Sunday 31 July 2011
truth or consequences, new mexico
catagories: graphic design, language
crawlspace or urban spelunking
Via the superlative BLDGBLOG, Der Spiegel (auf englisch) reports on a persistent mystery that’s been buried and forgotten in locations all over Bavaria. There are hundreds of discovered ancient stone passageways tunneled into the earth, mostly impossibly narrow and tight, in farmers’ fields, under churchyards and in towns, that have been described with such creative names as Schrazelloch ("goblin hole") and Alraunenhรถhle ("mandrake cave"), because locals believed that they were the mines of dwarves and oubliettes of elves—since no one can really say what the purpose of these articifical caves were.
catagories: ๐ณ️, ๐ฅธ, psychology, religion
Saturday 30 July 2011
aqua-velva
Friday 15 July 2011
nam alii oc, alii si, alii vero disunt oil
foundry sans informal
catagories: ๐ฃ, graphic design
Thursday 14 July 2011
flea, fly, flea-fly-mosquito
catagories: language, networking and blogging
cosmic architektonik
catagories: Europe, graphic design, revolution
Wednesday 13 July 2011
evasive maneuvers
catagories: America, economic policy
Tuesday 12 July 2011
eight-bit or the red-coats are coming
catagories: America, graphic design
fahrsprung
H has become quite handy and bold with assaying our fair Lady, and making sure she is fully outfitted for our upcoming big trip. The word jalopy has, I think, too many negative connotations and can't aspire to be something refined and finely engineered. Our third generation Volkswagen Transporter--sometimes sold as Vanagons in the States (Lady is a "Sport R" and I always thought that was a very special and rare model... maybe we should have named her VGER like the Voyager space probe in the first Star Trek movie)--was the first model of bus water cooled (instead of air-cooled) and was the last VW of any type to have the engine in the rear. That's a bit like those dinosaurs that had two brains, one in the head and one in the tail to govern each. The word jalopy does suggest, however, dependability--or at least, flexibility, serviceableness and the ability to intuit. It is always comforting to know that one's trip won't have a contrary, single-minded computer as a roadblock and that with less, one can go further.
catagories: transportation, travel
Monday 11 July 2011
odious debt
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ช๐บ, ๐บ๐ธ, economic policy
Friday 8 July 2011
the perils of penelope pitstop or dutch-east-india company
poll tax
Thursday 7 July 2011
green shoots
catagories: ๐ฑ, environment, lifestyle
Wednesday 6 July 2011
kraken or there be dragons here
catagories: ๐ฆ, Europe, foreign policy, language
Tuesday 5 July 2011
colossus
The local has a dispatch from the Baltic strand of Rรผgen about designs to convert the colossal planned holiday-going compound of Prora, which stretches for 4,5 kilometers along the strait separating the Bay of Jasmund (Jasmunder Bodden - recently too elevated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site [DE]) from the sea, after many decades, back towards its original intent.
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, environment, travel
Monday 4 July 2011
a.e.i.o.u.
Otto von Hapsburg, the eldest son of the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary, has passed away, at the advanced age of 98, and with him one of the last links to this time in the world, not so long ago, when monarchy and lineage dominated and republics were the exception.
catagories: ๐ช๐บ, revolution
Sunday 3 July 2011
national lampoon
Vor wenigen Wochen gab die Onion ein Bericht, der kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Depression der amerikanischen Wirtschaft erwรคchst vollstรคndig aus der Tatsache, dass das Land liegt auf einem riesig, vorzeitlichem indischem Begrรคbnisfeld (wie im Film ,,Poltergeist’’ – hier findet man solche Kultkino Kreationen). Und aggregiert davor ein geschickt Gruppe den Empรถrung an Menschen ohne Kenntnisse dass die Onion haben die Nachrichten parodiert. Manchmal sagt Parodie mehr, als jede wahr Nachricht, genau wie Leichtglรคubigkeit. Obwohl nichts Neues, versauern nicht was lustig ist.
catagories: America, networking and blogging
Friday 1 July 2011
the glazier's fallacy or ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas
The New York Times has a circumspect article on the end of mandatory military conscription in Germany, which official ended today, marking the transition into an all voluntary force. Formerly, when young men and women reached the age of majority, they were required to serve a tour of eighteen months in military or comparable civilian service, with waivers granted for certain career tracks. Often I think about the incidents and accidents and quirks of history and how things would have turned out completely different had events and practices taken another course: H was able to avoid conscription in the East German Peoples' Army because of the timing of Reunification, and without East Germany to begin with, an American military presence in Germany certainly would not have been so enduring. I wonder if one knows when human events took the wrong course. What does that feel like? I cannot speak to whether the experience is formative for young people or whether the democratized military benefited more from mandatory rather than a voluntary composition, but I do imagine that all sorts of business and industries as well as the apprentices gained a lot from the free-help and career-sampling and development opportunities. As the New York Times story points out, a disproportionate number of military personnel are represented by residents of the former East, where sometimes gainful employment can be harder to secure. Perhaps military service, on a voluntary-basis too, can help distribute opportunities to talented individuals and not become the distasteful, minioned last resort it is elsewhere. It is a big experiment to shift the direction of one's armies like this, and while I am not sure about any analogues or the shape of things to come of this, it did not take place without discussion and debate, and perhaps introduces a measure of reason to the stuff of defense and aggression.
Hier geht es zu einem Artikel von Focus รผber der Ende der Wehrpflicht--der Schnittstelle der รbergangs von obligatorisch zu freiwilligen Dienst. Vormals, werden alle jungen Mรคnner und Frauen mรผsse, sich mit 18 Jahren entweder fรผr die Bundeswehr oder Zivildienst zu dienen. Often habe ich mich selbst รผber die mรถglichen vom Vorfรคllen und Begebenheiten Geschichtes nachzudenken. Wie kรถnnte es anderes sein? H vermied Einberufung bei der DDR-Volksarmee aus Grรผnden des Timings der Wiedervereinigung. Ohne der DDR, haben nicht weder der amerikanischen Militรคrprรคsenz in Deutschland fรผr mich erdulden mussten. Ich frage mich, ob das vom Kurs abkommen. Ich weiร nicht, ob das Erleben was prรคgend fรผr Jugendlichen oder nichts, oder ob das mit gut fรผr die Armee war. Aber ich glaube, dass begรผnstigte Arbeits- und Sozialausschusses davon Helfer und Nachwuchsfรถrderung. Das Militรคrpersonal kommen Bรผrger aus die neuen รถstlichen Bundeslรคndern. Manchmal gibt dort nur wenig Mรถglichkeiten, Qualifikationen zu erwerben. Vielleicht wird weiterhin Freiwilligendiensten als effektiver Zugangsmรถglichkeit und Bildungschance statt letzten Ausweg unterstรผtzen. Auf diese Weise wรผrde der Armee einen bisher unbekannten Wagemut an den Tag legen. Vielleicht wenn wir setzen die Debatte fortzu, dann kรถnnen wir eine gewisse Menschenverstand und Vernunft in die Verteidigung und Aggression einfรผhren.
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, foreign policy, labour, lifestyle