carnivale

Since some time now, I have been rather a humbug when it comes to Fasching celebrations (the German equivalent of Carnival)--not keen on dressing up or partying on a school night.  My sister in the States braved blizzard conditions in the Deep South to make the trek along the coast to New Orleans for Marti Gras.  I hope she's having a blast, and I am sure the drive will be most memorable, if snow in Mississippi does not become common-place in the next years.  Even if Lent, what all this lead-up is about--sage old Carnival queens and krewes should tell a Lenten story like they do for Passover, why is this night different from all other nights?--is all about privation and shunning temptation, it really kicks off vacation planning in earnest, especially after this winter's captivity.   H and I have quietly plotted our escapes, and though I am useless when it comes to long-term planning and the business of logistics, I am overwhelmingly excited about the trips and dates held in reserve that we have on slate.  Those vintage Star Wars travel posters are not reflective of our next destinations (for next time), but are the very stylish and clever work of graphic artist Justin van Genderen.

UR doomed

Just scant hours after the EU bravely and laudably refused to comply with US requests for banking data sharing in the name of prevention of terrorism, the Obama administration made a statement in support of new initiatives to cull cell phone tower pings (and call logs rendered freely by telecoms) and triangulate users' locations, because citizens should have no reasonable expectations of privacy or anonymity of their whereabouts, or more precisely, the whereabouts of their cell phones.  This sounds like some poor, B-movie glomming onto the plot from the last Batman or Echalon Conspiracy.

the more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems that will slip through your fingers

I really have not followed the now disputed presidential election results for the Ukraine and the subsequent havoc and calls for a recount.  I only try to keep up with the politics because opposition Julia Timoschenko reminds me of Princess Leia, and her challenger, the ostensible winner, makes me think she's up against some dark sith lord or power-hungry Grand Moff Tarkin, that she's rallying the Rebel Alliance against the Evil Empire.

raubkopier

There is a fairly impassioned debate going on in the German government about the ethicality of reviewing the financial data on a pilfered CD-ROM from a Swiss bank clerk.  German already paid a tidy ransom to the bank clerk for a list of reportedly 5000 German individuals who have been stashing money away in the Confederacy to avoid paying taxes.  The German government justified its purchase, since it stands to recoup up to a billion euro in tax revenue.  Not every one is pleased with Germany's conduct for dealing in stolen goods.  What if it was not a stolen list of tax-evaders, but a list of welfare grifters or people with outstanding hospital bills?  What sort of message does it send to Switzerland--that there should be a similiar bounty on German confidential files?  There was a big to-do already in Davos over what previous few props are available for banking giant UBS and what would it mean to hand over a slice of bailout pie to Zurich.  It does not seem any different than state-supported piracy to me.  Last year, this sort of exchange between Vaduz and the States led me to cleaning out and closing my Liechtensteiner, Swiss-Lite account.  Now, however, I understand that there is a plaintiff in case against the partner bank that surrendered his financial data, that made him cough up his back taxes, who has successfully sued for several millions due to distress incurred.