest was held into the incident it also made reference to a common drug used to treat depression. That drug nearly killed me. It is called Efexor XR, I like to call it The Devil Drug, and if you try to come off it, all hell will most likely break loose. I came off the drug under supervision of a GP (who saw me every day) and a psychiatrist. I was also in hospital for part of my withdrawal.

It was not until I came home from hospital that the obsessive thoughts about suicide, panic attacks and Exorcist-type vomiting started. Charmaine went down that road too when, according to The Daily Telegraph, she began reducing her dose of the drug Efexor and started on a new medication, Lexapro. Friends described her behaviour at that time as "disturbing" and "out of character".

I pointed out the hideous withdrawal effects out to the company which makes this drug, Wyeth, and I am sure they have heard them all before. This is what they said in reply to my email: "The Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) for Efexor-XR also includes information about adverse drug reactions, abrupt discontinuation and taking the product correctly as well as precautionary statements regarding the worsening of depression and suicide risk. Discontinuation effects are well known to occur with antidepressants. It is therefore recommended that the dosage of Efexor-XR be tapered gradually and the patient monitored. The period required for discontinuation may depend on the dose, duration of therapy and the individual patient and is determined by the treating physician."

To be fair, Wyeth has no way of knowing whether doctors are inappropriately prescribing the drug so the issue seems to be one of misdiagnosis. However, there needs to be more education about bipolar disorder within the medical community. I am not an expert here so I will leave it to Professor Gordon Parker, of The Black Dog Institute, who says people are dying because doctors are not screening them for bipolar disorder and diagnosing them with depression instead. Depression medication could be dangerous for the bipolar and different treatment plans were needed, he told The Sydney Morning Herald. He conducted an audit of the first 1000 patients treated at the institute's clinic and found more than two-thirds had their diagnosis changed after being seen by the centre's specialists.

Bipolar disorder and anxiety were significantly under-diagnosed, with about 26 per cent of patients told for the first time they had bipolar disorder and 40 per cent diagnosed with anxiety. In Charmaine's case, her death was probably preventable if her mental condition had been properly diagnosed, the coroner found. The Sydney Morning Herald reported Deputy State Coroner Malcolm MacPherson as saying the diagnosis that Dragun suffered from depression was "almost certainly wrong" and she most likely had a bipolar disorder.

The coroner said if the health professionals treating Charmaine had made the correct diagnosis "she would have been properly treated with a mood stabiliser and she probably would not have committed suicide".

Like Charmaine's family, I also feel very let down by our mental health system and if I did not have the absolute dumb luck of finding a GP who has expertise in mood disorders, I would be dead. My bipolar 2 is harder to diagnose than bipolar 1, which has the classic high manias. I don't get manic, I get below manic, and am absorbed in a hostile world of irritation and agitation. However, the Black Dog does say that people who come back time and time again with depression that has not resolved, should be screened for bipolar.

When I was really sick through my Efexor nightmare, I thought about suicide all day, every day and if it was not for my little girl, I would have done the irrevocable. I bounced from GP to GP with the world's longest case of 'post-natal depression'. I found one charmer who prescribed a few sessions with a psychologist and asked me if I had considered God. There was another who stared at me blankly and had no idea what to do with my case.

You might think I am being harsh on doctors but it is not just them at fault, it is the whole health system. After Miss Charisma was born, I was overwhelmed with panic attacks and the hospital sent me a social worker. I told them I wanted a psychiatrist and they smiled at me like a mad woman, which was at the time, and sent me on my merry way to become my GP's problem.

They needed the bed.

This was happening to someone who has worked in the healthcare system for years, so if I can't navigate it, no-one can. At the time, I worked as a consumer advocate and there was no way through that maze. I just thought I was an evil, bad person who deserved to die. Everyone would be better off without me. But through dumb luck and finding a GP who was a psychiatric registrar and a patient psychiatrist and a saintly husband, I am still here.

I now take pleasure in the small things in life. Like watching Miss Charisma together with her Dad. Playing with my crazy, wacky, zany puppy and patting Mrs Paige's pregnant belly. I am still zany and love nothing more than a dance with a mop at a blogger's conference. That's my personality - big, bold and bombastic. (cue Mr Bombastic music)

I will never be 'cured' of bipolar disorder and I have to make the best out of my poo sandwich. There is one thing I can feel smug about - bipolar patients are smarter than the average bear. So I am a very good person to have on your pub trivia team.

I am also in good company. Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Sir Winston Churchill, Alexander The Great, Christopher Columbus and Picasso were some of the great names believed to suffered the disorder. So I am going to stay here and feel smug. Besides I have to stay here because someone has to take out the Woog rubbish and empty Chuy's litter tray.

Over and Out.

SawHole

PS Anyone who tells me not talk about suicide should click here. The longer we cloak this issue in silence, the worse it will be. Suicide has a catastrophic impact on people who are bereaved . Help is available – call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Help Line on 1800 55 1800 it is OK to ask for help – this is a strong and positive thing to do.

Thanks to W.H Auden for this blog post title

If you'd like a free 'all the buildings in new york' postcard, email your postal address. Sorry these are all gone!

A recent paper published in the Physical Review has some astonishing suggestions for the geographic future of financial markets. Its authors, Alexander Wissner-Grossl and Cameron Freer, discuss the spatial implications of speed-of-light trading. Trades now occur so rapidly, they explain, and in such fantastic quantity, that the speed of light itself presents limits to the efficiency of global computerized trading networks.

These limits are described as "light propagation delays."

[Image: Global map of "optimal intermediate locations between trading centers," based on the earth's geometry and the speed of light, by Alexander Wissner-Grossl and Cameron Freer].

It is thus in traders' direct financial interest, they suggest, to install themselves at specific points on the Earth's surface—a kind of light-speed financial acupuncture—to take advantage both of the planet's geometry and of the networks along which trades are ordered and filled. They conclude that "the construction of relativistic statistical arbitrage trading nodes across the Earth’s surface" is thus economically justified, if not required.

Amazingly, their analysis—seen in the map, above—suggests that many of these financially strategic points are actually out in the middle of nowhere: hundreds of miles offshore in the Indian Ocean, for instance, on the shores of Antarctica, and scattered throughout the South Pacific (though, of course, most of Europe, Japan, and the U.S. Bos-Wash corridor also make the cut).

These nodes exist in what the authors refer to as "the past light cones" of distant trading centers—thus the paper's multiple references to relativity. Astonishingly, this thus seems to elide financial trading networks with the laws of physics, implying the eventual emergence of what we might call quantum financial products. Quantum derivatives! (This also seems to push us ever closer to the artificially intelligent financial instruments described in Charles Stross's novel Accelerando). Erwin Schrödinger meets the Dow.

It's financial science fiction: when the dollar value of a given product depends on its position in a planet's light-cone.

[Image: Diagrammatic explanation of a "light cone," courtesy of Wikipedia].

These points scattered along the earth's surface are described as "optimal intermediate locations between trading centers," each site "maximiz[ing] profit potential in a locally auditable manner."

Wissner-Grossl and Freer then suggest that trading centers themselves could be moved to these nodal points: "we show that if such intermediate coordination nodes are themselves promoted to trading centers that can utilize local information, a novel econophysical effect arises wherein the propagation of security pricing information through a chain of such nodes is effectively slowed or stopped." An econophysical effect.

In the end, then, they more or less explicitly argue for the economic viability of building artificial islands and inhabitable seasteads—i.e. the "construction of relativistic statistical arbitrage trading nodes"—out in the middle of the ocean somewhere as a way to profit from speed-of-light trades. Imagine, for a moment, the New York Stock Exchange moving out into the mid-Atlantic, somewhere near the Azores, onto a series of New Babylon-like platforms, run not by human traders but by Watson-esque artificially intelligent supercomputers housed in waterproof tombs, all calculating money at the speed of light.

[Image: An otherwise unrelated image from NOAA featuring a geodetic satellite triangulation network].

"In summary," the authors write, "we have demonstrated that light propagation delays present new opportunities for statistical arbitrage at the planetary scale, and have calculated a representative map of locations from which to coordinate such relativistic statistical arbitrage among the world’s major securities exchanges. We furthermore have shown that for chains of trading centers along geodesics, the propagation of tradable information is effectively slowed or stopped by such arbitrage."

Historically, technologies for transportation and communication have resulted in the consolidation of financial markets. For example, in the nineteenth century, more than 200 stock exchanges were formed in the United States, but most were eliminated as the telegraph spread. The growth of electronic markets has led to further consolidation in recent years. Although there are advantages to centralization for many types of transactions, we have described a type of arbitrage that is just beginning to become relevant, and for which the trend is, surprisingly, in the direction of decentralization. In fact, our calculations suggest that this type of arbitrage may already be technologically feasible for the most distant pairs of exchanges, and may soon be feasible at the fastest relevant time scales for closer pairs.

Our results are both scientifically relevant because they identify an econophysical mechanism by which the propagation of tradable information can be slowed or stopped, and technologically significant, because they motivate the construction of relativistic statistical arbitrage trading nodes across the Earth’s surface.

For more, read the original paper: PDF.

(Thanks to Nicola Twilley for the tip!)

Wednesday. 30/3/11. The Unthanks and Trembling Bells. Manchester Cathedral.
Sublime Geordie folk sisters cover Tom Waites and King Crimson on their new album "Last". Supported by excellent Glasgow folk-rock weirdos.

Thurs. 31.3.11.Dum Dum Girls, Mazes, Milk Maid. Deaf Institute, M/C.
American buzz saw popites supported by great psych popoutfit Mazes and equally good Mancunians Milk Maid.

Fri 1/4/11.Cold Cave.Ruby Lounge, M/C.
Gothic cold wave synth p[oppers from the States.

Sat 2/4/11. Earth and Sabbath Assembly. Islington Mill, Salford.
American drone metal pioneers recently re-tooled in a folky direction.Sabath Assembly sound interesting (to Enrico) Volcanic Tongue record shop made them album of the year in 2010, with a record that "re-processed the gothic hymns of the Process Church of the Final Judgement". If satan is going to materialise anywhere next weekend, it will be here!

Sun 3/4/11. Esben and the Witch. The Kazimer, L'pool.
More goth, this time in a more traditional post-punk take on it from Brighton trio in a great venue.

Mon 4/4/11. Eli Kezler. Castle Hotel, Manchester.
Multi-instrumentalist improvisor from Providence Rhode Island (ain't that where Peter Griffin comes from?). Loved by the Wire.

COMING UP.
16/4/11. Nat Johnson and the Figureheads. The Continental, Presto.

19th MAY 11. Sufjan Stevens. M/c Apollo.

7th June 11. PIL. 53 degrees, Presto.