kid charlemagne

The Big Think (via Boing Boing) presents this very clever and illustrative Venn diagram to map out and explain the overlapping cabal and clubs, treaties and disputes that are overshadowed or masked by the idea of the European Union.  Though all these coalitions may be striving to form a more perfect union--and still preserve state sovereignty and character, held together by various bureaucratic centers, it shows what a peculiar and on-going challenge of negotiations it is.  And though it might seem hopelessly complex and sisiphian, such a coming together and agreeing to disagree after such turblent and divergent histories can form a peaceable kingdom through genuine discussion and conversation.

mothra versus godzilla

Despite outstanding preparation, response and containment on the part of government and communities, there are only poor, boundless words to describe the shock and sympathy over the devastation and loss for the people of Japan in the wake of this earthquake and tsunami that threatened to carpet the rest of the Pacific.

There is little to assuage the personal costs, but the people there are practiced and ready and together managed to avoid a much bigger catastrophe as it is still unfolding. The occasion for recovery and reorganization has led to ultimate good fortune and strength in the past, and no doubt the country will recover. No matter how well prepared and what sort of fail-safes are installed, however, there are sobering reminders of Nature’s aloof power, and not of man’s stubborn struggle for traction on a slipping cliff side.

The quirks of geography awaken suddenly and violently. What is seismically active, by definition, does go through periods of ebb and flow but there is little sense in expecting “the big one” or to proclaim anything is overdue—though that always sounds good in hindsight, as does recognizing the spate of quakes occurring as a sign of something other than the usual geocentric dispersion:

Christchurch, and Yunnan and the eruption of an Indonesian volcano in the same fateful day.

Astrologers are attributing this series to the tidal, tractor-beam pull of the Moon’s close approach to Earth. All support and goodwill lends Japan the strength and courage to recover, and its economy will surely be revitalized as people and communities heal. Though allegory, monsters, radioactive titans, were probably instruments of fiscal stimulus and reinvention as well.

BAföG

The English Daily the local features an article about a unique academy, at least in Germany, that's not too far from Bad Karma, our fair city, that specializes in training in the funerary arts. Surely there are other trade schools and apprenticeships but this sort of hybridized vocational college does not seem to be part of the European educational model of apprenticeship and rigour.

I have been by the campus--the buildings and the mock-graveyard, and it does not seem like a fly-by-night organization--I am sure it's a fine and respectable institution but it just bothers me how the exceptionalness of the place was stressed.  Death and disposition certainly are regulated by deeply personal and cultural norms as well--the climate for mourning and expression of grief as well as celebration and remembrance. Though any local mention is a bit noteworthy, the piece probably caught my attention more so because we are right now slowly making our way through the series Six Feet Under, whose method is genius, for its macrabe and morbidness and quirky professional insights into to both the business and people's attitudes towards it. This miniature diorama of the show is from a Belgian network's prime-time line-up promotion. Must see TV.

vox populi

There is a strange dichotomy between the revolt raging in the Middle East and in the protests in the former powerhouses of agriculture and industry in the US. The organization and hierarchy of needs are of course substantively different, but there is precious little that separates the movements--maybe an empty shaft or the ventilation causeways that have become a plot-device in all sorts of capers, and the two are like service-elevators, parallel, and on the descent, on the ascent. Illusory, desultory freedoms are a fair diversion, and could be so much more meaningful, but count for little to a citizenry and government in hock to a few corporate magnates that have turned welfare and gainful employment to a Ponzi scheme of incubating funds until the whole game collapses. Those struggling for their basic rights should not have such a grasping avarice to look forward to after facing such challenges. Solidarity is profound for both movements, but there are comparable, though one decidedly more insidious, propaganda machines that try to turn support and opinion.

There's the daffy, convoluted censorship of some of these nervous dictatorships and the more innocent seeming sting of debate that the US is pushing: instead of all workers fighting for the same benefits as those in the civil sector or investigating for themselves the possible motivations and maneuvers behind the debate. Undermining the those traditional totems of partisan powers, union reciprocation the liberal parties, may be more politically expedient--inciting division, rather than discussing concessions and compromise.

Though in a supposedly civil and advanced society, it is difficult to see beyond the greed of the game, but insuring that there is no choice in future leadership--and work and mobility are likewise constrained--and power is more and more concentrated in the few.

International Workers of the World commissioned artist Eric Drooker to design them this terrific poster for what's surely to come if dialogue cannot be encouraged.  The choice of mascot makes quite a statement--reminescent of that 9-volt battery cat or Le Chat Noir.