A.Lange & Sohne watches

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone who was a lot nicer than circumstances warranted.

When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.

The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant husbandry. He came from the “No pain, no gain” school of horticulture. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you water them, each successive tree generation will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out the weenie trees early on.

He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.

So he never watered his trees. He’d plant an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

Dr. Gibbs went to glory a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re granite strong now. Big and robust. Those trees wake up in the morning and beat their chests and drink their coffee black.

I planted a couple of trees a few years back. Carried water to them for a solid summer. Sprayed them. Prayed over them. The whole nine yards. Two years of coddling has resulted in trees that expect to be waited on hand and foot. Whenever a cold wind blows in, they tremble and chatter their branches. Sissy trees.

Funny things about those trees of Dr. Gibbs’. Adversity and deprivation seemed to benefit them in ways comfort and ease never could.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer.

This change has to do with the inevitability of cold winds that hit us at the core. I know my children are going to encounter hardship, and I’m praying they won’t be naive. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere.

So I’m changing my prayer. Because life is tough, whether we want it to be or not. Too many times we pray for ease, but that’s a prayer seldom met. What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into the Eternal, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be swept asunder.

Once, when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter.

This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money.

Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, elephants, and other acts they would see that night.

One could sense they had never been to the circus before. It promised to be a highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack, standing proud as could be.

The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, “You’re my knight in shining armor.”

He was smiling and basking in pride, looking back at her as if to reply, “You got that right.”

The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, “Please let me buy eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”

The ticket lady quoted the price. The man’s wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, and his lip began to quiver. The father leaned a little closer and asked, “How much did you say?”

The ticket lady again quoted the price. The man didn’t have enough money.

How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he didn‘t have enough money to take them to the circus? Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground. (We were not wealthy in any sense of the word!)

My father reached down, picked up the bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket.”

The man knew what was going on. He wasn’t begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking, embarrassing situation. He looked straight into my dad’s eyes, took my dad’s hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with his lip quivering and a tear running down his cheek, he replied, “Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family.”

My father and I went back to our car and drove home. We didn’t go to the circus that night, but we didn’t go without.

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Can it really be sixty-two years ago that I first saw you?

It is truly a lifetime, I know. But as I gaze into your eyes now, it seems like only yesterday that I first saw you, in that small café in Hanover Square.

From the moment I saw you smile, as you opened the door for that young mother and her newborn baby. I knew. I knew that I wanted to share the rest of my life with you.

I still think of how foolish I must have looked, as I gazed at you, that first time. I remember watching you intently, as you took off your hat and loosely shook your short dark hair with your fingers. I felt myself becoming immersed in your every detail, as you placed your hat on the table and cupped your hands around the hot cup of tea, gently blowing the steam away with your pouted lips.

From that moment, everything seemed to make perfect sense to me. The people in the café and the busy street outside all disappeared into a hazy blur. All I could see was you.

All through my life I have relived that very first day. Many, many times I have sat and thought about that the first day, and how for a few fleeting moments I am there, feeling again what is like to know true love for the very first time. It pleases me that I can still have those feelings now after all those years, and I know I will always have them to comfort me.

Not even as I shook and trembled uncontrollably in the trenches, did I forget your face. I would sit huddled into the wet mud, terrified, as the hails of bullets and mortars crashed down around me. I would clutch my rifle tightly to my heart, and think again of that very first day we met. I would cry out in fear, as the noise of war beat down around me. But, as I thought of you and saw you smiling back at me, everything around me would be become silent, and I would be with you again for a few precious moments, far from the death and destruction. It would not be until I opened my eyes once again, that I would see and hear the carnage of the war around me.

I cannot tell you how strong my love for you was back then, when I returned to you on leave in the September, feeling battered, bruised and fragile. We held each other so tight I thought we would burst. I asked you to marry me the very same day and I whooped with joy when you looked deep into my eyes and said “yes” to being my bride.

I’m looking at our wedding photo now, the one on our dressing table, next to your jewellery box. I think of how young and innocent we were back then. I remember being on the church steps grinning like a Cheshire cat, when you said how dashing and handsome I looked in my uniform. The photo is old and faded now, but when I look at it, I only see the bright vibrant colors of our youth. I can still remember every detail of the pretty wedding dress your mother made for you, with its fine delicate lace and pretty pearls. If I concentrate hard enough, I can smell the sweetness of your wedding bouquet as you held it so proudly for everyone to see.

I remember being so over enjoyed, when a year later, you gently held my hand to your waist and whispered in my ear that we were going to be a family.

I know both our children love you dearly; they are outside the door now, waiting.

Do you remember how I panicked like a mad man when Jonathon was born? I can still picture you laughing and smiling at me now, as I clumsily held him for the very first time in my arms. I watched as your laughter faded into tears, as I stared at him and cried my own tears of joy.

Sarah and Tom arrived this morning with little Tessie. Can you remember how we both hugged each other tightly when we saw our tiny granddaughter for the first time? I can’t believe she will be eight next month. I am trying not to cry, my love, as I tell you how beautiful she looks today in her pretty dress and red shiny shoes, she reminds me so much of you that first day we met. She has her hair cut short now, just like yours was all those years ago. When I met her at the door her smile wrapped around me like a warm glove, just like yours used to do, my darling.

I know you are tired, my dear, and I must let you go. But I love you so much it hurts to do so.

As we grew old together, I would tease you that you had not changed since we first met. But it is true, my darling. I do not see the wrinkles and grey hair that other people see. When I look at you now, I only see your sweet tender lips and youthful sparkling eyes as we sat and had our first picnic next to that small stream, and chased each other around that big old oak tree. I remember wishing those first few days together would last forever. Do you remember how exciting and wonderful those days were?

I must go now, my darling. Our children are waiting outside. They want to say goodbye to you.

I wipe the tears away from my eyes and bend my frail old legs down to the floor, so that I can kneel beside you. I lean close to you and take hold of your hand and kiss your tender lips for the very last time.

Sleep peacefully my dear.

I am sad that you had to leave me, but please don’t worry. I am content, knowing I will be with you soon. I am too old and too empty now to live much longer without you.

I know it won’t be long before we meet again in that small café in Hanover Square.

Goodbye, my darling wife.

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US House and Senate lawmakers have hammered out a historic overhaul of financial regulation. The bill aims at cracking down on the abuses that caused the financial crisis in 2008.

In a marathon session of more than 21 hours, legislators agreed to a rewrite of rules that may subject banks and other financial institutions operating in the United States to tougher oversight and tighter restrictions.

Barack Obama, US President, said, “We’ve all seen what happens when there is inadequate oversight and insufficient transparency on Wall Street. The reforms making their way through congress will hold Wall Street accountable so we can help prevent another financial crisis like the one we are still recovering from.”

The bill restricts derivatives trading by banks and curb their proprietary trading to shield taxpayer-backed deposits from more risky activities.

Banks will be allowed to keep most swaps dealing activities in-house. And they will be permitted only small investments in hedge funds and private equity funds.

Lawmakers also agree that banks should face restrictions on their risky trading activities.

The bill sets up a new consumer-protection authority and gives regulators new power to seize troubled financial firms. It also sets up an inter-agency council to monitor system-wide risks to stability.

The reforms must still win final approval from both chambers of Congress before Obama can sign them into law. The reform could go to Obama for his signature by July 4th.

Australians are getting fitter with an increasing number involved in regular physical activity, a new research showed on Friday.

New research released on Friday by the Australian Sports Commission revealed that in 2009 an estimated 8.2 million Australians were involved in regular exercise (at least three times a week), or 48 percent of the population aged over 15.

This was up from 37 percent in 2001.

Except in the youngest age group, the 2009 Exercise, Recreation and Sport Survey (ERASS) revealed females had higher regular participation rates than males.

“While women were more likely than men to be regular partakers, 51 percent compared to 45 percent for men, males regain some kudos in that they are likely to be active for longer periods per session,” the report said.

The top five workouts for 2009 organized by clubs, fitness centers or other associations were aerobics/fitness, soccer, netball, golf and tennis.

According to the report, even before the Australian Team World Cup campaign, soccer had the largest increase in total participation between 2001 and 2009, a 52 percent increase.

Four teddy bears, fully decked out in custom-made spacesuits, were launched to the edge of space this week as part of a British university experiment.

Blasting off from Cambridge University’s Churchill College on Monday, they were attached to a helium balloon and fitted with multiple cameras, a GPS receiver, flight computer and radio for the two-hour nine-minute flight, which saw them rise 30 kilometres (18.8 miles) above sea level.

The spacesuits were designed by local schoolchildren, as part of a project to engage youths in science and engineering, organised by the Cambridge University Spaceflight student club.

CU Spaceflight said the aim of the experiment was to find out which of the four spacesuits, each designed by a different group of students, best insulated the cuddly toys from the -53 degrees Celcius (-63 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures.

“We want to offer young people the opportunity to get involved in the space industry whilst still at school and show that real-life science is something that is open to everybody,” said Iain Waugh, CU Spaceflight’s chief aeronautical engineer.

“High altitude balloon flights are a fantastic way of encouraging interest in science. They are easy to understand, and produce amazing results.”

A Cambridge University spokeswoman noted: “No treasured possessions were endangered in this experiment.”

A Lange & Sohne was first established in 1845 by Adolph Lange in Glasshutte. The firm established itself as makers of distinctive and fine timepieces – its pocket watches were prized by European gentry. Following the Second World War, the factory was seized by what was then East Germany. Walter Lange, the company’s heir fled. It was only after the German reunification in 1990, that the founder’s great grandson, Walter Lange, began reviving the company. With funding from LMH, the newly reformed company set out to restore its fine watchmaking tradition. The company was sold to the luxury conglomerate Richemont in July 2000. Although its watch parts may be cut with exceptional precision by the most advanced computer-aided machine tools, they are still finished, decorated and engraved by the skilled hands of some of the world’s finest watchmakers.

AN exceedingly lean little peasant, in a striped hempen shirt and patched drawers, stands facing the investigating magistrate. His face overgrown with hair and pitted with smallpox, and his eyes scarcely visible under thick, overhanging eyebrows have an expression of sullen moroseness. On his head there is a perfect mop of tangled, unkempt hair, which gives him an even more spider-like air of moroseness. He is barefooted.

“Denis Grigoryev！” the magistrate begins. “Come nearer, and answer my questions. On the seventh of this July the railway watchman, Ivan Semyonovitch Akinfov, going along the line in the morning, found you at the hundred-and-forty-first mile engaged in unscrewing a nut by which the rails are made fast to the sleepers. Here it is, the nut！ . . . With the aforesaid nut he detained you. Was that so？”

“Wha-at？”

“Was this all as Akinfov states？”

“To be sure, it was.”

“Very good； well, what were you unscrewing the nut for？”

“Wha-at？”

“Drop that ‘wha-at’ and answer the question； what were you unscrewing the nut for？”

“If I hadn’t wanted it I shouldn’t have unscrewed it,” croaks Denis, looking at the ceiling.

“What did you want that nut for？”

“The nut？ We make weights out of those nuts for our lines.”

“Who is ‘we’？”

“We, people. . . . The Klimovo peasants, that is.”

“Listen, my man； don’t play the idiot to me, but speak sensibly. It’s no use telling lies here about weights！”

By TOM ZELLER Jr.

Published: March 28, 2010

NEW YORK — When the United Nations’ climate chief, Yvo de Boer, announced last month his intention to relinquish =leave=abandon  his post in July, he seemed to underscore a point that was becoming increasingly clear to everyone in the aftermath of the fizzled climate talks in Copenhagen.

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“I have always maintained that while governments provide the necessary policy framework, the real solutions must come from business,” said Mr. de Boer, who will be taking a post as a global adviser on climate and sustainability with the Swiss consulting firm KPMG. “Copenhagen did not provide us with a clear agreement in legal terms, but the political commitment and sense of direction toward a low-emissions world are overwhelming. This calls for new partnerships with the business sector and I now have the chance to help make this happen.”

Mr. de Boer’s frustration at the world’s inability to come to an agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is no secret.

Indeed, at a gathering of investors, business representatives and sustainability professionals in New York last week, Ed Crooks, energy editor for The Financial Times, the host newspaper, suggested that Mr. de Boer had simply grown tired of “banging his head against that particular brick wall.”

But Mr. de Boer’s words also suggest that the problem of industrial emissions and the risks posed by a warming planet have hardly gone away and that the hot, bright spotlight is now focused not just on parliaments and presidents, but on boardrooms and executive suites.

That is to say, while the globe’s biggest industrial emitters, led by the fossil fuel industries, may have successfully helped to stymie the development of a binding treaty at Copenhagen — and, as my colleague John Broder reported late last week, to defang cap-and-trade legislation now pending in the American Congress — there is more pressure than ever on big business to come up with solutions.

The question is, can businesses ever be relied upon to address climate change — or really, any social issue, from pollution to poverty — entirely on their own?

To be sure, for all the doubt and political mistrust that has been deliberately sown by big business organizations, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to fossil fuel lobbies the world over, the obligations facing industry — on the climate issue and on environmental impacts generally — continue to mount.

Lloyds of London, the global insurance giant, issued something of a warning to businesses on its Web site just last Friday. “Pressure is building on businesses to address the environmental impact of their operations,” the firm wrote. “Moves by intergovernmental bodies and investors suggest that they could soon be made more financially accountable for the pollution they cause.”

That call for accountability is coming from a variety of directions — and not just from legislatures, although the continued promise of new regulations loom large. Lloyds, for example, noted that “some experts are even predicting that many of the world’s biggest companies could see their profits cut by one third as a result of more stringent regulation, the abolition of subsidies and increased taxes.”

But investors and shareholders are playing an increasing role in demanding change as well.

Just last month, Lloyd’s noted, a coalition of investors from 13 countries representing about $2.1 trillion in assets decided to call out 86 “laggard” companies that had failed to deliver on their commitments as signatories of the United Nations Global Compact — a policy initiative initiated 10 years ago that seeks to bring global business in line with “universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.”

And the Financial Times conference last week in New York, after all, called “Investing in a Sustainable Future,” was animated by the notion that “C.S.R.” (one of those dreadful suit-and-tie glyphs standing in this case for Corporate Social Responsibility), is now an inextricable part of doing business.

“We believe that C.S.R. is entering its second stage of evolution, whereby it is being integrated into corporate strategy and is becoming part of good corporate governance,” wrote Jayne Van Hoen, the global director for conferences and events at The Financial Times, in the program for the event.

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The menu of speakers — a medley of sustainability and investor relations directors from companies like Ford, Dell and ExxonMobil; corporate environmental consultants; and socially conscious fund managers — formed the basis, Ms. Van Hoen said, “of a single program at companies that believe a strategy of ‘doing good’ will not only be its own reward, it will also enhance shareholder value.”

Sure, it is easy to dismiss some of this as so much Pollyannaism. The whole notion, of Corporate Social Responsibility, after all, is seen by some as, at best, an opportunistic smokescreen — and at worst a fundamental contradiction in terms.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman wrote 40 years ago in his book “Capitalism and Freedom,” that “there is one and only one social responsibility of business — to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game.”

Of course, businesses also spend much time and treasure attempting to influence the rules of the game — and ensuring that any changes to the rules, however broad or obvious their potential social benefits, do not affect their bottom lines.

Which is probably why, when he was asked during a panel session at the conference, whether Mr. de Boer’s sentiment — that “real solutions must come from business” — was accurate, Fred Krupp, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said that while businesses had an important role to play in curbing emissions, governments still needed to provide a policy framework to make it happen.

“The most important thing government can do is pass national policy,“ Mr. Krupp said, adding: “We’ve never solved any pollution problem without policy limits.”