It's about ‘combat experiences,' not length of deployment
This Army graph makes crystal clear what many U.S. troops, and their loved ones, have long suspected: the more combat events they experience, the more mental-health problems they will suffer. In fact, according to this illustration from a new Army report, there is a direct linear relationship between combat exposure and resulting mental maladies.
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While that notion is hardly surprising, this chart confirms what troops have long believed.
“As would be expected, there is a dose-dependent relationship between levels of combat experiences and well-being indices,” the Army’s just-released ninth Mental Health Advisory Team report says. “This relationship is clearly demonstrated for the percentage of Soldiers meeting screening criteria for any psychological problem.”
After years of debating to what degree repeated deployments and other factors play a role in post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries—and the anxiety, depression and suicidal tendencies they can trigger—this chart indicates that it is the number of combat events, more than the time deployed, that drives up mental-health problems (of course, the two tend to travel together, but not always).
The U.S. military has been plagued by epidemics of mental-health problems since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began. The graphic shows that while troops can withstand several of what the Army calls “combat experiences,” their mental armor begins breaking down once they experience 10 or more such events.
““The fundamental idea is that topological methods act as a geometric approach to pattern or shape recognition within data,” says a September 2013 article in the journal Science co-authored by Ayasdi CEO Gurjeet Singh. It allows “exploration of the data, without first having to formulate a query or hypothesis.” That is, researchers can find things they did not know they were looking for. For instance, in a database of billions upon billions of phone records scientists could make sense of who was talking to whom.”
Cryptocurrency: MtGox, the oldest and once-largest bitcoin exchange, appears to have a serious problem. Since about a week ago, clients’ bitcoin withdrawals have been deducted from their account, but the clients never received the money – the money withdrawn was effectively disappeared into thin air. The community is furious and as of now, MtGox has racked up over USD 38 million in such unfulfilled withdrawals.
MtGox was once the undisputed king of the hill among bitcoin exchanges. If MtGox froze its trading, which has happened, then bitcoin trading froze as a whole – the exchange was that dominant. In the past year, other exchanges have gradually sprung up, and today, MtGox accounts for about one-third of trade – it’s still a very strong player, even if not dominant.
MtGox has always had various regulatory problems transferring funds in and out of US Dollars, but according to client testimonies and reviews, other central-bank currencies – euros, yen – have always worked like clockwork. Since about a week back, though, withdrawals of bitcoin – the opposite of central-bank currency – from the exchange have started to fail in a seemingly random fashion.
When bitcoin funds are transferred, that normally happens instantly – the received sees the funds within seconds. That’s one of the strengths of bitcoin: you can transfer money, unlimited amounts of money, anywhere in the world instantly and unstoppably.
Since about a week ago, MtGox has not processed all requested bitcoin withdrawals and many clients have not received their bitcoins. Instead, some of the withdrawals were processed while the rest of the withdrawals remain frozen in an undetermined condition. Affected users are upset by this since the money is gone from their account, but the bitcoins have not been transferred to the client’s control. As of noon on February 4, The Gox Report has this chart, which is based on MtGox’ own internal data:
Note the bottom, the sum of all “failed transactions” (BADTX), which is technospeak for “withdrawals where the money is gone from the client’s account but where the funds were not actually transferred to the client”. The total of such withdrawals, a total that has been steadily climbing since about January 25, has now reached 41,390. That amount is in bitcoin, and each bitcoin is worth $934 by MtGox’s own rate, making the disappeared client money exceed 38 million US dollars. That’s not exactly small change.
MtGox’ twitter account as of noon on Feb 4. It’s full of autoreplies, the newest response to a client being one month old.
Three years ago, I highlighted exchanges as one of four areas where the bitcoin community positively must improve to go mainstream. The above problem of the missing 38 million dollars is exacerbated by the fact that MtGox does not respond to clients’ questions until well over a week has passed, at which point a canned autoresponse is given. Additionally, there has not been any communication whatsoever about the ongoing problem. The lack of a phone number, the non-responses to client concerns over tens of millions of missing dollars, and the complete absence of messages about the situation does not make a professional operation.
Instead, clients of tens of millions of dollars are left on their own trying to figure out what is going on, if they’ll get their funds or not, and if so, when, and what the underlying problem could possibly be.
(I was recently asked by the Wall Street Journal in what ways MtGox failed to live up to Wall-Street-level professionalism, and declined to respond at the time. This is one of those ways. There are others, that are worse, that I have not published yet. That WSJ article concerned delays in withdrawals to dollars and euros, which could be explained by legacy-banking inertia; up until ten days ago, MtGox had executed bitcoin withdrawals perfectly.)
Looking at the bitcoin services forum, there are tons of complaints with the current exchange services. The entrepreneur should identify several opportunities here, just by looking at the front page of “discussions”, which read more like outraged complaints – mostly about MtGox.
As of February 4, clients are left speculating in these threads what the reason for this behavior is – whether it’s legitimate technical problems coupled with abysmal communication, deliberate fraud, possible insolvency, a technical attack on MtGox, or a number of other theories.
DISCLOSURE
The author is personally affected by MtGox’ behavior, having a six-figure dollar amount in such non-executed withdrawals. He considered Gox to be a safer repository for bitcoin than his own probably-hackable computer. That judgment may not have been accurate.
UPDATE: One hour after this article was published, MtGox broke the week-long silence with a statement saying little more than “we’re working on it”. In the statement, they also claim that the problem applies “primarily to large transactions”, a statement that doesn’t seem entirely correct when compared to client statements and testimonies on the bitcoin forums.
The twenty-first century has seen a rise in the global middle class that brings an unprecedented convergence of interests and perceptions, cultures and values. Kishore Mahbubani is optimistic. We are creating a new global civilization. Eighty-eight percent of the world's population outside the West is rising to Western living standards, and sharing Western aspirations. Yet Mahbubani, one of the most perceptive global commentators, also warns that a new global order needs new policies and attitudes.
Policymakers all over the world must change their preconceptions and accept that we live in one world. National interests must be balanced with global interests. Power must be shared. The U.S. and Europe must cede some power. China and India, Africa and the Islamic world must be integrated. Mahbubani urges that only through these actions can we create a world that converges benignly. This timely book explains how to move forward and confront many pressing global challenges.
Amazon Page
Political genius is never without controversy, or without mystery. This is what makes it so interesting and so rare. Is Lee Kuan Yew the feral, authoritarian figure that Western critics claim? Or a stoic pioneer in new approaches to developing a nation—uncorrupt, modern, almost scientific?American journalist Tom Plate first interviewed the founder of modern Singapore in 1996 in a continuing back-and-forth with LKY that led to the summer of 2009, when the former prime minister agreed to sit down for two days of unprecedentedly informal but intense conversations that led to this special book. This new edition includes fascinating excerpts from prior interviews, as well as the author’s assessment of the man who goes down in history as the world’s longest-serving prime minister—and as one of the most unforgettable political figures of modern times.
This is what is coming. The issue is not if, but how we will react.
This transition, in my view, is also part of the End of White Dominance Trend. A great deal of American politics today, as I have repeatedly noted, arises from the existential crisis in which, for the first time since Jamestown and the Mayflower, being born White will not automatically confer privilege. For many, particularly in the South, this causes enormous stress. Having the largest economy in the world be an economy of non-Whites will just add to this.
Syria: Special comment. The Ba'athist government in Damascus appears to be holding its own. The best indication of increased stability is that the focus of most combat reports is the city of Aleppo, most of which has been under opposition control. This means the government and its allies are taking the fight to the anti-government fighting groups.
The security situation generated [foolish] comments by two senior US officials.
On Thursday 6 February 2014 from 1800-1930, Robert Steele will address a group of undergraduates convened by Yale Politic. The event is free, open to the public without RSVP required, and the media has been invited.
Yale University, Branford College
Trumbull Room
74 High Street
New Haven, CT 06511
MtGox’ 
