Dump the fish oils

From the Canadian Journal of Cardiology:

During the 1970s, two Danish investigators, Bang and Dyerberg, upon being informed that the Greenland Eskimos had a low prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) set out to study the diet of this population. ... This was the beginning of a proliferation of studies that focused on the cardioprotective effects of the “Eskimo diet”. ... we conducted a review of published literature to examine whether mortality and morbidity due to CAD are indeed lower in Eskimo/Inuit populations compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Most studies found that the Greenland Eskimos as well as the Canadian and Alaskan Inuit have CAD as often as the non-Eskimo populations. ... Our conclusion is that this hypothesis lacked a solid foundation.

Another diet fad bites the dust. You won't be hearing about this result down at the health food shop!

The ongoing collapse of Japan

Required reading: How Japan Blew Its Savings Surplus: What A Keynesian Dystopia Looks Like. Especially frightening: "even at today’s absurdly low and BOJ rigged bond rate of 0.6%, nearly 25% of government revenue is absorbed by interest payments".

The comments on this article are also interesting, there being one or two enlightening observations along with the usual ZH circle-jerk. Notably: as the balance of payments declines, asset sales abroad and consequent repatriation will put upwards pressure on the yen; if there is private selling too, though that will presumably mostly be JGBs so no exchange rate effect, there will be inflation; inflation plus a high exchange rate equals stagflation! And more, faster selling.

Look also at an article from yesterday: Japanese Bond Futures Volume Collapses To Zero Even As Service Sector Implodes. The Bank of Japan is now the only buyer for Japanese Government Bonds, and as Japan goes today, so America will go tomorrow.

The BBC's stunning hypocrisy

In a truly shameless example of the pot calling the kettle black, my Feedly stream from the BBC today contains an arresting link: "Russia's 'Stalinist' propaganda machine". I'm drawn to click on it because I've been constantly reading about the developing crisis in the Ukraine, since the days of Nuland's taped phone call, where she was discussing how the U.S. was fomenting the rebellion that finally boiled over into an armed coup. Also, for those who appreciate the tragicomedy of life, the irony of the epically Stalinist BBC accusing others of being propagandists is ... well ... just, well...

Tellingly the writer, one Bridget Kendall, spent some time doing postgraduate work in the U.S., and seems to be also a Guardian contributor. 'Nuff said!

The article starts off with an attempt to evoke a suprisingly elegiac existence ("the heady scent of lilac on the long warm evenings") — that of young Muscovites — and segues into how it may be on the brink of disaster because of the adventurism of the Russian President ("It's as though everyone is a spectator at a sporting event, or watching a game show on TV - a detached enjoyment, as though this orgy of Russian patriotism carries no consequences, so there is no point in thinking where it might lead."). It's a bit like watching a poor B-movie, where the bad things that are going to happen are heralded by a sudden fearfulness in the music. Interesting also that the word she uses to describe a display of patriotism is "orgy", with its many negative connotations. Indeed, since the word "orgy" must not now have anything except a positive connotation at the BBC when used to describe yer actual group sex, the negative usage seems to be restricted to what our ancestors thought were the old virtues.

After quoting a few more dissidents — academics who bemoan the country's slide into materialism and its inexplicable lack of appetite for the goals of the liberal intelligentsia — she finishes with a little dig at one of Putin's academic supporters, who apparently "smiles slyly" — ooh girl, the shivers are fairly coursin' down me spine!

All in all, an excellent example of why the BBC should be shut down immediately.