Forget brain training, do something else to keep your brain “fit” (Times).

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Nancy Andreasen offers four suggestions to which you should allocate 30 minutes a day — choose a new and unfamiliar area of knowledge and explore it in depth, spend some time meditating or just thinking, practise observing and describing things, and practise imagining. This is quite a punishing workout but it makes perfect sense and, unlike the Nintendo DS, it does seem to describe a better way of life.

Ian Robertson, professor of psychology at Trinity College, Dublin, suggests reading out loud at breakfast, making lists of related objects (say, yellow ones, or those beginning with A), and change hands — brush your teeth with your left hand if you’re right-handed. Again, this makes perfect sense: these tricks make your brain deal with the unfamiliar as opposed to getting locked in old patterns of thought.

Forget brain training, do something else to keep your brain “fit” (Times).

Solution to Belkin USB stick Pre-N/N XP Problem.

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I had problems with an F5D8051 USB stick saying “No wireless networks found” and generally dropping the wireless network. This after trying the driver CD that came with the card and also the latest driver download from the Belkin website.

After googling and reading a few forums this is what worked for me (Windows XP SP3)

  • Install the latest N1 Wireless USB Adapter F5D8051 driver from Belkin (f5d8051v2_ww_2.02.04)
  • Plug in the USB stick when asked and let the install complete
  • Go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\ and make a backup copy of Mrvw245.sys to Mrvw245.backup
  • Select the Belkin wireless adapter in Device Manager and rightclick to “Properties/Driver/Uninstall”
  • Uninstall the downloaded Belkin software (this is the culprit, it just doesn’t work with Windows)
  • Remove the adapter
  • Reboot your computer and log in
  • Copy your backup copy of Mrvw245.backup to Mrvw245.sys
  • Plug in the USB N1 Wireless USB Adapter again and this time let Windows XP find the driver (you might have to point it to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\)
  • Let Windows manage your wireless networks
  • Enjoy

Kitsch vs kitsch

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Tags:

Gore-Tex gets made without managers or budgets (Observer).

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At Gore - a $2.4bn, hi-tech materials company that most people know best for the Gore-Tex fabric that waterproofs their anoraks and walking boots - no one can tell any of the company’s 8,500 associates what to do. Although there is a structure (divisions, business units and so on) there is no organisation chart, no hierarchy and therefore no bosses. Kelly is one of the few with a title.

Similarly, Gore doesn’t have budgets in the sense that most companies do. ‘When I joined we didn’t have a planning process - budgeting wasn’t in the vocabulary,’ she says. Gore now does a better job of planning investment and forecasting, she maintains, but it still tries to avoid the games-playing and inflexibility of the traditional budget. ‘Budgets hinder associates from reacting in real time to changing circumstances,’ she says.

Gore-Tex gets made without managers or budgets (Observer).

Review: Excavating Kafka by James Hawes | Books | The Observer

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Hawes’s Kafka is a canny, funny, worldly man who liked to relax by socialising with his many friends, visiting the occasional prostitute - and reading porn. The fact that Kafka subscribed to two erotic journals is presented as a grand revelation: ‘No one has ever shown his readers what we are about to see: Kafka’s porn.’ There follow some pretty weird pen-and-ink drawings, fin de siècle in style, although Hawes also admits that ‘Kafka’s porn is no real secret. The mystery is that it should seem like one.’ This aspect of the book has caused a furious row to erupt among German-speaking Kafka scholars, with several accusing Hawes of sensationalisation, prudishness and even anti-Semitism.

Review: Excavating Kafka by James Hawes | Books | The Observer

Crisis in Caucasus exposes confusion within Nato | World news | The Guardian (20080823).

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“Terrorism, radicalisation, climate change, energy - these are the biggest security threats nowadays and they are not something Nato can do much about. It doesn’t have an answer,” said an EU official, who wished not to be named.

Born in 1949, Nato’s original function and purpose was to keep the Soviet Union at bay and keep the Americans in Europe. But in recent years the alliance has suffered from strategic confusion while morphing into a very different organisation. Nato has become a global gendarme, fighting wars far away from its “North Atlantic” core, peacekeeping, and expanding civilian control of the military in new democracies through its policy of admitting countries from the Balkans and the former eastern bloc.

Crisis in Caucasus exposes confusion within Nato | World news | The Guardian (20080823).

The many aspects of recession.

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Imported Ranger Rovers dubbed “Game Overs” in Iceland (Times Online).

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The cranes are still working in Reykjavik, building the opera house and seafront luxury flats, but no one is sure if they will be occupied. The imported Range Rovers now filling car lots waiting to be shipped and sold abroad have been nicknamed “Game Overs”. The blaze of light at night — geothermal energy is cheap — makes the capital look like a city of several million, but the traffic lights in the new financial district change for half an hour at a time without a car passing.

Imported Ranger Rovers dubbed “Game Overs” in Iceland (Times Online).

Mad Men in danger over pay stand-off | World news | The Observer

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Yet for all that Mad Men has tapped into the current zeitgeist and, for all that it is loved by advertisers (in a way that perhaps only a programmes about advertising could be), its ratings remain tiny in comparison to the major network dramas such as House or CSI. On average, only 1.5 million people watch Mad Men, although the second season finale was seen by 2.9 million, a jump of 89 per cent on the previous series.

This might not be such a bad thing. The first series of Mad Men was a grower (the second series has not yet been shown in the UK, the Beeb is currently reprising the first series), but even The Wire with its team of writers could not hold up for more than four series (the fifth series bordered on slapstick for periods).

Mad Men in danger over pay stand-off | World news | The Observer

Norman Walsh of Bolton - cult trainers.

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I spotted these at Size? on Carnaby Street. Never heard of the brand, but it seems like they are a favourite with fell runners.

Norman Walsh of Bolton trainers.

Printable Vouchers, FREE Print Out / Cut Out Coupons, Print Out Vouchers from MyVoucherCodes - My Voucher Codes UK

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Printable Vouchers, FREE Print Out / Cut Out Coupons, Print Out Vouchers from MyVoucherCodes - My Voucher Codes UK

Londonist: Free Wifi in London…Mapped

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Londonist: Free Wifi in London…Mapped

Jacob Jensen on simple ideas.

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If you have to explain your idea, then there is no idea.

Jacob Jensen (Bang&Olufsen designer), in Monocle interview Sep 2008.

Piscina das Marés, Alvaro Siza Vieira | Matosinhos | Portugal | MIMOA

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Developed and built between 1961 and 1966, this building became one of the most interesting buildings to visit in Porto since Álvaro Siza designed it. As still a young architect, Siza was appointed to design a new swimming pool at Leça da Palmeira right between the rocks and the sea. He spent months drawing and feeling the environment so he could design a building that fitted perfectly along the shore. It’s architecture made from the site and for the site. All the materials are raw. Concrete, wood and steel are all processed with traditional techniques of constructing.
Piscina das Marés, Alvaro Siza Vieira | Matosinhos | Portugal | MIMOA. Via Monocle magazine Sep 2008.

Visa Electron card holders exempt from Ryanair’s debit and credit card charges | Money | The Guardian

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Visa Electron card holders exempt from Ryanair’s debit and credit card charges | Money | The Guardian

Quote by Chris Patten - War on drugs etc (Guardian).

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You do not need to be a grammarian to know that you do not fight wars against common nouns but against personal ones. You fight a war against this or that country or enemy. Wars on drugs, wars on poverty, wars on waste - all these things are idle if grandiose ways of describing doomed political ventures.

Quote by Chris Patten - War on drugs etc (Guardian).

Motor city runs on empty as houses sell for £500 | Business | The Guardian

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The princely sum of $1,250 would be enough to secure 14918 Stansbury Street, a three-bedroom brick house on a tree-lined street with a garden.

It will cost $4,500 to cart away the rubble and back-fill the foundations. For the banks, it is cheaper to give away houses than to knock them down.

Motor city runs on empty as houses sell for £500 | Business | The Guardian

MP Steve Pound compares Chelsea FC to the North Korean army (The Guardian).

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But ultimately it is like watching the North Korean army - you can admire their expertise, but they inspire no affection whatsoever”

MP Steve Pound compares Chelsea FC to the Nortk Korean army (The Guardian).

Performing Medicine - Art Injections

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Powerful doses of performance that investigate how we inhabit our own flesh and bones and take a sideways glance at the medical profession.
Performing Medicine

Experience: A 37-year case of insomnia | Life and style | The Guardian

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It’s still such a mystery to me, the act of falling asleep. People say, let your mind go blank, but how? Thoughts whirr round in my head. I don’t have that ability to switch off.
Experience: A 37-year case of insomnia | Life and style | The Guardian

Londonist: Fancyapint.com Best London Pub Awards 2008

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Londonist: Fancyapint.com Best London Pub Awards 2008

On Being the Right Size - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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On Being the Right Size is a 1928 essay by J. B. S. Haldane which discusses proportions in the animal world and the essential link between the size of an animal and these systems an animal has for life. It was published as one of Haldane’s collected essays in Possible Worlds and Other Essays.
On Being the Right Size - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ray Mears caveman diet - Times Online

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The Paleo Diet consists of meat, fish, vegetables, roots, fruit and nuts, rather than the products of domesticated animals and cultivated crops - such as dairy, grains, refined sugar and processed carbohydrates.

The Ray Mears caveman diet - Times Online

Top bankers went Harvard Business School - Times Online

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Of the 30 bankers summoned to the New York Federal Reserve’s headquarters a month ago to devise a rescue plan for Lehman Brothers, about half were Harvard Business School graduates. Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary and, according to Professor Light, a close friend, graduated from the school in 1970, the same year as the Dean. Christoper Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, also sat at the Lehman operating table, having graduated in 1977.

Also in the Fed office were John Thain, chief executive of Merrill Lynch (graduated in 1979), Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase (1982) and Bob Diamond, head of Barclays Capital. Admittedly, none of these has presided over a bank that has gone bust, yet. The pariah of Wall Street, Dick Fuld, the former chief executive of Lehman Brothers, went to New York’s Stern School of Business.

The joke is not lost on Professor Light, an affable, unpretentious expert on capital markets: “The challenge now is to work out how to develop leaders who are better this time — well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

Having an expensive education makes sure you make costly mistakes.

Top bankers went Harvard Business School - Times Online

ReadyBed

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ReadyBed

The lady of the manor is out to bend the nation’s mind - Times Online

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“I’m more nervous about things which deaden the brain. I hardly ever take painkillers. Do you know that 2,500 people die of painkillers a year, which is a lot more than die of illegal drugs? I’m very puritanical about what I take.”

She is not, however, interested in drugs such as heroin or opium – and calls cocaine, which she’s taken “once or twice”, a thoroughly boring substance.

“It’s a greedy drug which brings out the less interesting side of humanity. It’s typical that it’s used in the City.

Psychedelic drugs are another matter altogether.

The lady of the manor is out to bend the nation’s mind - Times Online

The Beckley Foundation’s Global Cannabis Commission

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The Beckley Foundation’s Global Cannabis Commission

Quote by Warren Buffett: Now’s the time to be greedy when others are fearful - Times Online

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Those investors who cling now to cash are betting they can efficiently time their move away from it later. In waiting for the comfort of good news, they are ignoring [ice-hockey player] Wayne Gretzky’s advice: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.”

I don’t like to opine on the stock market, and again I emphasise that I have no idea what the market will do in the short term. Nevertheless, I will follow the lead of a restaurant that opened in an empty bank building and then advertised: “Put your mouth where your money was.”

Today my money and my mouth both say equities.

Warren Buffett: Now’s the time to be greedy when others are fearful - Times Online

Art imitates life as boom shows signs of bust - Times Online

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After an unprecedented 15 years of boom, the art market is showing the first signs of collapse.

On Friday evening Sotheby’s sale of contemporary art, including works by Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst, realised only £22m. Presale estimates were from £31m to a high of £43m.

Art imitates life as boom shows signs of bust - Times Online

Quote by No more Mr Nice Guy: Lynn Barber interviews Boris Johnson | Culture | The Observer

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I’ve taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.

No more Mr Nice Guy: Lynn Barber interviews Boris Johnson | Culture | The Observer

Are papers in freefall? (not really) | Media | The Observer

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Take last month’s circulation figures and compare them directly with September 2003, the month just before the first tabloid plans were hatched. See how shrinking page sizes worked out. The Indy was selling 218,567 then, 144,050 of them at full cover price (excluding bulk giveaways, overseas copies and cut-price wheezes). Last month it recorded 220,957 on the top line and sold 128,738 at full price, which is 15,312 down. The Times had a total sale of 629,815 in September 2003, of which 455,603 were at full price. Last month, that was 638,003 with 435,771 at full price, a 19,832 drop. The Guardian had 353,464 in overall headline terms, with 330,484 at full price, compared with a 348,878 headline last month and 287,288 at full price; 43,000-plus gone.And the unchanging Telegraph? In headline terms, 934,341 five years ago, with 546,905 at full price: Last month: 851,254 top-line and 379,595 at full price; 167,310 full-price 90ps gone.

Are papers in freefall? (not really) | Media | The Observer

Quote by Ruth Sutherland: We lost sight of the true worth of things. Now let’s get it back | Comment is free | The Observer

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This collapse is likely to be profitable for one fund manager who has for decades made a point of sticking to his own fundamental notions of value: the American billionaire Warren Buffett. His great mentor was Benjamin Graham, an influential American investor whose key insight was that, on the stock market, there is a deceptively simple duality. Graham called this the Class One versus the Class Two truth. A Class One Truth is a sober assessment of a company’s objective worth at a point in time: the figure you get after you add up the value of its property, cash and other assets, then subtract its debts. A Class Two Truth, by contrast, is based on external factors such as emotion, fashion and herd instinct: it is ‘true’ only for as long as we continue to believe in it, just as a designer handbag is only worth £5,000 if people think so. When there is a discrepancy between the two types of truth on the stock markets, there is a chance to make money.

Ruth Sutherland: We lost sight of the true worth of things. Now let’s get it back | Comment is free | The Observer

Day of the dead: horror films are back with a vengeance | Film | The Observer

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Day of the dead: horror films are back with a vengeance | Film | The Observer

Andrew Lahde’s goodbye to the hedge fund industry (the full letter, FT.com).

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Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles.

Andrew Lahde’s goodbye to the hedge fund industry (the full letter, FT.com).

Young Marble Giants play Cardiff in November (OMG! YMG).

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SWN festival 2008 — Young Marble Giants play Cardiff in November

The Flexibility of WordPress - In the Woods

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The Flexibility of WordPress - In the Woods

StarOffice Software - Weblog Publisher extension is now free

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StarOffice Software - Weblog Publisher extension is now free

Quote by Billy Childish and his weird world - Times Online

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People think I’m an amateur. That’s become a derogatory term, like I don’t know what I’m doing. But the amateur is someone who does things out of love.

Billy Childish and his weird world - Times Online

Ammon Shea who read the Oxford dictionary from A to Z - Times Online

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A dictionary has all the qualities of a great book, just not in the same order.

Ammon Shea who read the Oxford dictionary from A to Z

Quote by BBC business editor Robert Peston, ‘face of the credit crunch’ | Media | The Guardian

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A house is somewhere to live in. It’s not a source of wealth.

Interview: BBC business editor Robert Peston, ‘face of the credit crunch’ | Media | The Guardian