Wednesday 30 November 2011
cloudy gray times, you are now a thing of the past
catagories: America, economic policy
holly, jolly and echo base
catagories: graphic design, holidays and observances, Star Wars
Tuesday 29 November 2011
parts of speech
H and I used to hold (though the frequency was semi-legendary) German Days, when I struggle to communicate exclusively auf Deutsch. We really ought to get back into that practice, as the struggle and frustration is more memorable when it is more personable than conveying pleasantries with strangers or what I want left out of my meal at restaurants. One of the more challenging grammatical constructs, universally, are the prepositions (Präpositionen oder Lagewörter), owing that there are no set or predictable rules to follow and that the rules, framework of grammar was developed and committed to study long after the Germanic languages splintered.
Monday 28 November 2011
polity
catagories: 🇪🇺, economic policy, foreign policy, philosophy
Sunday 27 November 2011
schwarzer freitag
catagories: 🇩🇪, holidays and observances, lifestyle, religion, revolution
Friday 25 November 2011
neugier or random walk
I tend to think the trending now sections of some web sites are pretty vacuous and off-putting, and whenever I glance a celebrity name, I always wonder who died, and I don't think that embedding a social media ticker, a feed that aggregates all and sundry over buzzwords yields much in the way of insight, an invitation to engage, or a point of departure for learning more. Those, I think, especially gum up the smooth operation of the internet. That being said, I do enjoy peeking at my own daily statistics, which Blogger compiles fairly astutely. Aside from visitors' locations and traffic sources, one also sees (without necessarily triangulating everything, but I suppose that's why there is a word from my sponsors on the side bar) the search terms that brought them there--mostly by accident rather than snare, I'm sure. Strange and funny combinations come up sometimes, and it is interesting to see how the apparent randomness is anything but, so I guess it's a good thing that I wrote about (some of) them and can maybe deliver what they were looking for.
- donkeys in pajamas
- heraclitus meme
- architectural bird house
- heisenberg vanity license plates
- mri scan
- christmas giraffe
- euro eypo
- confusing dial
- cheese venn diagram
catagories: 🦒, networking and blogging
Wednesday 23 November 2011
passivhaus
The poor old headquarters building where I work is a pretty solid structure, having been built to host another military force and having withstood several onslaughts, but is undergoing an eternal series of repairs and improvements that makes me wonder how much of the original construction is left, from flooring to re-wiring to support the paperless office of the future, to constant shuffling of workspaces, to vacillating (schwankend) on whether or not to gut the whole assembly over asbestos in the basement.
catagories: environment, lifestyle
Tuesday 22 November 2011
winner, winner turkey dinner or klatu, barda, nikto
catagories: 💡, 🔭, philosophy, religion
Monday 21 November 2011
holiday creep or proscenium
catagories: 🇩🇪, environment, holidays and observances
Sunday 20 November 2011
villa suburbana
Saturday 19 November 2011
baby out with the bath water
Both sides ought to realize the limits of reparations and accusations before diplomacy is exhausted as well: sacrificing national self-determination for the sake of monetary-security is as big a farce as the security-theatre of the absurd of the States. And although the old arrangements have been shown to be less than ideal and Europe’s true-believers have been given a great gift in the chance to re-think and re-build the framework of this cooperative, one should not be tempted to dismiss the overall health and well-being of the EU with such prejudice. Some are crying socialism and collectivism, very reminiscent I think of the harsh treatment and fear-mongering propagated by the opponents of Obamacare when they cited horror stories from the British NHS (National Health Service) as reasons to avoid socialized medicine, but in large parts of Europe, the people are seeing benefits from the taxes they contribute realized in affordable health-care, less gentrification, labour laws that protect the worker, preservation of heritage and the environment, rule of law without tolerance for corruption. The financial institutions that are ailing for the most part are limited to those that were over-extended in the American real-estate market and the imaginary numbers game of derivatives, Volkswagen is worth more in real assets than all of American auto manufacturers combined, and though employment and future prospects have sadly diminished in many places, there is great potential for recovery, should national entities only be able to deliver on their original promises. There is not, I think, so much outside pressure mandating change as restructuring for competition, enforcement of regulation (taxation) and growth, within reason. There's already enough crap in the world to satisfy any consumer (though possibly not at the right price), but the de-industrialization of the world's former factories (the US and the UK have grown a bit shrill in their criticism along with moving to a service-based economy) had nothing to do with a grand-anti-consumerism movement and more to do with greed.
Countries that retained their manufacturing sector continue to enjoy economic health and good levels of employment all around--not to over-simplify matters and not to disparage those nations that have picked up the slack with the outsourcing and off-shoring of corporate colonialism, tasked nominally with the production and export of things out-of-proportion with their own needs, means and tastes. It is not just the cars, planes, computers, etc. but also the management and control in line with demand and the dirty part of the business that leaves a mess to clean up: increased demand and improvements in standards of living has not pushed the tolerance of the environment to unseen heights but the struggle to maintain profit and productivity has. Remanded to one's own backyard, manufacturing and the challenge to do it all better and within one's neighbourhood imperatives, I believe, to mend the environment and the economy. National branding won't heal rifts nor will it safeguard statehood but maybe without the artificial threats of endless debt and austere futures, nations can resume talking about what works and what hasn't and without entendre and vitriol.
catagories: 🇧🇪, 🇩🇪, 🇪🇺, 🇬🇧, 🌐, 💡, 🥸, economic policy, environment, lifestyle
Friday 18 November 2011
fiat
Since the end of World War II and the Bretton Woods Conference for the promotion of open markets, there have been about thirty dissolutions of monetary unions (around seventy if one counts trade associations and related pacts) around the world, and while some break-ups were due to revolution or were superseded by other currencies, many of the terminations were voluntary and in recognition that conditions have changed. Despite the magnitude of the moment that the European common currency has, partners taking leave is not a new or rare thing. The European Union and Europe is about more than just money--and after all, that's all this is, not the end of the world. The euro is worth the effort (without judging the means and extremes taken) to preserve the balance of plurality and individuality that it represents. Though bankers and politicians rather campaign on legacies and steady-states, humans have an extraordinary capacity for adapting to change and privation (some of which in the realm of possibilities could be to the greater good) and we should not forget our native gifts that have grown a bit repugnant to regime and business, whose framework of custody and profit might render us all helpless.
Seit Ende der zweiten Weltkrieg und der Bretton Woods-Konferenz (für die Förderung von offene Märkte), hat ungefähr 30 internationale Währungsunionen (ohne die Gewerkschaftsverbanden und Bunds zu zählen) aufgelöst. Während die Spaltungen aufgrund eines Revolution oder einer Nachfolgewährung, wurden viele Kündigungen freiwillig. Trotz der Größe und Komplexität der aktuelle Situation in Europa, Auflockerung ist nichts neu oder selten. Der EU ist nicht nur Geld--es geht ja nur um Geld und keinen Weltuntergang. Das Euro wert ist zu retten (ohne Rücksicht auf die Maßnahme) um die richtige Balance zwischen Souveränität und Gruppenarbeit willen. Banken und Politiker bevorzugen Stabilität, obwohl Menschen haben ein natürliches Talent für Veränderung und Einschränkungen. Die Wende könnte zum gröberen Wohl das Volk ergeben, und es sollte nicht vergessen werden, dass wir haben solcher Anpassungsfähigkeit trotz den Minuspunkte bei Wirtschaft und Politik.
catagories: 🇪🇺, economic policy
Thursday 17 November 2011
les trois perdants or suspension of belief
catagories: philosophy, psychology, revolution
Wednesday 16 November 2011
you used to ride on your chrome horse with your diplomat
catagories: America, foreign policy
nazca or man in the moon
Until a couple years ago when satellite charting services started paying attention to the ocean and the ocean’s floor, it seemed like our educational system was really failing, since 99% of school children could not locate Atlantis on a map. It turned out the apparent submerged roadways and building foundations were shadows and optical illusions (pareidolia, like the Face on Mars) but the excitement at least increased the awareness of some people. Perhaps, ultimately, the strange, man-made patterns appearing in China’s remote Gobi Desert will present the same lesson. It’s mysterious, kind of like the Nazca Lines of Peru, but barring what’s classified or secreted away (surely a fresh sweep is allowed over Iranian and Chinese ambitions but not over Area 51), one will probably be able to divine their purpose, whether defensive or experimenting with new ways of producing energy or drawing water out of a salty aquifer discovered beneath the desert. Before such powerful telemetry became available, the Great Wall of China was considered the only man-made structure "visible" unaided from orbit: I wonder if that distinction is still meaningful when all skyward features, down to the smallest detail, are visible for public scrutiny and imagination.
Tuesday 15 November 2011
utopian gesture
catagories: America, economic policy, Europe, foreign policy, revolution
Sunday 13 November 2011
hippocrates
catagories: graphic design, health and medicine, lifestyle
what is that new country-code, top level internet domain for obamastan?
The United States Congress is poised to pass yet another regulation that will severely curtail creative expression and make the make internet a more impoverished place. H, earlier in the week, spend some time at the footlights of one of Germany’s bigger entertainment awards ceremonies, by coincidence, and was in close proximity to some of young darlings of pop music that were not only discovered through the internet, were continuously promoted, aggressively disallowed to sink into obscurity, by the same medium, at a time when monotony of the radio just does not cut it anymore.
Saturday 12 November 2011
warnschuss, coup de semonce or disconfirmed expectancy
One should not forget that Europe as a personality or playable character is something ultimately derived from a Greek myth (EN/DE), and not a very happy or pleasant one at that. While there is trouble going on in the lands of the Classics, France too in its capacity as a leader in the European Union’s coregency with Germany in fixing the currency is seeing its woes compounded. A major credit rating agency made known by mistake and perhaps prematurely the downgrading of France’s credit-worthiness. I am sure that the functionaries at such institutions always have such press-releases cocked, especially when it is a real and strategic possibility, and ready, like the morbid job of obituary writers who constantly update the curriculum vitae of celebrities, so their newspaper can be first and timely in case one should leave us unexpectedly.
Friday 11 November 2011
elevensies
catagories: 🇩🇪, 🍻, holidays and observances
Thursday 10 November 2011
entente or cabbages and kings
catagories: economic policy, Europe, foreign policy, holidays and observances, revolution
Wednesday 9 November 2011
heurism or green fairy/blue tooth
catagories: Europe, food and drink, holidays and observances, technology and innovation
matchbox or go-go-gadget brella
Tuesday 8 November 2011
a series of tubes
catagories: 🇩🇪, environment
little golden book or mihi causas memora
Virgil’s epic the Aeneid, the founding story of the Roman Empire that began with a lieutenant’s escape from burning Troy, carrying his infant son, Ascanius, in his arms and his elderly father, Anchises on his back, as well as a bundle of household gods, wandering journey from Phrygia to Italy, battles with the Latins and eventual status as forbearer of the Roman people, presents a rich allegory, with some powerful, contemporary points of correspondence (for what it’s worth, as the latest tragedies are not, in the grander scheme of adventure and mythological, really all that legendary) with the current Greco-Roman marketplace.
catagories: 🇬🇷, 🇮🇹, 🇹🇷, 📚, economic policy
Sunday 6 November 2011
heresy or wash your mouth out with soap
Friday 4 November 2011
heisenberg or frisch gestrichen
The New York Times' technology blog has a post covering significant recent changes being released that redirect the traffic flow of the internet on the approach from the biggest and most ubiquitous internet search engine. After first changing its parameters a few months back so as to not so easily fall for website spam--pages that capitalize and snare hits with words popular searches but are hollow and without content, in addition to continual fine-tuning, parameters and rules in favour of freshness, timeliness, I suppose over other criteria like brute popularity or possibly definitiveness.
catagories: networking and blogging
Thursday 3 November 2011
flower drum song
Wednesday 2 November 2011
begrudge report
Quietly, and I am sure gratefully for some detractors to escape critical eyes and public debate, Palestine's ascension to the United Nations' UNESCO body (Gremium) has slipped away post-hast from the headlines and perhaps the public's attention.
catagories: 🇩🇪, 🇺🇸, foreign policy, revolution
Tuesday 1 November 2011
demos
catagories: 🇬🇷, 🌍, 🌎, economic policy, networking and blogging