Features

PARIS — The unprecedented degradation of Earth’s natural resources coupled with climate change could reverse major gains in human health over the last 150 years, according to a recent published sweeping scientific review.

“We have been mortgaging the health of future generations to realise economic and development gains in the present,” said the report, written by 15 leading academics and published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet.

“By unsustainably exploiting nature’s resources, human civilisation has flourished but now risks substantial health effects from the degradation of nature’s life support systems in the future.”

Climate change, ocean acidification, depleted water sources, polluted land, overfishing, biodiversity loss — all unintended by-products of humanity’s drive to develop and prosper — “pose serious challenges to the global health gains of the past several decades”, especially in poorer nations, the 60-page report concludes.

The likely impacts on global health of climate change, ranging from expanded disease vectors to malnourishment, have been examined by the UN’s panel of top climate scientists. But the new report, titled “Safeguarding Human Health in the Anthropocene Epoch”, takes an even broader view.

The “Anthropocene” is the name given by many scientists to the period — starting with mass industrialisation — in which human activity has arguably reshaped Earth’s bio-chemical makeup.

“This is the first time that the global health community has come out in a concerted way to report that we are in real danger of undermining the core ecological systems that support human health,” said Samuel Myers, a scientist at Harvard University and one of the authors.

Danger of bee decline

A companion study on the worldwide decline of bees and other pollinators, led by Myers and also published in The Lancet, illustrates one way this might happen.

The dramatic decline of bees has already compromised the quantity and quality of many nutrient-rich crops that depend on the transfer of pollen to bear fruit.

Pollinators play a key role in 35 per cent of global food production, and are directly responsible for up to 40 per cent of the world’s supply of micro-nutrients such a vitamin A and folate, both essential for children and pregnant women.

The complete wipe-out of pollinating creatures, the study concludes, would push a quarter of a billion people in the red-zone of vitamin A or folate deficiency, and cause an increase in heart disease, stroke and some cancers, leading to some 1.4 million additional deaths each year. A 50 loss of pollination would result in roughly half that impact, the researchers found.

Scientist are still debating exactly why pollinators are dying off, but there is no disagreement that all the possible causes — pollution, insecticides, land-loss — are related to human activity.

A second companion study examines for the first time the impact of decreased zinc levels in staple crops such as wheat, rice, barley and soy caused by higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the main driver of global warming.

Already, nearly a fifth of the world’s population is at risk of zinc deficiency, which can cause pre-mature delivery, reduce growth and weight-gain in children, and compromise immune functions. By 2050, projected CO₂ emissions could place an additional 150 million people at risk, according to the study published in Lancet Global Health.

“Our civilisations may seem strong and resilient, but history tells us that our societies are fragile and vulnerable,” Richard Horton, editor in chief of The Lancet and a co-author of the main report, said in a statement.

Introducing the concept of planetary health, the report calls for urgent action, starting with a paradigm shift in the way we understand the relationship between our environment, social or economic progress and human health.

TON PHEUNG, Laos — It’s nine in the morning and the gaming tables are still going strong. As croupiers take bets from the overnight die-hards, several exhausted gamblers sleep nearby, one still clutching a wad of betting slips.

Welcome to the Kings Romans, a sprawling casino complex topped by a giant golden crown that bursts into view from a sleepy riverbank on the Laos’ side of the Mekong River.

The Chinese-owned casino in Ton Pheung district, Bokeo, is the centrepiece of a 10,000-square-metre “Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone” set up by communist-ruled Laos with investment from its giant neighbour.

The other Golden Triangle nations, Thailand and Myanmar sit just across river, an intersection that has long hosted illicit activities — from drugs and human trafficking to weapons smuggling and the sale of rare species.

The casino is an attempt by the Laos government to cash in on an activity that is banned in China yet loved by its people: gambling.

And the good times are rolling as a Chinese crackdown on gambling and other vices pushes pleasure-seekers to more permissive nations nearby.

The two-storey Kings Romans casino is dwarfed by its rivals in the regional gambling hub of Macau and even in Southeast Asian neighbours Cambodia and Vietnam.

But — open seven days a week, 24 hours a day — Kings Romans receives a steady stream of Chinese gamblers who have made their way south with pockets and briefcases filled with cash.

“Chinese players really are among the greatest gamblers in the world,” a hostess responsible for welcoming customers enthused to AFP during a recent visit.

“They can stay one or two days at the same gaming table non-stop, it’s incredible,” she added, unwilling to give her name in a zone dominated by murky interests and where discretion is the watchword.

Venturing inside the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) feels like stepping into mainland China. The clocks are all set to Beijing time, Mandarin and other Chinese dialects are commonplace and the main currency is the yuan.

Few of the employees are Laotian. Most are Chinese or from Myanmar.

For impoverished, landlocked and isolated Laos, the zone is a much needed source of income.

Chinese money runs throughout the Laos economy. It is the nation’s biggest investor with rail, roads and hydropower among China’s main interests.

But observers say the inflow of cash has come at a cost — including serious environmental damage and the displacement of landless poor to make way for mega-projects.

Observers say the SEZ has now become a place to wash dirty money from China as well as local criminal networks, with fears the 99-year lease will only cement that status.

The Golden Triangle has long been known for its drug production. In previous decades it produced some of the world’s most sought after heroin.

In more recent years many of the drug syndicates have switched to lab-produced crystal meth and other synthetic highs, according to a recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report.

“Cash-based commercial activities such as casinos, currency exchange shops or even just restaurants offer better opportunities to introduce in the legitimate economy money obtained through illegal activities,” warns Giovanni Brossard, from the UNODC.

Laos has moved to crack down on money laundering, Brossard notes, with laws against the crime and by setting up a financial intelligence unit within the country’s state bank.

“Yet so far no single money laundering case has made it to the court,” he says.

Alongside gambling a whole host of other bacchanalian industries have sprung up to cater to punters looking to play away from prying eyes in their homelands.

Sex workers openly ply their trade on the sidewalks or at the myriad massage parlours.

“People love to come here with friends and book private rooms,” explains a Chinese member of staff at a disco near the casino.

“Most are men and they bring in girls.”

Conservationists say the SEZ also caters to those with illegal culinary tastes.

A recent probe by campaign group the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) found visitors could openly buy products from endangered species including tigers, leopards, elephants, rhinos and bears.

Restaurants offered sautéed tiger meat, bear paws and live pangolins on their menus.

“One business kept a live python and a bear cub in cages, both of which were available to eat on request,” the NGO’s investigators found.

During AFP’s visit in early April, the businesses allegedly unmasked by the EIA investigation were no longer open.

As a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Laos is supposedly committed to stopping illegal wildlife trafficking and clamping down on the illegal ivory trade.

But the convention is widely flouted.

FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO — BMW and Apple may rekindle a courtship put on hold after an exploratory visit by executives of the world’s top maker of electronic gadgets to the headquarters of the word’s biggest seller of premium cars.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook went to BMW’s headquarters last year and senior Apple executives toured the carmaker’s Leipzig factory to learn how it manufactures the i3 electric car, two sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

The dialogue ended without conclusion because Apple appears to want to explore developing a passenger car on its own, one of the sources said.

Also, BMW is being cautious about sharing its manufacturing know-how because it wants to avoid becoming a mere supplier to a software or Internet giant.

During the visit, Apple executives asked BMW board members detailed questions about tooling and production and BMW executives signalled readiness to license parts, one of the sources said. News of the Leipzig visit first emerged in Germany’s Manager-Magazin last week.

“Apple executives were impressed with the fact that we abandoned traditional approaches to car making and started afresh. It chimed with the way they do things too,” a senior BMW source said.

The carmaker says there are currently no talks with Apple about jointly developing a passenger car and Apple declined to comment. However, one of the sources said exploratory talks between senior managers may be revived at a later stage.

It is too early to say whether this will be a replay of Silicon Valley’s Prometheus moment: The day in 1979 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs visited Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Centre where the first mouse-driven graphical user interface and bit-mapped graphics were created, and walked out with crucial ideas to launch the Macintosh computer five years later.

BMW has realised next-generation vehicles cannot be built without more input from telecoms and software experts, and Apple has been studying how to make a self-driving electric car as it seeks new market opportunities beyond phones.

Staff changes

Since the visit, there has been a reshuffle at the top of BMW, with Harald Krueger, appointed BMW chief executive in May, in favour of establishing his own team and his plans for BMW by year end, before engaging in new projects, a person familiar with his thinking told Reuters.

A further complication was the departure of BMW’s board member for development Herbert Diess, who played a leading role in initial discussions with Apple. He defected to Volkswagen in December.

Diess, who declined to comment for this piece, oversaw the development of BMW’s “i” vehicles which are built using light weight carbon fibre, using a radical approach to design and manufacturing.

Car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley companies ranging from Google Inc., which has built a prototype self-driving car, to electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc.

Diess has said the German auto industry needs to undergo radical change because consumers are demanding more intelligent cars and anti-pollution rules mean the next generation vehicles will increasingly be low emission electric and hybrid variants.

In 2030, only two generations of new cars away in auto manufacturing time scales, only a third of vehicles will be powered by a conventional combustion engine alone, experts predict.

“It means that in two cycles we will shut down two-thirds of our engine manufacturing,” Diess told a panel discussion in July last year, adding that the value chain for new electric cars is already shifting, with vehicle batteries made mainly in Asia.

“The second part is that the car will become intelligent, part of the Internet,” Diess continued. “And the strong players in this area are in the United States, in the software development area. We will surely need to find alliances in this field.”

Germany has two years to prove that it can hold its own against new entrants when it comes to shaping the future of luxury vehicles, Diess said.

Them and us

Carmakers including BMW have already developed next generation self-driving cars, vehicles which need permanent software updates in the form of high-definition maps allowing a car to recalculate a route if it learns about an accident ahead. The technology is moving ahead faster than the legal and regulatory rules which would allow large-scale commercial availability.

Earlier this year, BMW’s new R&D chief Klaus Froehlich said his company and Apple had much in common, including a focus on premium branding, an emphasis on evolving products and a sense of aesthetically pleasing design.

Asked, in general terms, whether a deeper collaboration beyond integration of products like the iPhone would make sense, Froehlich initially said BMW would not consider any deal that forces it to open up its core know-how to outsiders.

“We do not collaborate to open our eco systems but we find ways, because we respect each other,” Froehlich told Reuters.

BMW will keep in mind the needs of the customer, and what the company’s core strengths are, when it considers the merits of entering any strategic collaboration, Froehlich added.

Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW’s management board member in charge of the Mini brand as well as digital services declined to comment on possible talks with Apple in an interview earlier this year.

But he said: “Two worlds are colliding here. Our world, focused on hardware and our experience in making complex products, and the world of information technology which is intruding more and more into our life.”

The winners will be those companies that understand how to build intelligent hardware, he said, adding it made sense for carmakers and tech firms to cooperate more closely.

“We need to get away from the idea that it will be either us or them... We cannot offer clients the perfect experience without help from one of these technology companies,” Schwarzenbauer said. That dialogue is well under way, he stressed.

With $202.8 billion in cash, Apple has the resources to enter the automotive market on its own, said Eric Noble, president of the Car Lab, a consulting firm in Orange, California.

The tech giant would have an edge on the dashboard, its CarPlay infotainment system connecting iPhones to cars, but would be at square one with the rest of the car, Noble said.

If Apple decided to sell a car it could make sense to find a partner to help with industrial scale production, retail and repair, since demand for such a vehicle could be high.

There are no estimates for potential Apple car sales but the brand and its products command a loyal following. So if only 1 per cent of Apple’s annual iPhone customers decided to order a car, it would need to make 1.69 million vehicles.

That’s more than the 434,311 vehicles Jaguar and Land Rover produced last year. Even BMW Group, which made just over 2 million cars last year, would struggle to free up capacity.

Gliding with cosseting comfort and latently potent rumble from its mighty V8 along Jebal Ali backroads, the UAE’s and Middle East’s first JIA Jensen Interceptor R had seamlessly sailed through the registration process just two days prior during an exclusive test drive earlier in the year.

With slinky low waist, generous glasshouse and unpretentiously dramatic design the Interceptor R stands out well in a modern city like Dubai and against a backdrop of more overtly aggressive contemporary luxury cars. However, despite its immaculate period appearance, the thoroughly re-engineered Interceptor R is no fragile relic, but boasts contemporary electrics, A/C and robust General Motors-sourced driveline well suited for daily driving in hot busy urban environments.

Dramatic and distinctive

A glamorous but niche grand tourer even in its 1966-76 glory days, the Interceptor was sumptuous yet unpretentious and moodily dramatic yet reserved. Famously driven by Frank Sinatra, Clarke Gable, Tony Curtis, Dusty Springfield and Farah Fawcett, it exuded sophistication and class.

The Interceptor married British luxury and engineering with American muscle courtesy of 6.3 and 7.4-litre Chrysler V8 engines, and timelessly stylish Italian design by Carrozzeria Touring of Milan. With dedicated cult following, stout hybrid monococque and twin beam frame construction and relatively level-headed (but rising) rather than speculatively over-inflated values, the Interceptor proved an ideal candidate for a graceful comeback.

Established by Jensen-enthusiast businessmen and engineers — backed by Sir Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse – in 2010, Oxfordshire-based Jensen International Automotive builds 4-6 cars annually. Based on 1969-76 donor cars sourced by JIA or provided by clients, build time is approximately 26-30 weeks.

More than an exercise in nostalgia, the Interceptor R instead improves the original car for reliable daily driving, enhanced performance, comfort and handling ability in a manner faithful to its character and style. Extensively enhanced by experienced engineers and technicians, the Interceptor R process is a combination of restoration, rebuild and re-engineering

Reliable resurrection

Starting with a complete strip-down, donor shells are inspected, repaired, seam sealed, primed and painted. Little altered visually, the Interceptor R is fitted with a General Motors LS3 6.2-litre V8. More efficient, powerful and reliable but of similar character, the LS3’s compact OHV design fits easily under the low bonnet.

Fitted with new wiring looms, electrics and refurbished seals, the Interceptor R’s original rear live-axle is however re-placed with independent rear suspension for improved refinement, comfort and handling. Meanwhile, a bespoke choice of solid, metallic or pearlescent paint is offered, including the driven car’s sky blue paint and light cream leather-wrapped cabin, which well-suited Dubai’s natural palette. 

Stylishly uncomplicated, the Interceptor R exudes classy restraint yet predatory presence, with deep-set quad halogen headlights and indulgent long bonnet. Mounted low and further back than original cast-iron Chrysler engines for better within wheelbase weighting, handling and agility, the Interceptor R’s all-aluminium 6.2-litre LS3 V8 is robust, reliable and brutally effective.

A low waistline and big glasshouse — with distinctive wraparound rear glass hatch — provide good visibility. Discrete updates include wire mesh grille and side vents, re-chromed bumpers, wider exhaust tips, deeper air dam, tastefully incorporated modern electric mirrors and bespoke replica 17-inch — rather than 15-inch — alloy wheels to accommodate modern brakes. 

Power and refinement

Developing 429BHP at 5900rpm and 424lb/ft torque at 4600rpm the Interceptor R’s naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 emits gloriously bass-rich engine notes from languid burbles to thundering bellows. Propelling the 1.6-tonne Interceptor R through the 0-100km/h sprint in 4.2 seconds and onto 255km/h, its engine is rich and fulsome from tick-over to redline.

Responsive off-the-line, muscularly versatile in mid-range and punchy at high revs, the LS3 V8 is mated to 6-speed automatic gearbox, smoother, more responsive and better integrated than the previously used 4-speed. Meanwhile, and most significantly, the Interceptor R features Jaguar XJ-S-sourced lower wishbone and twin damper independent rear suspension, allowing independent wheel travel on each side and much improved ride and handling.

Revised springs, bushes and tightened-up and firmer steering provide a more connected, responsive and refined drive somewhere between classic and modern car. Comfortably supple over jagged imperfections, it is stable at speed and buttoned down on rebound. Meaty steering provides good road feel and tidy turn-in, but its tall ratio requires more input. Balanced with good body control and grip through corners, the Interceptor R’s handling is predictable, progressive and transparent.

The Interceptor R’s cabin features revised seals and bonded windscreen for enhanced refinement and reduced wind noise, while modern AP Performance brakes are highly effective but original servo assistance requires firmer pedal input. Riding on 235/50VR17 tyres, the Interceptor R delivers improved road-holding, braking, stability and handling without sacrificing comfort.

Tasteful and tailored

Seated near the door with slim period-style steering wheel and good visibility, one easily places the Interceptor R on the road, despite its long bonnet. User-friendly layouts and clear chrome-ringed instrumentation sit alongside a technologically contemporary classic period style stereo and modern air-conditioning.

Dramatic, luxurious and exotic, the Interceptor R has a sense of occasion, with new leather-lined carpets and luxuriously refurbished double stitch leather upholstered seats. Tailored to preference, the naturally aspirated model driven was optionally fitted with discrete satnav screen and the more powerful Supercharged version’s driver-focused JIA-designed dashboard. With pod-like instruments, metal-gated buttons and vertical emphasis, it replaces the standard refurbished original horizontal dashboard.

JIA also offer an Interceptor R Supercharged version developing 550BHP and 551lb/ft for 3.8-second 0-100km/h acceleration and 280km/h top speed, and a naturally aspirated soft-top convertible version, and recently announced and new Jensen GT project, which has sparked further interest in the brand.

Additionally JIA are believed to be currently developing a four-wheel drive project understood to be of particular interest to our region. However, this project is one that is not necessarily going to a resurrection of the Interceptor-based Jensen FF, which was the world’s first four-wheel drive passenger road car, when launched in 1966.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 6.2-litre, aluminium, V8 cylinders

Bore x Stroke: 103.25 x 92mm

Compression ratio: 10.7:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, OHV, fuel injection

Gearbox: 6-speed automatic, RWD, limited-slip differential

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 429 (435) [321] @5900rpm

Torque lb/ft (Nm): 424 (575) @4600rpm

Rev limit: 6600rpm 

0-100km/h: 4.2 seconds

Top speed: 255km/h

Length: 4700mm

Width: 1700mm

Height: 1250mm

Wheelbase: 2670mm

Kerb weight: 1600kg

Suspension, F/R: Double/lower wishbones

Dampers, F/R: Single/twin adjustable Spax coil-overs

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 330mm / discs, 280mm

Brake callipers, F/R: 6- / 1-piston 

Tyres: 235/50VR17

Price, UK: £135,000-160,000 (plus taxes and customs, depending on specifications)

Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of pilgrimage

Haruki Murakami

US: Vintage, 2015

Pp. 314

The pilgrimage referenced in the title of this book is a personal journey towards self-rediscovery. Like in other of Haruki Murakami’s novels, much of the decisive action goes on in the mind of the main characters. However, in this case, the protagonist, Tsukuru Tazaki, does undertake several physical journeys in order to sort out his memories of the past and help him live in the present.

In “Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki”, Murakami does not create a parallel fantasy world as he did in “1Q84” and other novels. Still, another realm is there all the same in the form of dreams and memories that have decisive impact on the feelings and actions of major characters, blurring the boundaries between the conscious and the unconscious. While Tazaki’s daily life and surroundings are quite mundane, not so with his inner world, nor the several sub-plots that in true Murakami fashion inject interesting philosophical and cultural ideas, which may seem extraneous but actually add layers of meaning to the main plot line.

Thirty-six-year-old Tazaki is seemingly a fortunate person. He works at a job he likes and deems useful. He is an engineer who builds and maintains railroad stations, and has no apparent problems, except that he is convinced that he is a boring, colourless person, and that others will perceive him as such: “Because I have no sense of self. I have no personality, no brilliant colour. I have nothing to offer. That’s always been my problem. I feel like an empty vessel. I have a shape, I guess, as a container, but there’s nothing inside.” (p. 273)

This was not always the case. Tazaki was not born with existential self-doubt; nor did he develop it in adolescence. In this sense, Murakami is not telling a coming-of-age story. Or perhaps, it is about a delayed coming-of-age. In high school, Tazaki was one of an intimate circle of five friends who shared common ideals and confided all their thoughts and dreams to each other to the point that they were “locked up inside the perfection of that circle”. (p. 187)

A year after Tazaki left his hometown to study engineering in Tokyo, however, a member of the group called him to say that none of them wanted anything to do with him ever again.

Totally in shock, Tazaki felt powerless to challenge their refusal to even tell him why he was so abruptly expelled from the group. He simply assumed that something was wrong with him. “Alienation and loneliness became a cable that stretched hundreds of kilometres long, pulled to the breaking point by a gigantic winch.” (p. 6)

His first years of pilgrimage were spent coming back to life after that great shock, and coming to terms with his aloneness. 

The reader may be amazed at his stoicism, but he let years go by without contacting any of his old friends or questioning their judgment, until meeting a woman whom he really likes. She senses his emotional blockage and prods him to deal with his past if he wants a future with her. This propels Tazaki to seek out his old friends, probe his own emotions and test his new girlfriend’s words: “You can hide memories, but you can’t erase the history that produced them.” (p. 165)

On his new, forward-oriented pilgrimage, Tazaki discovers that his old circle had unravelled in a way he could hardly imagine, a total counternarrative to what he thought had happened. He learns of others’ insecurities and the importance of self-image. Some of the discoveries he makes are not earthshaking but they are vital to him, and Murakami reveals them in a fascinating way. This novel is about the power of friendship and its limits, the loss of youthful idealism and trust, group dynamics gone awry and the cost of broken dreams. Yet it is also about how people recreate hope and go on with and even enrich their lives despite great disappointments. 

And, as usual, Murakami raises more questions than he answers.

VIENNA — Perched on makeshift seats next to a buffet with fresh fruit, elderflower cordial and homemade muffins, neighbours laugh and chat on a leafy patch amid modern apartment blocks in Vienna’s 15th district.

The motley gathering includes a social worker who recently retrained as a language teacher, an actress in her mid-thirties, as well as a Shiatsu teacher and her 12-year-old son.

Just hours earlier, all these people were strangers.

They met thanks to a free social media network called Frag Nebenan (Ask Next Door), which connects Viennese residents living within 750 metres of each other.

Along with similar platforms in France, Germany and the United States, the site is part of a growing trend countering the “Facebook syndrome”: instead of hoarding friends on a global level, it’s about establishing local contacts and demystifying the stranger next door.

Frag Nebenan proved an instant hit with locals of all ages when it launched last May. More than 12,500 people have already signed up and around 400 new members join every week.

Among them is 74-year-old Marianne Gramsl, who said she had enrolled after becoming disgruntled with a “grouchy” elderly neighbour in her building.

“For years, I’d greet her on the staircase but she refused to answer back. Frag Nebenan seems like a nice way of finding those who want to say hello,” Gramsl explained.

Even in smaller capitals like Vienna — a city of 1.7 million inhabitants praised for its quality of life — “urban isolation” can be a problem, acknowledged Frag Nebenan founder Stefan Theissbacher.

“My vision was to transform the neighbourhood into communities,” the 33-year-old told AFP in a recent interview.

“It’s not about people becoming best friends, but they should know that there are other neighbours, that there is this potential for mutual aid.”

Theissbacher, who grew up in a small village, said he got the idea after realising he had been living in his apartment block for a year and a half without ever properly speaking to his neighbours.

House rules

The registration process has a nice personal touch. After filling out an online form, you receive a handwritten postcard in your letter box with a unique code used to verify your address.

Once a member, you can decide whether you want to share information with people in your building or broaden the radius to your wider neighbourhood.

The house rules are simple, said Theissbacher: “We don’t accept ads, political statements related to parties, or unfriendly communication.”

Frag Nebenan offers four categories: mutual aid, recommendations for local services, groups, and classifieds. 

Of these, the first, coupled with the prospect of saving money, is the site’s biggest draw.

From borrowing a blender to giving away cake leftovers, moving furniture or watering people’s plants, the list of favours asked and rendered is long and varied.

A “Thank you” button under each post allows users to publicly express their gratitude.

Filmmaker Romana Caren Lakinger refurbished her kitchen without spending a single cent on paint or brushes as a result of neighbours’ generosity.

“I hadn’t really planned to use yellow stripes on the wall until I got this particular colour,” said the single mum, pointing to a large tub worth 21 euros ($23) which she received for free.

“But that’s exactly what I like — allowing your inspiration to flow.”

Talents can also be swapped in this online sharing economy: a hairdresser said he was offering free cuts in exchange for Spanish lessons. 

‘Trust required’

Some posts on Frag Nebenan — which in some ways is similar to the US site Next Door — reflect a more far-reaching social component.

A notice put up by 8th district resident Barbara Mandl seeking donations for a refugee camp just outside Vienna sparked a positive response from members.

“I love how committed you are... If you need help, I’ll gladly come with you to Traiskirchen,” one user wrote in reply.

But some members also expressed reluctance towards opening their doors to strangers.

“Attending a group is easy but letting someone look after your pets when you’re on holiday requires trust,” said Susanne Eisler, a 62-year-old pensioner who is part of a French conversation group on Frag Nebenan.

Another member, Verena Sternbacher, agreed: “We live in a nice flat in a rougher neighbourhood and there’s always this brief awkward moment when I invite someone into our private sphere.”

Backed by state funds and private investors, Frag Nebenan plans to expand to other Austrian cities and potentially Germany.

In terms of generating revenue, “the idea is that local businesses and councils would pay to talk to people via message boards,” said Theissbacher.

“We want to connect the whole ecosystem of neighbourhoods.”

WASHINGTON — Some 14 million people installed the Windows 10 operating system in the first 24 hours following its release, Microsoft said, calling the response “overwhelmingly positive”.

The company said its new operating system aimed at computers, mobile devices and other gadgets got off to a strong start towards its goal of reaching 1 billion devices.

“We’re humbled and grateful to see the response to Windows 10,” corporate vice president, Yusuf Mehdi, said in a blog post late Thursday.

“We have seen unprecedented demand for Windows 10, with reviews and customer feedback overwhelmingly positive around the globe.”

The stakes are high for Microsoft as it pushes out the new operating system for both traditional computers and mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.

The company is hoping the new system can help it gain traction in mobile, where it lags behind Google Android and Apple iOS, and in emerging technologies for computing.

Windows 10 — Microsoft skipped directly from Windows 8, which got a lacklustre response — is being offered as a free upgrade for most devices, making it possible to be available quickly on billions of devices.

It will allow for voice, pen and gesture input, and in some cases biometric identification for improved security.

Mehdi said the company is rolling out the software in phases to make the transition easier.

“Our top priority has been ensuring that everyone has a great upgrade experience, so, we are carefully rolling out Windows 10 in phases, delivering Windows 10 first to our Windows Insiders,” he said.

“While we now have more than 14 million devices running Windows 10, we still have many more upgrades to go before we catch up to each of you that reserved your upgrade.”

In one sour note, the chief executive of Mozilla, which makes the Firefox Web browser, complained that Windows 10 imposes the new Edge browser as the default option, overriding choices made by users.

“The update experience appears to have been designed to throw away the choice your customers have made about the Internet experience they want, and replace it with the Internet experience Microsoft wants them to have,” Mozilla CEO Chris Beard said in an open letter to his Microsoft counterpart Satya Nadella.

Beard said the new operating system makes it more complicated to choose a competing browser such as Firefox.

“It now takes more than twice the number of mouse clicks, scrolling through content and some technical sophistication for people to reassert the choices they had previously made in earlier versions of Windows,” Beard said.

“It’s confusing, hard to navigate and easy to get lost.”

Beard urged Microsoft to “respect people’s right to choice and control of their online experience by making it easier, more obvious and intuitive for people to maintain the choices they have already made through the upgrade experience”.

NEW YORK — It took me just a weekend to get comfortable with Microsoft’s new Windows 10 operating system, something I never did with its predecessor, Windows 8, even after nearly three years.

With Wednesday’s update, Windows no longer feels jarring, as though I’m using two different computers at once.

Best part: This update is free.

Windows 8 was Microsoft’s way of modernising personal computers, as smartphones and tablets grew more popular. But it came across as trying to shove a square peg into a round hole. It steered people towards tablet-like touch commands, even on desktops and laptops that had keyboards and mouse controls. Apps that weren’t designed for touch — including Microsoft’s Office — got shoved into the basement, known as desktop mode. Desktop mode and tablet/touch mode were like feuding siblings, each seeking to dominate in a high stakes tug of war.

With Windows 10, everyone gets along. There are still separate desktop and tablet modes, but you largely stick with one or the other depending on whether you have a keyboard. (Microsoft skipped Windows 9, by the way, as though to distance itself from Windows 8 and its criticisms.)

Although there are a few reasons to hold off upgrading, which I’ll explain below, Windows 10 is better than Windows 8 in many ways:

Windows apps open as windows

Apps for Windows 8 were designed to take up the full screen, just like tablets. Although you could split the screen, apps could be placed only side by side, not top to bottom, as you’d probably want when having e-mail and streaming video open at once.

With Mac computers and previous versions of Windows, you can resize windows, however, you like. With Windows 8, that was limited to apps that hadn’t been adapted for touch — the ones kept in the basement, segregated from the newer apps. Windows 10 restores resizing for all apps, touch or not. It sounds cosmetic, but it makes a big difference in fitting in with your workflow.

Single start screen

With Windows 8, the corner start button in desktop mode got you to a full screen, graphical start page in tablet mode. You had to return to the desktop mode to run an older app, even though you were sent to tablet mode to launch it.

With Windows 10, the start button functions the way it did with Windows 7 and earlier. The graphical start page from Windows 8 is embedded in that start button, so that it feels modern without making you chuck old habits. You can still get a full-screen start page, but it’s not forced on you.

Single browser

Internet Explorer is gone, replaced by Edge. You get some functional improvements, such as a virtual marker to draw arrows or circle an entry on a web page to share over e-mail, Facebook and other means.

Even better, you no longer have separate browsers for desktop and tablet modes. With Windows 8, when you opened a website in desktop mode, it didn’t show up in tablet mode. You had to open it again. With Windows 10, it’s a unified browser, so you pick up where you leave off if you switch modes.

Some websites, including those from Google, aren’t as smooth on Edge as they are on other browsers, but the problem might be limited to Microsoft’s Surface tablets. The sites work better on an HP laptop upgraded to Windows 10. You can still get Windows 10 on Surface and install a different browser, such as Google’s Chrome.

Borrowing from phones

While Windows 8 tried too hard to adopt features from mobile devices, Windows 10 brings two features that make sense.

— An Action Centre offers quick access to settings such as Wi-Fi, brightness and “quiet hours” — a way to suspend notifications and sounds if, say, you’re giving a presentation.

— Cortana, the voice assistant akin to Google Now and Apple’s Siri, comes to Windows PCs. Because you might feel awkward talking to your computer, you have the option of typing in commands, such as “Remind me to get milk”.

Cortana is integrated with the Edge browser, too. Right click to ask Cortana to define a word or provide a restaurant’s hours of operation. A Cortana window temporarily slides over with that nugget of information so you don’t clutter your browser with opened tabs.

Laptops work on the go

As Microsoft shifts its focus to online services, it has been steering users to store files on its OneDrive online storage service. As with Dropbox and Google Drive, OneDrive typically keeps copies of all your files on your computer so you have them while offline. Any changes you make sync with the service once you’re back online.

That changed with Windows 8. Copies were grabbed from the Internet only when you needed them, which meant files weren’t always available when using laptops on the go, away from Wi-Fi. Windows 10 restores the approach of keeping copies of everything, unless you limit that because you’re low on storage.

Should you upgrade?

I’ve been using a pre-release version of Windows 10 for a month without major problems. As with any upgrades, make sure your favourite apps and accessories will work, as it might take time for outside developers and manufacturers to catch up. Microsoft’s Get Windows 10 app will check for known problems. Back up your PC first.

If you’re using a low-end “Home” version of Windows, Microsoft will turn on future updates automatically once you get Windows 10. That is normally a good thing, especially as Microsoft plans to add features regularly, rather than wait for the next major release. But automatic updates might surprise you with incompatible apps and accessories.

You might want to wait a few months to see whether these automatic updates cause any meltdowns for others. In addition, Windows 7 users who use Windows Media Centre or have DVD players might need to find replacement software first. The free Windows 10 offer is good for a year, so there’s no rush.

The case is easier for those using Windows 8, including the Home version. The experience is much better, making any potential upgrade hassles worth it.

Smartphones may be still the hottest computer-like digital devices around, but they aren’t everything. Some would like to convince themselves that a smartphone is powerful enough, big enough for most tasks. It is not.

There are countless instances where only a real large screen, combined with a mouse and a full-size physical keyboard, would do. And no, phablets and tablets don’t really qualify. Large screen is understood as 16-inch and bigger, much bigger — dimensions that definitely are not in the tablets league.

For all those who want to be working comfortably, sitting properly at a desk, monitors that are between 22 and 24-inch large and that you connect to a laptop or a desktop computer, have become the norm. It is not just a matter of comfort or pleasure. It is about speed and productivity; it is about work done better, about achieving better results.

Last week I found myself working on a 100-page technical document, and having to compare and to analyse its two versions, the English and the French one. I connected two 22-inch monitors to my computer and displayed the English text on one and the French on the other, simultaneously. This is possible thanks to the dual display functionality that Windows provides. Working then with the texts shown side by side, clearly, easily legible with large fonts made a huge difference.

Although Adobe Photoshop has a trimmed-down version for smartphones called Photoshop Express, I can’t imagine editing photos without the “real thing”, being a large screen and a laptop or a desktop — and of course the full version of Photoshop!

Several apps found on Google Play store wants you to believe that you can record and then edit the recording using your smartphone. American legendary music producer Quincy Jones once said about making music with too small, inadequate devices “it is like painting a giant airliner with a Q-tip cotton swab”. Sure you can try doing it this way; but how long will it take, and what would the result look or sound like in the end?

Even tasks that apparently are simpler than the above aren’t always fun to handle on the typical five to six-inch screen of a smartphone. We all check our e-mail on these mobile devices, it’s understood, but how many times have we found the text of the message to be too large to be read without constant scrolling up and down, left and right, or are unable to open and properly view the attached document? 

This is not to diminish in any way the value of smartphones. I for one confess my addiction to the device and consider that I am a heavy or power user, as they call them. I recognise the importance of the features and all that the device lets me do. This being said I also know where to draw a limit and when it’s time to move to full-size screens and computers.

Given the huge scope of applications of all kinds today, we certainly need all the devices, from the smallest to the biggest and every model in between. However, moving from one to the other, and choosing the one that is most adapted to the task we are about to perform would be the wise way to use technology. It is a matter of comfort, of time saved and of better results achieved. Not everything has to be mobile and pocketable.

Whenever I am faced with a child-rearing dilemma, I try to think what my mother would have done in a similar situation. 

She had never read Dr Benjamin Spock. His book “Baby and Child Care” was published in America in the year 1946 and became an instant bestseller, selling more than 50 million copies. Its message to mothers was “you know more than you think you do” and revolutionised parenting. Spock pioneered ideas that were, at the time, considered out of the mainstream. He encouraged parents to see their children as individuals and trust their own instincts while bringing them up. 

Earlier experts had advocated that babies needed to learn to sleep on a regular schedule, and that picking them up and holding them whenever they cried was inappropriate. They were also told that they should not be hugged or kissed because that would hamper them from becoming strong and independent individuals in a harsh world. 

My own mother, who was born roughly around the time that the book came out, had never heard of the tome. It did not even reach my home country India in the next two decades or so that it took for me to make an appearance in this world. 

So, she raised my two siblings and me in an extremely practical manner. Our father had a very peripheral role in our initial upbringing. It was generally left to our mother to decide what was good for us. She allowed us to run around outdoors for long periods without scrutinising the area for spiders, bees or scorpions. In fact, once I came rushing home to tell her that I had spotted a snake in the garden. She was chopping spinach leaves on the kitchen counter with a sharp knife. Without breaking the rhythm, she simply told me not to disturb the reptile but play in the veranda instead. 

She believed us when we said an Aunty in the neighbourhood had fed us jam sandwiches for dinner. She never wanted to know if the bread was white, whole-wheat, multigrain or gluten free. We could listen to lively songs on the radio while doing homework, if we wanted. We were also permitted to settle our disputes in an amicable manner. She only intervened if things got out of hand and even then she was fair in delivering a row of stinging slaps uniformly, to all concerned. 

What I am emphasising here is how calm and collected our mother’s generation was compared to ours. We are Tiger moms and helicopter mommies and I wonder where all this hyper parenting is leading us? 

We examine the lawns for bugs before letting our kids set foot there, we create havoc if we spot a deadly creature in the near vicinity of our precious children, we won’t let them bite into a sandwich without checking its contents and as for slapping them? Like the famous Hugh Grant dialogue from the film “Mickey Blue Eyes”, “Forget about it”! But eventually, all that we want is, for our offspring to be happy. 

“How can I ensure my child’s happiness?” I asked my husband the other day. 

“That’s a tall order.” he replied. 

“Why?” I wanted to know.

“You can wish for it but cannot secure it,” he said. 

“What would my mother have done?” I wondered.

“She would give you the tools for achieving it,” my spouse answered. 

“What should I do?” I probed

“Just pass on the tradition,” he smiled.