PBS Forum

While Storm Ciaran is battering the UK and France, here's a quote from the past regarding another battering and its consequences; this quote from Churchill.  This is timely as we are about a week away from Armistice Day.

Winston Churchill. statement to William Griffen, editor of the New York Enquirer in August of 1936

"America should have minded her own business and stayed out of the World War. If you hadn't entered the war the Allies would have made peace with Germany in the Spring of 1917. Had we made peace then there would have been no collapse in Russia followed by Communism, no breakdown in Italy followed by Fascism, and Germany would not have signed the Versailles Treaty, which has enthroned Nazism in Germany. If America had stayed out of the war, all these 'isms' wouldn't to-day be sweeping the continent of Europe and breaking down parliamentary government, and if England had made peace early in 1917, it would have saved over one million British, French, American, and other lives."

Here's the article with Churchill's quote and a few others on the same topic.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/elite-arrogance-incompetence-and-willful-ignorance-leading-to-unintended-consequences/

These quotes and the attitudes they represent were never taught in the history courses I took in school. 

For now, I'm sticking with the History of Goodness......

Bern - interesting quote from Churchill, not one I have ever heard before. Counterfactuals are always interesting.

The H L Mencken quote is good too.

How WW1 ended is always a mystery - one answer is "the USA arrived".

Churchill was well placed to see the huge costs of WW1 and WW2. He is not universally respected today. It can only be a matter of time before his statue is removed from outside the House of Commons. Then again the people did not vote for him in the 1945 general election.

The weather is mild for now. Perhaps we will get away with it for another year. Perhaps the Straits of Hormuz will be closed tomorrow and oil will go to $150 a barrel.

Quote from: David Pilling on November 02, 2023, 03:37:19 PMThe weather is mild for now. Perhaps we will get away with it for another year. Perhaps the Straits of Hormuz will be closed tomorrow and oil will go to $150 a barrel.

Take your pick. Will it be a cold winter or another hot war?

On another note, it seems that Sam Bankman-Fried was treated to some rather swift justice.  Money always seems to take priority these days, especially over peace. 

From CBS news. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/morning-rundown-november-3-rcna123460

Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty in FTX fraud trial

Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of the digital currency exchange FTX, faces up to 110 years in prison after a federal jury found him guilty on all counts in his fraud trial, a year after FTX imploded and practically wiped out the funds of thousands of customers.

Bankman-Fried "perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history," Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said after the verdict. "The cryptocurrency industry might be new; the players like Bankman-Fried might be new. But this kind of fraud, this kind of corruption, is as old as time."

A jury took about four hours to find Bankman-Fried guilty on seven counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering that swindled customers of FTX and lenders to its affiliated hedge fund, Alameda Research.

I have to admire SBF's ingenuity, enterprise and hair volume. Maybe he is destined for legend like the old bank robbers. The problem with making heroes of them is that there are victims. Media don't say much about the losers. Even less about the winners. The money must have gone somewhere.

SBF has been the subject of "book of the week" on the BBC. The Crypto adverts seem to have vanished from around soccer grounds this season.

We await the first crypto ETF, making it easy for the common person to buy crypto (time to get out?). Which will be the first central bank digital currency.

Quote from: David Pilling on November 03, 2023, 03:16:52 PMMaybe he is destined for legend like the old bank robbers.

It seems to me that only the unsuccessful financial criminals go to jail.

Success in any crime might be avoiding being discovered...

The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment.

With finance it often seems crimes go unpunished or unrecognised. In the GFC of 2008, in the UK, money was lost but no one went before the courts, and most of them went on to other jobs.

Recently a top UK banker made a checking clerk error, talking about a customer's private information, she had to resign, but walked away with £2.4M. (Dame Alison Rose).

Anyway, another requisite - enterprise, ingenuity, hair volume and no conscience. I must try harder.

Tomorrow, November 11th is Veteran's Day, Armistice Day, Poppy Day, or Remembrance Day, depending on where you live.
This day is observed on November 11 to recall the end of First World War hostilities. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918, in accordance with the armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Allies between earlier that morning.

To commemorate this day, let's consider something that is life affirming and potentially life saving.  There's a little known medical test that can diagnose heart disease before symptoms are experienced. It is known by various names such as "Coronary Calcium Scan" and "CT Calcium Test Score." I have read that both former US Presidents Clinton and G.W. Bush had their heart disease discovered by this test and that led to life saving surgical treatment. 

"A coronary calcium scan is a special computerized tomography (CT) scan of the heart. It looks for calcium deposits in the heart arteries. A buildup of calcium can narrow the arteries and reduce blood flow to the heart. A coronary calcium scan may show coronary artery disease before you have symptoms." 

"A positive test means the scan found evidence of calcium in your coronary arteries. This means you have coronary artery disease. You'll also get a number that tells you how much calcium they found.

Your calcium test score tells how much calcium is in your coronary arteries. If you have calcium in your heart's arteries, the computer will create a calcium score that estimates the extent of coronary artery disease. Your calcium test score can range from zero to more than 1,000. Anything above zero means there's some evidence of coronary artery disease (CAD)."

Higher scores indicate that you could be at risk for a heart attack. Score cutoffs are:

• 100 or less (mild proof of coronary artery disease).
• Up to 400 (moderate amount of proof that you have CAD).
• Above 400 (strong proof of CAD).

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/16824-calcium-score-screening-heart-scan

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/heart-scan/about/pac-20384686

I have two friends that had high cholesterol levels and I recommended this test to them. One friend procrastinated and went on to have a heart attack.  My other friend took the test and received a test score over 400, and this let to further diagnostic tests and treatment with a statin drug and closer monitoring of his condition by his physician.

In Virginia, this test is not covered by insurance, but it costs only $60.  A doctor's order is need to have the test performed.

I get this test done every 5 years, and fortunately, my tests have produced a score of 0 - a very gratifying result given how pervasive heart disease is in the US.

Enjoy the November 11th commemorations, and consider getting a CT calcium test done to help you stay healthy.

Seemingly some of the more enlightened branches of the UK's National Health Service prescribe gardening as a treatment.

Remembrance day in the UK seems to have turned into a bit of a battle ground, which is a pity.

Winter is coming .... Have you ever reached the limit of your capacity to lie to yourself about the limit of your capacity?

Quote from: Martin Bohnet on November 22, 2023, 09:41:57 AM. Have you ever reached the limit of your capacity to lie to yourself about the limit of your capacity?

LLLLOL

I don't lie, I just juggle in my mind how things will fit and what new space I can "develop"    

I just looked at my old bulb database and noticed that, over the years, I had created space in the bulb house by throwing out a whole lot of Allium species. One less Allium, two more Fritillaria.

Dr. Adam Fields is a Doctor of Chiropractic medicine and he has a YouTube channel that is chock full of exercise videos to help with a plethora of medical issues.  " Doctors of chiropractic (D.C.s) are primary healthcare professionals focused on the diagnosis, care, and prevention of disorders of the spine, and other parts of the musculoskeletal system, and the associated effects of these disorders on the nervous system and general health."

He has one exercise video that I heartily recommend.  It's the 15 Minute Leg Burner Workout with Squats and Lunges for Strong Legs.  He's hosting Coach Naomi who developed this regimen and she leads the routine. The video is a bit over the top with the tempo, but the routine is easily customizable to a sane pace.  One hour a week, that is 4 sets of fifteen minutes duration will bring noted results within several weeks.  Remember, Coach Naomi says: "Legs are important."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odBGCqteooE

Here's the main site for his YouTube Channel to see all of the exercise videos he posts.

https://www.youtube.com/@dradamfields/videos

Enjoy!

We'd done well with the temperatures (keeping around 10C) until a couple of weeks ago. Since then it has been cold - lots of snow in the UK - but not here.

Anyway imagine my surprise when I got in the car and the computer told me the tyre pressures were too low, the 'air chuck' on the electric pump disintegrated and I was left inflating the tyres using a foot pump. Great leg exercise.

After a session of that, I did an upper body workout moving all my dormant pots into the garage.

People never realise what good exercise gardening (and driving) is 

Quote from: David Pilling on December 04, 2023, 03:48:11 AMI was left inflating the tyres using a foot pump. Great leg exercise.

You should make a YouTube video of this.  Coach Naomi would be quite pleased!

I could have a You Tube channel "Old bloke losing his rag" where I demonstrate my inability to do common tasks without cussing.

John Cleese beat me to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n77eoOfRPE


TBH the foot pump works a lot better if the air chuck is correctly connected and for wheel #1 a great deal of effort was in vain because it was not.

Better exercise though.