Category: MyTake
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Deadly COVID19
Over a week ago, a mainstream media news outlet published an article (behind a paywall) suggesting that the disease caused by the SARS–CoV-2 virus, COVID19, was not as deadly as initially thought. The article cited the results of a non-peer review study completed by a Stanford-led team seemingly showing that the number of people infected…
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Barefoot, like Abebe Bikila
The age of reason. No, not the Enlightenment but rather the age when children supposedly start thinking “rationally.” For some irrational reason, I remember my parents and their adult friends having conversations on the topic in front of us, children, my siblings and I. After all, they believed most of us were still in the…
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Best Films – 2010
This year I saw just over 125 films. Below is the list of the films I liked the most, presented in chronological order, according to the date I saw them. Unlike other similar lists, no ranking is intended. I did not see many of the blockbuster films that most people see. So do not expect…
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Failing Markets and Economic Theory
“How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by John Cassidy is an excellent book that tackles the origins, impact and consequences of the recent economic crisis. It also provides a “What is to be done” (a la Lenin) in policy to avoid a repeat of the last crisis. The book is written in a…
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Heading to Baghdad III: A time-space warp
No one on the team traveling to Iraq was very excited about missing the helicopter. Most of them had slept close to nothing in the last 24 hours and were really yearning for a comfortable place to rest. I was a bit ahead of all of them -actually, 8 hours ahead, thanks to my own…
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Heading to Baghdad II: So close but yet so far
It still seemed like the middle of the night when we exited the plane and started walking on the tarmac. A UN security guide was leading us into the US Army base located at the airport. The base is called Camp Sather (see here for more details) and has been in place since the invasion…
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Heading to Baghdad I: A step at a time
This is the third time in the last 4 months that I have done the NY-Amman leg. I have been to Jordan several times since 2003. But this was the first time I was coming to Jordan to take off the following day to another country. The original plan, designed many weeks ago, was to…
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Best Films – 2009
I saw over 130 films this year. Below are the ones I liked the most. They are listed in chronological order, according to the dates in which I saw them. Silent Light/Stellet licht – Carlos Reygadas The Beaches of Agnes/Les plages d’Agnès – Agnes Varda Hunger – Steve McQueen Revanche – Gotz Spielmann Julia –…
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Antalya: Going to the Airport
The eGovShare 2009 meeting (http://edem.egovshare2009.org/ organized by the Government of Turkey and UNDP (among others) was held in the Kervansaray Hotel which is located in Lara, to the east of Antalya. The hotel has a U-shape. There is a 300 meter long hall in the middle of the U. All rooms face outwards and the…
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Economic Crisis Book
I just finished reading “The Origin of the Financial Crises” by George Cooper which was published last year. The book is subtitled Central Banks, Credit bubbles and the Efficient Market Fallacy which reveals right away the approach the author is will be taking. This is an excellent book and a must read for anyone to…
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Comments on the Economic Crisis
Although the root causes of the current financial and economic crisis are still being debated (and will continue until the next large crisis hits), one issue that stems out of of the current discussions is the softening in the last 20 or so years of government regulations in the financial markets. Starting with the Reagan…
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No Way Back for My Bad Back
Although I am feeling better – my left leg pain is now minimal but I still cannot sit for more than 5-10 minutes in a row, it seems that one of my trilogy of hernias in my back has decided to go astray and attack, without any scruples, one of my root nerves in my…
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Bad Back Back Again
Soon after my return from London early this month, I started to feel a sharp pain in my left leg, from the hip to the big toe. Fascinating stuff, needless to say. I initially thought it was just a temporary thing. But as the days went by, the pain started to get worse to become…
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Back to the Office
So i finally decided to go back to the office today. The plan is to take it easy and reintegrate to work on a paced basis. So I am going to start with 3 days a week and two days at home, telecommuting. It has been almost a month since my back decided to quit…
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Knife in the Water, for now
I saw the back surgeon my doctor recommended last Friday at the NYU Spine Center, located very close to Union Square in Manhattan. The good news is that I do not need surgery. He actually told me that my MRI looked pretty good to him and that anyone suggesting I should have surgery was just…