Following the template of job security safety nets already in place in Austria and Norway, the European Union social services commission will put forward, within an obligatory framework, a mechanism to hold the problems of high unemployment among young people to account.
Monday 3 December 2012
jobbing or come-uppance
Sunday 2 December 2012
oranges and lemons say the bells of saint clement’s
- 250 ml (1 cup) orange juice 250 ml (1 cup) of Triple Sec 250 ml (1 cup) of dry white, wine—if available in your area, another thing to try would be Thรผringer Holunder Punsch, a fortified holiday beverage, a white wassail seasoned already with some of the other spices
- The juice of one lemon (Zitrone)
- One stick of cinnamon (Zimt), whole cloves (Nelken), and some ground cinnamon and whipped crรจme for garnish
Place all the liquid ingredients into a sauce pan to warm on low heat. Add the cinnamon stick and six cloves and cover. Monitor to make sure the mixture doesn’t scald or boil, and after about fifteen minutes, when the cinnamon stick starts to break up and the mixture takes on a buttery complexion, it should be ready. Pour through a strainer to avoid getting pieces of cinnamon and cloves in your glass. Top with whipped crรจme and ground cinnamon and enjoy with gingerbread (Lebkuchen).
catagories: food and drink, holidays and observances
Saturday 1 December 2012
good saint nick
There are quite a few superstar saints but I think it is a challenge to find one with a more universal following and elaborate traditions than Saint Nicholas. Santa Claus or Father Christmas is a distinct and perhaps a bit of a derivative character, and while not just some corporate stooge, brainchild of Charles Dickens and Coca-Cola, nor ambassador of globalism as he’s sometimes unfairly made out to be, should not be confused or unused interchangeably with the original. The rituals that commemorate his approaching feast day (6. December) have intricate and escapingly elaborate basis in episodes of the saint’s life and enduring influence, and though abstractions and in some cases misunderstandings, I think that this level of detail and heritage keep the holiday and what goes with it inviolate and not usurped by commercial interests or whittled away. The weirdness and confusion of the holidays keep them intact and alive. Nicholas, whose name means “victory of the people,” was a bishop in Myra, Lycia (now Derme, Turkey) and was known for his great charity and playing secret-Santa for the needy, especially for finding creative ways to help those too proud to take hand-outs.
paper chase or then ‘tis like the breath of an unfee’d lawyer
In Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part II, one of the henchmen of the pretender to the throne and usurper, Dick the Butcher, famously proposes, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”
While maybe this seems in a modern context like an avenue to restore balance in an overly litigious society, it was meant rather as the most expedient route to counter counter-insurrectionists: regarded as the possibly the last and best defense against disorder and oppression, lawyers were regarded as unbiased keepers of justice and independent thought and a nuisance to revolutionaries.
catagories: ⚕️, ⚖️, ⚛️, ๐, ๐, environment, foreign policy, labour, revolution