Ed. note: Andy Sundberg must be the only former US presidential candidate to celebrate his birthday by creating an Excel program we can all use to see just how long and valuable our time on Earth has been, since the day we were born. Happy number 69, Andy! And thank you for letting GenevaLunch share this delightful missive, sent to friends. The Excel file at the end is Andy’s, a game happily shared.

An additional bonus is that we now know that Andy, who is best known to many as the founder of American Citizens Abroad, was born on a truly special day, for on 6 January, over the centuries, the following have happened (credit goes to onthisday.com): the South Sea bubble was discussed, George Washington was married, Samuel Morse demonstrated the telegraph for the first time, the first commercial airplane flight took place, South Vietnam and the US launched a major offensive, known as Operation “Deckhouse V”, in the Mekong River delta, Britain recognized the Communist government of China – and the comic strip Peanuts debuted.

By Andy Sundberg, born 6 January 1941 in Hoboken, New Jersey

69 and All’s Well

An intergallactic report card

Birthdays are those special occasions when we can generously and gratuitously grant ourselves a brief indulgence to step back for a moment to reflect on the meaning of all this, and to contemplate what, if anything, we might have accomplished so far.

Obviously, we are free to choose any parameters we want and make any kind of calculations we think might enhance the significance of any bold claims we might be tempted to make.

After quickly having to admit the embarrassing lack of anything of any great moment to boast about, my search for bragging rights wandered off in the direction of how many different kinds of frequent flyer credits I might have accumulated to date, as the bits and pieces of “me”, in carne this time, were carried along, gratis, as a passenger within our inter-galactic space-time continuum.

So, for what it is worth, here are my accomplishments as of 3pm (Hackensack, NJ time) on the 6th of January, 2010.

On My Watch: Data from my birth certificate suggests that I have now been breathing continually for a full 69 years, which translates to roughly 604,830 hours (throwing in the leap year bonuses), which also comes to about 36.3 million minutes, or 2.17 billion seconds. Now that’s quite a few heartbeats!

Spinning Around the Earth: At the latitude where I have spent most of my life, a spot on the surface of the Earth moves tangentially at a rate of 1,073 kilometers per hour as the Earth spins. So this means that I have now spun through 649 million kilometers around the Earth’s axis since I was born.

Orbiting Around the Sun: As a “year” is the word we have assigned to define one complete circular tour our Earth makes around the Sun, I have now completed 69 of these full solar orbits as a free passenger on Spaceship Earth.

Accumulating Solar Orbit Frequent Flyer Credits: As Spaceship Earth circles around the Sun at a speed of 107,100 kilometers per hour, I have now clocked up 64.78 billion kilometres in solar orbit.

But that’s not all:

Cruising Toward Hercules: Our solar system, carrying Spaceship Earth along as a free passenger, moves within our Constellation, which we call “The Milky Way”, in the direction of the stars and planets comprising the Constellation Hercules at a rate of 72,360 km/hr. So I have now traveled 43.76 billion kilometers from whatever we want to call the starting point in space where I was born onward in this Herculean pilgrimage.

But wait, there’s still more:

Mega-Cruising Toward Leo: Our entire Milky Way Constellation moves through space toward the Constellation Leo at a rate of 2.16 million kilometers per hour. So I have now travelled 1.30 trillion kilometers from wherever we were when I was born in an intergalactic safari pursuing this elusive lion.

After all of this space travel, I still feel remarkably refreshed, thanks to whomever it was who decided to let me travel first class this time around. My only frustration is that I still haven’t figured out how to cash in all of these myriad frequent flyer credits, and the library of new travel brochures is awesomely intimidating.

A Few More Facts about Our Little Space Ship

Planet Earth is the third in distance from the Sun and the fifth largest in diameter. The mean distance of the Earth from the Sun is 149,503,000 km (92,897,000 mi). It is the only planet so far known to support life, although some of the other planets have atmospheres and probably contain water.

The Earth is not a perfect sphere but is slightly oblate, or flattened at the poles. The diameter of the Earth, as measured around the North and South Poles, is about 42 km (26 mi) less than the diameter of the Earth measured around the equator.

The Earth in Motion

The Earth and its satellite, the Moon, move together in an elliptical orbit about the Sun. The eccentricity of the orbit is slight, so that the orbit is virtually a circle. The approximate length of the Earth’s orbit is 938,900,000 km (583,400,000 mi), and the Earth travels along it at a velocity of about 107,100 km/h (about 66,000 mph).

In common with the entire solar system, the Earth is moving through space at the rate of approximately 20.1 km/sec or 72,360 km/h (approximately 12.5 mi/sec or 45,000 mph) toward the Constellation of Hercules.

The Milky Way galaxy as a whole, however, is moving toward the Constellation Leo at about 600 km/sec or 2,160,000 km/sec (about 375 mi/sec or 1,350,000 mph).

The Earth rotates on its axis once every 23 hr 56 min 4.1 sec (based on the solar year). A point on the equator therefore rotates at a rate of a little more than 1600 km/h (about 1000 mph), and a point on the Earth at the latitude of Portland, Oregon (45° north), rotates at about 1,073 km/h (about 667 mph).

The Earth’s Vital Statistics

Equatorial circumference – 40, 076.5 km (24, 902.4 miles)
Polar circumference – 40,008.6 km (24,860.2 miles)
Equatorial diameter – 12,756.34 km (7,926.42 miles)
Polar diameter – 12,713.54 km (7,899.83 miles)
Total surface area – 510,100,000 sq. km (196,950,000 sq. miles)
Volume – 1,083,230,000,000 cubic km (259,880,00,00 cubic miles)
Average density – 5.52 (water = 1)
Mass – 5.98×10^21 metric tons
Average temperature – 14C (57F)
Highest temperature – 58C (136F)

So Now You Know!!

And Now You Can Calculate Your Own Travel Results Too

If you want to calculate your own travel results so far, you can use the Birthday Calculator. Don’t touch anything except the number in the blue box at the top. Put in the number of years you have accomplished so far and the rest will calculate automatically.

Anyway, all the best and I hope you will enjoy the rest of this very welcome New Year 2010.

by Peter Gaechter

UBS has announced that it will close a huge, billion-dollar real estate fund, causing consternation and distress among its many investors, many of them smaller, private investors, according to the usually well-informed Swiss Sunday newspaper, Sonntagszeitung 13 December. That a real estate fund is in trouble should not come as a surprise. Investors who lose money on their punts know what they are getting into, even if it is, or was, a UBS fund.

Mortgage as bonus

In other news that is sure to cause more consternation and distress, employees of the bank’s US wealth management division will be entitled to interest-free  loans worth up to 65 percent of the income they bring in to the bank. This very generous step was forced onto the bank in an effort to keep its 7,200 wealth management employees in the USA from deserting. If the employee stays with the bank long enough, he or she won’t have to pay back the loan. That is in addition to the regular bonus program. Of course, UBS didn’t get any government bailout money in the US, and the Swiss government, which did bail out UBS in Switzerland, can’t really say anything about bonus policy in a part of the bank not under its regulatory supervision. Smart.

Ospel won’t go on trial

And there is good news for the bank’s former CEO, Marcel Ospel, who won’t have to go through the tedious experience of a trial for alleged tax fraud, falsification of documents, and the wilfully unsound management of his business. The Zurich public prosecutor’s office has decided not to press charges against him, having learned from the Swissair case how difficult it is to prove such things. Ospel was of course also intimately involved in the demise of Swissair, and the Zurich public prosecutor well knows how the Swiss business elite closes ranks against outsiders.

On the plus side, at least the bank’s shareholders, or the country’s citizens, will not have to pay for his legal costs.

But the bank’s most egregious misdemeanour in the past few years has been its ongoing assault on the English language with its long-running “You and Us” campaign. Every child knows that You and Us = Us. And we all know that people use Us as the object of a sentence. You and We, which I would let by if I were correcting an English test, is simply We. You and Us. We. Not much of an advertising campaign.

You be Us. I think not.

A young bluefin tuna jumping in the Mediterranean, courtesy and © WWF / photo by F. Bassemayousse

By Peter  Gaechter

The Pew Environment Group in Washington DC added its voice Thursday, 5 November to calls for a ban on fishing of bluefin tuna, stocks of which have been depleted by 85 percent since industrial fishing began in the 1960s, and which are now near collapse. Pew follows the lead of two environmental groups, which joined forces 28 October to urge a ban on bluefin fishing and trade.

WWF International, based in Gland, near Geneva, joined Greenpeace to call for a ban on the fishing of the Eastern bluefin tuna, because years of overfishing and misguided policies by fishing nations, especially in Europe, have brought the stocks close to collapse. The two advocacy groups support the scientific findings of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), whose scientists have said that continued fishing will effectively wipe out existing stocks. The scientists  recommend that the bluefin tuna be put on the CITES Appendix 1 list.

The Principality of Monaco submitted a proposal 14 October that the bluefish tuna be added to Appendix 1 of the CITES list of species threatened with extinction and banned from international trade. The European Union endorsed the recommendation and its fisheries commissioner, Joe Borg, has called on ICCAT to act. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora next meets in Doha 13-25 March 2010.

ICCAT meets in Recife 9-15 November

ICCAT, headquartered in Spain, meets in Recife, Brazil 9-15 November to consider its scientists’ findings. If the past is any guide, the outlook for the bluefin tuna is bleak. ICCAT has consistently ignored the warnings of its own scientists by setting quotas above what they have recommended. In 2007, the catch was estimated to have been 61,000 tonnes, twice the legal quota thanks to illegal fishing, reports the Economist.

In part the problem lies with the lack of any serious enforcement mechanisms to control unchecked fishing. The fish are caught by huge fish factories, sometimes with spotter planes, although these are officially banned, reports the Telegraph.

Another fault in the system to save the fish is that at ICCAT, member states are represented by fisheries ministers, who mostly represent their countries fishing industry. In addition, many European countries actively subsidize fishing fleets, beyond what is economically rational, which gives the fishermen the incentive to fish far and wide. Fishermen, like farmers, have powerful lobbies and plenty of clout. No country likes to have its harbours blockaded by its own angry fishermen.

ICCAT meant to defend stocks of bluefin tuna

In 1969, ICCAT was formed “to co-operate in maintaining the populations of these fishes at levels which will permit the maximum sustainable catch for food and other purposes…”. Increased industrial fishing in the 1960s lead to the collapse of bluefin tuna populations off the coasts of Brazil and in the North Sea. ICCAT claims to rely on the recommendations of its scientific advisors to set quotas for its member countries in order to maintain sustainable fishing of the bluefin tuna.

Tuna fish farms in the Mediterranean

In the 1990s European countries hit on an idea that allows them to get around their fishing quotas. Starting in Spain, in 1996 “tuna farms” started springing up. Fishermen catch the fish, and rather than landing them and processing them, they tow them to the farms where the fish are fattened, before they are killed and sold, according to WWF.

The problem with the tuna farms is two-fold. They are not really farms because they are not sustainable. The fish are caught  using purse seins, the only type of net that allows fish to be taken alive. But they are caught before they are sexually mature, so a fish taken is a fish gone. And the European Union actually subsidizes this behaviour in the mistaken belief that it is “aquaculture”.

There are now over 40 of these farms around the Mediterranean, from Spain and Libya through Italy, Croatia, Malta and Turkey. In 1995, an estimated 90 percent of the legal catch in the Atlantic went to supply the farms.

If tuna weren’t so tasty…

But the underlying problem of bluefin tuna is the value that we fish-eaters put on them. Earlier this year, more than $170,000 was paid for a single bluefin tuna in Japan, the world’s most ardent consumer of the fish for its sushi and sashimi bars.

The bluefin tuna is one of the fastest fish alive. When hunting prey, it can reach 70km/hour. It is warm-blooded, in that it maintains its body’s internal temperature stable, and it can, if we would let it, weigh 250kg and reach 4 metres in length. And it is obviously delicious to eat.

The fish found in cans at the supermarket are not bluefin tuna, but a related species, called the skipjack tuna. It is commercially less valuable because there are (still) substantial numbers in the sea.

By Peter Gaechter

Crowds formed long lines outside the UN building in Geneva to hear Gorbachev

The world missed a great opportunity to dismantle nuclear arsenals and rid the world of this danger when the Soviet Union collapsed, Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, told a Geneva audience Monday 5 October.  “We let slip a major opportunity. Too many thought it was a victory of the West in the Cold War. This was a distortion of things”, he said.

Some in the US misinterpreted the events surrounding the disintegration of the USSR as a victory for the West and especially for its one remaining superpower, he said, rather than as an opportunity to think boldly about doing away with the Cold War mentality and institutions such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato). “We looked beyond the horizon” in Reykjavik , he said, referring to his 1986 meetings with then US President Ronald Reagan that resulted in serious cuts in both countries’ nuclear weaponry.

Resetting the nuclear disarmament agenda

Both Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, and Gorbachev made strong cases for giving new impetus to the task of removing nuclear weapons from the world, addressing an audience of diplomats, UN employees and the general public at the third of a series of lectures on nuclear disarmament at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva.

Ban called on the world’s nations to find the political will essential to create a nuclear-free world, and cited last September’s UN Security Council meeting of heads of state which called for just such a ban, “a world without nuclear weapons”. Ban was optimistic, and pointed out that there is unprecedented agreement by the nuclear powers on issues such as Iran and North Korea, and that the US had promised to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, CTBT.

Gorbachev’s pessimism

The keynote speaker at the event, Gorbachev cited a number of reasons why things were not going so well: despite the efforts of the last years, there is a real risk of a renewed arms race (in the Middle East and in East Asia) and of the weaponization of space. He said that the weakening of the verification process over the past few years contributes to the increased risks. Short and intermediate nuclear-armed missiles increase the dangers of an accident, or that these may fall into terrorist hands. He said it was an illusion to believe that deterrence was anything but an invitation to disaster.

The clarity of Gorbachev’s main message was unfortunately a little obscured by its delivery. He may have star drawing power in the West, but he is irrelevant in his own country now. Yet a quarter of a century ago he was very important in making the world safer when he and Ronald Reagan sat down together to reduce each country’s nuclear arsenals.

Gorbachev quoted Reagan: “Trust, but verify” as the basis for their understanding, which reduced tensions between the two countries and in the world at large.

by Peter Gaechter

E-asy to vote

Voting has never been easier. I always thought it was cool to wake up on the Sunday morning of voting day, and go on down to the voting place, which in my case was the local gymnasium. When I moved across the border to France, things changed. As one of the many Swiss abroad, I could only vote by mail.

Now there’s another option.  For the first time, the Swiss abroad who are registered to vote in Geneva may vote by internet. There is really nothing to it. Once you go to the secure server, you’re asked to key in the 16 digit voting card number (the voting card is the one you usually put your date of birth on and sign), then you vote, you confirm, and it’s done. It really is that simple. This is a demonstration of how it works, in English.

In addition to all the Swiss abroad, residents of 11 communes (Anières, Bernex, Chêne-Bourg, Collonge-Bellerive, Cologny, Grand-Saconnex, Onex, Perly-Certoux, Plan les Ouates, Thônex and Vandoeuvres) can vote electronically. The vote is limited to 20 percent of the electorate because there are two federal issues on the ballot, which need to be approved by both a majority of the popular vote and by a majority of the cantons.

The federal council limits the vote to 20 percent of the canton’s electorate by means of the 1978 law on political rights, as amended for electronic voting.

Reviewed by Peter Gaechter

La chute des Templiers by Jo Meynent

Jo Meynent opened his second one-man show in as many years at the Palais d’Athenée Tuesday 1 September. Last year’s expo was more of a retrospective. Its success, however, paved the way for today’s show, in which Meynent presents many new works, most quite large. The dominant theme – in a show that is eclectic in style and especially in mood – is colour. Meynent is a master of colour, and this show demonstrates the breadth of his use of colour.

His new triptych, Visions d’un griot, are three related canvases with strong outlines of strangely nebulous animals, expressed in strong  primary colours. A winter scene, Le Grand Nord, is something that evokes either peace or utter desolation, painted with bleak greys, whites, and darks, a winter landscape of the soul.

His range is perhaps best appreciated in the smaller, secondary room that holds 17 smaller pieces. It is almost like a second exposition.

The works on display are few, a total of only about 35 works, and the multiplicity of styles can be disconcerting to some. In part this is because Meynent’s oeuvre covers almost 30 years and he has an enormous stock of paintings, only some of which are on show. This outward diversity is brought together by a theme that runs through all of his work: a singularity of spirit, a mix of fantasy and mysticism.

Totem by Jo Meynent

L'homme qui doute by Jo Meynent

An inveterate collecter of civilization’s detritus, Meynent has sprinkled his show with objets that he has fashioned into pieces worthy of being called art. His totem guards a corner, and a crippled galvanized iron grill says heaps about things that served a purpose but no longer do. My favourite is the “eyes in the bell”. For a totally zen moment, though, look at the two smooth, round stones from a  mountain stream with a horseshoe nail in each.

This post appeared on brandingthroughpeople. Author Ago Cluytens has previously shared posts from his marketing blog with GenevaLunch.com

Recently, I went to buy a mobile phone, and came out of the store with a computer, printer and MP-3 player.  Now, those of you that know me can confirm I’m usually a level-headed guy who doesn’t throw money out the window. So what happened ?

I recently became interested by the new Apple iPhone 3GS, because it contains a number of functions that I can see myself use on a daily basis; I was especially interested by the recently included video camera, which means I can now use it for a new project I’m working on. After lurking in the shadows for a while, I decided to go to the Apple Store to check it out. And there, it happened. Not only did I buy an iPhone, but I also sprung for a brand new Macbook Pro and a printer !

I decided to analyse what happened, and here’s what came out: Apple provides you with a brand experience that is more guaranteed to make you buy than the average carpet salesman in a Moroccan soukh …

Read more…

By John Weeks

John Weeks is professor of organizational behavior at IMD, Lausanne business school. He teaches in the orchestrating winning performance and advanced strategic management programs. He will take part in an event with Usain Bolt 6 July 2009 at IMD in which the Olympic gold medalist will share his insights on motivation with a business audience.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is the fastest man in human history after setting three world records at the Beijing Olympics last year. Reaching the heights that Bolt attained required motivation, critical thinking and focus. Even more important, it required turning early setbacks into advantages, turning weaknesses into strengths and developing the motivation required of a world champion. These three attributes are lessons that can apply to those working in business.

Play to one’s strengths

If a sports coach hadn’t recognized that Bolt’s special gift was speed when he was young, he might have stopped at being reasonably good at cricket, a sport he had been practicing in his youth. When coaches advised Bolt to concentrate on a 400-meter race, Bolt had enough self-confidence to realize that his strength lay in the 100-meter dash. The Olympics proved him right. Bolt was cognizant enough in his own abilities that he knew when to accept or ignore feedback.

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By Arturo Bris

Arturo Bris is the programme director for strategic finance at IMD in Lausanne. He also teaches in three IMD programmes: advanced strategic management, building on talent and orchestrating winning performance.

Global leaders at the G20 Summit in London earlier this year made one of the most ardent defenses of globalization we have recently seen. But by declaring that “the era of banking secrecy is over”, they paradoxically engaged in a battle that can ultimately undermine democracy and competition, two of the key drivers of globalization.

Since the G20 Summit, banking secrecy has continued to be a hot topic in the media. Obviously, banking secrecy may be considered unethical, unfair, and anti-competitive – but it is legal. It is as legal as feeding meat-producing animals with steroids, or refusing the nationality to a child born within a country’s borders. Countries differ in their regulations, and these differences are good for the world, because they spur competition.

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by Andy Sundberg

Andy Sundberg is a committee member of American Citizens Abroad (ACA), which is based in Geneva, Switzerland

Background: “US, Switzerland ‘initial’ revised double taxation agreement”, 19 June 2009, GenevaLunch

There is, alas, much more to this story than what has appeared in print so far.

When ACA first learned about these negotiations, a few weeks ago, we asked the U.S. Embassy staff in Bern to help us arrange a meeting with the U.S. Delegation from Washington that would be coming to negotiate with the Swiss Government in Bern.  All of their attempts were rebuffed.

We then asked members of the U.S. Embassy staff in Bern to please transmit our written requests to the team. What we hoped to see happen was for this revised agreement with Switzerland to include provisions that were already contained in some other recently revised double taxation agreements with other countries. We had learned that such provisions were supposed to become standard components of all future double taxation treaty revisions.

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