Want a Super yacht?

Nice boat, but where can I park it?

Even superyacht-owners are feeling the pinch. 
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Last year only 173 superyachts, that is vessels over 30 metres long, slipped into the briny, according to Superyacht Intelligence, a consultancy. 
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That’s 27 fewer than in 2010 and far below the peak in 2008, when 260 floating pleasure palaces hit the waves. 
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The number of vessels on order, too, slipped from 453 in 2011 to 423 this year. 
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But cheer up: their combined length rose from 20km (12 miles) to 23km. 
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The super-duper rich are surprisingly unimaginative when it comes to dreaming up new ways to outdo each other.
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The biggest yacht ever was launched in 2010. Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire, reputedly forked out €500m ($660m) for the 164-metre Eclipse (pictured). 
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It includes such essentials as a mini-submarine, a hair salon and two helipads. (Owning a yacht with only one helipad would be embarrassing—a bit like owning a football club that is only fourth in England’s Premier League.)

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Maintaining a superyacht is not cheap. .
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Quite sensibly, Mr Abramovich has hung on to his other superyachts. 
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On the brokerage market (second-hand, to land-lubbers) prices are disappointing. 
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That second yacht is the first thing a troubled tycoon sells. 
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Global gloom means there is a vast fleet of used superyachts for sale. 
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Falling demand for new boats means that shipyards are desperate for business.
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Most need a hefty crew (the Eclipse needs 75 pairs of hands). 
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Add in fuel, berthing and the like and the tab can hit millions a year for a craft you use for only two weeks. 
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In the boom years, emotion often trumped good sense. 
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Captains and yacht managers spent the owner’s money on supplies, upgrades and repairs so freely that the practice spawned an acronym.
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SPAM: “spending Paul Allen’s money” (the Microsoft co-founder owns some fairly lavish boats).
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These days, the have-yachts are more hard-headed. 
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More craft are being offered for charter to offset running costs. 
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Last year the Eclipse was put up for hire at $2m a week. 
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Many Mediterranean yacht-owners are seeking cheaper berths in places such as Malta, where marinas are only a quarter as costly as those in France or Spain. 
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Some despatch their captains to Tunisia to load up on duty-free diesel. 
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Some maintain a skeleton crew over the off-season and hire extra help only in the summer. 
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A few owners are even hiring auditors to check that they are getting value for money, says Martin Redmayne of Superyacht Intelligence. 
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The days of splashing out are over. 

I am not my body

Ever thought about that?
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You are not your body.
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Yes, you use the body you have in this life.
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Yes, it is yours in the sense that you inhabit and use it.
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The essential you though is not your body.
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The real you is your consciousness.
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And just what is your consciousness?
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Every night you are unconscious, about one third of your life is spent sleeping unconscious.
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Meaning that about two thirds of your life is conscious, but that does not answer what consciousness is.
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It is this undefined consciousness that is the real you. 
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Undefined because many can say what it is not, but they cannot say what it is.

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So, our bodies might die.

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In fact they most certainly will.

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But I am not my body.

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Yes I have and use this body.

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But I am not my body.

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I am the consciousness that inhabits and uses it.
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And that consciousness is the real me.
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The mind and brain are really separate, the brain doing what it is instructed to do by the mind.
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The mind determining what the brain should process.
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A simple statement and one open to challenge, but it is just making a point.
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So going further the higher element in all this is the soul.
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Where our consciousness comes from.
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Man is a soul in other words.
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OK so many might argue otherwise and that's fine I am just provoking a thought. 
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Who or what are you?
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The who is the sum total of all your many lives.
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Lives that brought you to where you are today.
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To what you are today.
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The what is tougher to answer in a sense because it demands that we get to know ourselves in a more honest and complete way.
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Start by asking others how they find you.
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What are your good and bad attributes.
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Note what you think life is about for you.
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Then maybe you can approach the what more clearly once you know more about yourself.
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Think about it.
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Oh and another aspect is the reality that we are all interdependent.
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We are also dependent on each other for many things.
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For example our birth is dependent on the parents who bring us into life.
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Those who educate, feed, look after us.
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Gets more and more complex as we start to delve into what appear to be quite simple questions.
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And knowing yourself better for what you are and are not is quite useful.
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It allows you to be more at ease with yourself, and that has its uses in most situations.
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Should you have great patience and stamina then what you are can be explored much further.
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And the further you go the more you realise that some of those who went before us were pretty smart.
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They left enough clues about what we are and what we are not.
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We were too arrogant or busy to understand them.
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Come to think of it we still are.
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Shame really
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Because to know what we truly are allows us to understand ourselves and our world so much better.
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Allows us to participate in a more profoundly conscious way too.

Psychiatrists as Gods

The reason that conventional psychiatry.
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Whether pharmaceutical or psychoanalytic.
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Is powerless to substantially help the vast majority of patients is that it does not.
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And cannot, recognize the wrongness of the world we live in.
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The psychiatrists have bought in along with the rest of us.
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Psychiatry operates on the assumption that we should be happy with the world we live in.
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The same assumption of the rightness, or at least the unalterability, of the world given to us underlies the quest to cope with stress.
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That modern life is inherently stressful is not questioned.
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Psychiatric treatment is infamously impotent to address serious mental conditions because the psychiatrists, as fully enculturated elite members of society, are constitutionally unable to call into question the cultural assumptions in which they are so deeply invested.
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Their investment blinds them to the underlying rightness and fundamental sanity of a patient's reaction to a world gone wrong.
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Conventional treatment, particularly pharmaceutical treatment.
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And this is often the most common kind today.
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Actually exacerbates the illness by saying, "actually, the life society offers is fine; the problem is with you.
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We have witnessed dramatic healing simply by affirming to someone, 'You are right, this isn't how life is supposed to be'.
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And this is the realization that empowers change.
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Not that psychiatry ignores the need for change altogether.
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It is just usually unable to carry the change deeply enough..
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In essence, it tells us that we need to adjust to the world and seeks to make us normal again, functioning members of society.
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No. 
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We are meant for more. 
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Everyone can sense the emptiness.
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The void underneath the forms and structures of modern society.
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Any psychiatry that seeks to adjust us to such a society is itself insane.
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You would be crazy to busily paint your apartment as it burnt down.
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Similarly, it is insane to live a normal life in today's world.
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Maybe if millions of children were not malnourished.
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Maybe if torture were not commonplace around the globe.
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Maybe if species and entire ecosystems were not dying.
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Maybe if genocide were forever gone.
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Maybe without all these injustices then the "normal" life presented us would be sane.
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Maybe then it would make sense to absorb ourselves in professional sports, soap operas, the stock market, material acquisition, and the lives of celebrities.
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Given the reality of the world today though.
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The only life that makes sense to live is an extraordinary life.
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Not only do we live today in a fraudulent, life-denying society into which nobody fits.
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But the incompatibility of that society with human fulfillment only grows with each passing year.
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Along with it grows the need for medicating expanding swaths of the population.
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We have seen this happening with the increasing ubiquity of SSRIs and similar drugs across every age group.
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The world grows more painful physically as an increasingly toxic environment gives rise to new diseases.
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As commerce and industry corrupt the food supply.
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And as the tempo and pressure of life-as-usual quickens.
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All of these factors accelerate the conversion of citizens into patients.
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Patients that are then treated as if they are the ones with a problem.
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What a world.
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C. Eisenstein

Modern flying

Flying has become a drag, and yes I know, I do all the good things to make it less so
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However with security and interminable waits.
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Coupled to cramped seating in economy.
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With pay for everything on all local flights.
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What a relief to get on a long haul flight with one of the three.
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Qatar, Ethihad or Emirates

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New planes, smiling crews, good food, excellent entertainment.
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And usually punctual, with leg room and wider seats.
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Contrast with old planes on the so called legacy carriers in Europe.
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Poor, tired service.
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And that's good compared with your Ryan air and Easy jet.

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Pay for everything.
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Scrum at the gate.
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Fight your way to grab a seat.
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You wonder why if they have computerised ticketing, which they all do.
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Then what's the magic in assigning seats?
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Somehow it seems that this is part of the challenge of flying with them.
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And it's not about money the software is easy, all the others use it.
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Loading the aircraft is no quicker particularly if you use trickle boarding.
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Yes, yes I know exactly what some of you are thinking “here he goes grumbling about flying.” 
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And you are right, I should stop moaning but sometimes it is nicer not to.
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It’s the whole experience I am coming to dislike. 
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Not just the fact that I am 35,000 feet in the air breathing in everyone else’s bad wind. 
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I am coming to dislike flying because it turns the nicest people into selfish bastards. 
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I'm not kidding………..most passengers morph into total shits the minute they’re handed a boarding pass. 
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Let me explain what is so irritating.
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When queuing ….sorry…………..lining up…………. at check-in, why do people always ensure they leave it until the last second to get out their documents from their carry on?
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Why do people always run to get to their seat on the plane as if it might get full otherwise.
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………….. unless you are flying Ryanair in which case your life is already at the bottom of the barrel?
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Once seated why do people immediately buckle their seatbelt and sigh loudly every time they have to unbuckle and stand up to let me get to my seat. 
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Oh and how annoying is it when people take an eternity putting their bags in the overhead locker, standing all the while in the aisle blocking everybody else. 
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And why do I always sit next to passengers who remove their shoes even on short flights.
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Why do passengers always recline their seats to its fullest extent, particularly when my meal is being served. 
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Then there are the interminable in flight announcements about what we can buy on the plane.
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As if hours wandering around airport shops has not put you off enough.
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Definitely undo your seatbelt the second the plane lands even if the light is still switched on which will mean you get home faster.
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And that is not to mention getting to and from the airports.
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Just allow a day to go anywhere in Europe today.
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Not any longer
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I can go from London to Paris in a comfortable train in just two and a quarter hours.

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Down-town to down-town
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No baggage restrictions.
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Comfortable seats, with easy leg room.
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Bookable seats.
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Minimal security hassle.
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Arrive at the station twenty or thirty minutes before departure.
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Costs a bit more but when you factor in the time to get to and from the airport.
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The bullshit that goes with the flight.
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It's a no brainer.
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Shame I don't go to Paris more often!
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Never mind 'flying days' have become days to write off that's all.

Worth cheating then?

The more often a woman fakes her sexual climax, the more successful she is in keeping her man.
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Researchers in the United States questioned 453 heterosexual women between 18 and 46 in committed relationships which had lasted a minimum of six months.
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More than half of the women (53.9%) reported having pretended to reach orgasm with their current partner.
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The scientists noted that “women who perceived higher risk of partner infidelity were more likely to pretend orgasm”.
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They also found that a woman who had faked an orgasm at some point was more likely to develop suspicions about their partners' fidelity than a woman who had never done so.
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Farnaz Kaighobadi, of Columbia University in New York state, Todd Shackelford and Viviana Weekes-Shackelford, both from Oakland University in Michigan, led the research.
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They found a number of tactics were developed by women to keep a man they were concerned might stray.
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Such devices included making more of an effort with clothing, following their man’s movements and confronting potential rivals who looked his way.
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Scientists have previously argued that women who reach orgasm are more likely to keep their lovers interested.
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Dr Kaighobadi said her research suggested that the ability of women to orgasm could change over time to give them an evolutionary advantage.
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Andy Bloxham 

Vinnie

In flight reality

Ever noticed that the confined cabin of an aircraft provides the ideal environment for transmitting airborne diseases such as the common cold? 


With your fellow passengers making up to 400 potential sources of infection at such close quarters, the chances of the infection being spread via the re-circulated air are relatively high.
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According to the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University, experiments on exposing uninfected volunteers to the common cold infection have shown that the chances of catching a cold are directly related to the length of exposure. 
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Therefore, you are much more likely to catch a cold on a long-haul flight to the Caribbean than on a short hop to the Med.
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To avoid getting your trip off to an unhealthy start, here are some thoughts on staying healthy in the air.
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Viruses and sore throats.
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While it’s likely we’ve been exposed to every common cold virus in our home towns, we’re often subjected to a host of new viruses to which we have no immunity at our destination.
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The best way to avoid cold and flu is simple hygiene practises. 
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Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly as the cold virus can survive for a couple of hours on door handles and other communal surfaces.
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Don't share food, glasses or eating utensils.
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When a sore throat strikes, Dr Mike Smith, who has a special interest in colds and sore throats, believes the best treatment is one that lets the body still do its defensive work.
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Get your hands on something that will get straight to the site of the pain, such as an anaesthetic throat spray, but don’t worry about fighting off the overall infection – that’s what your sore throat is doing already.
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Travel sickness
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Ginger has been shown in a number of studies to reduce the symptoms of motion sickness associated with travel by boat and to a lesser extent by car or plane.
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Ginger is considered a tonic for the digestive tract, supporting digestion and toning the intestinal muscles. 
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This action eases the transport of substances throughout the digestive tract, helping to lessen irritation to the intestinal walls.
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Ginger’s beneficial effect on motion sickness appears to be related to its direct action on the gastrointestinal tract, rather than on the central nervous system.
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Eyecare
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They don't call it the red-eye flight for nothing.
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Long-haul and particularly overnight flights can leave you eyes dry and painful and an eye drop matching the pH of healthy tears is an essenial on-flight carry-on.
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If you are a contact lens wearer, opt for a specialist product to avoid drying out the lens and irritating the eye further.
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Stress and anxiety
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If you are an anxious flyer, a long-haul flight can cause bloating, dehydration and stress breakouts, leading to premature ageing. 
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Many hospitals, including the Royal Free in London, now have a full time psychologist in its dermatology department due to the links between stress and skin complaints.
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Stress can affect the health, condition and ageing process of our skin.
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A cooling face spray is calming and refreshing, stopping skin drying out as you get flushed at 30,000 feet.
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Essential oils such as lavender, bergamot, peppermint and grapefruit can also help calm and revive you. 
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Drink water frequently.
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And let thoughts of dying behind the pilot wants to live as much as you do, trust her.
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Decide to enjoy the flight and everything about it.
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A positive frame of mind is more helpful than one worrying uselessly.
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Snooze and doze frequently, consider this a luxury you cannot normally indulge in!
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Savour the freedom of not having to do anything.

Psychiatric treatment today

A favourite way to treat psychiatric conditions today is to give patients Prozac or the like.
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Often these are referred to as SSRI's to give them their formal name.
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Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs) are a class of compounds typically used as anti depressants in the treatment of psychiatric conditions.
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Certainly giving someone a pill is easier and less time consuming than trying to find the underlying causes of illness.
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Takes less effort too.
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Makes more money for those involved in the chain.
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And it has the commercial advantage that once someone is on such drugs most will stay on them or others like them for long periods of time.
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Almost unnoticed doctors have medicalised psychiatric conditions. 
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They have done so by pretending that life and the world as we know it is just fine.
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Pretending that if you do not find this world today as being just fine then you are the one who has the problem.
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If living this good modern life renders you depressed.
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Or anxious.
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Or unable to concentrate.
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Or totally stressed out.
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Then, well, you've got an illness haven't you?
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They will say the problem isn't the world.
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And it isn't the life you have chosen.
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It is the chemistry of your brain.
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And by the way that can be adjusted.
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Just take these pills.
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One consequence of the killing of pain with pills.
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Whether physical or psychological, is that it makes a painful world more tolerable.
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Any society in which the intensity of discomforts and pains inflicted renders them culturally 'insufferable' could not but come to an end.
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If it were not for these pharmaceutical methods of controlling the psychological pain of living the modern life, society as we know it would quickly crumble.
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The same holds on the individual level: just as the medication of society allows it to exist at a much higher level of pain than it otherwise could.
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So does the suppression of symptoms in the individual allow life to go on as normal.
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People on SSRIs such as Prozac have told me that the medicine enables them to cope with life.
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And so it does.
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It allows life as usual to proceed.
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After a while though the side effects begin to manifest.
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Time to put you on another different pill is the standard answer.
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And for some maybe many this goes on and on, year after year.
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Functioning but never quite feeling the world.
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Always in a slight haze.
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For the lucky ones they get off pills altogether.
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And they will tell you that feeling the world with all its problems is much better than living in a haze.
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Look around you and notice how many are on pills.
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Oh you cannot see them?
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Pretty neat such a well kept secret.
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Actually it's millions and millions all around you.

We are our bacteria

Ruminant animals depend on bacteria to digest cellulose.
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Recently, evidence has accumulated that humans too require a complex intestinal ecology to thrive.
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Hundreds of species of yeasts, bacteria, and other organisms inhabit the healthy human gut in numbers far exceeding our own cells.
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They produce K and B vitamins, protect us from colonization by pathogenic bacteria and fungi, assist digestion.
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They also interact with the immune system in ways that are not fully understood.
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There is even evidence that human beings are meant to host certain species of "parasitic" intestinal worms.
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These have been used to successfully treat hundreds of cases of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease.
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Not just our intestines, but all of our mucosa, skin, and even eyelashes are host to bacteria, yeasts, and microscopic insects.
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These are not competitors drawing down our resources, but partners in health.
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Since we are partly or even wholly dependent upon them.
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No less than we are on our heart and liver.
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By what right do we exclude them from the definition of self?
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Charles Eisenstein

City boy

A city boy, Kenny, moved to the country and bought a donkey for $100.
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The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.
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The next day the farmer drove up and said, Sorry son, but I have some bad news; the donkey died.
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Kenny replied, Well then just give me my money back.
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Farmer: Cant do that. I went and spent it already.
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Kenny: OK then, just unload the donkey.
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Farmer: What you gonna do with him?
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Kenny: I'm going to raffle him off.
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Farmer: You cant raffle off a dead donkey!
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Kenny: Sure I can. 
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Watch me. 
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I just wont tell anyone he's dead.
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A month later the farmer met up with Kenny and asked, What happened with that dead donkey?
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Kenny: I raffled him off. 
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I sold 500 tickets at two dollars each and made a profit of $898.
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Farmer: Didn't anyone complain?
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Kenny: Just the guy who won.
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So I gave him his two dollars back.