Saturday, March 16, 2024

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health by Gary Taubes

The author of Good Calories, Bad Calories is strongly in the "carbs are bad" camp, however, he presents his argument with a fairly open mind. He believes there is adequate science out there to support the low-carb diets. However, it has been suppressed. 

There are multiple reasons for this suppression. There are some researchers that have received money from companies that pedal sugary food. This leads them to favor sugar (as opposed to fat.) There was also a loss of key German nutrition research after the world wars. Scientists have jumped to conclusions after limited studies. Then they have seen repetition of their initial hypothesis. Government policy was put in place before the science was settled. This advocacy for low-fat diets ended up biasing future work. Science disciplines are also very narrow and don't communicate well, limiting the view of what he sees as the obvious solution.

The criticisms of science are all valid. The advocacy for low-carb diet is also fairly convincing. However, with the thoroughness, you could easily advocate for just about any diet. He goes for the Occam's Razoer argument. Carbs are the simple solution, so they must be true. However, he also ties it with the argument for hormones and genetics. If it is our body that is controlling weight gain it why bother with what we eat? How is it that exercise doesn't matter?  

There are also challenges about grouping things together. Are all carbs bad? Are the groupings appropriate? What are the causes and effects? Do people really eat because they or predisposed to get fat?

Nutrition is complex. People have been getting fatter recently. Modern processed junk food seems closely correlated. But is it causation? Or is there an external factor? 

The book is a good exploration of low carb diets by a science writer. Will we ever have a solution to diet that maximizes health while also preserving the environment and economy?

Another Fine Myth: Myth Adventures, Book 1

Another Fine Myth: Myth Adventures, Book 1 by Robert Asprin

The narrator is training with a wizard. He is struggling with some basic magic, but then things get really weird. There are people from various dimensions that are traveling around and participating in a significant conflict. They all seem to come from worlds that would be very "punny" from our point of view. They are "demons" (d-men - from other demensions), perverts (from perv), etc. The humor seems very 1980s. The narrator's mentor suffers an untimely exit, and he ends up being mentored by somebody new who is trying to help fend off a calamity. Story twists and turns, but it is mostly just a vehicle for jokes.

Cat's Cradle

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Cat's Cradle is one of Vonnegut's better books. The audiobook also includes a brief interview with the author, though that does not add much to the book. 

The story centers around an author who is trying to write a book about the experience of the nuclear bomb. He contacts the children of the scientist behind the bomb and asks what their experience was when the bomb went off. He received responses and got to know the family better. We learn that the scientist was a rather peculiar man. His wife and children also had their strange traits. The scientist had also been asked by the marines to invent something so they would not have to fight in mud. He had actually done it, though he had not widely shared it. This was "ice-9" a substance that is a "seed" that changes the crystallization and melting point of water, and can pretty much caused instantaneous freezing. Each of his children had a small amount. This would lead to the end of the world. 

The novel also ventures off to a nation where all religion is banned, especially the "national" religion. This religion is quite quirky and extremely contradictory. The leader of the company is on his death bed and a seemingly random outsider is asked to be leader. Leadership pays well and comes with dictatorial responsibilities, but nobody wants it. However, the old leader dies with ice-9 and most of the world gets iced over. The few survivors can survive by melting off ice.

There is some crazy science here (which is not fully explained) as well as plenty of social commentary, and just plaine zaniness.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova

This book starts with an interesting idea and then repeats them ad nauseam. The idea is that looking at things carefully like Sherlock Holmes can be beneficial in many aspects of life and business. It is helpful to understand biases and not jump to unwarranted conclusions. We should carefully observe things and understand what details our mind is "filling in". These are some good points and would make a nice magazine article. As a book, it goes on for much too long. I kept thinking it was over, but then it would continue on with different variations of the same points.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure

Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure by Tim Harford

Failure and adaptation are the key to success. In biological, species don't make a plan to change. They simply let random differences occur as they adapt to surroundings. Some of these changes end up providing an advantage that becomes replicated. Changes that provide a distinct disadvantage typically fade away. Sometimes these changes come outside the natural environment. English bulldogs are bred to be pleasing to people. In the process, it has become difficult for them to reproduce themselves without human intervention.

Governments and other organizations will often try top-down approaches to dictate the desired outcomes. These approaches may minimize failure, but also minimize breakthrough success. In the case of scientific research, NIH funds "low risk, low reward" research, while HHMI will fund high risk, high reward research. When comparing scientists with similar backgrounds, those with the HHMI tend to produce more significant research than the others. 

Talking telephones were shown in the 1960s Jetsons cartoon. Today, Zoom and other video calls are common place. However, a planning body didn't set out with a plan in 1960 to have talking phones in 60 years. Instead, a number of unrelated innovations ended up coalescing together. The public internet rose out of a network for the defense department and research. Video and audio compression algorithms, microchips, fiber optics and many other components were developed and evolved for different purposes. Eventually video calls could be created by combining a few of these components.

Dictating a desired outcome can often have a deleterious impact. Players may look for a workaround that meets the desired criteria without providing the sought benefits. The fuel economy standards (CAFE) were meant to encourage more fuel efficient vehicles. Instead, they resulted in SUVs and larger vehicles that were classified as "light trucks" and thus adhered to lower standards. A better approach to reduce gasoline use would be to simply make the cost more expensive. This would encourage greater efficiency as well as alternative approaches. GU24 light sockets and energy efficient construction also fall victim to similar mandates. In finance, we often seek regulation to avoid the last disaster, which just enables seeking more loopholes and a potential new disaster. 

The biggest challenge with adapting and letting things come about is with "big problems". Finding a vaccine or a cure for a disease requires a lot of work and effort. Prizes can often be a part of the solution for these big challenges. Allowing internal changes can also help. A skunkworks project may provide a solution, or it may spin people in a different direction. Allowing people with different interests and talents can also help as they look for a new way of doing things. We need to continue to adapt to succeed. 

A Broken Blade: The Halfling Saga

A Broken Blade: The Halfling Saga by Melissa Blair

There is a world of Elf's, Halflings and Humans. The non-humans have special strengths, but the human king uses them for his purposes. The novel centers around a woman who is one of the top fighters for the king. She carves the names of everyone that she kills in her skin as a memory of her actions. She is sent to go fight with rebels and ends up joining them and even falling in love (or is it lust?)

The story can be interesting, if a little slow moving. The world is somewhat confused. How can the humans subject the others if they are more powerful? And what about reproduction? There are hints of non-standard was, but they seem to have pretty standard sex drives. Somehow they can fall in love with each other, get drunk, and yet still have great talents. If that is so, why are they subjected to others? 

Saturday, March 09, 2024

Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment

Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment by Arushi Avachat

Arya's older sister returns home to begin wedding preparations. Arya has a little resentment with this. She also is discouraged with the experiences in school. The student body president seems to put her in a lower position. Then a bunch of conflicts come up. Relationships get flipped around. Friends get mad at each other. They also have a goal to get a big school event planned. She eventually finds the boy that she like (who has been near her all this time.) The kids get into college and the family begins the process of reconciliation. The book was structured like a Bollywood movie. However, it would really need some music to keep the effect. Instead, it came across as a more typical teen romance, with the protagonistic and Indian in America. 

The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China

The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China by Philip Ball

Water has played a key role in the history of China. There have been great water projects in many eras of the China's history. Canals date from well over 2000 years ago. The modern Three Gorges Dam is one of biggest in the world.  Control of water for crops has contributed to strength of central government. China has had a navy and sailed through other nearby areas of Asia. However, they never had the bold exploration ambitions of Europeans. This was in part due to the great distances to travel and the lower importance of Chinese coastline.

This book has an interesting thesis. It does get a bit confusing as it is organized on topics, and will go through the history from one topic, then explore the same history from another point of view. There are certain areas (such as Maoist and modern China) that do get more coverage.

Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human

Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham

Humans adopted cooking. Then evolution move to favor those that cooked food. Cooking food allowed humans to devote fewer resources to the digestive system and more to other areas. This helped humans to later dominate. Today there are some people that advocate "raw" diets. However, these diets are rare and often result in caloric deficiencies. They also often require use of food that has been processed in some ways. Humanity's ancestors were likely able to live on this raw food, but today, people are quick to move towards cooking.

Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different

Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different by Philip Ball

Quantum mechanics is weird. It seems to go against how we observe in the world. In our normal everyday life, traditional physics does seem to do a good job. However, quantum physics help explain some of the details that tie things together. Observations are not "free". Anytime we try to observe something we change it in some way. This makes science challenging.

This book was one of the more clearly written ones on thee subject. It acknowledges the weirdness and does a good job elucidating principles in context.

Trust

Trust by Hernan Diaz

At the outset, I wasn't sure if this was a biography or a work of fiction. It is cleanly set in the real world of the late 19th and early 20th century. Most of the supporting cast is recognizable. However, I had never heard of the main characters. After a while, it became clear that it was not just a work of fiction, but a work of fiction within a work of fiction.

The first part of the book is a fictional story based on the life of business leader. He had started life as a precocious child. He was born into the family that had made a multi-generational fortune in tobacco. However, he did not smoke. He was intrigued by numbers and business. After the passing of his parents, he eventually sold of the family business and focussed on his own business. He was married to a woman that also had a precocious childhood. He made a great fortune and managed to get rich when everyone was failing. He even had great short positions at the outset of the 1929 stock market crash and made even more money there. He would later help prop up the economy and aid others. Eventually, his wife slid into insanity. He tried to bankroll therapies, but she was not cured, and escaped from the asylum.

The novel then pivots to the "real world". A young family is struggling during the depression. The dad is a printer and an anarchist. The daughter has skill typing and writing. She seeks employment and makes it through a few rounds of interviews at a Wall Street firm. She then discovers that her task will be to help write the autobiography of the "real" man that felt he was slandered in the fictionalized life. He especially is concerned with the way his wife was portrayed. She had died of a tumor, not insanity. He desired her to be portrayed as a faithful companion.

There are a few conflicts in the writing process. Then the businessman dies suddenly, meaning his account is never published. The girl later returns to the primary sources and discovers a secret diary that the businessman's wife wrote in during her final days. There she discusses her pain in the treatment as well reminiscences of her past. We learn that she had significant musical talents and experience. Her husband had taught her about finance and by looking at it from her music background, she was able to gain new insights in the market that would become immensely profitable. The couple were a great combination, making huge amounts of money. She also observed the arbitrage opportunity with the inputting of transactions by clerks. She proposed they pay one off to get this data and thus make huge gains.

The book leaves us with multiple accounts of the life of the businessman. What is the truth? All accounts are considered truthful in the eyes of the teller. The wife's account appears the most reliable. (Though you would think the paid off clerk would eventually squeal.) This would provide a good example of using "other sources" and going against traditions to gain advantage. It would also put the "honesty" to question. However, these were also reminiscences by somebody on their deathbed. Can we even have a fixed truth?

Friday, March 08, 2024

Good Material: A Novel

Good Material: A Novel by Dolly Alderton

A mediocre comedian broke up with his girlfriend. He struggles with his life. He still has mutual friends with her. Just when things can't get worse, a scathing review of his performance appears online. Eventually, he uses the breakup as a way of reinvigorating his comedy career.  At the end we learn of her side. She also brings up that she is looking for somebody that has the 10% that he lacked, but then realizing the other 90% is missing. I got lost a bit at the start, but book flowed nicely after I got a grasp of what was going on. The change of perspective at the end was a nice touch.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland

Alice lives in Australia. An accident takes the lives of Alice's parents when she is a young child. She goes off to live with her flower farmer grandparents. She tells stories to herself, falls for a Bulgarian, runs away and makes up a story of her life like she would like it. There are some cruel things that happen. The book can be slow moving and it is easy to get lost.

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Bretz's Flood: The Remarkable Story of a Rebel Geologist and the World's Greatest Flood

Bretz's Flood: The Remarkable Story of a Rebel Geologist and the World's Greatest Flood by John Soennichsen

Eastern Washington state has a bizarre landscape. There are "dry falls" and other large geological formations. J. Harlen Bretz believed these came from a large flooding event. Other geologists scoffed at this. (They were also reluctant to accept this because it could seem to give credence to the biblical flood.) Eventually, many of the old geologists died off and Bretz's view became accepted. Lake Missoula is seen as the source of this flood. 

Bretz was originally from the midwest. He taught high school in Seattle. He later returned east and taught at the University of Chicago and continued teaching and engaging in fieldwork. He lived into his late 90s as he finally saw his views accepted. 

Tuesday, March 05, 2024

Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind: A Powerful Plan to Improve Mood, Overcome Anxiety, and Protect Memory for a Lifetime of Optimal Mental Health

Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind: A Powerful Plan to Improve Mood, Overcome Anxiety, and Protect Memory for a Lifetime of Optimal Mental Health by Dr. Georgia Ede MD

I had hopes that this book would be a good analysis of diet and mental health. Alas, it was a diet book pushing the keto diet. The author would proclaim that we cannot trust any epidemiological studies because they are not good randomized, controlled studies. We also could not trust pronouncements of the benefits of certain diets because they had not been studied enough. Instead, we should just focus on an all-meat diet because it is "natural". We should trust that it is good because there have been no big studies on it. Wait? Didn't we just criticize other diets as being bad because there were problems with the studies? Oh, but for keto diets, the problems with the studies mean that they missed out on it being good. It just comes across as selective analysis to push a certain diet. 

There are some good points, but even they are not without issue. It is easier to get the nutrition we eat while just consuming meat without supplementation. But if the world would do that, we would probably be driven to cannibalism after we had used up all land and driven wild game to extinction. The author tries to spin other studies on their head. The compounds that plants produce that are supposed to help us fend off bad things? Well, plants make them to fend off pests, so they must be bad for us also.

At times the author does try to be balanced. There are even some attempts at vegetarian-type keto diets. But, it does feel half-hearted. The key point is that super-processed food is not so great for us. Beyond this book just schills a diet with confused and contradictory scientific logic.

Saturday, March 02, 2024

Welcome to the Monkey House

Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut (Wikipedia)

This collection of Vonnegut short stories expressed many of the concerns of the day. The "modernization" of society and sexual revolution are key concerns. The titular story deals with a means of birth control that "numbs" people from the waist down to prevent excess reproduction (as an alternative to birth control.) 

Other ones that stuck was a story about a man with a lot of inherited wealth that lived as a pauper. He didn't want to use his wealth because working as a jazz pianist at a dive club provided him great joy. Another was about an anti-agining serum and a family that fought against each other in regards to the constantly changing will of grandpa.

There are a number of interesting stories in the collection. Vonnegut was a great short story writing.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet

Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet by Hannah Ritchie

This book offers a "middle road" to environmental policy. It avoids the "doom and gloom" of some environmentalist rhetoric. It specifically calls out "alarmist rhetoric" as being unfruitful. The author has an optimistic view that we will be able to make it through with our human ingenuity. However, we must act, but we shouldn't waste our time being stupid.

People get focussed on small things that will not provide significant benefit. Sometimes it is even counterproductive. Palm oil is banished from food due to the impact on forests. Then the it is later imported as "green" biofuel. People get hung up on recycling, plastic bags and other small things. However, these don't make a huge difference (and there are trade offs).

Agriculture is one of the more significant sources of emissions. Local food may be marginally better. However, shipping is a very minor part of the energy input. Produce from the other side of the world may be produced cheaper and use less energy overall than local produce that requires intensive "assistance" to grow. Meat production consumes a large amount of energy, with the larger the animal produce a greater amount of "waste energy". (The author even mentions that grain-fed is more efficient than grass fed. Though, I question that. If the area is natural prairie, the animals should be providing the fertilizer that helps the growth with minimal excess energy need.)

Organic agriculture has its place, but fertilizer has become important for feeding the world. Grain spent to feed animals or produce fuels is agriculture that is not used for feeding people. Vertical farms use a huge amount of energy making them less efficient.

The author gave examples of acid rain and the ozone hole as two areas where the world banded together to benefit the environment. Those were two cases  where the harms were readily apparent and a solution was available with minimal change required. Global warming appears a different beast. The problem and harm are both not readily visible. Some reactionaries will point to climate change for every weather event. Deniers will brush it all off. We are left primarily with models. Some areas may benefit. Others will be decimated. Are the models sufficient? There has been a big focus on CO2. But what about other factors? This can be one of the pitfalls of climate studies.

We have been getting more expensive. Out local air is much less polluted than it has been before. (No more smoke from cooking fires!) Beijing is an example of a place that cleaned up the air "for show" for the olympics, then took the steps to get ir really cleaned up for real. We have a number of competing factors in the environment. What about a clean source like nuclear energy? It will be challenging to find complete solutions, but things are not as bad as the doomsayers make out.

Fight Right: How Successful Couples Turn Conflict Into Connection

Fight Right: How Successful Couples Turn Conflict Into Connection by John Gottman and Julie Schwarts Gottman

This book was similar to Gottman's other books. It also felt a little more commercial. There were a few references to the Gottman Referral Network to find a counselor.

Content-wise the book was good. It provided a number of anecdotes of couples with descriptions of their outcomes. Some avoid conflict, some are always fighting, while others are validators. Couples with any characteristics can have successful marriages.  Some of the keys are to make sure that positive communication significantly outnumbers negative communication. Starting a fight with positive can help lead to better outcome. Looking at the dreams and underlying reasons can help to lead to better outcome. Fights are often about "nothing". There is an an underlying reason for the differences, but the fight is about the surface. The underlying values need to be addressed to reach a true conclusion. Sometimes there won't be a solution. (You can't have "half a child"). In most cases, however, there can be a solution by looking at the "bagel" of most important values.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon

Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon by Eric H. Cline

Eric Cline has written many other books that describe details of ancient civilizations that archeologists have discovered. In this book, he focuses instead on the archeologists themselves. The focus is on the dig for "the lost city of Solomon". The site had many layers of artifacts, some of which are still being uncovered. 

Most of the work done was done between the world wards by Rockefeller-funding groups from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. These had plenty of problems working together. This is to be expected with people traveling across the world to spend huge amounts of time together working with others. Some people didn't get along. Others had extreme prejudices. Others were just a product of their time. Wives would often accompany the men, but did not do much work until the end. Some people just did not get along with each other. There were mixtures of local workers with out of towners. Great discoveries were made, but there were also plenty of mistakes made. The work came to an abrupt close due to World War II. The return was prevented by looting and damage to the site. 

The book was not what I had expected. It does, however provide a counterpoint to the archeology of Indiana Jones. These guys were working at the same time, but not quite the same glamor of those in the movie.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

The meditations are very much that. These are a collection of small thoughts and beliefs of the philosopher emperor of rome. His was in a position of great power, but did not want to think too much of himself. There were some thoughts related to leadership. However, most of the thoughts drifted towards his thoughts of this own nothingness and limited significance in the grand scheme of things. He would go on to be remembered as a "Good emperor" and one who was not assassinated.

The Universe in Your Hand: A Journey Through Space, Time, and Beyond

The Universe in Your Hand: A Journey Through Space, Time, and Beyond by Christophe Galfard

This book is one of the best explorations of theoretical physics I have seen. It tells of the "story" of the person (you) as you explore space and the universe through all time. There is "time travel" as we attempt to gain a better understanding of concepts as well as "see" things first hand. I still have trouble grasping some of the details, but this book has done better at exploring some of the modern scientific thoughts than any other I have read. It covers areas from quarks to antimatter to the expansion of the entire universe.

The Islamic Enlightenment: The Struggle Between Faith and Reason: 1798 to Modern Times

The Islamic Enlightenment: The Struggle Between Faith and Reason: 1798 to Modern Times by Christopher de Bellaigue

I should have paid attention to the subtitle. I had thought this would be about science and learning in early times. However, the focus was on how the Islamic world struggled with science and western thought. It covers many people in the Islamic world, though it felt like Iran and Turkey held much of the focus. There were some key differences between Muslim and western society. 

Some Victorian novels of the time would not translate well. If multiple girls like the same man, they would all marry him. It seemed to be a simpler solution. 

Other areas were more challenging. There were many figures that sought to incorporate western thought into their own worldview. There were struggles along with various successes and failures.

The Ostrich Paradox: Why We Underprepare for Disasters

The Ostrich Paradox: Why We Underprepare for Disasters by Robert Meyer and Howard Kunreuther

People are stupid. They are bad at math. They underestimate the chance of bad things happening to them, except when they overestimate the chance of bad things happening. 

Upon hearing that an evacuation order may come, most people say they will obey. When the order finally does come, a much lower percentage actually evacuate. The theoretical ends up being more challenging when it requires immediate work. They also discover that they are not well-prepared for the individual moment. The evacuation ends up taken longer than predicted. 

The September 11th destructions of the World Trade Centers show both sides of the reaction. Before the attacks, there had been other attempts to destroy the towers. Yet, when the owner sought to ensure the tours, there was no special treatment given to acts of terror. It was covered with any other peril. Smart people and companies greatly underestimated the chance of a terrorist attack. Afterwards, people greatly overestimated the chance of further planes flying into buildings. Many people drove instead of flying, even though driving had a must greater chance of injury.

Equity concerns and resiliency also play a role in bad behavior.  It feels unfair to have some people in riskier areas pay higher insurance costs - especially when these are poorer. Thus homeowners in areas susceptible to fires or flooding end up getting insurance that is subsidized by others. They have difficulty seeing their true costs. Then when their property is destroyed, they show their resilience by building right back in the same place, rather than in safer places. These forces make it difficult to appropriately price and plan for bad disasters.

There are ways we can help fix our behavior as a society or individuals. However, it is challenging. There is likely to be more "head in the sand" in the face of disasters.

Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

This book takes a few moments to acknowledge that Breakfast of Champions is a trademark of the cereal company. It them spends a lot of time on the ruminations of a dirty old mind. Kilgore Trout appears as do aliens. The idiosyncrasies of what people think is important or offensive all come in to play as Vonnegut tries to push people's buttons. There is a plot here about a car dealer that believes Trout's science fiction is true. However, it feels like the plot is just a vehicle for different bits of satire and observations. 

Grain of Truth: The Real Case For and Against Wheat

Grain of Truth: The Real Case For and Against Wheat by Stephen Yafa

Why did Gluten become public enemy number one. It has been trendy to adopt a gluten free diet. There are some people that suffer from celiac disease. Gluten produces significant negative consequences in their lives. Avoiding gluten is critical for their health. Tests can help identify their condition.

There are also many others that think the may be suffering from gluten intolerance. The only test here is self-reporting. These people are the trendy ones. They are willing to adopt the cardboard-like gluten substitutes because they think it makes them feel better. Does it? If so, why?

The author of this book is not a fan of those that declare a single item as the source of all our problems. There is a long history of those pointing to the evils of fats, carbs, gluten and many other substances. They typically have convincing arguments and stories. They then suggest their diet that leads to improvements. Many people follow them. Some achieve short term benefits. Very few people enjoy it or stick with it for the long term.

The problem with wheat ends up being complex. Gluten can be problematic. However, thee biggest problem is the way that we consume wheat. It is most often heavily processed white flour without the bran. Breads have also been fermented quickly. These factors together have helped to cause our modern wheat to be more problematic for our bodies. A whole wheat sourdough bread would not create as many issues with many people as a commodity white bread. Our nutrition research has been focussed on the single bullet, but our bodies and nutritional needs are much more complex than that. Our great ability to isolate and fortify may be our undoing. Attempts to solve problems by further isolation and banishment is a continuation of the same problem.