Why are the Pacific Hawaiian and Atlantic British Words for Going to the Loo the Same?

RHINE VIEW

There sometimes is no obvious logic to things. In Britain, we go to the 'loo', while in Hawaii, they go to the 'lua', which is pronounced virtually the same. For a word that is so basic to a language, one has to wonder why they are more or less identical. Is the Hawaiian 'lua' a result of the British past on Hawaii? It would be wierd, would it not, if the Pacific Islanders had discovered Britain some 15,000 years ago, and left this word as a residue influence. Stranger things have happened.

Design Science, Round Houses, and Innovation

BEAUTIFUL WHITE HORSE

When we look at the beauty that nature has designed into its creatures over many hundred millions of years, we have to wonder at the relative ugliness that man has designed into the majority of modern habitats for the ordinary person.

People deserve an attractive habitat that gives a positive force to their living. What tends to happen is a separation of quality of habitat such that your higher income people live in areas separated away from those of more modest means. This results in a general habitat for the community that is spotty. It's really nice in some areas and really ugly in others.

I think nature, which has had a head start on human logic by many million years, is trying to tell us something. The first thing nature tells us is that rectangles are not as good in designing habitats as spheres and rounded shapes. If we examine the work of honey bees we see that even they adapted the straight line and improved on the rectangle with shapes that are six sided. Are we less intelligent than the honey bee? Nature shows us many things about drainage and water proofing, hydrolysis and energy absorption from the sun. All these technologies of nature can be adapted by man to improve human habitats.

Buckminster Fuller the inventer and innovator developed the theoretical base for a new science, which he dubbed design science. Design science is based on mathematics that goes beyond the boringly familiar geometries of rectangles. Jay Kappraff, the mathematician rediscovered design science for himself and then suddenly became aware of Buckminster Fuller's work. By observing nature both individuals opened the way for many others to follow and based on their ideas, we can build architectural structures for all people that provide a more welcoming habitat.

The Roller Coaster of Speculation

SHAKING LANES AND ROUGH ROAD AHEAD

The world has a lot of liquidity despite the credit crunch in America which started the process of adjustment towards a sustainable balance of opinions. What governs the economy these days is not so much anything that is solid, but which portfolio mix will satisfy your risk preferences. For better or worse, we live in a world of speculation and the roads that we normally follow are weakening and blowing away like the sands of a desert in a storm.

This is what happens in the mature stages of war economies. The authorities have pumped so much liquidity into the system to finance the war that they are addicted to their own form of speculation which says that the war must be won at all costs. More and more money is pumped into winning and the cycle becomes one of excessive speculation in an investment in war. A bad economy results from investment excesses as there is a day of reckoning when the war is seen as a bad investment, or at least not a very good one. Its all relative, for while America spends money on investing in the war other countries can spend money on investing in goods and services not attached to war efforts. China, India, Continental Europe, and Russia, if it is wise, can leapfrog into better commercial positioning for the peace that follows a bitter war.

They are, in a very real sense, investing in peace. Listen to what Clinton and Obama are saying. They are saying that speculation in the benefits of fighting the war have to end. McCain is still unsure, but he has a history of struggling through the worse of situations, a dogged fighter, a formidable foe! And, they are right, but the big question is how much is enough. Well, the hidden costs of fighting in the middle east are going to hit all levels of the economy as mugwumpers try to assess their complex speculative positions.

When one sees speculation in gold one knows something really bad is going down. Offsetting the speculation in wheat is effect of farmers realizing the potential gains of growing more grain. These have induced the farmer to sow an extra large seasonal crop. That's wonderful you say, the farmer is the seasoned veteran of speculations. Dealing all the time with changing weather patterns, wind, and water, wet and dry, the farmer, however, is in no better position to speculate wisely. What we often see when farmers speculate is over investment.

Its almost as if there is a disconnect between farmers and the reality of wild speculation as it emerges. The plain fact is that follow the buck speculation without any regard for historical patterns of excess leads to wild results. A solution to a problem, you might say, but what happens after over-investment is a long, a very long period of under investment, as those that have been burned hedge their bets. The key is to dampen speculation so as to bring about a more orderly mix of views that achieves a longer term investment path that is sustainable.

Burt's World of Delicious Dark Chocolat

WESSEX CHURCH INTERIOR

In an earlier blog, I was praising the moments when one sat quietly with a mug of coffee and a book. A reader quite rightly pulled me up on this saying that I had omitted to mention the additional pleasure one can get by adding dark bitter sweet chocolate.

In my case, living in England for much of the time, this is a square or two of Green and Blacks, Organic Bittersweet Dark Chocolate with 70 percent cocoa content. The bar of dark chocolate that I presently see before me mentions that it is certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers. So I must have bought it in America!

You can buy the Fair Trade dark chocolate at your local OXFAM book store, should you live in Britain. Not only do you have an opportunity help the starving, but you get a chance to acquire a second hand book at a very reasonable price. If you buy Fair Trade products, you can make a difference. This is not intended to sound like an advert, but it does. I apologize!