Do you remember

Do you remember the Assyrians, and their god, Assur?
Do you remember the Babylonians, and their god, Marduk?
Do you remember the Akkadians, and their god, Ishtar?
Do you remember the Sumerians, and their god, An?
Do you remember the Urim, and their god, Sin?
Do you remember the Elamites, and their goddess, Kiririsha?
Do you remember the Ammonites, and their god, Molech?
Do you remember the Canaanites, and their god, Ba'al?
Do you remember the Moabites, and their god, Chemosh?
Do you remember the Hittites, and their goddess, Asherah?
Do you remember the Jebusites, and their god, Zedek?
Do you remember the Amorites, and their god, Dagon?
Do you remember the Edomites, and their god, Kaus?
Do you remember the Phoenicians, and their god, El?
Do you remember the Nabataeans, and their god, Dushara?
Do you remember the Jews, and their god, Jehovah?

In the UK there are an estimated 300,000 Jews, out of 60,000,000 people.  That's one-half of one percent.  Worldwide Jews make up one-fourth of one percent of the population. They were slaves, nomads, conquered by a dozen empires, and dispersed throughout the world.  By all accounts, they should have been a small footnote in history, forgotten with the rest of the tribes of their time. They were not the first monotheistic religion, but they were the first to establish a personal relationship with God, and instead of being a footnote, they spawned two other religions which today encompass two-thirds of the world.

That is the power of an idea.

Fringe

Jess and I went to a couple of shows this weekend.  Well, ten to be exact: Bruce Bane, So You Think You're Funny, Dylan Thomas, Truman Capote, Soweto Gospel Choir, Soap, Days of Wine and Roses, Harlekin, Delilah Dix, and Gospel at Colonus.

And the sad part is, we were really slacking.  They had programs going until 5am, and starting at 8am.  We wanted to see a half-dozen other shows, but they all overlapped.  But that's part of the magic of the Edinburgh Fringe -- it's crazy, it's chaotic, you never know what to see, and you can never see everything you want to.  I think it's celebrated now for its sheer overwhelmingness (if that's a word) as much as for its art.

Sadly, this was also the year comedy surpassed theatre -- at least in number of performances.  And that's a shame because while I certainly appreciate good stand-up (and we even went to one show), it's just too easy to stick a comedian on a mike and serve drinks.  It doesn't really contribute and, while it definitely has its place, I think it should be a much smaller place.

That aside, it was still a fantastic atmosphere.  While the crowds were often thick to the point of annoying, it was not the drunken debauchery I imagined Scotland could be.  (I googled one of the venues and inadvertently got the EdinburghPubGuide.com, which listed 75 pubs within a half-mile of my destination!)  To be fair, we saw a few legless individuals, but generally it was a very uplifting atmosphere, with people of all ages and backgrounds.  They even had three vegetarian restaurants, although we only had time to sample two.

The venues ranged from little black boxes that couldn't seat more than 50 (and didn't have air conditioning) to the Edinburgh Playhouse, which seats 3000 (and also doesn't have air conditioning).  Most of the shows were great, especially considering most were very low-budget -- in some, the set consisted of a single chair, while others didn't even have that. Of course we had a couple of duds, but with some 80 performances a night going on, that's to be expected.  The worst moment, however, was when I was picked as the 'audience participation' member at Delilah Dix.  I absolutely froze under the spotlights...and Jess has the video to prove it.

We had two moments of serendipity:
- On the plane, we sat next to a woman who was visiting on her own, so we invited her to an evening jazz show.  As it turned out, I had apparently screwed up and purchased three tickets to that show.  (I bought the tickets several weeks ago.)  Regardless, we used the third one, and the woman treated us to tea afterwards.
- One our last evening, at the Edinburgh Playhouse, we were seated well in the back, but at the interval a couple approached us and said they had to leave early, and offered us their tickets -- in the fourth row, dead center.  The first half was pretty good; the second half was spectacular.

Almost all of the programs were under an hour (except the dud, which felt like an eternity) and all cost under £20, including one that was free.  (Jess threw a fiver in the bucket, though.)  The hotel was £50 a night, thanks to a misprint at agoda.com.  (They made me pay for it, though, changing the hotel three times before agreeing to honor the price.)  Jess, of course, got cheap airline tickets, and food is pretty cheap when you're a teetotalling vegetarian.  So all in all, it was a grand weekend for a lot less than a grand

Oh, and a shout out to Asher Grayson, the newest member of Jessica's family. :-)



The Pleasance Courtyard had about 30 venutes, including "One," "Two," "Above," "Below,""Grand," "Hut," "Upstairs," and "Beyond."

Quality of life

Don't get me wrong, I love London, but I don't necessarily recommend it because of the quality of life. 

Although hard to define, you can measure relative quality of life along both subjective and objective axes.  The 'human development index' (which classifies countries as developed, developing, or underdeveloped) measures life expectancy, literacy, and gross domestic product per capita.  International Living magazine ranks 194 countries factors by cost of living, culture and leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety and risk, and climate.  Mercer ranks 221 cities by housing, health services, air pollution, education, climate, natural disasters, utilities, public transport, traffic congestion, airport access, culture, sports, consumer goods, crime, censorship, and political stability.  The EU simply asks people if they are happy.

But no matter how you measure it, while London is certainly a world-class city, it falls flat in terms of quality of life.  In this year's Mercer report, London is 39, well below most European cties, and just above New York (#49) and Los Angeles (#55).  (Honolulu and San Francisco take top honors in the US, at #31 and #32, respectively.)

International Living ranked Britain #25, behind the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Uruguay, due to its climate, crime rate, cost of living, congested roads and overcrowded cities.  (US was #7.)

The EU doesn't summarize its findings, but a quick glance at its results shows London is not in the top 10 for any satisfaction ratings.  (London is #2 for public transportation use...and dead last for commute time.)

While I've long derided US cities for sprawl -- promoted by the automobile, cheap land, government-subsidized roads, and lack of public transport -- I didn't appreciate the alternative until I came to London -- tiny, crowded tenements with no land, no view, and no space and a huge price tag.  And while London's public transportation is extensive, it is also very expensive, with an average commute costing US $10 per day.  (And yes, that's discounted.)  We have national health care but the quality is low, with many people opting for private health care. The standard of living is also quite low -- salaries are lower, taxes are higher, and it doesn't go nearly as far as in the US.

So again, compared to Baghdad -- ranked last for quality of life since the US-led invasion -- London is an incredible city, but it's definitely not all it could be.

Bristol

There are few things that excite me as much as hot air balloons.  I don't know if it is their size, simplicity, freedom, or lack of control, but they make me feel like a kid again, and only my fear of heights keeps me from clambering aboard every time I see one.

So when I heard about the Bristol balloon fiesta -- the largest in the UK -- I immediately booked a B&B.  Unfortunately, I heard about it on the last day of the event, which meant I had to wait an entire year for the next one!  And when we finally arrived, the weather turned bad and Jess and I spent two days in the wet and wind watching a whole lot of nothing.  We saw the balloon glow on Saturday night, which was lovely, but four of the five mass ascentions were cancelled.

The fifth was on Sunday evening, and Jess and I hadn't planned to stay -- London was a 3 hour drive, and we wanted to avoid Sunday night traffic -- but that afternoon we found ourselves on a hill overlooking the entire Bristol valley, watching the Red Arrows (the UK equivalent of the Blue Angels) putting on a spectacular display.  A herd of cows were grazing nearby, the sun had come out, and we decided to wait for the balloon launch at 6pm.

At 6:30pm, gray clouds had moved in again, it had gotten cold, and we had packed up and were headed for the car when a single balloon appeared in the sky.  We looked back and could see, four miles away, many balloons inflated and ready to go.  For the next hour, we watched them lift off, some coming over us, most staying low and drifting along the horizon.  When we got in our car and headed back to the motorway, we saw several coming down.

The final count was 31 balloons, a far cry from the 500 or so that typically go up in Albuquerque.  (By the same token, only 60,000 people attended Bristol, compared to 750,000 in Albuquerque.)  Unfortunately, Bristol had also chosen to turn the balloon show into a huge 'fun fair' (carnival), creating a lot of unnecessary traffic and noise -- and the reason Jess and I went up into the hills rather than the balloon field.

Still, we had a fantastic weekend, which included viewing the SS Great Britain, the first iron steamship.  When launched in 1843, it was the largest vessel afloat, but the company soon ran into financial difficulties and it was sold off and used for transporting immigrants to Australia, then as a warehouse in the Falklands.  In 1937, it was scuttled and lay half-submerged until 1970, when it was towed back to Bristol and put in a dry dock.  They restored the interior but all they could do to the hull was to stop the rust, and they did this in a very innovative way: They created a glass "sea" at the water line, which is air tight, and dehumidifiers keep the air below at 20% humidity.  Water actually flows over the top of the glass and you can walk around underneath, which is quite surreal.

Sunday was perfect--waking before dawn, walking to the balloon field in the dark, lying in the grass sipping tea while the sun rose and a few hopeful balloons inflated and then deflated and were packed away again, walking back to the B&B for a full breakfast, taking a short nap, then driving through the city, across a beautiful suspension bridge, then out into the countryside and hills, and lying in the sun for a couple of hours while jet fighters and hot air balloons entertained us.  How much better does it get?

You can see photos here, and here's a short video of the balloon glow:

Winter of discontent

The words are a play on the first line of Shakespeare's Richard the Third, and referred to the winter of 78-79 when the UK government (the labour government, no less) attempted to limit pay rises to 5%.  While that might sound quite generous today, in 1975 inflation in the UK was over 27%, and workers had already gone through two years of 5% pay rises, meaning everyone had taken an effective pay cut.

Surprisingly, it was workers at Ford Motors that started it, with an unofficial strike in September that left 23 factories empty.  The union, who was in the pocket of the politicians, initially didn't even support the strike, but by October they could not ignore it any longer, and demanded a 25% pay rise.  In November, they agreed to a 17% pay rise and the Ford strike was over, but it showed the government could not enforce the 5% pay cap, and everything erupted.

The lorry (truck) drivers went first, followed shortly by the railwaymen, bring supplies to a virtual standstill.  On January 22, 1979, 1.5 million public sector workers went on strike, including nurses and ambulance drivers.  However, the two most prominent strikers were by waste collection and grave diggers.  Councils quickly ran out of space to store rubbish, and Westminster famously allowed rubbish to be piled high in London's Leicester Square, attracting rats. Fortunately, the grave diggers strike only lasted two weeks.

On February 14, the government struck deals with most unions, and by the end of February the strikers were over, with an estimated 30 million work-days lost to strike action.  At the next general election, the Conservatives were able to use this and Margaret Thatcher came to power largely on a platform to control the unions.

These are all very relevant to today as the new government tries to control the deficit, rather than inflation.  Unions, concerned by job cuts and pay freezes, have discussed strike action involving health workers, teachers, postmen, transport unions, and local government staff, with up to four million workers taking a one-day strike on October 20, followed by rolling strikes.  The government has responded with threats to "ban strike action of those involved in the delivery of essential services."

It is an interesting time in Britain, and promises to get even more interesting, because although the Conservatives hold office, they do so only with the consent of the Liberal Democrats, who largely support the unions.  If the coalition were to break down, a new general election would have to be held.  And if that happens, the only certainty is that the pound will fall further, meaning everyone will take an effective pay cut.

Edinburgh Fringe

Jess and I already have tickets to 7 events, we plan to see at least 4 more...and we're only going for the weekend! It is purported to be the largest arts festival in the world, and looking at the program (which looks more like a telephone directory) I believe them. So here are some official numbers:

• The Edinburgh Festival takes place for 4 weeks starting early August. 2010 will be its 64th year.
• In 1947, Edinburgh invited performers from around the world to participate in its International Festival. However, eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to take advantage of the visitors. This would later become known as the 'fringe.'
• For obvious reasons, there was great animosity between the International Festival and the fringe until the 1970's. There was also no organisation within the fringe until the late 50's, when volunteers began creating programs and providing a central booking service for the 19 companies performing. That became a professional society in 1970, when 182 companies performed.
• Today, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe features 40,254 performances of over 2,400 shows in 259 different venues, all during the month of August.
• The fringe is an unjuried festival.  That is, anyone can perform; the society does not vet any performance.  However, companies are required to register and pay a fee, around £300, to be part of the official program.  Thus, there is now a fringe of the fringe.
• Theatre was the largest genre until 2008, when it was overtaken by comedy. There are also performances in music, dance, physical theatre, opera, and children's shows. In 2009, 37% of shows were world premieres.
• In addition to the International Festival and Fringe Festival, other festivals which go on in August are the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival.
• The combined festivals sell more than 2.5 million tickets. At its peak, there are around 1,000 performances a day.
• Edinburgh's population doubles from 500,000 to more than a million people during August.
• There are five vegetarian restaurants in Edinburgh. (No, that has nothing to do with the festival, I just thought it was interesting for a city so small.)

Take a look at the programme (pdf) -- it's mind-blowing.  (It's also 78MB so it will take a while to load.)

Human Rights

As you know, England doesn't have a written constitution, but it does have a Bill of Rights.  Unfortunately, it was from 1689, and is a bit dated:

• Freedom from royal interference with the law.
• Freedom from taxation by Royal Prerogative.
• Freedom to petition the monarch.
• Freedom from the standing army during a time of peace. (In other words, when not at war the monarch needs the agreement of parliament before the army could be moved against the populace.)
• Freedom for Protestants to have arms for their own defence, as suitable to their class.
• Freedom to elect members of parliament without interference from the sovereign.
• Freedom of speech and debates. (Actually, this really just applied to members of Parliament.)

Fortunately, in 1953 the Council of Europe drafted a treaty on the European Convention on Human Rights, which was ratified by Britain.  This prohibits torture, slavery, unlawful detention, and discrimination, and guarantees the right to privacy, a fair and speedy trial, and freedom of thought, expression, association, conscience and religion.  It was later amended to prohibit the death penalty.

 

Unfortunately, the Court has refused to apply the right of marriage to same-sex couples. (In the UK, same-sex couples can enter civil partnerships, and the Liberal Democrats have promised civil marriages within the next five years.)

Royal Mail

In 1516, Henry VII established the "Master of the Posts," and Charles I made the 'royal mail' available to the public in 1635. Mail was paid for by the receiver based on distance travelled and, until the 19th century it was considered expensive, exclusive, and corrupt.

 

The 'modern' post office was created in 1840 by Sir Rowland Hill, who advocated for cheap and uniform costs that were prepaid by the sender using adhesive stamps.  The 'Penny Black' became the world's first postage stamp, which was less than 25% of the going rate, and featured the monarch's profile on a black background.  To this day, all British stamps bear a the silhouette of the monarch rather than the country of origin.  The Penny Black was only used for a year because it was found the red cancellation stamp was easy to remove from the black ink, and the colors were reversed: 'Penny Red' was introduced, and the cancellation stamp was changed to black.  However, over 68 million Penny Blacks had been produced and a substantial number have survived because, at the time, envelopes were not generally used; letters were folded and sealed, and the stamp and address were placed on the back. By the mid-1850s, stamp collecting (philately) had already become an international hobby. Today, a used Penny Black can cost as little as £10-110 ($15-165), and an unused one about £1,600 ($2,400).

By contrast, the US did not introduce stamps until 1847, and these were still based on distance (although, to be fair, the US is a wee bit bigger than the UK).  In 1852, the UK introduced collection ('pillar') boxes; the US followed in 1858. In 1870, the UK prohibited 'obscene' materials in the mail; the US followed in 1873.  In 1881, the UK introduced postal (money) orders; the US in 1883.  The UK started delivering parcels in 1883; the US in 1913. In 1969, Royal Mail was changed from a government department to an independent agency; the US did the same in 1971.

 

However, there were a few areas where the US led: ZIP codes were introduced in 1963, 11 years before the UK. Residential deliveries were reduced to once per day in 1950; the UK still provided mutliple deliveries until 2004. The US introduced post cards in 1873, while the UK waited until 1895.  Today, the US has a reduced rate for post cards, but all letters are sent first class.  In the UK, post cards are sent at the same rate as a letter, but letters can be sent first or second-class.  (In researching this, I found no one really knows the difference between first and second class, other than the cost, as letters seem to arrive on the same day!)

 

Today, Royal Mail consists of three separate divisions: Mail delivery, parcel delivery, and 'post office' retail branches. The latter two have long had retail competition, but in 2006, the government ended the 350-year-old monopoly on mail delivery. Today, the government is considering selling ('privatising') a portion of Royal Mail.  However, a major stumbling block will be its huge pension deficit, which is around £10 billion (US $15 billion).

 

And finally, some random trivia:

- Buckingham Palace has its own post office, which is not open to the public.

- In 1840, a special 'Penny Black' was designed for royal use only, and contained the monarch's insignia (VR), but was never really used.

- The Royal Mail owns the trademark on its particular shade of red.

- Pillar boxes in Scotland do not carry the queen's cypher, because Queen Elizabeth I was only queen of England, and therefore Queen Elizabeth II is not the second queen of Scotland.  (If this makes any sense to anyone, please enlighten me.)

Virgin

I'm sure you already know who Sir Richard Branson is, but I think it is an interesting tale to tell, not because of his success in so many areas, but because it is a damning indication of the state of competition in Britain, which is still relevant today.

In 1971, 'Virgin Records' opens on Oxford Street, the leading retail area in London, and was known for bean bags and free vegetarian food. A year later, Branson began his own recording label, which became quite famous in 1977 for signing the Sex Pistols.

At a party in 1984, Branson met Rudolph Fields, who was trying to launch a new transatlantic airline in competition with then-nationalized British Airways. Together, they launched 'Virgin Atlantic' with a single aircraft, flying from Gatwick to Newark, New Jersey. Known primarily for their sexy stewardesses and the Richard Branson's audacity, and supported by income from Virgin Records, they managed to attract passengers from the staid British Airways, and grew the business to become the UK's second largest airline. They also established Virgin Holidays with the slogan 'This is Virgin Territory.'

In 1988, the small 'Virgin Records' stores became 'Virgin Megastores,' and launched across the globe. However, the recession in the early 90s hit the airline business hard, and Branson was forced to sell the music in order to continue the airline. However, at that point he turned his business into a holdings company and things got interesting:
- 1993, Virgin Radio
- 1994, Virgin Vodka and Virgin Cola
- 1995, Virgin Cinemas and Virgin Direct (banking)
- 1996, Virgin Net (Internet), Virgin Brides, Virgin Express (short-haul flights to Europe), and V2 Records
- 1997, Virgin Trains and Virgin Cosmetics
- 1999, Virgin Mobile (cell phones) and Virgin Active (gyms)
- 2000, Virgin Money (credit cards), Virgin Travelstore (travel agency), Virgin Energy (gas and electric), Virgin Cars, Virgin Wines, and Virgin Blue (a low cost airline in Australia).

Since then, he has added Virgin Media (a cable company), Virgin Balloon Flights, Virgin Spas, Virgin America (short-haul flights in the US), Virgin Books, Virgin Music Festivals, Virgin Comics, Virgin Animation, Virgin Health Bank (storing baby's umbilical cord blood stem cells), and Virgin Health Care, and has pushed out many of his brands internationally.

His latest venture is Virgin Galactic, offering sub-orbital spaceflights to the public. Burt Rutan, who won the Ansari 'X-prize' in 2004 for building the first private plane to fly above 70,000 feet, is designing the new ships, and although no confirmed date has been given when the ships will fly, Virgin Galactic is already taking bookings. (The flights cost $200,000, with a $20,000 deposit.) The slogan is, "Space is Virgin Territory."

So as I said, an amazing success story, and I don't want to take anything away from Mr Branson's accomplishments. However, I think the fact that one person can launch into so many areas, and be reasonably successful in all of them, reflects how appalling the marketplace is in the UK. I've been trying to figure out for two years why London is so expensive, and I think the combination of being an island and being a separate country (with its own currency) has just made it very unattractive to would-be investors, leaving the incumbents to sit on their laurels. When someone comes along and shakes things up, the old inefficiencies become very obvious.

Richard Branson, meanwhile, is planning on kite-surfing across the English Channel on his 60th birthday.

Flags of our fathers

Flags have been around for 4,000 years, but were primarily used as a personal banner. National flags only became important in the 17th century to identify merchant ships; in the 18th century, these were adopted as national symbols. In fact, the United States has the third-oldest national flag, following Denmark (1625) and Russia (adopted 1705 and restored after the fall of the Soviet union).

The Union Flag (or "British Jack") was designed in 1801 from England's St George's cross, Scotland's St Andrew's cross, and Ireland's St Patrick's cross. (The Welsh flag was not incorporated, and is still a matter of some debate.) However, it was never adopted as a national flag, and today it still technically a banner of the monarchy, not the country.

More interesting, however, is how national flags are interpreted. In most countries, they are symbols, used as either a sign of respect, dissention, or celebration. In many countries, loyalty oaths are often required to the country or the monarch, but I don't know of any country besides America that pledges allegiance to the flag.

In 1892, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus Day, The Youth's Companion magazine published the Pledge of Allegiance, accompanied by a "salute" that was later removed due to its similarity with the Nazi salute. It was quickly adopted by public schools, and has been the subject of several lawsuits, most famously by Jehovah's Witnesses, who considered it idolatry. Ironically, it was President Eisenhower--who was raised a Jehovah's Witness--who added the words "under God" in 1954. Today it is not considered compulsory, but is nevertheless expected of most schoolchildren to pledge allegiance every day.

The US is also one of the few countries that has a "flag code" indicating how the flag should be displayed, cared for, and disposed of. The Supreme Court has routinely overruled this as a prohibition on free speech; however, many Americans believe the flag code should be a constitutional amendment, enshrined in law.

By contrast, most countries do not take their flag so seriously. They incorporate it into clothing, advertisements, and logos. They wrap it around themselves to celebrate a national achievement, and more importantly, they burn it to display national outrage. It is an important--and I would argue healthy--way to express anger and frustration. The flag is simply a symbol, not something to be worshipped in its own right. Of course, it took me moving to another country to even question something that has been drilled into me from an early age.

P.S. in Denmark you can burn the national flag, but not the flag of any other country, as that is considered a matter of foreign policy.

+ + =

Honey mangoes

There are literally hundreds of different types of mangoes but -- like so many things these days -- the ones that are commercially available are selected by productivity and shelf life, not by taste.  That is why one type dominates 80% of the market.  Which is unfortunate, because it doesn't taste very good.

The honey (or Pakistani) mango, by contrast, has an amazing taste, but is not very productive (it only fruits in May and June) and has a terrible shelf life -- at its peak it is soft and juicy, but after a few days it gets wrinkley and the fruit starts fermenting in its skin.  I presume that is why, although it is shipped everywhere in Europe, I've never seen it in the States.

So add 'honey mangoes' to your bucket list, and while I'm not saying you should make a trip abroad just to try one, keep it in mind.  In the meantime, the best way to serve ordinary mangoes is to barbecue them, flesh side down, until black and crispy, then slice and sprinkle with lime juice.