Bank of England "loses" 20 years of data

Until recently, BoE data for M4 was available online going back as early as 1963. Now the series starts at 1982. Why? Is this to avoid a potentially embarrassing examination of the connexion between M4 growth and price inflation in the 1970s?

All original material is copyright of its author. Fair use permitted. Contact via comment. Nothing here should be taken as personal advice, financial or otherwise. No liability is accepted for third-party content, whether incorporated in or linked to this blog; or for unintentional error and inaccuracy.

The Colours Of Venus

A palette of colours from Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" (1485-86) in homage to David Everitt-Carlson's ITOMB Project (2011- ). The hues are from the goddess' hair, body and the surrounding air.

A ghost

My wife does voluntary work at the city hospital on a Wednesday, in the Bereavement Office. One of the employees there told her yesterday about a conversation she'd had with a doctor on site, a couple of weeks ago.

The new hospital - which looks like three packets of those mints with a hole, side by side, and is the type to win a design award while being less fit for purpose than what it replaced - is connected to the old one by an aerial corridor. The doctor received a crash call - a drop-everything-and-run emergency - and as he was running through this bridge he met a woman coming the other way who asked him directions to the mortuary. He said he couldn't stop but when he got to the ward the patient, the woman he'd spoken to, had died.

The most interesting thing about this story is how you and I react to it. It's certainly true that my wife told it to me this morning, and that she knows the woman who told it to her; and I have no reason to doubt that the woman did speak to a doctor who related his experience to her.

But we fit new experiences into the framework of our old ones, so some will say urban myth, others that it was a lie or a delusion, others will say of course there are ghosts. We think we're being rational when we're merely explaining things by reference to our world view.

Thomas Kuhn said that major changes in science are not brought about by falsification, even though the received wisdom may be fundamentally wrong. If we say there no black swans and are then shown one, we can answer that it's not really a swan. What causes the revolution in thinking is a phenomenon that cannot be explained using the existing theoretical structure.

Perhaps there are also personal revolutions that we resist as long as possible.

Are we explaining, or trying to explain away?

All original material is copyright of its author. Fair use permitted. Contact via comment. Nothing here should be taken as personal advice, financial or otherwise. No liability is accepted for third-party content, whether incorporated in or linked to this blog; or for unintentional error and inaccuracy.

App -etite control...

See how New Girl in New York used new technology to get a new shape, on World Voices here.

USA: Dieting in a nutshell

We are all individual and how we lose weight successfully will be different for everyone. In the past I have tried many different diets and read many books on how to lose weight. However, for me, it came down to calorie counting and keeping a food diary.

I thought my diet was pretty healthy, but once I started writing down everything I ate each day and worked out my calorie consumption, I discovered I was completely underestimating my intake.

I downloaded this great app onto my iPod called 'MyNetDiary' which was key to my food tracking and calorie counting. It allows you to input your details and then calculates how many calories you can eat each day in order to lose weight in a healthy way. It contains a huge database of foods, and remembers your favourite things, which makes it very easy to use. The barcode scanner allows you to add new foods and the recipe builder is a great way to work out how many calories are in your meals. I found it invaluable and continue to use it everyday to help maintain my current weight.

Living in New York, or anywhere you have access to an abundance of restaurants, makes it very tempting to eat out or get take away. It is also pretty cheap to eat here, add to that my tiny kitchen, I became very lazy when it came to cooking at home. However, I invested in some decent cook books and took the time to make my own meals. It turns out I love cooking and, with practice, have become quite competent in the kitchen. I cook dinner 6 nights a week now and when we do go out I really appreciate and enjoy the experience. By cooking at home I know exactly what I am eating and how it was prepared. I weigh everything and ensure I control my portion sizes.

I have always exercised, but as I was eating too much it wasn't having much of an impact on my weight loss. Although exercise was a key part of my weight loss, it was as basic fact that I was putting in more than I was working out! I want to discuss exercise in more detail as it is such an important part of a healthy life style, so look our for upcoming posts.

Finally, I didn't deprive myself of anything. I didn't cut out any food groups and made sure that I ate a healthy well-balanced diet. If I really wanted chocolate I would have a small piece and I often enjoyed a glass on wine with my dinner. If I stopped myself eating chocolate I would constantly think about it, but knowing that I could have a small piece now and again stopped me obsessing about it.

The weight came off steadily and I lost about a pound a week. I hit a plateau that took a while to beat, more about that later, but eventually I made it down to my goal weight.

So, there you have it, that's what worked for me and enabled me to lose weight. I would love to hear your stories and how you lost/are losing weight, so please let me know how you are getting on!
 

This piece by New Girl in New York originally appeared here; her other blog is here. All original material is copyright of its author. Fair use permitted. Contact via comment. Nothing here should be taken as personal advice, financial or otherwise. No liability is accepted for third-party content, whether incorporated in or linked to this blog; or for unintentional error and inaccuracy.

A box full of love

Read Dani's post on World Voices here.

Philippines: Talking boxes

It's now a month ago since we shipped a “balikbayan box" for my family in the Philippines. It took some time too bcoz I made a mistake of having it a little over the 30 kgs. limit that Telepost  refused to handle the shipment and referred us to RAL, where we found out it will cost me more than the total cost of the contents! Left with no other cheaper choice, I had to remove 10kgs. worth of items.  The box contained stuff I had been collecting for months and it is intended for my not so big yet widely extended family.

My husband being Danish find it bizarre as to why should I be sending a box with just some ordinary things. I told him unless you’re a Filipino or chosen to become a Filipino on your way of thinking,  you can never "understand"  the Filipino family ties. I know that they can buy some of the stuff in the box also in the Philippines but that is not the point. It's that gesture of sending your love and thoughts that you remember them even you’re here, a thousand miles away, then the ordinary things becomes extra-ordinary. For them, a bar of soap from abroad is different from a bar of soap from a local store. I tell you, they will rather keep it in their cabinets instead of using it and sometimes they will even show it off to others.

In my Filipino family, we know each other up to the third and fourth cousins even the so called long- distant relatives bcoz its like a tradition that we have to know who are our family and I remember when I was small we were always get to be introduced to a relative every time they come for a visit with our Lola Diding telling us a story how come we are relatives. Bcoz of this upbringing, I am able to maintain a close relationship with immediate relatives like my first and second cousins from both my mother and my father's side. This year we are expecting a new addition to the family. A second cousin from my mother side (her father and my mother are first cousins) is to have a baby in the spring. So that makes that baby and my son, Milton third cousins! When we get to travel to the Philippines again, it's expected of me to visit if possible all family members, even those who had passed away and say hello.

My husband's Danish family is relatively small compared to mine. The first time I went to Denmark for Christmas in 2009,   i expected to meet his “family”. And I indeed  met his parents and the only sister along with her husband and 2 kids. But I was wondering where are the others. So I asked about his cousins, uncles and aunties, etc. I was surprised to know they also live in Denmark but only the parents have a regular contact with the tita's and tito's.  As a new member of the family I wanted to know more about them. Typical Danish family, only few children. But it was quite interesting to know that a couple of the family members are successful public personalities. His first cousin, whose mother is his father's sister, is a writer who published a number of books. Another cousin, whose father is his mother's brother, is a successful nurse and public figure whose name you can read on a posted curricular in every daycare bulletin board in the city of Nuuk. My husband said they only met a few times and that was a very long, long time ago so they hardly knew each other.  It's not uncommon in Denmark where people value their independence a lot. Danes are somewhat perceived to be private and reserved, if you're a foreigner like me you'll find it frustrating sometimes when it comes to communication especially  if you hardly understand  what they are talking about especially when if they think your balikbayan box is a weird idea in spite of a lengthy explanation!

If you who  are reading this entry is wondering what a balikbayan box is, Wikipedia defines it like this:

A balikbayan box (literally, "Repatriate box") is a ubiquitous, corrugated box containing any number of small items sent by an overseas Filipino known as a "balikbayan". Though often shipped by freight forwarders specializing in balikbayan boxes by sea, such boxes can be brought by Filipinos returning to the Philippines by air.

These boxes might contain nearly anything that can fit and that the sender thinks the recipient would like, regardless of whether those items can be bought cheaply in the Philippines, such as non-perishable food, toiletries, household items, electronics, toys, designer clothing, or items hard to find in the Philippines.

Our "balikbayan box" will need another month of journey (it takes 2 months for a shipment of this kind to arrive from Greenland to the Philippines). It may not cost that much but it means a lot to them that will receive it.

Like it’s said, we can choose or even buy our friends but there's only one family and it's priceless.

This post first appeared on Dani's blog here. All original material is copyright of its author. Fair use permitted. Contact via comment. Nothing here should be taken as personal advice, financial or otherwise. No liability is accepted for third-party content, whether incorporated in or linked to this blog; or for unintentional error and inaccuracy.