The “Syndrome of Disavowed Yearning”

It’s a weird idea, but something about disavowed and yearning had some truth in it. Sometimes you wonder if celebrities and successful people are happy.  Sometimes it is easy to wonder if it is possible to have friends when someone is so popular or attractive.  Life must be intense.  It wouldn’t be unreasonable to imagine …
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Measuring ethics in business.

When we started managing portfolios with an ethical and socially responsible objective having a pre-screened universe of stocks saved a lot of initial work reviewing every listed company to see how green and clean it was.  In 1999, we came across the Domini 400 which was a great place to start.  It was focussed on …
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Doping lasts a lifetime. So should disclosure and cheating bans.

Research published in the Journal of Physiology shows that the benefits of steroid doping remain for life.  Muscles retain a memory of what they did so that after a period of inactivity, when they are trained again they bounce back in to shape.  The same behaviour is found in muscles of people who are more …
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Biotech is gonna eat you for lunch!

If you don’t live in America you almost certainly haven’t heard about the strong arm tactics of big biotech firms like Monsanto, Novartis and Dupont.  Even if you live in the States you might think that genetically engineered food is “gonna save the world”.  Well it isn’t.  And 90% of Americans want to know whether …
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GMO (genetically modified food) is not good. Don’t assume it is.

Another comprehensive, scientific report on genetic engineering in the food web concludes that it is dangerous, uneconomic and counter-productive.   From our perspective as consumers the worst aspect is danger to health.  From the producers’ perspective the worst aspect is the prospect of being under the thumb of biotech giants. The report GMO Myths and Truths …
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Apple is opening up to free software.

It has always seemed unfair that when you spend loads of money on a new PC it won’t do anything until its loaded with basic software to do basic things, from turning the desktop on with an operating system to typing a letter in a word processor or surfing the web in a browser.  That …
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Biochar: The Original Soil Amendment to Mitigate Climate Change

Below is an article from CSR Wire summarising the use of charcoal as a soil improver.  It’s benefits have been known for centuries as it was a principal technique used by aboriginal American peoples.  Adding charcoal to soil helps it maintain its vitality and catalyses the decomposition of plant and animal matter and its transformation …
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