This month, we present a superb analysis of the current financial crisis, an evaluation of the recent yellow peril scares, and reports of a brave mayor who has prohibited his staff from uttering evasions to a weary public. This mayor holds office in - you guessed it - Russia, not Canada. Jim Szpajcher has sent a beautiful autumnal photo spread. And we present, for your advance review and comment, the new simplified disclosures proposed for sellers of mutual funds. Are the disclosures too short, too simple, too bland? SupportOurTroops returns, and we have a new perky item, Gertie’sAdvice. Add your thoughts at any time via the Comments buttons, and send your contributions or anything interesting to us by clicking contributions on the Contacts page.

1) Move one line in this equation to make it correct: XXIII/VII = II

2) In the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s most well-known work, what did he consider "it" to be?

3) How many answers are there to (1/n)sinx = ? And what is/are the answer(s)?
(with thanks to Italia Mensa)

4) When each of the following words is rearranged one of them can be used to suffix all the others to form three longer words. What are the three longer words?
SIN  SIP  END  LIT
(with thanks to British Mensa)

5) Ultra-short story prize for the best extremely short story combining intelligence, religion, mystery, adventure, sensuality, and the Calgary Stampede. Terms: 500 words or less, one sentence preferred, English, deadline tba, all other terms and winner at editor’s absolute discretion. All or some entries may be published in MensaMag. Prize consists of naming the writer the winner of Calgary Mensa’s short story contest for 2007.

Answers to the September puzzles

1) About 7,900 miles. 2) Unknown. 3) Unknown. 4) The one on the left is Beta. 5) Short story prize: no submissions. Carried over into October MensaMag. 6) The Millau Viaduct (French: le Viaduc de Millau) is a large cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by English architect Norman Foster and French bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux, it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one pier’s summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft)—slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 38 m (125 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. The viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Béziers. It was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic two days later.

General

Are you interested in participating in a variety of social, educational and recreational activities with fellow Mensans? i.e. coffee get togethers, dinners, quizzes/games, movies, concerts, lectures, museums, walks, etc. Our group is informal, unstructured, occasionally intellectually stimulating and open to new ideas. I envision a dynamic group committed to making Mensa Calgary a community where members can interact and enjoy each other’s company. My main objective is to establish a positive connection within the membership. If you are interested in getting together to develop some friendships and have some fun, or if you wish to provide feedback/comments, contact Patricia @ kathleen4057@yahoo.ca ["The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." — Eden Phillpotts]

CoffeeFests

Diverting discussion at The Purple Perk, 2212 – 4^th St SW, 7:00pm, Thursday October 4 and October 18. No subject too hot, no view too contentious to explore. Meet your peers.

HistoryExplore

For a delicious walk through Calgary’s history, including food (optional) and excellent conversation, contact Patricia at kathleen4057@yahoo.ca or 212-1461 and use the magic word Mensa. October 14, with fall-back on the 21^st. Give it a try.

Sunday brunch

Contact Daryl Richardson for details, h.d.richardson@shaw.ca. This takes place every six weeks and you’ll appreciate that Daryl needs exact numbers for reservations. 

Second tuesdays of the month

Monthly coffee and conversation evening chez Catherine Ford, 7:30pm at 2409 Morrison St SW. BYOB.

For general queries, email Vicki Herd (vherd@shaw.ca).

The lovely woman-child Kaa was mercilessly chained to the cruel post of the warrior-chief Beast, with his barbarous tribe now stacking wood at her nubile feet, when the strong, clear voice of the poetic and heroic Handsomas roared, "Flick your Bic, crisp that chick, and you’ll feel my steel through your last meal."

–Steven Garman, Pensacola, Florida

Aleksandr Koezmin, mayor of Megion (western Siberia), has decreed, reported the BBC, that his civil servants may no longer use phrases such as "I don’t know" or "I’m on break". We also find on this list: "We don’t have enough money", "What can I do about it?", "It’s not my job", "I’ve finished work for the day", "Someone else has these papers" and "I think I was sick at the time". M. Koezmin considers that civil servants are here to improve life for citizens and solve their problems, not to find excuses. He adds that he’s had enough of staff, who tell him that it’s impossible to solve problems instead of looking for solutions. Anyone who uses one of the 27 prohibited phrases risks dismissal, said the mayor of Megion.

(from Le Monde)

On September 11, 2007, we received news of rocket attacks on an Israeli army base near Gaza. As at 8:20 am Calgary time, The Times reported 40 injured. Le Monde reported about 70. The CBC said 50. Die Welt reported 57. None of these sources published cautions about the accuracy of their figures. The moral is to add grains of salt to information received from news reports.

(by bb)

It has been long apparent that a major reason for fighting is to fertilize the soil for future generations. The dead leave their bones where they fall, and the peasants who creep home afterwards reap an improved harvest. It doesn’t matter who the generals think has won. The victor is the man or woman sitting later at the table. Assume that the infidel invader wins, as commonly happens. They may be Balts or Slavs or Pushtu or French, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim or Jew. They think their cause is holy. They retire in celebration and the impoverished villagers who survive eventually replow their destroyed fields and find their crops improved. Despite the history books, most wars have involved triumph for both sides in this way and thus fulfilled the valuable role which war is destined to serve in history. The death of soldiers creates a net improvement in human happiness. But all this

has changed recently with our miserly high tech wars. Now dead soldiers are flown home at tremendous cost and in comfort (they lie down for the entire journey instead of sitting like folding chairs in rows like the rest of us) and decompose peacefully to make green turf even greener. The peasants whose houses we destroy and fields we mine aren’t left with rich sod for their children. The children have to be satisfied with a ration of bubblegum and a glass of chocolate milk, handed to them by smiling tank crews who – in attempting to say you’re a good boy – in fact inform the children that their purple cow has rickets. We don’t intend to sell bubblegum and milk short. They are useful treats. At the same time, if we think Afghanistan worth fighting for, surely we should be prepared to help the next generation of Afghans grow strong and healthy, particularly as we just waste the nutrition that soldiers carry with them unknowingly in their bones and guts. We complain that not enough money is spent on reconstructing Afghanistan or Iraq. By leaving our soldiers to fertilize Afghan fields, we would create heroes at home and healthy Afghans abroad. And the money we save can send yet more heroes to fight. Win-win all around.

Kudos to the brave lawyers, who write government employee rules. The rules prevent disclosure of information received on the job. And because governments of all stripes don’t like embarrassment, few facts escape that put governments in a bad light. But those are precisely the facts that voters need to decide which party to elect. Politicians are all human, and often the choice comes down to which gang will do least harm. Information about mistakes, their effects, and how they were handled, are often a voter’s best guide.

In 1998, Hugh MacDonald, an Alberta Liberal MLA, introduced a bill to protect whistle-blowers. The PCs said they didn’t like the legislation’s design, and defeated the bill. So far so good. Governments are allowed to shape laws, and government departments can carry out research that oppositions might not be able to afford. Assuming good faith. Why then have the PCs, nine years later, still not produced their own whistle-blower protection? Perhaps they’re making the bill letter perfect.

(info from Democracy Derailed, by Kevin Taft http://www.democracyderailed.ca/  http://www.reddeerpress.com )

Proportional representation isn’t new to Alberta. In 1926, Edmonton and Calgary became transferable vote constituencies. Voters marked ballots with their ranking of candidates. In the counting, the first person, who received one-fifth of the votes was declared elected. The remaining first-choice ballots for that person went to the ballots’ second choice, until another candidate received one-fifth of the vote. And so on, till five candidates were elected. The result was that the opinions of the large cities were reasonably represented. In what can only be described as fair, rural voters also ranked their candidates, though they elected one MLA per constituency. It was "fair", because – in principle – it allowed elected governments to shift their policies towards the mainstream.

This system remained till the 1959 election, when Calgary and Edmonton reverted to the older first-past-the-post system.

Never say Alberta is mired in the past. It just seems that way to folk who don’t know their history.

(info from Democracy Derailed, by Kevin Taft http://www.democracyderailed.ca/  http://www.reddeerpress.com )

As you all know by now, Rona won the 2007 Calgary W.O.Mitchell prize for A Run on Hose and will be writer in residence at the Calgary Public Library through to December 7, 2007. Look for announcements of her presentations on writing, marketing and publishing. She will also review manuscripts by pre-arrangement and perform other tasks to assist authors-in-progress. For Rona’s bio, go to http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/library/wir2007_biography.html
For details on Rona’s presentations in the next few months and the CPL programme, click http://calgarypubliclibrary.com/library/wir2007.html

How to tell mom doesn’t love you

(submitted by patricia almost)

This tempest in a teapot was whipped up, some say, by media inadequately provided with time to research stories, groups eager for social conflict, and politicians rummaging in dustbins for topics to arouse popular support. Was the true problem an error in parliamentary draftsmanship, a slip of the pen, or deliberate ambiguity? One can’t begin to tell from the news reports.

It’s certain, however, that the problem doesn’t lie with Elections Canada. This quiet body follows the law as it is written. Perhaps our MPs were asleep when they voted, but that would require an apology and recall of parliament to correct the error, not blame cast on unelected officials. Is it proper to invoke shame on our MPs? Not if they are honorable men and women, disinclined to pretence or false accusations.

In practice, as we know, techniques exist to identify people whose faces are concealed. That in itself isn’t the problem. The methods require nothing more than advance preparation and an investment in technology. But the emotion over the issue, ah, that’s another matter. The emotion springs from deeper sources, for example whether some Canadians oppose the tolerance that is enshrined in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The apparent concern is whether veiled women, and the Islamic men who stand behind them or press them forward, are puritans, religiously motivated bigots who would prohibit clothes, theatre, art and speech, which they consider evil. Immigrants are the focus of this attention. The silent disgrace is that newspapers have been recently silent about others, born in Canada, with similar anti-multicultural tendencies. One understands the wish to avoid cans of worms. The temptation is to wish a plague on both their houses. But that wouldn’t be the Canadian way. Dialogue and the passage of time are our methods. Our creed is found in Gulliver’s Travels, chapter 4, in which is described how thousands lost their lives over which end of an egg, the big or the little, should be broken. It would appear that the Canadian way, dialogue, would have assisted these unfortunates. We are determined to talk our issues to death, rather than see actual lives lost. And who would think this wrong?

(by bb)

Hi Dearies,

Gertie had a date last night with a wonderful man who bought her, you guessed it, the subject of today’s little exercise for your eyes only (hush, Fred) diamonds. These little precious gems that fund the African arms industry and shoot up geological elevators under high pressure are a great buy and keep well under your mattress. I’m not kidding boys and girls. What you want to do is buy a slice of the companies that dig and produce these tiny crystals, the diamond industry.

Why? The world expert used to be Al Levinson. Check out his articles and books if you want proof. Al knew all there was to know about a girl’s best friend. These stones are underpriced and take less of a hammering in bad times than almost everything else. The "girl’s best friend" moniker came after the world recovered from the dirty thirties, and it took hold because a guy who had diamonds could negotiate them anytime, when everything else was worthless or during inflation. Whatever the world financial situation, you can do it with diamonds. And take my word for it, when you want to impress a lady (even if she’s not a lady) you could do a lot worse than give her a little choker or bracelet or (be a sport) an anklet studded with clean, well-cut stones that flash in the colours of the rainbow (in a restrained loving style because we have class, darling). I don’t want to talk about last night, but let me tell you, Fred was very happy and so was I.

And the companies, not all of them but most, that grow in this little market patch, aren’t particularly scrupulous about who they crawl into bed with. That might not make governments happy or delight their morally cringing backers, but it’s great for the investors. So today, darling, as I pop Tylenols and try to remember the details of where I was last night, I’m letting the sun reflect off these gorgeous stones and thinking five percent of my portfolio isn’t too small to swing into this sector for a month or two. I’m glad I don’t have to work for a living. I like being the diva of love.

So for now, darlings, this is Gertie, your abiding angel of mercy and profit, signing off. (I can’t tell you Fred’s stories last night, because they’re buried under the Champagne he bought me and I promised to take them to the tomb and I always always keep my word, but when he was … hmmmmmmmmm…out of control for the briefest moment I pushed aside a few papers in his briefcase and saw he’d just deposited a s.u.b.s.t.a.n.t.i.a.l sum in two listed diamond companies. So it’s not just me.)

(by Gertie, check out http://gertieg.com/ and moneylet.com)

ChinaPeril

Did somebody declare war on the Chinese without telling us? To judge by the news it would appear they are now to blame for everything, as revived fears of the "yellow peril" spread faster than Made in China labels.

If we believe what we are told, the Chinese are sending over lead-painted toys to poison our children, hacking into top-level military computers on both sides of the Atlantic and burning coal to destroy the planet. It is enough to make you wonder why that Terracotta Army is really coming to London.

Obviously, we Brits and the Americans would never dream of using a dirty trick like spying, or using filthy coal to fuel an industrial revolution. As for the panic about Chinese toys, it is little wonder that there are no reports of sick children since they would have to chew the paint off all their playthings and swallow it to feel any effect. Expect warnings from the food police not to put lead-painted Barbie dolls in your child’s lunchbox.

History suggests that panics about the "toxic" East reveal more about insecurities and anxieties in the West. Where once the Chinese were accused of polluting the human race with impure genes, now they can be blamed for polluting the planet with unclean industries. They are one group that liberals can feel free to abuse without being accused of xenophobia.

It seems some are always happier trying to fit the changing world into old-fashioned Cold-War-type certainties. But it is not so easy simply to dump on the Chinese these days. President Bush admits that America now has a "complex" relationship with China. More like a complex about it.

Western leaders may fear the Chinese, but they also need the wealth produced by China’s dynamic economy to help to keep credit and stock markets afloat. Not so much a case of "coming over here, taking our jobs", as financing "our" hedge funds.

Let’s put away the toys, grow up and accept the rise of China as a boon for world development. Not that everything is perfect — industrialisation is always a dirty business for the workers. And the Chinese authorities’ propaganda is as bad as ever. Why, this week they tried to blame food price inflation on . . . global warming. They are growing more like us every day.

(from The Times of September 7, 2007, headlined "Nasty effects of China syndrome", by Mick Hume)

MarketCrash

(The best description of the present liquidity crisis remains the following, published September 7th. Investor fears are fed by uncertainty born of secrecy. The secrecy hasn’t abated, because it concerns the amounts of money placed directly in high risk loans, and which major institutions have themselves invested in the companies making those loans. No one’s talking.)

La crise financière née cet été s’éternise. Provoquée par la faillite d’un segment de marché a priori circonscrit et localisé, celui du crédit hypothécaire à risque (subprime mortgage) aux Etats-Unis, elle menace la stabilité financière de la planète.

Le marché, qui regorgeait de liquidités, s’est subitement asséché. Jeudi 6 septembre, le secrétaire américain au Trésor, Henry Paulson, a estimé que cette crise mettrait "des semaines, peut-être quelques mois" à se résorber.

"Pourquoi personne ne parvient à localiser la faille ? Comment est-on arrivé à cette situation paradoxale ? Nous manquons d’explications", constate Philippe Brossard, économiste chez Euler Hermes. De fait, la crise a une part d’irrationalité qui semble auto-alimentée par les inquiétudes des investisseurs.

De quoi le marché a-t-il peur ? Les investisseurs abhorrent l’incertitude. Et depuis le début de la crise, ils naviguent à vue. Les banques du monde entier ont investi dans des titres adossés au marché du subprime et sont susceptibles d’enregistrer d’importantes pertes. Mais personne ne sait dans quelle proportion.

Les produits financiers de "titrisation" où sont logés lesdits subprime sont complexes. Ils mêlent souvent ces crédits explosifs avec des titres de bonne qualité. In fine, les produits dangereux deviennent quasiment invisibles. En outre, les montages financiers permettent souvent aux banques de ne pas comptabiliser ces titres dans leur bilan. "Il est impossible de chiffrer les pertes. Le marché les découvre au fur et à mesure mais ne voit pas le bout du tunnel", indique René Desfossez, stratège chez Natixis. En attendant,"tout le monde se regarde en chiens de faïence", témoigne un courtier.

Les rumeurs délétères s’accumulent. Les banques qui empruntent sont suspectées de le faire pour renflouer des fonds de subprime. Ainsi de Deutsche Bank qui a lancé il y a dix jours un emprunt obligataire à dix ans. Le 31 août, le marché redoutait d’éventuelles difficultés de Barclays qui avait emprunté 1,6 milliard de livres sterling (2,36 milliards d’euros) auprès de la Banque d’Angleterre. Mercredi, les investisseurs s’interrogeaient sur l’exposition de Citigroup, la première banque mondiale en terme de capitalisation boursière.

Ce climat de défiance se traduit sur le marché interbancaire où les banques s’empruntent mutuellement de l’argent. La prime de risque exigée y est anormalement élevée. En Europe, des grandes banques, a priori en bonne santé financière, "empruntent (à long terme sur le marché obligataire) au même prix qu’un pays émergent", s’étonne un courtier.

Alan Greenspan, l’ancien président de la Réserve fédérale américaine (Fed), a évoqué jeudi des similitudes entre la crise actuelle et celle de 1998 (à la suite de la faillite du fonds spéculatif LTCM) et le krach boursier de 1987. Le "sage" fait même un parallèle avec la crise observée lors de la chute des prix des terres en 1837 et la panique bancaire de 1907 !

Les banques sont-elles menacées de faillite ? Les banques allemandes IKB et Sachsen LB ont illustré la gravité de la crise. Elles ont frôlé la faillite du fait de leurs investissements aux Etats-Unis. Le régulateur boursier allemand, la BaFin, a alors estimé que le pays était "menacé de la plus grave crise financière depuis 1931".

Pour autant, peu d’analystes imaginent que le système bancaire mondial soit menacé. "Les risques sont sans doute surestimés", juge Cyril Regnat chez Natixis. Les grandes banques ont cumulé suffisamment de profits aux cours des dernières années pour éponger d’éventuelles pertes.

Néanmoins, "les chiffres qui circulent effraient", concède un courtier. Mardi, une note de Barclays mentionnait le montant de 1 400 milliards de dollars (1 023 milliards d’euros) de produits financiers que les banques pourraient devoir refinancer. Et plus la crise s’aggrave plus ces montants grimpent.

Les banques centrales peuvent-elles résorber la crise ? Les autorités monétaires ne peuvent que "soulager" le système bancaire en ouvrant temporairement des facilités de crédit. La plupart des banques centrales "injectent" régulièrement depuis début août des dizaines de milliards d’euros dans le circuit monétaire. Mais ces mesures ne sont que temporaires. Les sommes déversées sont en fait des prêts exceptionnels accordés aux banques à 24 heures, à une semaine, ou à trois mois. Et les banques ont déjà ou vont rembourser ces crédits. Pour avoir plus d’impact, la Fed a, le 17 août, abaissé l’un des taux de refinancement des banques. Sans succès durable.

A l’instar du président de la Deutsche Bank, Joseph Ackermann, Jean-Claude Trichet, le président de la Banque centrale européenne, a déclaré, jeudi, que "l’ingrédient principal qui manque c’est la confiance". Les craintes actuelles sont "dues pour une grande partie à l’absence de transparence suffisante sur les risques pris" par les banques, a-t-il ajouté.

L’économie est-elle en danger ? Jeudi, le Fonds monétaire international (FMI) a annoncé qu’il réviserait à la baisse ses prévisions de croissance pour 2008 aux Etats-Unis (2,8 % actuellement) et en zone euro (2,5 %) pour prendre en compte la crise financière.

La situation économique américaine, déjà en phase de ralentissement, est pénalisée. Selon l’association des banques hypothécaires, MBA, le nombre de saisies de logements a atteint un niveau record au deuxième trimestre aux Etats-Unis, et plus de 5 % des ménages américains ont eu des retards de remboursement. En outre, 35 000 emplois ont été supprimés dans le secteur financier au mois d’août. La banque Lehman Brothers vient d’annoncer 850 licenciements.

La crise des subprime se mue aussi en crise généralisée du crédit (crédit crunch). Des sociétés qui peinent à se financer, jusqu’aux crédits immobiliers et à la consommation qui risquent d’augmenter, c’est tout le système financier qui commence à se gripper.

(by Claire Gatinois et Cécile Prudhomme, published in Le Monde, September 7 and 8, 2007)

AutumnColours

Friends -

With the advent of Autumn, fall colors are evident along the North Saskatchewan valley.

Here are some photos from the past few days:

1. A view upstream, of morning fog on the river. The air was brisk, with a light frost, and the sun was still on the horizon.

2. In the woods, most of the berries have come and gone: saskatoons, pin cherries, chokecherries and wild raspberries being the main summer berries among the many types in our area. But in the wetter areas are the cranberries - both high and low bush. High bush cranberries are the most common, and in the fall the ripe berries give off a musky, earthy aroma, which is very distinctive. They make an aromatic jam, which cannot be bought in the normal grocery stores although one sees it at local farmer’s markets. The berries can stay on the bush and be edible until mid-winter, providing food for birds. A handful of frozen high bush cranberries is like having a popsicle, as they are very juicy as they thaw in your mouth. Most of the locals pick these berries in August, when they first ripen, but we delayed this year, and went into the wood below the house to collect 24 cups yesterday. Annie is making jam today.

3. One reason to delay picking high bush cranberries: when the leaves drop off the bushes, they become visible, taking the mystery out of where to look for them…

4. A morning view downstream. Barely seen, but honking loudly, three small groups of geese are on the wing above the fog.

5. Not everyone is finished harvest yet. A view of the field to the north of our house.

Enjoy,

Jim Szpajcher

PublicDisclosure and CoolingOff

Investors in mutual funds and segregated funds will have a cooling-off right that allows them to cancel their purchase. Investors will have two business days to exercise this right. The cooling-off right will apply to:

• initial purchases
• subsequent purchases, except for pre-authorized payment plan purchases
• switches, except for switches under asset allocation services

The two-day cooling-off period starts when the investor gives instructions to the dealer or insurer to buy the mutual fund or segregated fund.

Exercising the cooling-off right

Investors will have to give written notice to the dealer or insurer if they want to exercise their cooling-off right. For mutual funds, the investor will exercise the cooling-off right with the dealer. This means that the dealer will have to return the money to the investor. If the fund manager has received payment from the dealer or fund units have been issued, the fund manager will have to return to the dealer the money it has received or the value of the units it has issued at the time the investor exercises the cooling-off right. For segregated funds, the investor will exercise the cooling-off right with the insurer.

Amount received on exercising cooling-off right

The investor will get back the lesser of:

• the amount of their original investment and
• the value of the fund on the day they exercise the cooling-off right

If the value of the fund goes down during the cooling-off period, the investor will get back less than their original investment. The purpose of the cooling-off period is to let investors change their minds if they have been sold a fund they really do not want. It is not intended to protect investors from a short-term decline in market value. The investor will also get back any sales charges or other fees paid to buy the fund. The investor will not pay any redemption fees.

Here is a specimen disclosure which the Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators in Canada is considering. The document would be given to prospective purchasers before they buy a mutual fund:

The Joint Forum has issued a Consultation Paper, which can be found at
http://www.jointforum.ca/JF-WWWSite/attachment/consultation%20papers/IVICs/June_15_%202007_%20English/
Proposed_Framework_81-406.pdf

Submit comments to the Joint forum by Oct 15, 2007, at: Joint Forum Project Office, Joint Forum of Financial Market Regulators, Box 85  -  17th Floor, 5160 Yonge St., North York, ON, M2N 6L9

Or to jointforum@fsco.gov.on.ca