
Saturday, 21 December 2013
haus am see or sugarcubes

Sunday, 4 August 2013
abc's and 123's
Slate has an excerpt from Daniel Tammet's new book on thinking in numbers, in which the author experiences the cultural nuance, chiefly while visiting Iceland, where amounts are treated as something qualitative as well as quantitative and not something separate and abstract.
For the numbers one through five, there are different forms for years, sheep (it reminds me of the shepherd’s rhyme and special number system for counting sheep and stitches for knitting—Yan Tan Tethera, and probably also useful for sending someone off to slumber-land), people, naming trains and highways and houses—reflecting declination and something categorical that has no equivalent English despite the occasional encounter with twain, deuce, score and murder of crows, a gaggle of geese, etc. The fourth sheep is called something like “Sheep Number Four,” as if it were a city-bus—preserving a sense of cardinal bias, something not strictly ordinal, since four follows three only by the reckoning of the counter, unlike the passage of time. Bigger numbers are not elaborated in the same kind of way. I would like to read this book and find out how ways of counting influence the cognitive process and possible assumptions made about the significance upon encountering the unusual.
Monday, 29 April 2013
sjรถrnustrรญรฐ: nรฝ von

catagories: ๐ช๐บ, ๐ฎ๐ธ, revolution, Star Wars
Friday, 22 March 2013
brinksmanship or no quarter
On the surface of things, the evolving situation in Cyprus’ finances does not seem to make complete sense. There was originally a strange sort stoical solidarity as the idea of levying a deposit tax as collateral against the Euro-Group’s line of credit from the island’s government but public outrage and fears of precipitating such seizures ultimately led to the collapse in negotiations. Presently, the Cypriots look poised to renege on the terms of this rescue package, and the EU looks willing to cut its losses, recognizing the grave realities of a marshal-economy. The transformation was quick, from darling of people seeking out a safe berth for the money to anathema, over-exposed—though fundamentally, the shenanigans were no different than what when on in other crisis lands, or for that matter, what is still tolerable, attractive about other safe harbours, like Luxembourg or the Channel Islands.
Saturday, 9 March 2013
sampo
catagories: ๐ฎ๐ธ, ๐ณ๐ด, ๐งณ, transportation, ⓦ
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
eenie meanie or ฮญฮฝฮฑฯ ฮผฮนฮฑ ฮตฮฝฮฑ
Some time ago, I recall reading a broad overview (not disjointed but just non-sequitur and sparse explanation, like a freak-show of strange foreign customs) on Christmas traditions. According to the article, some Greek households leave a colander out on the doorstep (unlike stockings hung over a heath or a boot on Sankt Nikolas Tag in Germany for gifts) to confound mischievous spirits and keep them from entering the home.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
run-off or terrestrial sunsets
These incredible images are created by volcanic ash, vibrant and chthonic minerals that the Earth gives up on a fairly regular basis there, being scuttled away by rivers and streams.
The photographer’s eye and technical acumen, I think, are really able to capture in this series what photography was intended for and distinguished from the other visual arts by—being able to distill and communicate a sort of landslide never seen before nor will ever be seen again, like being able to capture the roiling shadows of a cloud or the play of colours in a sunset.
Be sure to check out some of the other photographs featured on these communities. These smoky, spyrograph moments are outstandingly beautiful and makes me hopeful that I might be able to also frame such compositions as they flow downstream.
Thursday, 30 August 2012
prosopagnosia or lost-and-found

Wednesday, 18 July 2012
no quarter or crowded house
Here’s a pessimistic thought: the same mob-mentality that fomented the same froth of bubbles that burst with the real estate market is likewise the authoritative voice on what constitutes a secure harbour, a safe-haven investment to berth one’s wealth and is kettling (purposefully or otherwise) to the same supposed shelters.
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
achterbahn
Lending tacit support to the infusion of credit to Spanish banks by way of a demurring and quiet concession towards the pooling of debt, Germany bore some chinks in its armour of resistance to the notion of sharing responsibility for broader financial stability. Signaling (again so lightly as to miss this cue) that the machinery of the European Union might be willing to admit a bit of the chaos of democracy (wherein people might not be obliged to choose wisely), Germany advocated a stronger political union for governance of monetary issues, ceding control of budgetary competence to the EU board.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
pyrrhic victory or yes, we have no bleeding turnips
“Another such victory and I am undone.”
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
kitchenware revolution
catagories: ⚖️, ๐ฎ๐ธ, revolution
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
kฮฑฯฮฑฮฝฮฑฮปฯฯฮนฯฮผฯฯ or conspicuous consumption
While it is premature and insulting to suggest that Greece, failing to form a definitive coalition government after its legislative elections that were themselves held in the framework of a caretaker government ingratiated as a condition of the first bailout package, will flagrantly choose to not uphold its obligations—attracting no clear majority though like-mindedness abounds—it does beg the question at what cost default. Greece is already in hock for the better part of a generation just keeping current on payments to service its rescue packages, with acutely less to show for it in the end: the dictates of creditors and angel-investors are superseding public services and the cultivation of a jobs market. Prophets of doom are probably not exaggerating when the say that Greece will suffer an extended period of massive poverty if they are forced to default (there is not much choice left in the matter) and quit the euro, but such consequences are temporary, surely less than the terms of the loan, and the Greeks could begin clawing their way back right away. Such a precedent, though, would be dread to see, dread to hear for other countries on the economic ledge and the minders of the EU—a cue for Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Portugal, Belgium and Italy, another nation imposed with a caretaker government, to consider doing the same.
I venture that the biggest fear behind the potential for contagion and strict monitoring of Greek conduct lies in not the potential for poverty but rather that it is a renegade category of poverty. Consumption continues at a pace, regardless of financial standing, so long as there is credit and interminable refinancing. Trade partners can still sell their exports and settle payments with a common currency in understood and agreeable terms, but once those conditions disappear and a country is unable to afford imports, established trade routes break down and there’s a turning inward and countries become more self-sufficient, relying on native products and developing local manufacturing (even if not as immediately efficient and technically advanced), perhaps even getting accustomed to getting by with less. Stronger economies would not be sustained without broader markets for the export of their expertise, and their sterling credit.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
althing
Gleichzeitig mit den Kontroverse um Stuttgart 21 Bahnstations-projekt und um den Zufรผhrungen zu Rรผckstellungen fรผr Entsorgung im Kernenergie-bereich, aus den letzten Meinungsumfragen geht hervor, dass viele Deutsche wollen direkten Demokratie: mehr Volksabstimmungen, ungemilderte Teilnahme in der Regierung. Niemand denkt daran, der Pรถbelherrschaft sollte geschehen, und ich glaube, dass machen die Politikeregos vertretende Regierung die anerkannte Norm, unabhรคngig davon, ob es Tyrannei der Mehrheit ist oder die Minderheit geschรผtzt wird. Ein islรคndisches Experiment ist Crowdsourcing seine Verfassungsentwurf: die Wรคhler werden gebeten, Ideen รผber das Zivilrecht und Politik vorzuschlagen. Im Gegensatz dazu hat Deutschland kein echt Bundesverfassung sagen die Einen (die umstrittend Weimarer Verfassung ausgenommen), und sondern hat stattdessen Gerichte und das bรผrgerliche Gesetzbuch, was sehr eindrucksvoll und bรผndigen ist. Darรผber hinaus empfiehlt in der Island die Ideen von Wรคhler geleitete รผber gรคngigen Sozialisierungsarten, aber vielleicht dieser innovat Erprobung wird mehr bรผrgerlichen Beteiligung und Bildung erreichen und geben helfen uns Design bessere Werkzeuge - so gut wie der Wahlzettel.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
just deserts
Karma and irony are sometimes the only concepts able to connect and make sense of the disparate events of history. The same ideas, however, seem to also be taking on a commanding role in determining foreign policy and outreach in present statecraft, and seemingly in many cases, the only framing factors in diplomacy and decision-making.

Monday, 28 February 2011
fรกil whale or pot-of-gold

Friday, 4 February 2011
my illudium q-36 explosive space modulator

catagories: ๐ฎ๐ธ, technology and innovation, transportation