Economics Business Music Politics Altruism : September 2014

Music, Medicine and Trout

Oil painting of Franz Schubert
by Wilhelm August Rieder (1875)

Lunch time talk with my business partner who was a doctor for many years drifted into our founder Sir Stamford Raffles suffered from syphilis which is a STD and he also kept a Chinese mistress in Singapore.

The composer of "The Trout" Franz Peter Schubert in my previous article on Omega-3 died a bachelor of syphilis. Some music historian attribute his death to typhoid perhaps to remove the shame attached.

For those who are familiar with classical music, please skip the next two paragraphs as I explain the nomenclature.

Why label great classical works with monolithic and unimaginative titles? Having a meaningful name "The Trout" is a rare honour. The technically correct name is Piano Quintet in A major D.667 and lets unravel the actual name. Piano Quintet means a Piano accompanied by a String Quartet. Quintet is a root word for 5 and therefore 5 performers. A string quartet; quartet meaning 4; normally consists of 2 Violins, Viola and Cello but Schubert had one of the two violins substitued with a double bass in this case. The line up would be Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass. The D.667 is a reference number and most commonly used as Opus except for some composers like Schubert and Bach. A WvO or Posth means no reference attached or done posthumously after the death of the composer.

The next piece to unravel are the movements. Most pieces come in 3 or 4 movements. The transition from one movement to another can be punctuated with a pause or can be stringed together with no pause. Have attended concerts where some audience clap inappropriately between movements. If unsure, follow the crowd in your next visit to a concert. The label attached to each movement normally indicates the speed, mood and other special instructions. The Trout has 5 movements in our piece are I Allegro vivace, II Andante, III Schrezo: Prestissimo, IV Andantino - Allegretto, V Allegro guisto. Most of these words are Latin in origin. Some popular musicians attach titles like Andante Cantabile without reference the composer and title which shout of their possible lack of knowledge in classical music.

The maxim dead artists are worth or cherish more after their death hold true in this piece. The piece was written when he was 22 years old but was only published 10 years later or one year after his death. The piece was commissioned by a weathy music lover Sylvester Paumgartner. In current context, it means a for profit work where the artists gets funding ( and directions ) from the customer.

Jeremy Siepmann have this to say about this work "..irresistible piece of such infectious good humour....(how a) tightly structured quartet conjure up such a crystal clear aquatic picture" which explains the special name of The Trout. Perhaps you are more more ready to dive into the entire 5 movements now and enjoy it in the process.

Trout like most oily fish is a good source of Omega-3 as opposed to whitefish. Oily fish have oil in many parts of their body and contain an avergae of 30% more oil than whitefish which only have oil in their liver.

Lastly, for the more adventerous, these are highly recommended recordings gleaned from Gramophone Classical Music Guide.

1. James Levine, Gerhard Hetzel, Wolfram Christ, Georg Faust, Alois Posch. DG 431 783-2GH DDD
2. Christian Zacharias, Leipzig Quartet (Andreas Seidel, Ivo Bauer, Matthias Moosdorf ) Christian Ockert. MDG 307 0625-1 DDD

Peter Lye aka lkypeter
lkypeter@gmail.com Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye (c) Peter Lye 2014

Photos: Wikipedia(r)Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

"META" Censorship-To Singapore with Love by Tan Pin Pin

Explaining 'meta-data' is like double talk as it literally means data about data. It is fine to be

confused for the moment as the concept shall unveil itself by the end of this piece or I would be in trouble.

The Book

The latest spin in Singapore's chapter of cyber space revolves around the media regulator Media Development Authority (MDA) decision to attach a Not Allowed for All Rating (NAR) to the 2013 film "To Singapore with Love" by Tan Pin Pin. NAR is the apex rating meaning fully banned without exceptions and possession can be criminal as well.

Statement from MDA on their rationale for the NAR is as follows; "MDA has assessed that the contents of the film undermine national security because legitimate actions of the security agencies to protect the national security and stability of Singapore are presented in a distorted way as acts that victimised innocent individuals"

The NAR news went viral quickly on Internet with a plethora of varied comments. Some in

Tan Pin Pin

coarse to the more refined academic and poetic language. Language aside, the contents of the discourse runs through a common vein. Allow it to be screened and let the public be the final arbitrator of truth privately and not collectively as opinions are not likely to be uniform.

Perhaps, the dispensation of communism, race and religion can polarize Singapore into disarray has passed. Singaporeans have grown up and no longer an immature populace requiring paternalistic oversight by the government to keep us safe from harms way.

Not withstanding these, I tend to support that some government operations have to be covert for national interest and even USA acknowledges this. However, these agencies like Secret Service, CIA, FBI and Homeland Security are accountable to a very select and small Congress oversight committee. They do have some form of blank cheque but large cheques will be scrutinized by the oversight committee after the fact as many of these covert operations are time sensitive.

The dictum today's news is tomorrow's history is even embraced by Lee Kuan Yew. He recognized this in his memoir mentioning that most probably some doctoral candidates might choose to research the dispensation on Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew during his rule.

Finally, the raison d'etre for this piece is to facilitate the explanation of the concept of Meta Data. So please do not attach any political affinity to this piece and the author.

There is no denying that chatter ( Meta Data) about the film and its rating by the government most probably generated more and varied materials than the film itself. Some of my friends in sales and marketing went so far as "Dirt Sells" by way of free news print acreage. People are curious by nature. Banning it will generate more curiosity. Perhaps law makers should consider censoring 'Meta Data' if there is ever such a phrase or even possible.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter
lkypeter@gmail.com Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye (c) Peter Lye 2014
Wikipedia®Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

Ebola-An Economic & Political Solution?

The 1995 movie "Outbreak" by Morgan Freeman portrayed an Ebloa like outbreak but is manufactured in Hollywood so take it with a pinch of salt. The six month old Ebola crisis which started in Guinea, has spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone and claimed about 2,100 lives. It caught the attention of the world but not serious enough move them to response at the requisite level. This is important as the solution to the problem might lie in the economic and political sphere than medicine.

The SARS outbreak in 2003 grabbed global attention with a quick world-wide clarion call coordinated by WHO. The response to Ebola had been tardy and half hear-ted thus far. Voices of politicians have been anything but lip service literally.

The reason could be manifold one of which is “The long and ugly tradition of treating Africa as a dirty, diseased place” written by Laura Seay and Kim Yi Dionne for The Washington Post. The global community must rid itself of this old dictum and rise to the occasion by embracing all human lives as equal. ( but some are more equal than others; punt intended from Animal Farm).

Ebola’s historical mortality rate is close to 90% according to WHO but experts are reporting rates in the neighborhood of 60%-80% in the field this time round. This could be due to better care. In comparison, SARS actual mortality rate for the 2003 outbreak was only 9.6%.

Both diseases have some commonality. Proven preventative (vaccine) and therapeutic treatments are not available. Only supportive care to help the body fight the disease is available.

A number of drugs are in various stages of development but nowhere near human trial. Some quarters propose deploying them into the field immediately with little to loose in view of such high mortality. Some objections seem valid but others sound frivolous.

Firstly, it could kill the patient and unleash dangerous novel disease. There is no Bio-Safety-Level (BSL) facility in the field and accidents might lead to catastrophic outcomes.

Scientist that live in glass houses are even voicing that there is no means to construct proper double blind trial test and therefore the outcome is of limited future scientific value.

The supply is limited and cannot be increased quickly. Decisions on who gets the drug might be a sociological nightmare.

The administrators or politicians at FDA in USA do not want a binding precedent that drug companies might exploit in future. The affected 3 African countries' equivalent “FDA” are primordial and grossly lacking in scientific capabilities and they are unlikely to be the road block.

The real life field situation is akin to the movie “Outbreak” but the similarity ends with the solution. The “Index” primate was located in a remotely improbable drama fueled by the imagination of the script writer. The extracted anti-gen works like an elixir in delivering an almost instant cure. The anti-gen was mass produced and distributed and the day was saved by Morgan Freeman. We are not witnessing such solutions in Africa.

The solution to the Ebola epidemic in Africa is right in front of us.

Firstly, it has been proven that with better supportive treatment, the mortality rate goes down drastically. This has been proven to a small extent by the few cases that were repatriated back for treatment. Although we cannot be totally sure of the outcome, we are definitely sure that this course of action have little or no risk but might drain the treasuries as air dropping military field hospitals and personnel is not going to be cheap. Politicians are unlikely to support this because of Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) as the R0 or the measure of infectiousness is low and therefore remote possibility of Ebola reaching their shores unlike SARS which has a higher R0. In addition, if it does, the collateral damage is minimal as it is easily contained with good health infrastructure.

Secondly, there is proof to support Ebola as an orphan disease. Since its discovery in 1976, the number cases is not exactly small but the patients are mostly the poor in Africa with limited capability to pay for the drug. There is limited incentive for drug companies to invest in. Other funding channels to fund or co-fund such initiatives are government, charitable foundations and NGOs. Even with such assistance, it is not easy to attract talent into such specialties in enough numbers to support a viable infrastructure for such work.

The process from Bench to Bed is an insidiously long process because drugs are becoming more complex and harder to test for efficacy, safety and many other factors. Man kind cannot be so myopic and be directed by $ alone.

We might not have a medical cure for Ebola but as a global community, we do have the means to arrest this outbreak by putting enough resources and change cultural norms in Africa. The will to do so by politicians might be weaker as it seems that Africa had brought this upon her self.

Cloudy Computing

Cloud Computing was controversial in its infancy but has gain credibility quickly as advantages over main stream computing gain cloud.

The recent leakage of nude pictures of some celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton from Apple iCloud has delivered major set backs to Cloud Computing.

The prospect of Cloud Computing has indeed turn more cloudly.

Perhaps Cloudy Computing might be a more appropriate name at this stage or consider a better name for Cloud Computing. by Peter Lye