drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome--time for zis one to come home

The privacy debate, and not without good cause, is still part of the German Zeitgeist over Google Maps and Street View.  People, no matter where, should not become complacent to the extent with their private lives or reasonable expectations thereof where they accept any possible encroachment at face value, though what not readily available online, whether unwillingly or freely given, is becoming more and more rare and precious.  To get more acquainted with the vistas that Google affords, however, Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student Joe McMichael developed this Global Genie that can beam one around the earth at random.

inland empire or BLUF

As the stimulus printing-presses in the United States are working in overdrive to try to restore enough confidence to unfreeze the hording of surplus money, which is rather counterintuitive since the easing of financial instruments (i.e., printing more money or selling more dubious debt to cover these outlays) threatens deflation, making money worth more by making things cost less, there is some dangerous momentum being set off. Regardless of what gossip is going on in broader stock markets, however, it is the wages of the wage-earners that is the bottom-line--BLUF is a misleading acronym for "bottom-line up front" that I always thought was an ironic way to start out a communiqué, no, seriously.

On that front, whether distinct or not from instilling confidence in market fundamentals, stimulus dollars have also been allocated in what some would call "make-work" programs to improve infrastructure. Making the delivery systems, roads and utilities, of America better and more efficient is a worthwhile cause, since better and more reliable transportation and support systems are the only things giving the US a slight advantage over India and China, but I am sure that such initiatives are the brunt of a lot of criticism: utility companies in whatever form, from the internets, to the telecoms, to the gas and electric companies, are despicable things that always breed a begrudging relationship, and when compared to the stuff of Roosevelt's New Deal, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Hoover Dam, national monuments and stupendous gothic revival city halls and courthouses, a few filled potholes and hydrogen powered busses seem rather boring. Repairing and improving infrastructure is very important, but I do hope that same sentiment is not further transmuted to bolstering America's bucket-brigade of garrisoned and standing armies worldwide. It is a disservice to peace and security by posturing as the world's police force and imperial guard. There are dwindling occasions where such expansionist policy serves the US well, aside from political bullying in the interest of US corporations--a very bad thing though perhaps diabolically astute, and in case of an alien invasion, whose justification I might believe if they were trying to sell it that way.

freistoot boarn

H and I took out the Bulli Camper for maybe the last trip of the season and drove through the lush and scenic Bayerische Wald to the outer-most reaches of the Free State.  Along the way, we stopped at Walhalla, the hall of national heroes and cultural treasures.  King Ludwig who had this monument, a hall of busts of the greatest German contributers to the arts, science and state-craft, commissioned had a fondness for all things classically Greek and inserted the rather foreign Ypsilon into the German language--as in Bayern. 

The city of Passau, where three rivers coverge and the Danube rolls onward was our denoument, and we had a great long weekend and were lucky once again with the fair weather.  The natives were very friendly and distinctive--I was not quite able to name what it was that colored this region differently than our own part of Bavaria.

Returning, we stopped at the library cloister at Metten, whose golden archangel guarded the village.  I thought the statue looked rather robotic, like an avatar for Voltron, defender of the faith.

pigeon forge

From our balcony looking towards the little river, we have a regular display of wild birds.  Sometimes when an unusual one passes by, I try to identify it in this old children's birdwatchers' guidebook, which does a pretty good job of illustrating Germany's fowl. 

While trying to name our most recent siting, I was reading over the pigeon and dove (Tauben) section, and wondered at the caption accompanying the common, city pigeon, die Türkentaube.  At first, I wondered just at the name, and then at the text, "They have lived with us since 1946," going on to describe its environment and feeding habits.  I thought, how did the pigeons know that the war was over--what a strange thing to insert in a children's book and what does that have to say about current immigration and integration reform.  It turns out that this now ubiquitous breed of pigeon, whose native range is from Turkey to Japan, was not introduced into European stocks until this time, in efforts to restore roosts and an industry damaged by years of violence.

taboo you tour

The provocative tracts and the media circus featuring German Federal Bank representative Thilo Sarrazin is rousing several uncomfortable debates that I do not believe are palatable material for a public forum. There is too much taboo in it. The vitriol and the extreme claims are not helpful and do not forward Sarrazin's arguments, nor really lend much credence to those who disagree with him.

Sarrazin is not right but people may be too quick to dismiss his assessment, which may be a distasteful truth: there may be difficulties with immigration and there may be the potential for cultural clashes but the situation that Sarrazin presents (however prejudicially and imperfectly) invites the question to the public what kind of Germany do you want, inclusive and tolerant or otherwise. Maybe, however, Germany's dogmatists need to recruit Jesus in this process, like America's ambassadors of love, peace and understanding, the Tea Party set, or stellar models of integration, like occupied Palestine, who the US is currently trying to mediate while at the same time addressing its own hateful debate over the mosque not only at Ground Zero but mosques in general and drones patrolling the border with Mexico. Further, I wonder what would have been made of Sarrazin's book had he substituted Jewish and Muslim people with "Russians." Would there have been this uproar or just blasé nods of concurrence and what does that mean about the tenor of tolerance in general?

skywalker ranch or blue harvest

Fantastic graphic designer and Etsy artisan Andy Helms is selling has sold new, reimagined prints of the Star Wars space opera odyssey.  These posters are awesome and have a really keen, Jungian common-fate movement to them, similar to Mark Eco fashions. 

idée fixe

EU legislation has condemned the old fashioned, inefficient and heat-generating light bulb (German--Glühbirn, glowing-pear) in favor of the lower wattage, longer-lived variety. This is a good move which will reduce waste since light-bulbs are reputedly resistant to recycling--which is something I do not quite buy--and save consumers money on their utility bills, figured rather unexcitedly over the life-time of the light-bulb. This restriction, beyond promotion of a cost-saving measure and a sensible idea, could create a underground culture of after-market old fashioned light-bulbs to fit vintage and antique lamps. There must be surplus stock for decades-worth of lighting that are now barred from retail outlets but could span a grey-market. I do not want to buck the ecologically smart trend, but I like the idea of sneaking around to bypass newly-mandated contraband. It makes me think about those eternal, early incandescent bulbs that are still burning from Thomas Edison's time, the heydays of tinkering and experimentation. The designed obsolescence supposedly came later, once manufacturers realized that there was no money to be made in something that did not need to be replaced.