Archive for September, 2008

About the Midlife Crisis

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

bankersThe Amount of Trust you are able to give to an other is based on your experience with others. During his life a human develops a Trust-Pattern.

Every time when something goes wrong this pattern is evaluated and adjusted.

 When the pattern is highly predictable it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. The prophesy controls the behavior of a person. This behavior is called the personality.

According to Interpersonal Theory there are two variabels that explain a person’s personality. These variables are called Communion (Connected vs Disconnected) and Agency (I vs the Other(s)). Psychopathologic Behavior occurs when a Human reacts according to only one variable. You are Paranoid (Extremely Dominant) when you always react out of High Agency. You want to Control everything and everybody.

Agency generates Correspondent behavior. A highly Dominant person is not able to create a fruitfull relationship with another Dominant person. They always end up in a Conflict. Low Agency (Friendliness) invites Friendliness. Friendly people always Avoid a Conflict.

Communion generates Reciprocal behavior. Disconnected, Low Communion, Humans, Love to be Dominated (High Agency) and Connected, High Communion, Adults love to Care for Humans with a Low Self-esteem (Low Agency).

bank clerkThe level of Communion and Agency changes with Age. A child starts its life with a high level of Communion. It is highly dependent on his parents.

In the phase of Puberty the Agentic variable rises. The child wants to explore the Self and disconnects the relationship with the Caretaker(s) and starts to Explore the outside world.

At the end of this phase Adulthood is reached. Later in life the level of Communion rises again and the level of Dominance lowers again. Old people become dependent on the help of others and are mostly more tolerant.

When we combine the waves of Communion and Agency in Life, we are able to define the Four Stages of the Human Life Cycle.

tellerbankThe first stage (Childhood) ends when the Down path of Communion crosses the Up path of Agency.

The second stage (Adulthood) ends when Agency is Up and the Communion is Down.

In the third stage (MidLife) the second crossing appears (Down Agency, Up Communion). Life ends in the same state it started (High Communion, Low Agency, Old Age).

Humans apply the concepts of Personality and Life-Cycle to Everything that is Acting (Organisms (Cat, Cow, ), Organizations,  and Forces (Sun, Wind))).

So Let’s apply these Concepts to the Financial Industry.

The Agency of the Financial Industry is High so they must have passed the state of Childhood, Puberty and Adulthood. The Communion of the Financial Industry is very Low. If we look at the Life Cycle Model we must conclude they are in or have entered the Stage MidLife.

What Happens when You Enter MidLife?

capitlistPictSome people experience a so called Mid-Life-Crisis.

Individuals experiencing a Mid-Life Crisis know that the Downfall is going to happen soon. They are unable to confront reality and Regress to the State of Puberty.

They start to gamble, abuse alcohol or drugs, buy unusual or expensive items, are depressive and pay special attention to their physical appearance. They want to be Young again.

Bankers are Gambling with Your money, aquire many unusual and expensive items (Cars, Clothing) and pay a lot of attention to their physical appearance (Buildings). They do Everything to Impress their Customers.

Why has the Financial System moved into a Midlife Crisis?

When you enter a Midlife Crisis you suddenly come aware of the fact that Life is very Boring. You are doing the same thing day after day. Normal Banking is boring. Its about moving money that is saved by people to people who need money. When Bankers found out Banking is really a simple process they started to invent exiting processes to become Young again.

bankerYou have to admit that gambling is very exiting when you discover a Way to Gamble and Never Lose called Financial DerivativesForex Academy has a whole course dedicated to that these days, for those curious, this is a godsend. The knowledge to make money from betting on financial markets is out there.

What to do with a person who is in a Midlife Crisis?

The only way to move out of a Midlife Crisis is to Accept Life As It Is. If you are bored in your work find something outside your work (a hobby) or look for another job.

What Has to be the Next Step?

Banks have to return to their Core Business. They have to Accept Savings and give Credit in a Predictable Way. This is the only way to give people and companies the feeling they are able to Trust a Bank. Life is really Simple.

LINKS

A Website about the MidLife Crisis

How to solve an Addiction to Gambling

About Financial Risk Management

How to Solve the Banking Crisis

About Ponzi Schemes in the Financial Industry

About Financial Bubbles

About the Games Played in the Financial Industry

Why the Financial Crisis is still not ended 

Why I have Decided to Leave ABN AMRO

Monday, September 29th, 2008

I am a customer of ABN AMRO for more than 40 years. Last Friday I received a letter from ABN AMRO. They told me that the local branch office of ABN AMRO will be closed and integrated into a local branch office of Fortis.

 One day later negotiations started to save Fortis from bankruptcy. Today I read that ABN AMRO has to be sold to another bank. This will not solve the problem at all. It will speed up the Process of Desintegration of the Banking Industry that has started ten years ago.

 Just one year ago I wrote three blogs about the Merger of Fortis and ABN AMRO. Based on my own experience with the Merger of ABN and AMRO I predicted a possible failure of this merger. I predicted a possible failure because I did not believe the Technical Infrastructure and the Culture of both banks could be easily matched. I was Right. The Credit Crunch was the Cause of the Downfall but the Culture and the IT-Systems were the real reason. The Aim of Management was to make Big Deals (to get Big Bonusses) and the Systems were unable to provide the Right Data.

I have been working in the Money Market for a long time. In my opinion the biggest problem in the Banking Industry is the relationship between the Accountable, Bookkeeping, Systems and the Activities of Dealers. A small part of the Dealers are and were taking Enormous Risks by creating very complicated financial constructions (Derivatives). The Auditors (and the Management) of Banks have lost Oversight a very long time ago. This problem increases in severity when banks are merged.

Every time when a New Technology is implemented the Quality of the ICT-systems deteriorates. This has happened so many times that nobody really understands what the IT-Systems are really doing. Every time when a merger is accomplished the financial data of a bank (or other company) deteriorate. Two of more deteriorated systems are connected creating a bigger mess. Every time when a merger is accomplished the people who have an understanding of the ICT-systems know less about the Systems.

When a Merger takes place the motivated and skillful employees leave the “sinking ship”. The people that remain become “apathic”. They perform their duty in a “nine to five”-mode. Innovation stops. External advisory companies (or worse) outside outsourcing companies take over the maintenance and the development of the software. The quality of the software deteriorates again. The problem increases when packages or software layers are implemented. This happened in every bank around the world.

When I worked with ABN AMRO the biggest mess in IT was always created in the US. The main reason was the “opportunistic” attitude of the Management or the entrepeneurs attitude of the Management. They experimented with everything they could find but never finished anything. The US Financial System was far behind the Dutch Financial System in terms of Products and Supervision. Everybody believed the US was the most innovative in everything but they were certainly not the most advanced in Banking and IT.

 ABN AMRO was one of the bad performers in the Consumer Banking Industry in the Netherlands. The personnel of the Bank were not motivated for a long time. The main reason was the Management. Everything was decided at the top in big Staff Departments. The Branches were forced to implement what they had designed.

 The Management of the Bank loved to do Big Deals with Big Companies. ABN and AMRO were Deal-Making companies and were forced to move into the Consumer Market when the employees of all the companies in the Netherlands were forced to open bank-accounts. The Customer was never priority number one.

The decision structure of the Bank was highly complex and changed all the time. Employees at the branches were not allowed to take initiative. When they had taken initiative it took a long time before the decision was made. Most of the time the answer was negative.

The forced merger with Fortis decreased the motivation of the employees. It increased the complexity of the IT-Systems and the decision structure.

Fortis needed money and many parts were sold to other banks. Every time the Organization and the ICT-systems of the bank had to be divided in many parts. Before this process was even settled a new split was announced. This process was repeated until today.

The Consumer Banking Division of ABN AMRO, the “beautiful pearl” Fortis was after, was carefully protected. The integration of this part with Fortis proceeded. Many people moved to Brussels to create and implement a plan. Many outside advisors earned a lot of money again. Nobody had any oversight. A few weeks ago somebody finally decided to merge the branch-offices. They created new organization structures, appointed new managers, talked with the employees and send an announcement to their customers. This announcement was received last Friday! Two days later all the projects have been stopped and the employees of Fortis are leaving ABN AMRO. Nobody knows what to do!

The financial people were constantly trying to understand what the Risks were. Everytime a new problem arose and the Board had to take action. The message to the outside world changed all the time and the investors lost their faith in Fortis. The End of the (Credit) Line was reached last Friday!

A few days ago somebody decided ABN AMRO had to be sold to another bank to create enough cash to pay the current debts. The process of integration has to be reversed and a new process of integration has to be started with another Bank.You don’t have to be an expert to understand what will happen. The end of this process will be Total Chaos.

I am not afraid I will lose my Savings. The Government will take care.

I am not afraid to lose my shares. I have sold them a long time ago.

I am not afraid the bookkeeping systems of the Bank will finally break down and ABN AMRO will deny I am a Customer or present completely different data about my savings-account.

I am sure many things will go wrong. During my time as a customer of ABN AMRO the amount of mistakes that were made increased. Most of the mistakes were small but some of them really cost me a lot of time and money.

I am afraid  nobody will be able to help me when things go wrong. I just want a little bit of Service. Nothing More. I have decided to leave ABN AMRO. I am moving to RABO-bank.

I hope they will not buy ABN AMRO or merge with another bank. If this happens I have to find another Bank but I really don’t know where to go. At that time I probably have to buy Gold or another Object that keeps its value a long time ago. I really don’t know what will be valuable in the future.

Perhaps I have to start a farm and grow my own food at a place that will not be affected by the rising of the sea-level or big tornado’s or big earthquakes or heavy rain or intense drought or intense cold when the Ice-Age starts.

LINKS

 About the Merger of Fortis and ABN AMRO (Culture)

About the Merger of Fortis and ABN AMRO (Software)

About the Merger of Fortis and ABN AMRO (The Bank of the Heart)

About the Crisis in IT (About Software Layers)

About the Crisis in IT (About Outsourcing)

 About the Crisis in IT (About ERP Packages)

About the Crisis in the Banking Industry (Avalanches)

About the Crisis in the Banking Industry (Fraud)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Very Strange Way to Explain the Current Crisis

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

I wrote and thought a lot about Time and Time Travel. My investigations made it clear to me that Time Travel must be possible and is also happening. Most people are not aware of the Cyclic Patterns of Time.

They think Time is a Line extending into Infinity. The Cyclic Patterns are moving With the Clock and Counter the Clock. At this moment The Cycles are Reversing in Time. This explains the current Crisis.

The conclusion of my research in Time was that we are traveling through a Vibrating Static Structure, A Fluent Crystal, which contains a huge amount of possible paths. We have Free Choice to travel the many Paths but the Amount of Possible Choices is fixed.

When we are traveling and return at the same point we started our traveling, we have gone through a Cycle.

When you go to work in the morning and return at home in the evening and repeat this sequence day after day you are moving through a very simple cycle. When you Repeat the Same Mistakes all the Time you are moving through a Cycle. When you are Born and Die you are moving through a Cycle called Life.

Cycles can be very complex. They are sometimes so complex that you are not aware you are repeating the same pattern all the time. You are experiencing the Feeling of Freedom of Choice because you are not Observing Your Path.

When you are Capable of Observing Your Path the Cyclic Behavior Ends. You Watch the Cycle but you are not In the Cycle. You are freed from the Cycle when you don’t make a Choice at all. This is what the Chinese Masters call the Tao.

Cycles basically move in two directions. They move With the Clock and Counter the Clock. Our Clocks move With the Clock so we assume that Time is moving With the Clock. When we move Counter the Clock we are moving Back in Time.

Cycles With the Clock, are Positive, Generating, Cycles.

Cycles Counter the Clock , are Negative, Destructive, Cycles.

The direction of a rotation is called Spin.

If we combine two Cycles that are moving With AND Counter the Clock an interesting structure appears. This Structure is called the Moebius Ring and is often used to represent the Symbol of Infinity, the Lemniscate or Ourobouros (A Snake).

The Moebius Ring is a very interesting structure because it does not have an Above and an Under. When you are traveling the Boundary you are always traveling the Same Surface. The Moebius Ring is easily constructed by connecting the two ends of a strip of twisted paper.

To Change the Direction of a Cycle you have to introduce a Twist.

To Travel Time you to have to Twist Time.

The Twist is an interesting concept. One of the Questions you could ask is if You would experience a Twist when it happened. The answer is Yes and No. Yes, when the Twist is an Up or Down Peak (An Event). No, when the Twist is a smooth path.

The most interesting Peak Experience in Life is Death. At that time the Cycle of Life is closed and another Cycle with a different Spin starts. Many cultures believe the Cycle of Death is real. In Western Society many people believe the Cycle of Death is non existent. Scientists are spending a lot of time to prove that the moment of Death is the End of Everything.

History is moving through Cycles. At some point in time many people feel History is Repeating Itself. Most of the time people believe the Cycles are moving into a certain direction. They are moving UP and DOWN. When you look at the Economic Cycles the data show that the Economic Cycles are Moving UP.

In reality the UP Cycle behind the Economic Cycle is another Cycle that is in its UP-state. Behind this Cycle is another (Long-Term) Cycle and another Cycle and …but somewhere the Cycle of Cycles (A Spiral) is Closed in Itself (A Spiraling Spiral). Just like the Moebius Ring there is no Above and Under. We are (Time-)traveling a Boundary that is closed in itself.

I don’t think many people will disagree with the concept of Cycles in History. The Theory of Economic Cycles has proven itself without any Doubt.

I don’t think many people understand that Cycles are moving in two directions. They believe the Cycles are moving With the Clock. If you believe Cycles move With the Clock it is easy to see that the Seasons are a beautiful Metaphor to understand Cyclic Behavior.

But what will happen when the Cycles of History move Counter the Clock???

If we would move through time Counter the Clock History would repeat itself just like History is Repeating Itself when we move With the Clock but the Stages of the Cycle (The Seasons) would show themselves in a Different Order.

If the Cycle With the Clock is an UP Cycle, the Cycle Counter the Clock would be a Down Cycle.

If you read the references in this Blog you will see that Western Culture is (or was) moving Counter The Clock, a CYCLE of DESTRUCTION.

The Cycle of Destruction (Capitalism, Materialism) was seen as a positive Cycle by many People but now they are becoming Aware of Reality. Western Culture is destructing Nature. It is not only destructing Nature but it is also destructing Human Culture.

At a certain point in time the Cycle HAS TO REVERSE. This TWIST is a Peak Experience, a Major Crisis. I hope You now See what is really Happening. We are Reversing the Cycle and the new Cycle is a GENERATING CYCLE. We are really Moving UP into a new state of Consciousnesa. This new state is not the state people who love materialism and capitalism (and War and Destruction and Greed and Control and Desire and …) will like.

LINKS

About The Twist in History

 About the Twist in Literature

About Cyclic Behavior in History

About Cyclic Behavior in History

Using the Seasons to Understand Cycles

 

About The Stone of Destiny

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

The Metaverse Is Ready to Take the Workplace to New Dimensions

Video calls could soon become outdated, as virtual meetings evolve into digital simulations of people gathered in the same room, proponents of the new metaverse say.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, tech companies foresee scenarios in which workers in different physical locations will don virtual-reality goggles and view one another as cartoon avatars — digital substitutes for the real world. With specialized gloves, we’ll be able to touch and manipulate virtual versions of goods such as machinery or fabrics, they say. After work, colleagues might socialize at virtual bowling alleys.

The metaverse is still nascent and its hardware can be expensive and clunky. But workplace experts expect that, as the technology becomes lighter, cheaper and more advanced, it will fundamentally alter the way that many people perform their jobs — while also creating new jobs, some unknown today.

“The metaverse will be evolutionary, not revolutionary,” says John Egan, chief executive of Paris-based forecasting firm L’Atelier BNP Paribas.

In the metaverse, “Talent won’t be acquired depending on location,” says Richard Kerris, an executive at Nvidia Corp., who is co-leading a metaverse-infrastructure project called “Omniverse.”

Potential downsides to the technology are plentiful. While all but eliminating human interaction, a workplace metaverse could also give organizations far more power to surveil their employees. If eye-tracking is enabled on headsets, for example, eye-rolls could be recorded and logged.

Kurt Opsahl, general counsel of privacy-watchdog group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says that such surveillance, combined with smart-watch readings of an employee’s body temperature or heart rate, could help companies infer a worker’s emotional state and sideline dissenters.

What is Happening in the Financial System

Friday, September 19th, 2008

The current Foundation of the World Financial System, the US Economy based on the Dollar, is in a Fatal Crisis. The Solution to the Current Crisis, Bailing Out, will finally Speed Up the Crisis. The real problem is moved to the Near Future, to another Level of Society (MiddleClass, the Poor) and to another part of the World. In the End it will fireback on the US itself and deepen the Recession that is already taking place.

Money represents a Value of Something. For a very long time money was based on the value of Gold. This foundation failed. The failure of the Gold Based Money system created the Great Depression and finally the Second World War. At this moment the Financial System is without any Foundation.

To prevent a Third World War the Bretton Woods Agreement was created in 1947. The foundation of the International Money System was based on the Dollar. In 1971 the US broke up the Agreement because it was unable to stabilize the International System. At that time the US was spending too much money to fight the war in Vietnam. It became a Debtor and remained a Debtor until today.

From that Time on the International Money System is Floating but the Foundation, the Dollar, is still used. The Euro is an alternative but it is almost impossible to move to the Euro without destroying the US Economy and the World Economy. Europe, China and even Russia are Forced to help the Biggest Debtor in the World to avoid the destruction of their own Financial System. In the mean time the Biggest Debtor in the World keeps on Spending. It is even Increasing its Spending Behavior.

Many people believe that the reason behind the Financial Crisis is the Credit Crunch. They believe  poor mortgages are the cause of everything but there are mortgage lenders who help you buy your house without any hassle. Buying a  house during this financial crisis can be quite difficult, you can check us out here if your applying for a home loan.

The main reason are financial derivatives. Derivatives are very complicated ways to gamble with money. They are so complicated that almost nobody is able to calculate the value of these financial instruments. They are so complicated that almost nobody is able to keep the books. The controllers of the banks lost the control a very long time ago.

Derivatives are the playingfield of dealers and the dealers are able to confuse almost everybody when they want to play their game. The effect of playing dealers has shown itself in many cases like the falldown of Barings. The Derivatives have transformed The Banking Industry into a Casino.

The US Government and its Allies are trying to avoid a new Great Depression by bailing out or protecting every US Bank, Insurance Company and other Company (Farmers, Chrysler, Boeing, Ford, ..) that is unable to pay its debts. The US Government is moving the huge and uncertain debt from the Market to the Government hoping the Market will Restore itself. They believe the Market is going Up and Down. Someday they will be able to Sell the current Debt with a Profit back to the Market.

The strange thing is that other countries are helping the US to protect their vital companies from a certain disaster. The US, the Protector of the Free Market, is protecting its Own market and the only reason why others are helping the US is to avoid a certain disaster on the level of the World. Strangely enough they are disturbing their own market to avoid the destruction of the market of their biggest competitor.

In the background investors, Countries and Companies are slowly moving out of the US Economy. The are investing in Europa (Warren Buffett) or are creating their own financial market and currency (China, Russia, India).Nobody believes the US will recover but they have to prevent a total meltdown.

China is even taking over control of the US Economy. With their enormouss funds they will be alble to “blackmail” the US. They are already doing this. The Chinese are in contrary to the US fighting the war with the Wapens of their Opponent. They know how to win without fighting.

What many peopl don’t realize is that the long term Economic Cycle (The Kondratiev) is going Down for about 26 years. We have entered a State of Compression in 2000. The Expansion of the World Economy during the last 26 years has stopped. We are just in the beginning of the Phase of Compression.

During the phase of compression the Baby Boomers will stop working. They have invested a lot of money to buy a pension. During the compression their pensions will evaporate. During the phase of compression many people will get old and ill. The Social System will be without any money to help them. Many people will move into a very angry state when they realize what really has happened.

During the Downfall The Debts will increase tremendously. The move from the Market to the Government (and the Tax Payer) is a temporary solution. Someday the Debts have to be repayed and the only thing US Govenment can do is to accept the fact that the US and the strongly related Western Economy will enter a state of Recession.

The Economic Activity will go Down but Social Activities will Move Up. When you are losing money somebody (Your Friends, Your Family, Your Community) has to help you.

What many people also don’t realize is that the very long time cycles are supporting the DownFall of the Economic System. The very long time cycles and especially the Cycle of the Precession is Jumping to a new Level. It is jumping to a higher level of Consciousness.

The current instability of the World System is not only visible in the Financial System. It shows itself in every System of the World. It shows itself in the Psychological System, the Cultural System, The Religiouss System, the Political System, the Ecological System, the Weather System and the Planetary System.

These Systems are highly interconnected. A Disaster in one of the Systems has an impact on all of the other Systems. When the Financial System is fixed, a Political Conflict (Russia) starts and the Financial System is unbalanced. When the Political System is stabilized a huge Earthquake or a giant Tornado will move the total System into unbalance. This will go on and on until everybody realizes that we are living in a Highly Interconnected Reality.

The only thing we can do is to act on the Level of Earth and Face Reality. We have to realize that all the Isolated Systems are One and the only thing we can do is to find Balance on Every Level.

We could start to Find Balance on the Level of the Human.

We could start to Reduce the Power of the Ego, Desire, by reducing our Needs.

We could start to Reduce the Power of our Expectation, our Thinking, and start to Trust the Other.

We could start to Empower our Imagination, Spirit, and Imagine a Shared Future.

We could start to Empower our Soul, Empathy, and start to Take Care of Others.

We could start to use our Consciousness and become Aware of what is really Happening.

Many people believe the current crisis will be a Fatal Crisis, a (Financial) Apocalyps. I don’t believe this will be the case.

Imagine a world were you are not Working all the time. Imagine a Life without Stress.

Imagine a World where You don’t have to Play Political Games to Survive.

Imagine a world where You could enjoy Nature.

Imagine a World were You are able to Help without Being Payd.

Imagine a World were you are able to Create when You want to do this. Imagine a World without War and Violence. The only thing You have to do is Leave a Little Bit of Your Current Luxury behind.

If this happens the Downfall of the Bad Buck would be replaced by a tremendous Rise of Good Luck.

LINKS

How the Great Depression was created

About Derivatives, Accountants, Greed and other terrible problems in the Banking Industry

Why Numbers are Waves

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

If you’re struggling with meal planning and eating healthy right now, you’re not alone. While trying to avoid grocery stores, you may be ordering more take-out than usual or reaching for snacks you normally would not eat due to stress or because healthier choices are not available. It’s completely OK and understandable to cut yourself some slack, but it’s also important to make sure you are getting enough nutrients to support yourself. Take a look to the best Alpilean customer reviews.

If you’re struggling with meal planning and eating healthy right now, you’re not alone. While trying to avoid grocery stores, you may be ordering more take-out than usual or reaching for snacks you normally would not eat due to stress or because healthier choices are not available. It’s completely OK and understandable to cut yourself some slack, but it’s also important to make sure you are getting enough nutrients to support yourself.

“Our bodies need to be nourished to fight infection and disease,” said Marissa Epstein, director of the UT Nutrition Institute. “A team of nutrients in foods work interdependently to strengthen our immune response when our bodies are defending against infection.”

Epstein says the first step in incorporating a more nutritious diet at home is reframing your attitude toward healthy eating by remembering all of your favorite healthy foods that make you happy and feel good. Creating these positive associations can help take off some of the stress around healthy eating — making it feel less intimidating and demanding.

We asked Epstein to share some healthy nutrition tips to inspire our current meal planning.

1. Set a schedule.

You should be taking a break and eating every three to four hours based on your hunger cues — starting with breakfast. Add an appointment on your calendar or set an alarm on your phone to remind yourself when to take snack and meal breaks.

2. Shop wisely.

Grocery shopping is serious business. You need a plan that will get you in and out as quickly as possible with food that lasts until your next trip. The best strategy for this is to make a grocery list. Have some backup food options just in case stores run out of your favorite items. If you’re ordering through a curbside pickup service, check your order against your list to make sure you didn’t miss anything.

3. Separate food and work.

Avoid setting up your home office in a place where your kitchen is in plain sight. It’s easy to gaze over your laptop straight into a pantry of snacks, so try your best to avoid the environmental cues tempting you to eat when you’re not hungry. Plan to eat when it’s time to eat and work when it’s time to work. Separating these two activities will help you enjoy your meals more and prevent you from snacking because of stress or boredom.

4. Stay hydrated with food.

Keeping a glass of water at your workstation is a good practice, but drinking water isn’t the only way your body stays hydrated. When you eat foods with high water content such as frozen or fresh fruits and vegetables, your body breaks down the water trapped inside the plant fibers. That water is released into your body slowly — keeping you hydrated for an extended period.