Maybe it’s just me, but diabetes seems to be a hot issue recently. In my ignorance, I didn’t realise it was so widespread and so important. A recent podcast on the IT Conversations site with Larry Ellingson (former chair of the American Diabetes Association) discussed the disease in detail, and there was a single fact mentioned that took me by surprise: 300 million in the world (4%) have diabetes. However, the prevalence of diabetes in the Western world is considerably greater, primarily because of poor diet and exercise, which exacerbates Type II diabetes. (Type I: not enough insulin produced by the body, Type II: insulin that’s produced is resisted by the pancreas). In the US, 95% of people with diabetes are overweight. If you don’t know someone with diabetes, you are probably in the minority.

I didn’t fully appreciate it when I visited there a few months ago, but Copenhagen is a major centre for the study and treatment of Diabetes. Novo Nordisk, headquartered there (as evidenced by the posters advertising them in Copenhagen Kastrup airport), has diabetes study as its main business. A friend of mine in the business recently attended a conference there on diabetes attended by thousands.

I think I’ve learnt another good reason to try harder at slimming down my waistline by a few inches. But it’s clear that the world is facing a huge challenge in tackling this disease.

We’ve recently got some new break-out rooms at Hursley, which contain some very comfy sofas; I must go in there more often. I tried the new coffee machines therein too – they were more disappointing. I’ll stick with my no-way-to-obtain-good-coffee-at-my-workplace theory. Back to plan A.

Getting your hair cut is normally dead time, unless you find the conversation particularly stimulating. So as I was having mine trimmed this morning, I got to wondering:

Why going to the barber’s is like going to the dentist

• You have to sit very still or bad things happen. This is tricky and you tend to squirm. From time to time they re-orient your head.
• They have a special chair that goes up and down.
• They have a large variety of alarming specialist equipment.
• It’s hard to find a good one.

Why going to the barber’s isn’t like going to the dentist

• They are much cheaper.
• It isn’t as painful – normally.

The similarities may not be entirely coincidental. Barbers used to perform surgery – and this is the origin of the red (and sometimes blue) colour of the traditional barber’s pole. Fortunately, we have now specialised into many more disciplines. Adam Smith would be proud.

Conclusion: I still don’t like going to either.

As Adrian did recently, I’ve gone completely caffeine free at work, and have been so for about a month (except on the odd occasion that I’ve forgotten and lapsed). The only things I’ll allow myself are herbal tea, normally camomile, or from time-to-time a green one. I did this primarily for health reasons – I am finding that my ability to concentrate is much better now, as well as suffering from fewer headaches and other unpleasant side-effects. However, I was spurred on by the poor quality of tea and coffee provided by Ritazza here at work – this is something I’ve realised ever since I’ve began to make tea and coffee properly at home. I’ve also found that I’ve been drinking less tea and coffee at home since cutting off caffeine at work – I seem to find it less appealing. The whole exercise also saves me a penny or two as well.

I can recommend it.

For those who live in or visit the area, you might be interested in a funky little tea shop that’s just opened in Winchester called Char. I was introduced to this tea shop by plv, who’s also written about it. The shop is run by a very nice gentleman who seems to know far more about tea than is good for one person. The prices aren’t cheap (let’s be blunt, they are expensive), but you could spend all day smelling the samples and deciding. I can recommend the Jasmine White Needle.

It’s at 156 High Street.

I’ve written before about how useless the downtown Sainsbury’s in Winchester is. I’ve noticed, however, they have recently put up a cunning sign, which, paraphrased, reads:

‘We are currently experiencing a shortage of organic milk. [And indeed they were, the shelf was empty]. However, Sainsbury’s XYZ milk is available, and 5p from each pint goes to farmers to help them convert over to organic production.’

Sainsbury’s, here’s a hint: I’m not interested in voluntarily subsidising farmers’ investment in their own production and helping you and them to solve logistical and production problems. Yes, I’m happy to buy organic milk at a price premium, and, yes, I’m aware that most of the difference goes to Sainsbury’s, not the farmers. But asking me to voluntarily pay extra to you and the farmers for no tangible benefit is taking things a bit too far – I’m going to fall on the tight-fisted side of your price targeting.

Chapter 2 of The Undercover Economist contains a good discussion of price targeting, including the usual suspects such as M&S and Fairtrade coffee.

To some people, Farmers’ markets, such as those that visit Winchester on a monthly basis, are an interesting part of a day out. Browsing round provides the opportunity to buy bread, cheese, beer, jams, and other such produce that’s no doubt better than most of what the local supermarkets stock. Many people get stuck on particular brands (read: particular stalls), because they prefer them, and go back again and again to the same place.

However, for myself, these stalls are becoming commoditised. In the same way as organic produce was rare in supermarkets 10 years ago, and is now commonplace, it appears that more and more such markets are springing up in rural, affluent, areas such as Winchester, as the local economy becomes able to support them and farmers learn how profitable they can be. In fact, I rush round such markets picking up bread and jam, not normally bothered by where it comes from - on the basis that all of it’s bound to be better than Sainsbury’s, right? – and I don’t want to spend the time investigating.

I think this is an illustration of how goods become commoditised as economies grow richer. Personally, I treat the entire market as essentially one homogenous whole – I pick the bread stall with the shortest queue or cheapest prices, not that I’ve been to before. Sure, I’m being boring, but then I’m boring when it comes to selecting my brand of toothpaste too. I’m probably the exception at the minute, but if Winchester ran one of these each day, I wouldn’t be for long.

In any event, if you haven’t been to a Farmers’ market lately, give it a try.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the UK Farmers’ Market Association.

A small example of innovation in the supermarket industry. I know that I should eat a variety of nutrients from fruit and veg, but it’s hard to find the time to study foodstuffs in detail. Tesco provide a rough-and-ready guideline on the shelf – at little expense to them, and some benefit to me. I hadn’t come across this before. It sounds like a generalisation that’ll have plenty of exceptions, but is still accurate enough to be useful.

Yet another reason why I’ll be avoiding Sainsbury’s in Winchester in preference to Tesco in the future.

In an attempt to lighten my mood from writing grumbles about big government and security, I notice that Darren Rowse at ProBlogger mentions that his local cafe has recently reinvigorated their menu, and seems to be finding more success as a result (he then creates a rather tenuous link to re-invigorating a blog by a similar method). Another vague data point for my menu study? Sadly, he doesn’t say exactly what they did to the menu to achieve this. Incidentally, ProBlogger is a meta-blog: blogging about blogging, particularly how to make money out of it professionally.

More worrying menu indicators, this time based on an actual Chinese takeaway menu that arrived through my door:

• A massive 222 items in total.
• Numbers next to the items.
• ‘Orders over £12 – Free Curry Samosa’. Hmm, how Chinese. In fact, there is an entire Curry section, including a Chips option.
• The menu has plenty of ‘Improved recipe!’ and ‘New!’. Does this come from the McDonald’s school of menu design?

But it would be unfair to mock this menu without trying it. So I have just finished eating Fried Duck with Ginger and Spring Onion (#69), and Egg Fried Rice (#143). And the verdict: 7/10. OK, but not superb – the rice was a bit dry, and the sauce a bit greasy. They also inadvertently added on one more indicator during the ordering process: I was told it would take an unnervingly precise 12 minutes before it was ready.

So that’s one data point for this scientifically accurate menu/food quality study.