Nations

What Nation Do You Belong To?*

— A Saturday Ramble by Fogy

I belong to the nation of Procrasti.

A proud land of profound thinkers, of boundless creativity, of dazzling futures.

And yes—that’s all it is.

The Procrasti Nation is always about tomorrow. And for some reason, tomorrow never comes.

It’s comforting, isn’t it? To imagine that, later—maybe next week, maybe next month—you’ll have exactly the energy, clarity, and motivation needed to turn dreams into reality.

People from my nation—Procrastinators, as we're called—are gifted at believing that anything important can be done swiftly… just not right now.

Now, my own approach is slightly more refined.

I pretend I’m simply ruminating—turning an idea over and over, weighing infinite possibilities, analyzing from every angle, until the idea quietly fades, leaving me gently asleep and utterly unproductive.

My nation is full of these sleep-time philosophers. Grandmasters of imaginary worlds. Fattening themselves on forgotten dreams and a lack of achievement.

So… how do we ever get anything done?

Occasionally—rarely—we experience a moment of madness. We actually do something. And when it happens, we marvel. We sit back amazed that this idea, this task, once lodged in tomorrow, has finally been completed.

That satisfaction is fleeting, of course. Because even as we celebrate, countless new ideas begin swirling, cluttering the path forward, fogging the future once more.

And so, we return to our humble national pastime: filing good intentions into the folder marked "Tomorrow."

But I must say, there are better nations to live in.

The nation of Doers. Of Makers. Of those who act now—before the moment slips by.

Let me offer a small example.

Fogy remembers his days giving classes on the street. When faced with the choice: eat now or catch the bus first—he always chose the bus. Because if you miss the bus, you miss the class. But if you catch the bus, you can always eat afterward. It's a simple logic of cause and consequence… and a quiet rebellion against delay.

So, dear citizens of Procrasti—consider emigrating.

There’s a whole other land out there: a land where things get done. A place where ideas become action, and dreams are met with deeds.

And believe me—the benefits are unbelievably positive.

👁️ Views (0)

Quinn te Samil Friday May 30th

Quinn te Samil – Friday Noir.*

May 30, 2025

I. The Lawless State
This week, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that former President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, were illegal. The court found that Trump exceeded his authority, as the Act permits emergency powers only in response to an "unusual and extraordinary threat." However, a federal appeals court has issued a temporary stay, allowing the tariffs to remain in effect while the legal appeal proceeds. This development injects uncertainty into ongoing international trade negotiations and could reshape the use of executive power in economic regulation.

II. Liverpool: Celebration Turned Tragedy
On May 26, a celebratory parade for Liverpool FC's 20th league title turned tragic when a car drove into a dense crowd of fans on Water Street, injuring 79 people, including four children. Emergency services transported 27 people to the hospital, while another 20 received treatment at the scene. Merseyside Police arrested a 53-year-old man, Paul Doyle, in connection with the incident. Authorities believe he bypassed roadblocks by following an ambulance. The incident, not treated as terrorism, has prompted national mourning and calls for improved public safety measures during large events.

III. Tehran's Calculus
Amid escalating conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, Iran's regional posture has intensified. On May 26, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for greater unity among Muslim nations and encouraged Pakistan to collaborate with Iran in addressing the situation in Gaza. Khamenei referred to Israel as the "Zionist regime" and condemned its actions in Gaza as crimes. His remarks underscored the need for collective action among Muslim countries to counter Israeli military operations and support Palestinians.

Simultaneously, Iran and the United States have resumed nuclear talks in Rome amid heightened tensions and the looming threat of Israeli airstrikes. Despite earlier progress since the talks began in March, recent public threats and a loss of confidence expressed by Iran’s Supreme Leader have cast doubt on their success. An American intelligence report states that while Iran is not currently constructing nuclear weapons, it could generate weapons-grade uranium within a week. Israel, fearing Iran's advancing nuclear capabilities, is reportedly preparing for military action if negotiations collapse, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu awaiting a possible green light from President Trump. Iran has warned that it will hold the U.S. responsible for any Israeli aggression and anticipates retaliation. The core issue remains the U.S. demand for Iran to cease all uranium enrichment, which Iran maintains as a sovereign right.

👁️ Views (0)

What it is to be a Chef

An Early Life.*

There may never be anything as fraught with uncertainty as being asked to decide your future career at just 14 years old.

Yet that was exactly what we had to do as we neared the end of compulsory education. We knew so little of the world, and nothing we’d learned in school seemed particularly useful for trying to make a buck.

As a poor student, Fogy found his options limited. His marks weren’t high enough to unlock the more prestigious paths laid out before him, so the obvious choice—if not the inspired one—was to become a Chef.

Back then, few truly understood what being a Chef meant. The title carried an illusion of good pay, but reality was far less glamorous.

Fogy had very little experience in the kitchen—just enough, perhaps, to convince a respected restaurant owner to take a chance on him as a trainee.

“You must be prepared to work when all your friends are out playing. Late nights, weekends, Christmas and New Year’s… these things don’t exist when you’re a Chef.”

That was my official warning.

From that moment on, everything became about understanding the profession.

Fogy was lucky to be part of the first Chef’s training program offered in his small city.

It was there he learned what being a Chef really meant.

Sometimes I joke that training to be a Chef is like doing an MBA in business management.

Think about it—planning, production, marketing, innovation, people management, procurement, client service, political maneuvering. Everything a good C-suite executive must know, condensed into a smaller, more frenetic package.

And profitability? Absolutely essential. Perishable goods are unforgiving. Shelf life is short, seasons shift, and a single miscalculation can turn a full fridge into a financial loss.

Fogy worked in hotels—some small, some grand, like The Royal Scot in Edinburgh. In restaurants, many now forgotten. In clubs. In private catering.

On Norfolk Island, he was invited to help cater one of the island’s most important weddings.

In Scotland, he spent ten months at a castle near Edinburgh, preparing banquets for American tourists who wanted the full Scottish experience—Robbie Burns, haggis, and all.

Cooking is science too. Training was where we first understood thermal dynamics, ingredient reactions, and the elegant balance of food and wine.

To be a production chef, you had to be nimble—mentally and physically. True multitasking was non-negotiable. You needed a sharp sense of time and smell, and above all, an artistic eye. A meal could make or break your reputation. It had to look the part, taste the part, be the part.

Over time, I’ve prepared and tasted countless dishes—many of which would sound unfamiliar to most. After a while, the novelty fades, and fewer things stand out.

Do I still cook?. Not much, mostly for very special occasions. So much has changed and my life is so different today, but the memories linger and many of the other skills have not been lost.

When asked what my favourite food is, I pause, reflect, and reply:
“Cheese bacon salada.”

It’s a local favourite—a burger with bacon and cheese on a bun, with salad. Humble, but somehow always satisfying.

It keeps my life simple.
And perhaps, that’s the quiet secret to growing old.

Cheers.

👁️ Views (0)

Role Reversal

Looking the part.*

What do you think when you see a man embroidering or knitting?

You may find yourself in a waiting room, usually a doctor's office. There are people around you, and many of the women are doing exactly this. Then that oddball male presence doing the same thing suddenly stands out, and the reaction is one of many — he's obviously a mummy's boy, or he has to be gay.

And when you go into a diner and see a row of construction workers all dressed the same — utility belts, heavy woollen shirts, dirty jeans, and steel-capped boots — seated at the counter eating their meals, and one turns around, you can tell immediately that no man has breasts like that. She must be a dyke. She must have been brought up in a family of ONLY men.

So where do we go from here?

Are men really the best chefs? Do they make the best hairdressers? Are they better stylists?

And women? Do they make the better chiefs? Are they really that much better at business planning, at budgeting?

And our perceptions are stretched into believing all of these facts can only be true.

When Fogy was young, he and his sister were both taught how to sew, knit, do the washing and cleaning, and eventually how to cook, to a lesser degree. His mother was an excellent cook, and even some years later, when Fogy was a professional chef, he never quite mastered the art to the same degree as his mother.

If truth be told, most would admit that their excellence has come about, to a certain extent, because of the need to compete in such alien environments — not to be good enough, but to be the best, just to be accepted.

Many of us have talents that fall outside the stereotypical norms society forces on us. The world today is slowly accepting the fact that no task has to be gender-specific, and that a nurse, commonly thought to be a woman, could also be a man.

We tend to forget that gendered roles haven’t always been this rigid. In ancient Egypt, women served as physicians. In medieval Europe, brewing beer was considered women’s work. Nursing began as a male profession in war-torn hospitals. Somewhere along the way, practicality gave way to prejudice.

A male priest was thought to symbolise the strength and surety of a man's world and sufficed perfectly for the male brethren. But what of the feminine touch — that sense of how to deal with emotional challenges? And what happens when that man is actually a woman?

Gendered roles had their place for so many years, and most felt more comfortable relating to these.

The picture, however, is changing—if unevenly. More women now lead Fortune 500 companies than ever before. More men stay home to raise children. In classrooms, hospitals, boardrooms, and building sites, the old uniforms don’t fit quite as snugly anymore.

In this new world, it is time to understand that both men and women can be fitted into all walks of life. It is those around them who need to change — to adapt and value the expertise brought by each, rather than the gender each represents.

👁️ Views (0)

New Zealand - A Very Brief history

The Myth and the Reality

Like so much about New Zealand, little is understood.

It is hard to convince people that the Kiwi bird, the national symbol of New Zealand, gave its name to the Chinese gooseberry commonly sold as kiwifruit throughout the world and not the other way round.

As an English colony, why was the country given such a strange, non-English name?

And what is a haka, the so-called dance that predominates mentions of New Zealand?

A newly recognized eighth continent named Zealandia, stretching across a large part of the South East Pacific almost to Australia, but is only physically visible through the twin islands that make up modern-day New Zealand.

Traditionally believed to have been Discovered in the late 13th century by Kupe, a great Polynesian navigator who sailed from Hawaiki (the mythical ancestral homeland), he viewed this land mass under a long white cloud and named the land Aotearoa – Land of the Long White Cloud.

Māori myth has it that Māui, a legendary demigod, is said to have fished up the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui, “The Fish of Māui”) with his magical hook, and that his brothers chopped it up, forming the mountains and valleys.

Aotearoa became the land of many of Kupe's descendants, who formed tribes and tribal territories around the regions of these islands. Some traditionally cannibalistic, others more sociable, these tribes occupied the land in harmony with the native creatures already living there.

As is the case with so many lands, Aotearoa was first sighted by Europeans in 1642, in this case a Dutchman by the name of Abel Tasman. Finding the land to be inhospitable after disputes with local Māori, he nevertheless chose to claim the territory for his patron, Anthony van Diemen.

Tasman originally named the land Staten Landt, believing it might be part of South America. The land mass was soon renamed by Dutch cartographers at the Dutch East India Company as Nova Zeelandia (Latin), which became Nieuw Zeeland in Dutch, after a region in the Netherlands—Zeeland ("Sea Land").

It was the Englishman Captain James Cook who later anglicized the name to New Zealand more than a hundred years later, during his 1769 voyage.

What followed was trade, trouble, and the gradual loss of Māori land and mana.

Eventually in 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi—one version in English, another in Māori—was signed, but with little consensus among the Māori tribes. Promises were made, land was lost, and the British Crown made itself at home.

As the 19th century rolled on, there was little peace between settlers, sheep, and the Māori. By 1907, New Zealand was calling itself a Dominion, politely edging away from Mother Britain—though still turning up at her wars like an obedient son.

The World Wars stitched together a new kind of identity—gritty, brave, and oddly fond of Anzac biscuits. Māori soldiers fought too, reminding the nation that partnership was more than just a word in a dusty treaty.

Then came welfare, cities, and something called Rogernomics in the 1980s—where state-owned became sellable, and everyone got a taste of the free market, whether they liked it or not.

But through it all, the land endured. Māori voices rose stronger, the language returned to classrooms, and the country said a loud “No thanks” to nukes. That last bit didn’t thrill Uncle Sam, but it did win points with the planet.

Today? New Zealand's still navigating. Climate worries, housing crunches, and the long shadow of colonial promises. But there's also pride—of the haka and the hills, of Jacinda and justice, of trying, failing, and trying again.

For many, New Zealand is recognised as the home of radical sports.

And for those in the know, here are just a few Kiwis who’ve made waves worldwide:

• Sir Edmund Hillary – The first to conquer Mount Everest.
• Bruce McLaren – Founder of today’s McLaren F1 team.
• Dame Kiri Te Kanawa – Internationally acclaimed opera soprano.
• Burt Munro – The man who still holds the world speed record on his Indian Scout motorcycle.
• Ernest Rutherford – Father of nuclear physics, first to split the atom.
• Kate Sheppard – Suffragette who led the movement for NZ to become the first country to give women the vote (1893).
• Split Enz / Crowded House – Iconic Kiwi bands with international acclaim.
• Witi Ihimaera – Author of The Whale Rider; first published Māori novelist.
• Taika Waititi – Oscar-winning filmmaker (Jojo Rabbit, Boy, Thor: Ragnarok), writer, actor, and wit.

Among so many others who have dominated sports, science, filmmaking (at both ends of the camera), and public roles.

So what is a haka?

A haka is a traditional Māori posture dance—an expression of identity, unity, and emotion. It combines chanting, foot-stamping, body slapping, and fierce facial expressions, and it can carry different meanings depending on the context.

What a haka is:

• A ceremonial performance, not just a war dance.
• A form of oral history and storytelling, passed down generations.
• A way to challenge, honor, grieve, welcome, or celebrate.

Types of haka:

• Haka peruperu – Traditional war haka performed before battle to invoke strength and intimidate opponents.
• Haka pōwhiri – Performed to welcome guests onto a marae (sacred meeting place).
• Haka taparahi – Ceremonial haka with no weapons, used in formal events and political protests.
• Ka Mate – The most globally recognized haka, famously performed by the All Blacks rugby team, composed by Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha in the early 1800s.

Features:

• Powerful chanting (not singing).
• Synchronised body movements and rhythm.
• Pūkana (wide eyes), whētero (tongue protrusion), stomping, and chest beating to express passion and resolve.

A haka is not a dance for the timid.
It’s not a performance for tourists.
It’s a roar of identity, passed from ancestors to children, chanted in stadiums and on sacred ground.
A reminder: we are still here.

👁️ Views (0)

The K1W1 — So Easily Underestimated

Popular joke:

Why can't a Kiwi fly?

Because it is too full of shit to get off the ground.

The New Zealand Kiwi

The Kiwi Bird – Nature’s Oddball National Treasure

A popular way of referring to a New Zealander: K1W1 (K one W one)

The kiwi is a small, flightless, nocturnal bird found only in New Zealand—and despite its celebrity status, it looks like something evolution cooked up after a few too many drinks.

About the size of a domestic chicken, the kiwi has a round, shaggy body, no visible wings, and nostrils at the tip of its unusually long beak—the only bird in the world with that distinction. Its feathers feel more like coarse hair than plumage, giving it the scruffy dignity of a creature that's been through some things.

Kiwis are remarkably shy, foragers of the night, using their powerful sense of smell to sniff out worms, insects, and berries in the forest floor. Their eyesight is poor, but their hearing and olfactory senses are first-rate—nature swapped out flight for finely tuned ground-level survival.

They lay huge eggs—up to 20% of the female’s body weight. That’s like a human giving birth to a 6-year-old. A feat of reproductive absurdity that somehow works.

Despite its awkward looks and reclusive habits, the kiwi is deeply woven into New Zealand’s identity. New Zealanders call themselves “Kiwis” with pride. And while the bird can’t fly, can barely see, and mostly keeps to itself, it survives quietly, persistently, and entirely on its own terms.

Rather like the country itself.

The American Dream

When awakening from a dream state, what do you have?*

Hollywood, Bollywood, and Nollywood are all places where dreams are dressed up to look real—where the down-trodden rise, and the common man believes in the impossible.

And dreams are exactly this. They may help stimulate a population, steer it toward a national goal, even serve as fuel for collective ambition. But they are still dreams, nonetheless.

We all love the cinema. We love stories, books, and theatre. That’s entertainment—the kind that adds colour to our days and lets us escape the dull.

But the American Dream was more than entertainment. It was a wholesale hypnotic marketing exercise designed to perpetuate the spirit of desire.

Desire drives consumerism, which in turn makes the economic machine gush with gratitude. Growth indexes climb. Debt—national and personal—rises tenfold. And all the while, the world stares on in wonderment at this seemingly idyllic nation.

And now we awaken.
And see the naked emperor in all his selfish glory.

Unfettered greed and unchecked self-interest always lead here.

Perhaps, when we look more closely, the dream-feeding machines in The Matrix weren’t so far off. Only, the machines aren’t mechanical. They are systems—systems of greed, distraction, and illusion.

So what is the new dream?

Is it merely to survive?
To hope that what we leave behind for our children and grandchildren can still be saved?
Can we imagine something more dignant—a world where dignity is not just possessed, but shown and acknowledged, especially when one life enters the space of another?

Or are we still crashing headlong into self-inflicted annihilation?

We like to believe there are others like us—on distant planets, in other dimensions—while we perfect new ways to export our own destruction in the name of progress.

But again:
Dreams are cheap.
Until they’re not.

👁️ Views (0)

The United States of Trump

Donald J. Seize Her. (Rome's new Emperor).*

Little did they know that a Duck would be elected twice to challenge their immense foresight.

The Founding Fathers —
George Washington – Commander-in-Chief during the Revolution; first President.
Thomas Jefferson – Principal author of the Declaration of Independence; third President.
James Madison – “Father of the Constitution”; fourth President.
Alexander Hamilton – Key author of the Federalist Papers; first Secretary of the Treasury.
John Adams – Advocate of independence; first Vice President, second President.
Benjamin Franklin – Diplomat, inventor, elder statesman.
John Jay – First Chief Justice; co-author of the Federalist Papers.

…amongst others debated for four months over the Constitution used today.
The Federalist Papers, all 85 of them, were designed to assuage the doubts of the original 13 states, followed by the Bill of Rights — guaranteeing the ‘undeniable’ rights for all Americans, supposedly still in place today.

Many changes were put in place before reluctant states accepted the federal system.

Most people do not fully understand that the individual states of the U.S. are more akin to countries, like those that make up the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, or the now-defunct Soviet Union. The key difference lies in the willingness of each U.S. state to surrender a degree of sovereignty in exchange for the power and protection of a federal union. This stands in stark contrast to subdivided nations like Australia, Brazil, or Canada, where states or provinces were carved from a central authority rather than voluntarily joined together. That also explains why individual U.S. states have such autonomy in how they are governed and the laws they impose — subject only to overriding federal law, where applicable and enforced.

And now to the Duck tales

How closely do the Roman Caesars and the American Seize-her compare, you might ask.

I asked Chat this same question and this is what I got.
Don’t forget, dear reader, that Chat can make mistakes, so read the following with a pinch of salt — I haven’t taken the time to verify each and every fact here.

🇺🇸 Trump-era U.S. vs. 🇷🇴 Late Roman Republic: Key Parallels

Theme	Late Roman Republic / Early Empire	Trump-era U.S.
Populism & Strongman Politics	Julius Caesar and later Augustus gained power through popular support and anti-elite rhetoric.	Trump appeals to “forgotten Americans,” attacking elites and media.
Senate vs. Executive Power	The Roman Senate lost authority as emperors centralized power.	Trump often defied congressional norms; executive orders became dominant.
Decline of Civic Norms	Political violence, bribery, and intimidation eroded Roman tradition.	Increasing threats to judges, election officials, and erosion of norms.
Militarization of Politics	Generals like Caesar and Pompey used military loyalty to influence politics.	Trump valorises military imagery and has support from armed militias.
Legal Manipulation	Laws were bent to serve individual ambitions (e.g., proscriptions, show trials).	Legal systems strained under loyalty tests, selective enforcement.
Public Spectacle	Bread and circuses distracted the masses; emperors performed for crowds.	Trump rallies and media dominance function as political entertainment.
Cult of Personality	Emperors like Augustus, Nero, Domitian built divine or heroic images.	MAGA culture elevates Trump as saviour, with flags, merchandise, and slogans.
Weakening Institutions	Senate, elections, and checks became symbolic rather than functional.	Erosion of trust in elections, courts, and peaceful transfers of power.
Internal Division	Rome split into factions and civil wars (Optimates vs. Populares).	U.S. is politically polarized; talk of civil conflict resurfaces.

What can I tell you?

Are we seeing the decline and fall of the American Empire?
Most pundits would probably bet on that. History maps similar cycles — from the Dutch to the British, from the British to the American, and now from the American to the Chinese.

As we have seen with the cycle of economic crisis, some trends are inevitable under regimes that have hardly changed over so many centuries. While some might argue that the names have changed, most of the underlying concepts are simply greed and power driven.

Most of us old Fogies may not see this endgame playing out, but the Duck has laid the very solid groundwork needed to guarantee that this cycle continue. All in the name of :

Making Donald Great Again
           And nothing else.

May the towers of Trump befall the same fate as Babel.

👁️ Views (0)

Cultural shifts

Small Town Habits.*

Having travelled around this massive country called Brazil—many times by road, both driving and by bus—Fogy has absorbed the contrasting nature of its diverse terrains and people.

Once you leave the bigger cities, travellers are often thrust into a version of the past where the modern world still hasn’t fully arrived. There are still places waiting for reliable electricity, and cell phone signals can be hard to find.

Thankfully, most regions today have at least a reasonable level of coverage, even if it’s not yet 100%.

The point here isn’t to criticise the pace of development in a country as vast as Brazil, but to highlight how differently people experience the world when their horizons are shaped by a kind of self-imposed isolation.

Many small towns and regional centres seem to have grown along similar lines—places where habits settle deeply and don’t easily shift. In some ways, it resembles stepping onto a fixed stage, where the script is already written and daily life plays out with few surprises.

Yet those who do step out—whether through travel, education, or exposure to the wider world—often find themselves changed. When they return, they carry new ways of seeing and doing things. And that can cause tension.

Even traditional festivals like Festa Junina or Carnival now reflect these shifts. Once grounded in local history and custom, they have begun to mix in influences from elsewhere—sometimes enriching the experience, sometimes confusing it.

But it’s the smaller, everyday behaviours that most clearly reveal the cultural gap. Things like tossing an orange peel onto the pavement instead of finding a bin.

Fogy was once busing back to São Paulo from Rio when the driver made a quick roadside stop. Seeing some delicious tangerines for sale, Fogy bought a few and returned to his seat. He offered a tangerine to those nearby, who were happy to accept. Each one, seeing the bag, placed their peels neatly inside. But before Fogy could say a word, the man beside him tossed his peels straight out the window. He had seen what the others had done but did it anyway.

Reflecting on it, Fogy realised—having chatted with the man earlier—that for many who come from remote, rural areas, throwing things on the ground is not seen as a problem. When only a handful of people do it, what harm can it do?

But multiply that by half a million people moving through a city every day, and the impact becomes obvious.

Travelling long distances by bus means stopping, infrequently but consistently, in places that are each strikingly different. It’s hard not to notice how people speak differently. The sounds seem more clipped, or drawn out, or rearranged entirely. Vocabulary shifts, and interpretation becomes a vital skill.

Then there’s the food. Foreigners often fall in love with bar snacks like coxinhas and pastéis, but these bus stops offer stranger, often unheard-of delicacies—regional specialties that rarely reach urban menus.

The dress codes, too, shift from town to town. What seemed out of place on the bus makes perfect sense in the terminal café.

And if you’ve paid enough attention, these differences start to resonate. They explain much of what once seemed so “normal” in your big-city life. Suddenly, you can recognise and relate to people from these regions through the customs they carry with them.

These small-town habits are easy to overlook, but they say a lot about how culture holds on—quietly, stubbornly—even as the outside world moves on.

👁️ Views (0)

A greater part of our cities were built by people just like these.

Quinn te Samil Friday 23rd

 Quinn te Samil – Friday Reflection.*

May 23, 2025
Title: “Of Floodgates and Footnotes”

This week, the world moved not with a bang, but with a steady tightening of gears. What began as mere policy drafts now read like final chapters. What once passed as posturing has settled into doctrine. The footnotes of yesterday’s headlines have become the terms and conditions of tomorrow’s world.

In the United States, Project 2025 advanced quietly. While most eyes scanned the courtroom drama of a former president, a far weightier transformation took shape behind the curtain: the proposed reengineering of the federal civil service, a judicial philosophy edging toward theocratic reinterpretation, and a growing fusion between corporate lobbying and Christian nationalism. It is not merely a swing of the pendulum, but the carving of a new axis.

In the United Kingdom, austerity whispers returned, masked in the language of fiscal discipline. And in Europe, farmers protest in one corner while migrants drown in another, with the same continent struggling to balance its moral compass against the steel weight of geopolitical reality.

Meanwhile, OpenAI made headlines not for its capabilities but for the boardroom fallout surrounding its choices—who governs the future of intelligence, and to what end? If power corrupts, and intelligence accelerates, then the question becomes not whether but how swiftly we are outpaced by our own tools.

And in Brazil, beneath the comforting noise of football chants and economic recovery hopes, new laws pass to curb dissent, regulate memory, and tame the public square—not with violence, but with paperwork and polite applause.

The patterns are not unique. We live in an era where legislation is more powerful than revolution, where a single vote on a remote policy can shape millions of lives without a sound.

So we ask: Is the age of dissent over—or has it merely changed clothes?

As always, I remain
—Quinn

👁️ Views (0)

What it is to be a woman

Sugar and spice and all things nice.*

Girls are spiteful, judgmental, holier-than-thou, and generally catty.

Just as easy as the previous post, right?

Wrong.

Way too simple. So let’s go.

Forced into the same misogynistic roles across eternity, women have mastered the art of appearing frail—convincing the world of the superficiality of what is called beauty and what is accepted as ideal.

But when the mold is stretched—distorted—
an abandoned tribe of castoffs limps through the halls of forgotten dreams,
hoping someday they too might be chosen,
might be displayed,
might become the Barbies of the future.

Women are far too smart and too capable for their own good—
and too often, far too willing to perpetuate the lie:
the comforting stereotype that keeps the world from shaking.

Give them strength, and they threaten.
Give them power, and they dominate.
Take away their femininity—what then do they become?
Men?
Or something far more socially threatening—redefiners of what men were supposed to be?

They excel as breadwinners.
As home keepers.
As bearers of future progeny—
kept under wraps until they’re rolled out at galas and parades,
where beauty is stamped as both priority and the price of success.

They weep.
They rage.
They teach.
They endure.

Humans of substance, designed to bring sense to senses and meaning to the art of being human.

As educators, their task is absurd:
To fit into the shoes of another species
and maintain a delicate equilibrium
while playing by the rules of a game they never asked to join.

Evolved models of the past now press hard on the minds of all—
the bold, the tired, the unwilling, the unready.

Unaccustomed role reversal now threatens not just men,
but women themselves.
The comforting roles they once clung to
have become a battlefield.

And the fight for recognition is eternal.

👁️ Views (0)

What it is to be a man

The only difference between a man and a boy is the price of their toys.*

I think we can all agree that a man is a dirty, selfish, obnoxious pig.

End of post.

Cheers.

Whoa-up there.

There must be more to this story. Surely.

And there is.

For too long now, men have been indoctrinated to be something most woefully fail at being.

Forced to abandon playthings to become responsible brothers, fathers and bosses—never ever admitting that they are wrong, and woe betide the occasional tear—men have become insensitive and loathsome, misogynistic hate-mongers beyond belief, and beer-gut ugly to boot.

And why, you might ask?

With the mollycoddling of mothers and the exaltation of manhood by society, what could possibly go wrong?

From an early age, men define how they want their roles and personas to be. They even create mythical creatures to perpetuate these images and force their offspring to redeem the values of manhood.

Who's the strongest? The bravest? The most stupid?

And the pressure on men to be all of the above is overwhelming. To be a man’s man. The strong leader. The dependable partner.

Men are easily distracted. They love to play, to flirt, to fight, to bet—and never like to lose.

When told they're wonderful, they are at their most dangerous.

Being a man is being a predefined role model. Most have never earned their MBA in anything beyond the environments they supposedly excel in.

How can a man learn to be sensitive when sensitiveness is frowned upon? And when consideration is abandoned, so too is the need for it ignored.

Men imitate the creatures around them:
– The peacock that struts
– The monkeying around
– The piggish behaviour
– The dog’s incessant pursuit of the bitch
– The bear’s loathsome embrace
– The lion’s kingly laziness
– The burro’s unwavering stupidity

But seriously, folks…

History has ill-prepared modern men to understand how evolution has changed their roles and responsibilities.

The breadwinner of yesteryear is just as likely to be the home-carer of today.

The physical strength necessary to meet the challenges of the past has become a burden in a world that prizes mobility, versatility, and mental dexterity.

And to those judging the men around them—be careful what you wish for.

Men remade into the vulnerable, care-seeking, loving, sensitive beings society claims to desire… can be just as dangerous.

👁️ Views (0)

The 2008 crisis

Bubbles Bursting Bubbles.*

Today I thought I would touch on a little history.

We all have very short memories, and I am sure many of you have forgotten the story behind the 2008 financial crisis—our most recent recession, if we ignore the effects of the COVID pandemic.

What we saw was something akin to a modern version of the South Sea Bubble of the early 18th century in Great Britain. The South Sea Company was granted a monopoly to trade in South America (mostly with Spanish colonies, where access was questionable at best).

In return, it would assume a large portion of Britain’s national debt, converting it into shares that investors could buy.

The company promised massive profits from South American trade—despite no real access to those markets.

Politicians and royalty were granted shares or encouraged to promote the scheme.
Public confidence soared. People believed the government would never let it fail.

The company’s stock rose from £100 to nearly £1,000 in one year (1720).

A flood of other “bubble companies” sprang up with absurd promises (e.g., “to extract silver from lead” or “a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is”).

The company’s value collapsed as people realized there were no actual profits.

Panic selling ensued. Fortunes were lost overnight.

Thousands were ruined—including nobles, merchants, and even members of Parliament.

Focusing again on 2008, the lead-up to this particular crisis can be tracked more from the sudden change in the Fed’s policies, where interest rates were suddenly brought down to their lowest in modern history—1.0% in 2003, from a high of 6.5% in 2001. The result of a Dot.Com bursting bubble and a little-known calamity called 9/11.

What followed was the housing boom, where sub-prime mortgages gave lower-income families the chance to realise their own American dream by owning the properties they lived in. At a steady 1.0% interest, what could go wrong?

But the Fed did as the Fed does. Under the leadership of Alan Greenspan—so successful in steering the economy to date—the interest rate began creeping up, easily shattering the dreams of the common man (and woman).

Fogy remembers reading an article at the time describing the impact on credit-card charges if interest rates were to rise even 0.25%. Imagine the impact on sub-prime mortgage holders.

Alan Greenspan was heavily criticised for keeping interest rates too low for too long, by greedy investors fully prepared to ignore the risks to lower-income borrowers.

Financial instruments were created to camouflage what had become toxic debt—and this, dear reader, is where the similarities to the South Sea Bubble become more apparent.

The Lehman Brothers collapse was not really the trigger to the crisis, as so many deemed it to be, but was symptomatic of the brewing storm.

Credit was tighter, lending was scarcer, and too many instruments for such a small financial orchestra ignited the boom that was soon to collapse.

2008 was just another bubble—and more recently, since the crypto bubble, we seem to be heading toward an AI bubble.

This, coupled with the unpredictability of an outrageous leadership, means that we really have to do a lot more penny watching and penny pinching.

Good luck with that.

👁️ Views (0)

Dealing with multiple tasks

A Long-Winded Sunday Post – When You Feel Overloaded.*

So many of you mention how overloaded you feel at times—overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks demanding your attention.

It wasn’t that long ago that Fogy found himself in a similar bind. Having just started a new position at a new company, he was busy setting up the day-to-day operations for the area he was responsible for. Then, the owner dropped by to see how things were going—and, casually, mentioned a task he needed done. It wasn’t part of Fogy’s original responsibilities. Still, not one to back down from a challenge, Fogy agreed and added it to his list.

And then came more. Each day brought another "extra" to Fogy’s desk, slowly turning a manageable workload into something far more intense.

So, how do you deal with this kind of pile-on?

Fogy, being a practical sort, knew the answer lay not in working harder, but in planning smarter. Every task got a place on the list and in the agenda. Most days began with a quick run-through: checking on each task, making calls, holding short meetings, and walking the floor to keep things moving.

But the real trick wasn't the organization—it was the decision-making behind it.

If a task was on track and contact had been made, it was marked off and Fogy moved on. If no one picked up the phone, or things weren’t ready, that task was simply moved to the bottom of the list and would be tried again in the next round. No stewing, no bottlenecks.

The worst thing a manager can do is fixate on an uncompleted task, holding up the entire system in the hope of pushing it through. Let's be honest—we can’t be available 24/7, and neither can anyone else. Even if the contract says we’re always on, humans still take showers. We still sleep (sometimes).

Now, let’s get back on track.

By keeping your list rolling—no panic, no overcontrol—you reduce stress while maintaining forward momentum. This also gives you space to handle surprises and still enjoy the coffee you definitely deserve.

Try this:

1. Sit down and scan your task list.
   Make the calls. Hold the meetings. Keep them short. (Discipline matters.)

2. If people are late or unavailable, move on.
   Reschedule for round two. Don’t stall everything else.

3. After round one, take a break.
   Seriously—coffee, walk, breathe. Recharge.

4. Execute your own top-priority tasks.
   Minimize interruptions. Train your team to know when to interrupt and trust them with autonomy. Micro-managing helps no one.

5. Schedule and execute round two with equal discipline.
   Now you’re already ahead of the game.

6. Prepare for round three if needed.
   By now, the landscape is clearer.

Discipline and time management are key when you’re overloaded. Fogy made mistakes back then (he still does), but the way things were organized meant those mistakes didn’t cause chaos.

And yes—the owner did eventually apologize for the overload. But he also said he was impressed with the results and how well everything had been handled.

Hope this helps, even just a little.

Cheers,
Fogy

👁️ Views (0)

Same job, different approach. Discipline makes the difference.