Back in the day, when I was traveling into the Middle East with regularity, we would spend a few weeks going all through the Gulf to see clients and prospects, gathering money for our global private banking business. The Gulf was particularly fertile ground and I very much enjoyed the travel and business discussions. The Saudis, Emirates, Qataris, and Bahrainis were all well schooled in markets and investments, having had more than twenty years of…
As I read today’s post I realize that I wrote it almost two weeks ago while in Edinburgh. I sometimes juggle stories around and occasionally get temporally misaligned. In any case, the good news / bad news is that while I did return home to a small weight loss while traveling (in the range I anticipated), it was not as large as my regular at-home weight loss. What I did do on returning is to…
“Sitting is the new smoking” is a popular health phrase that emerged in the 2010s, warning about the dangers of prolonged sedentary behavior. While it’s a catchy slogan, the comparison is somewhat overstated. Smoking is definitively more dangerous, but the underlying concerns about excessive sitting are legitimate. When we were younger, much less when our parents were younger, seeing a movie with a guy like Humphrey Bogart sucking on a cigarette, was normal and not…
Australia just launched what is being called the world’s first ban on social media for children under 16. It takes effect today (December 10, 2025). What the law does is that it prevents Australians under 16 from creating or keeping accounts on age-restricted social media platforms. That means the government is deactivating a huge number (over 1 million) of social media accounts that transgress that standard. There are no parental consent exceptions. Even with parental…
In this day and age it takes a lot to shock me and even more than that to stop me cold in my tracks, but this morning that has happened. I’m sitting here at the Cornell Club, having flown into JFK last evening with Kim from Prague via Finnair and Helsinki, over the pole (flyin’ in a big airliner..just like Paul McCartney wrote in Back in the U.S.S.R.). There were no chickens flying everywhere around…
This is day 67 in my Zepbound journey. but given our travel schedule, I haven’t stepped on a scale for 14 days. During that time I’ve had two Zepbound shots, the last of my 5 mg shots and the first of my 7.5 mg shots. I should note that since the Zepbound journey takes you over six months from a dose of 2.5 mg to 15 mg, I’m not even half way to the end…
For some time now, we’ve been watching the somewhat normal process of the rebalancing of the political landscape in the United States from conservative Republicanism to Democratic collectivism. I know we like to label things in this country and the favorite labels these days include fascism, communism, socialism, and any other handy isms. But the big picture fundamental is best captured as the generic labels of conservativism versus collectivism. This morning on CNN International, there…
As most people who read this blog know, I am traveling in Europe at the moment, heading back to New York City tomorrow to spend a few days with the family in Midtown Manhattan to celebrate the holidays and then head back to our hilltop to dig in for the full holiday season. I have written often about the angst we have about traveling as the years pass by. I get regularly chided by friends…
It’s December and we’re in Prague, where the temperature is hovering in the 30s day and night. We aren’t in this sort of weather very often these days, but so far it feels more invigorating than oppressive (being fully clothed in coats, hats and gloves). I suspect that has a lot to do with the fact that we’re only here for a few days and it’s always easier to dip in to inclement weather and…
When my mother died at 100, eight years ago, I wrote her biography and called it Mater Gladiatrix. That title spoke to me because of my four years of Latin (which she strongly encouraged me to take) and the strength and resilience that she exhibited fearlessly throughout her life, both in her personal and professional demeanor. As a courtesy to my two older sisters, I sent them a semi-final draft of the book and the…