Hello everyone !
Welcome to Notes & Thoughts !
We aim here to bring you regular updates on factors and events impacting financial markets in the Middle East and North Africa region with an accent on foreign exchange and rates.
We also aim to bring reflections on certain topics and subjects, close to recent events, which we think are worth stopping on .
Thank you for your attention !
Let's be a bit caustic !
Several things come together.
First when you live in the Gulf and particularly, the UAE, you can't help notice that there is a growing number of people who have pets, which is great.
It also leads to a growing side business, pet grooming minivans coming to your door to cut the nails of your favourite pet, clinics and all , which is also great.
Many building security guys turn a complicit eye to pets walking in and out. Nice . What is quite interesting though is the choice of dogs. Beagles ! Remember Snoopy ? Nice friendly dogs, good with kids but it is a dog used for hunting hare ! So they can run for hours. 15 minute walks not quite enough. Siberian Husky or Alaskan Malamute ! Cool dogs ! But in Dubai ? They are acclimated for -50, not + 50 ! And they cannot be really walked by a maid checking her phone every 5 seconds.. Saint Bernard, yes i have seen !
The real point though is what Israeli historian Yuval Noah Hariri was writing in his first book " Homo Sapiens ". Humans have eradicated 90 % of the species in the place we occupy, Earth . And those left bear little resemblance to the original ! Cow, sheep, chicken, dog.. we have domesticated all that for our use and greater efficiency ! Take the example of bulls, the ones you find in corridas, bull fighting in Spain, South of France, Latin America. Not making a judgement on bullfighting, though I used to go to Arles, south of France for Easter ferias. Soon they will be outlawed all over. Then what need do we have for those bulls who are mighty, dangerous if provoked and powerful creatures and need huge tracks of land to breed ? None. So unless they reskill in wagyu beef , no need for them !
Ok back to the dogs ! Researchers reckon that our love for buying things lead us some times to buy living things .. dogs , cats ..even though we want a bit of their affection. Depending on where the owner comes from, certain breeds have super status, maybe Labrador compared to Range Rover. And we want them pure breed ! Researchers have found that the coefficient of "inbreeding" for purebred dogs is 0.25 ! The same when two siblings have a child. That's the percentage of chance to share traits with ancestors. That also increases the risk of health disorders and issues. This leads to shorter life span, smaller litters, breathing problems for some of the pug family, Alsatians with hip problems. Listen to that : changes in anatomy due to pure breeding are affecting reproduction : the bulldog's head is becoming so big , the majority cannot be birthed naturally !
A healthy coefficient of inbreeding is 0.05 !
So yes human behaviour is a bit strange sometimes..
But as is the hot topic of the day : Diversity ! That's what this world is about ! And lots of it ! But seems we just want that all looks the same !