GG Wired

Females rule!

2009-11-14T12:18:00.010+02:00

Breeders Cup 2009, $5.0 million in prize money, Santa Anita, California, last Saturday, a beautiful mare, Zanyatta, competing against 11 of the best stallions in the US, beating them cold in a superb race making 14 wins in 14 starts. One of the best wins ever. Watch her as No 4 with the jockey, Mike Smith, wearing teal green with a pink stripe silks, coming from the dead last position to win by more than a length! I am mesmerised. What an animal!

I also included a video showing Zanyatta, this beautiful phenomenon of a horse, doing very unique dance moves, which shows that she is suis generis, and a horse with special character becoming of a star. Wow!
The pink bow tie of her jockey is "ola ta lefta" as they say in Greece, which can be freely translated to mean the "money shot".

Will justice remain blind?

2009-11-14T06:16:00.011+02:00

I am perplexed by the US Attorney General's decision, with obviously Obama's blessings, after 8 years of delay, to prosecute the five Guantanamo Bay detainees, including accused mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in a civilian court in Manhatan. Obviously they know, that they are running a huge risk that these guys might "walk", based on some legal technicality of which this particular case is full of, ranging from where can anyone find 12 unbiased New Yorkers to sit as jury, to whether the "Miranda rights" of the accused have been infringed when they were arrested and interogated to whether Khalid's confession is admissible when the Administration itself has admitted in a memo that Khalid was waterboarded (a form of torture) 183 times in a single month? Why are they doing it?

Does the US Attorney General have an iron clad prosecution case? Is it going to turn out to be a parody of justice? Will we see the end of the ensuing legal saga before an asteroid hits Earth and irrevocably resolves the issue :-)?
Of course, there is the official reason which is that the "rule of law" demands it.
Any other thoughts on this intriguing development?

Stuffed cabbage rolls a la Greka or "Lahanodolmathes"

2009-11-14T06:06:00.003+02:00

"Lahanodolmades" is my most favourite dish. My numero uno by a country mile! It's a bit tedious to prepare, but the result is worthwhile the hassle.
I am presenting here the recipe with two different sauces, the traditional and the one I like more, which has blue cheese. I had it yesterday for lunch, with both the sauces and had a very nice Chauteau Pontent-Chappaz, Margaux 2005 (17 euro a bottle) :
Ingredients: ( Serves 4 Greeks!)
-1/2 kg minced beef
-1/2 cup uncooked rice
-100 g. blue cheese
-1 egg
-1 tomato finely chopped
-1 lemon
-1 onion finely chopped
-1 yogurt
-2 tsp of mayonaise
-2 tsp of olive oil
-1 tsp corn starch
-1 bunch of chopped parsley
-25g butter
-Salt & pepper
Preparation:
Cabbage
-Cut the center of the cabbage, remove the heart and discard it
-Boil the cabbage in salted water for 5 minutes in a pot
-Peel the cabbage leaves one by one and allow them to drain and cool in a large dish. Don't throw away the water as you will be needing it later
Minced meat & rice mixture
-Put the minced meat, rice,chopped onion, finely cut tomato, chopped parsley, 2 tsp olive oil, salt & pepper in a pot and mix well with your hands.

-Take small quantities of the meat mixture and place them in the center of an open cabbage leaf as in the photo
- Create a roll as per photo
-Place the cabbage rolls in a pot in layers one on top of the other, use the water that you have collected from the original boiling of the cabbage, add hot water if necessary to submerge the cabbage rolls, add the butter. Cover the top cabbage roll layer with an inverted plate to prevent the rolls to move and unfold during boiling, boil for 45 minutes. Remove water and place rolls on a serving plate. Serve hot.

Sauces

A- Conventional: Take 2 cups of the broth prior to draining in a small pot, add 2 tsp of corn starch, one egg, squeeze one lemon, mix well and let it boil till it thickens

B-Blue cheese: Mix well one yogurt, 2 tsp mayonaise and 100g of blue cheese

From my management series: Problem solving

2009-11-13T07:01:00.011+02:00

Yesterday, in a conference call with my London Client, I shared with them the outline of my recommendations to address the issues of the consulting assignment.They were quite pleased with the proposed solution, which I now have to write it down (Grrrrh). I am, obviously, very happy that I was able to solve the problem but most importantly I was proud that my proposed solution was elegant ie simple and effective.

As I reviewed the journey of how I arrived to the solution, a very useful habit that helps one understand and learn from his mistakes and successes, I realised that the cracking of the problem of this assignment was primarily due to clearly defining and restating the problem that needed to be solved. Once the correct problem was defined and articulated, free of "noise" and confusing interpretations, the solving part of it was a cinch.

The key skill a consultant needs to posess in understanding and defining client's problems and issues is attentive listening. The ability to be ignorant, create an atmosphere of trust that the client feels comfortable and doesn't hold back, ask a few questions, hear what the client is saying, interpret what you are hearing and what the client is feeling and try to see the world with his eyes. In other words first establish the relevant "dots" and then "connect" them. No rocket science here.

PS: I am sure some people of the top team of the client will be reading this. What a great way to mentor your client, because I always believe that the quality of the work of the consultant depends on how good his client is.

2012

2009-11-13T06:10:00.006+02:00

As you probably know, if you live on planet Earth, everybody is talking about 21 December 2012, the day when, according to the Mayan calendar, Time ends and hence it is inferred that Earth will be destroyed by a catastrophic event, and human existence will be wiped out, the same way the dinosaurs became extinct some 65 million years ago. In the case of dinosaurs, scientists have been trying, after the fact, to find what caused the cataclysmic event that made dinosaurs museum pieces and the most predominant theory being an asteroid hitting earth triggering a catastrophic sequence of events that put dinosaurs "out of business". In the case of the 2012 looming catastrophy, however, since the event hasn't happened and there is no scientific evidence supporting this particular date versus any other date, we are left in the "able" hands of doomsday pundits and charlatans who, with pseudo-scientific obscure language, are creating the beginnings of mass hysteria, stoked of course by our friends in Hollywood. We now have the same kind of mania on what will cause the mother of all disasters that resembles a lot the "Who killed J.F.K?" saga or the "Who shot J.R?" ie now we have "Who is going to kill Man?", an asteroid ? the reversal of the magnetic poles? etc. As an aside, there are a few excellent stock market trading strategies as the Final Day approaches that can be very profitably applied from shorting the market, to going "all in" before the Final Day because if it happens then everybody loses, so you are not worse off (hahaha) than anybody else, but if it doesn't, you are "all in" "long", and you can really "break the bank". Yihaaa! Remember also that, 21 of December 2012 is a Friday, usually a short trading day ahead of the weekend, you can leverage that too. Hahaha.

On a more serious note, if the Mayan prophecy is correct, then for Christians at least, shouldn't they ask themselves why didn't the Big Guy wait four more days for us to celebrate his birthday first and then do His gig?

Answer 1: Read previous post

Answer 2: Who cares, because when it happens, we will have first hand knoweledge what's out there!

GG: A disclaimer: All of the above are written "tongue in cheek"

Faith vs Religion

2009-11-13T06:05:00.000+02:00

I am quoting for your benefit, a very well written letter in USA TODAY in the letters to the editor section by Jonathan Horner of Newport. Tenn., on the difference between faith and religion :
"...Religion is not faith. Faith involves unanswered questions, religion is belief in answers formulated by mankind. Unfortunately, these formulations are made without understanding essential questions, and in practice fundamentalism discourages asking deeper questions.
Religious texts should be read as poetry, rather than as a direct statement in prose. This is the difference between a symbol and what the symbol represents. Science is entirely compatible with faith. Religion, conversely, claims to know the future, which is convenietly soothing to those who adamantly and insecurly cling to their egos and wish them to have everlasting life"

Grrrrrrh...

2009-11-12T10:00:00.006+02:00

Today is Thursday, not my favourite day. It's the day of the week where my daily average of swearing at the divine ie "descending the candles" (see relevant post of Nov.5th) increases exponentially versus the average of the rest of the week. One reason, of course, is visiting George Jr at 3:00 pm and the chaos created in his neighbourhood because of the "farmer's market" aka "laiki" that I explained in the aforementionned post. The other reason actually preceeds my George Jr visit and lights the fuse for the "laiki" explosion. You see, Thursday's is supermarket day for me. In fact, I just returned from this experience. I know, that for a lot of people it's a pleasant experience bla, bla bla...Not for me mates. It's an unnatural experience and trying to find the stuff you want is like a stupid hide and seek game. Btw, the supermarket I go to, Mega on Vouliagmenis, is one of the best if not the best supermarket in Athens, big, wide aisles, spotless and brightly lit as the photos can attest. My detestation has nothing to do with the supermarket's infrastructure. And now, after I read the book "The Nudge" (book review post dated Oct. 30th) I now see the supermarket as a huge factory of nudging, with the choice architects working their butts off to force me, nudging is too soft a word in this case, to choose what they want rather than what I want. This will not pass. I am Spartacus! Hahaha

Sad...as all addictions are

2009-11-12T07:10:00.002+02:00

Down memory lane: Fifi, Charles Jourdan and Edward de Bonno

2009-11-12T06:12:00.001+02:00

"Fifi" is the name I gave to my newly adopted neighbourhood cat (see photos). As I was calling her the other day I remembered the other "Fifi", an Arab bottler's wife and the immortal story of the shoes.
One day an Arab bottler and his wife, Fifi, visited me in Athens and since I was a native, he asked me to accompany his wife shopping, as she wanted to buy Charles Jourdan shoes a luxury brand at the time. I asked Popi to help me out at this assignment, and went and picked Fifi up from the hotel and took her to the Charles Jourdan shop in Syntagma Square, not there anymore, I think.
All three go in, and she asks to try a particular shoe model and tells the sales guy that she wears a European size 36-37 (US woman's size 6-6.5). We were floored! No way she would wear such a small shoe size, because I forgot to mention that dear old Fifi dwarfed battleship Potemkin in sheer mass.
Fifi was a definite 40-41 shoe size (US woman's size 9.5-10), but no matter how hard Popi and the sales guy tried to persuade Fifi to try bigger size shoes, she wouldn't budge. Time was passing without any success in sight and I was in Cambronne creek then a flash of genius. I take the sales guy on the side and ask him to tell Fifi that the shoe sizes in Greece are different than the rest of Europe and the Arab world and that if she wanted a European size 36-37 then the corresponding Greek size would be 40-41. As a modern day Alexander the Great I had cut this Gordian Knot and everybody was happy. I was wearing my Edward de Bonno green thinking hat that day :-)

Republican dog

2009-11-11T09:55:00.002+02:00

Happiness in the work place

2009-11-11T06:15:00.006+02:00

It is a fact that happy employees produce more and better results, are more creative, more energised, make better decisions and are lower maintenance.

If this is a well known fact, why is it then that happiness in the workplace is the most underused productivity tool?
In my view, happiness in the work place produces so spectacular results that the old position of Head of Human Resources, now called position of Chief Talent Officer, should be changed to Chief Happiness Officer if companies want to see sustainable quantum leaps in productivity gains.
In my personal experience, I was consistently very happy in the various jobs and positions I held. In reflection, I think it's because I moved, every 5 years or so, divisions, geographies or companies. It seems it takes HR departments about 5 years to zero in on happy employees and take measures of reducing their happiness as they construe it as a sign of "waste" that should be eliminated!
My advice to companies start measuring the extent of happiness of your employees and take steps to increase it.
PS: Professor Christopher J. Ruhm in his paper "A Healthy Econmy Can Break Your Heart" found that a 1% reduction in unemployment increases acute myocardial infarction (AMI) mortality by 1.3%! In other words, economic recessions reduce smoking, inactivity, and obesity which drive AMI and chronic conditions which account for 75% of the cost of healthcare in the US.

Snippets of my London trip

2009-11-11T01:23:00.011+02:00

-London is cheap. With a 25% devaluation of the pound vs the euro and the deep discounting British retailers are doing because of the recession, London is relatively cheap. A double tall, non fat, caramel macchiato costs 2.8 pounds ie 3.1 euro versus 4.7 euro in Athens ie S/B in London is 34% cheaper than Athens! In Tottenham Court Rd, aka the Mecca of computers/electronics, I found some amazing deals. Even clothes for men at Harrods are cheap. Rest assured, the Al-Fayed statue of the 'Chairman' wearing his trade mark double breasted suit is still looming in the men's clothing section of Harrods. Tacky!

- I took a cab in Kensington and told the driver to take me to Harrods. Cabbie told me that the usual fare is 6 pounds and he will charge me only 5 if I allowed him not to press the meter! First time this happens to me in London. For a moment I thought I was in Karachi. O tempora O mores!

-Saw "War Horse" at the New London Theater and loved it, puppeteering and all. Very emotional show that had the basic theme that the relationship of humans and animals is the richest of all experiences. Total agreement here. Bobby rules!

-Had terrific fish at the "Poissonnerie de l'Avenue" in Chelsea (82 Sloane Avenue). Good old French cuisine. Unbeatable.

-The business meetings went very well, culminating with the last meeting I had which was with the big banana, the head honcho, the bigwig, top dog, the big enchilada, the big Kahuna, hahaha. It was very exhilarating to intellectually banter with highly intelligent and articulate people and discuss strategic issues, such as, how does one stress test whether the infrastructure and processeses of a business are "fit for purpose" or how do you "future proof" a business. Aaah!, the adrenaline rush!!

Now. I must work to deliver working solutions to these ethereal issues. Love it.

Net, net, a great trip.

"The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki

2009-11-10T06:05:00.005+02:00

The thesis of the book is that if you want to make a correct decision or solve a problem, large groups of diverse people are smarter than a few experts. It gives a plethora of social experiments and experiences to substantiate this counter intuitive proposition. However, it's written in a boring kind of way and whilst at the end you are convinced that there is a lot of truth in this thesis, it is never made clear why this happens. Another tough read.

Rating 2 out of 5

Slaving away

2009-11-09T05:55:00.003+02:00

I am, today, on the first BA flight out of Athens with destination London to attend some meetings. And lest some of you that all this business travel is cute and leisure let me inform you that au contraire it's very hard work. Case in point, tomorrow, I am booked to participate in 9, yes nine, business meetings with different groups of people, including a short, non liquid, all sandwich business lunch, and then rush to Heathrow to catch the 4 hour long evening flight back to barbarville. No walk in the park mates.

PS: A great upside here is that there is a Starbucks in the Client's office builiding! Yihaaa!

You taste what you paid for

2009-11-08T08:01:00.004+02:00

Researchers from the California Institute of Technology and Stanford's business school have directly seen that the sensation of pleasantness that people experience when tasting wine is linked directly to its price. And that's true even when, unbeknownst to the test subjects, it's exactly the same Cabernet Sauvignon with a dramatically different price tag.

This graph shows the activity in the brain's pleasure center; there's more activity with wine subjects think costs $90 a bottle (top line) than the same wine priced at $10. The arrow shows the moment when the subjects started tasting the wine.(Credit: CalTech, Stanford)
GG: Who gives a hoot as long as the difference in sensation pleasantness (the area between the two graphs) is worth $80 and there is no aftermath difference ie in hangover intensity if any. So, marketeers, "sock it to me" if you meet the above two conditions! :-)

PS: "Sock it to me" is an old, then hip, expression that was coined by the #1 TV show, aired by NBC "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" that was very osé for its time, full of sexual innuendos and daring political satire, that I use to never miss when I was a university student 40 years ago.

"Buffalo Bill's"

2009-11-08T05:55:00.000+02:00

I went last night with a couple of dear friends to "Buffalo Bill's" a Tex-Mex restaurant in Glyfada (Kyprou 13, Tel: 210-894-3128) that I had been once before and had enjoyed the food. The ambiance was great, the service was very good and the food tasty, except the beef in the fajitas was a bit hard and the tequila in the margarita could have been of better quality. All in all it was a nice evening out with good laughs. Btw the place was packed, 35 euro a head with drinks and desert.

What a singer!

2009-11-08T05:31:00.007+02:00

There are only two Greek singers, that when they sing certain songs, make my heart stop and my hair stand from emotion. One is Grigoris Bithikotsis aka "Sir Bithi" and the second one is Nikos Ksilouris. All the rest, except Haris Alexiou are "mere toothpastes" as we say in Greek (Sorry Stelio)
Yesterday, in one of those stupid Greek financial papers that I don't read because they are full of the most moronic financial analysis but my brother does as he is CEO of a Greek oil company and should read whatever rubbish the Greek financial community is saying, there was a CD of Nikos Ksilouris, that was given with the paper for free.
I give you one of his songs, not one of his best, but this one you don't need to know any Greek to feel his epic voice. Usually his lyrics are very deep and refer to his beloved island of Crete. Enjoy it.

Missing tip!

2009-11-07T16:07:00.008+02:00

I was reading the other day a very interesting article in NY Times titled "100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do" Part 1 & Part 2 and thought that the 100 tips they offered covered everything. Till I went, today for lunch, to "Prytanio" restaurant in the "Golden Hall" of Maroussi in Athens (photo). The missing tip for restaurant staffers would be that "When a customer gives you feedback on the food don't smile and say nothing. Thank him for taking the time to make the restaurant better"

The case in point was, when I finished my penne with mozzarella cheese, I called the waitress and told her to tell the chef that when one puts ice cold mozarella cheese cubes on top of hot penne the laws of heat transfer will apply and you will end up with a plate where the penne at the top would be cold and the penne at the top would be hot.

She smilled and said nothing and left the table. Doh!

PS1: I have to tell you that what I actually said was " Kindly tell your "Botrini" (the Greek TV equivalent of Gordon Ramsey) that when one puts.....". I couldn't restist the dig. :-)

PS2: Pasta, salad with beer & mineral water US$50 a head

Why?

2009-11-07T08:06:00.006+02:00

Why is it that although Finland is a wonderful place to live, very clean, organised and civilised with a very good child and health care system, free education, indifinetely long unemployment benefits etc and all the goodies that make its citizen's feel unstressed has more than six times higher suicide rates than Greece ?

I am sure that Bob L., an American who currently is living in Finland, a well travelled person, been to Greece, and a regular reader of this blog will give us an answer to this question, as the scientific analysis on the aetiology of this phenomenon is frequently contradictory and in all cases confusing.

PS: Finland suicide rates are also double those in the US!

Yeh or Nay?

2009-11-07T05:47:00.002+02:00

Another winter with women insisting in wearing galoshes, aka wellies, to look trendy. I find them not appealing at all, especially when worn on a sunny day

What do you think? Are they fabulous footwear or a fashion eyesore?

Paranoia

2009-11-06T08:19:00.002+02:00

60% of the doctors and 90% of the nurses of the Greek National Health system are refusing to be vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus.
What can I say? I am speechless!

I passed the exam!

2009-11-06T05:32:00.005+02:00

It's two years now that I live without my Popi. During that time, "yiayia", the old lady that lives on the 4th floor and adored Popi, has visited me quite frequently and everytime she would bring "le plat du jour" of her excellent cooking, and we sat and talked. Yesterday, she paid me another visit with some fantastic "spanokopitta" and revealed to me that all this time she use to come to inspect how I was coping with the apartment and with myself, under instructions from Popi who was really worried how I would cope when she would "leave". "Yiayia" then told me that she was impressed with the way I am managing my life and the way I keep myself, Bobby and the apartment and that I have passed all her secret and strict tests with flying colours, and that Popi shouldn't be worried.
You made my day "yiayia". Thanks!

"Descending the candles"

2009-11-05T16:10:00.006+02:00

Whenever I drive to go to my grandson's apartment to see him, usually at 3:00 p.m, and its a Thursday, as I approach his building, my blood pressure goes up and I start "descending the candles" which translates from Greek meaning "Swearing at the divine". Reason, every Thursday in George's neighbourhood they are having a farmer's market or as they say in Greek there is a "laiki", meaning "layman's". During a "laiki", the whole neighbourhood is taken over by a plethora of stands where they sell everything from women's underwear, clothes, carpets, shoes and a bit of fresh produce which was the original purpose of holding a "laiki". Chaos descends onto the neighborhood during the "laiki" as trucks people, cars, stands and stuff on sale create havoc. If you live in a neighbourhood that holds a "laiki", then the previous night you must take your car out of the garage and park it somewhere far as you will be unable to get out of the garage the next morning as the "laiki" stands and or trucks will be blocking the garage exit. During the duration of the "laiki" you will feel that you are living in the middle of a bazaar in down town Sana'a in Yemen. After the "laiki" finishes, the place looks like downtown Baghdad. Aaagrrrr!. The middle ages!!!

PS: There are three types of people that get produce at the "laiki" depending on the time they go:

Type A: Those that are interested in quality. They go to the "laiki" early to make sure they can pick the best produce.

Type B: Those who are price conscious. They go just before the "laiki" closes and get substantial discounts on the unsold produce.

Type C: Those who are poor. They go just after the "laiki" ends and are given the stuff that the farmers would have thrown away.

Have gold prices peaked?

2009-11-05T06:00:00.010+02:00

Gold hit a record high above $1,095 a troy ounce, intraday, yesterday in brisk trading.

Has it peaked? I don't think so because the underlying forces causing the price to go up are here to stay for some time. In my view, the main forces acting are:

1- Dollar weakness

2- Pending inflation caused by excess government spending and lax monetary policies

3- Psychology. "Flight to safety" during uncertain times.

GG: Kindly note that China has recently replaced South Africa as the world's biggest producer of gold, and now connect that dot with my post yesterday on the fact that China holds $2 trillion of US debt, whilst their own, as % of GDP, is 9 times smaller than that of the US, standing at a very healthy 11%, and you start getting the picture. Add Russia' gold, oil and gas (Russia's external debt is only 15% of GDP) and the future picture is complete which leads me to believe that Einstein was smoking pot when he thought that he didn't know how WWIII would be fought (but he knew that WWIV will be fought with bows and arrows implying that WWIII will lead to a nuclear holocaust). Albert, WWIII will be fought with financial and commodities weapons, mate!

The best promoter of US Democrats

2009-11-04T09:28:00.010+02:00

Results are just in and for the first time since the american civil war NY 23rd district elects a Democrat, Bill Owens. Owens won, mainly because, I think, his opponent was endorsed by right wing nut heavyweights like Sarah Palin. Thank you Sarah.

GG1: A lot of people believe that Sarah Palin is a waste of fresh air. I beg to differ. I think that she is an inspiration to university students. At least to some of them. Quite a few, in fact, in Greece. She is a ray of hope to all those "eternal" students that take aeons to graduate, that a person that took 6 years and 3 universities to get a 4 year university degree and believes that the world was created just before Cheops (Khufu) built his pyramid at Gizah, can become a Governor, a vice presidential candidate, write a best selling autobiography (Her second book, a memoire titled "Going Rogue" due to be on the shelves as of Nov.17th) and possibly become the Republican presidential candidate in the 2012 US presidential elections. Wow!

GG2: Spectacles rule! Death to contacts. Hahaha