Tuesday, 28 June 2011

good humor man or insular empire

The electronic edition of Der Spiegel (auf deutsch) picked up on a an overlooked interview on National Public Radio with a retired military commander about the grand reckoning of war costs. War is expensive all around and there are untold costs in human life and livelihood, but the economic price at least ought to be a knowable factor and bear semblance to reason and mission. It was established since years that the biggest single expense in waging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was fuel, transportation of huge amounts of it even to oil-rich lands and keeping the mammoth fleet and patrols in operation, but the NPR interview expounded on the profane detail that maintaining air-conditioning in the desert heat across America's hundreds of camps costs forty billion dollars annually.
This sort of budgeting represents more than the annual allotment for NASA, and certainly more monetary support Public Radio has seen in its life time. It is astounding what other programmes for health and well-being are being defunded in the face of a budget crisis and diverted to dubious battles. I wonder what company is realizing profits with some sham comforts-of-home argument rather than working to bring soldiers actually back to their homes. Moreover, I am sure that all the logistics are contracted out to agents that wouldn't relinquish the job without a fight and let the military do its own terraforming--or choose to forego some measure of luxury. It makes me wonder what the value of forty-billion dollars is in the end, when the Greek Tragedy and the Tea Party Budget Impasse have erupted over less and that much can just be blown out as exhaust. Dollars, given freely and without stint, are not automatically something ennobled.

mneme

A lot of study and philosophical musing goes into the definition and broader significance of what is a parasitic and viral form of shorthand--the internet meme. Many examples are very humourous, and though maybe imitation sometimes lacks depth--it is that very ability to suggest or germinate a whole idea from just a particle thereof. The term transmits ideas in the same way as genes propagate life, ancestry and evolution and is the smallest, discrete unit of lingual intelligibility, outside of art. Here is a blank, pinwheel background as a template to make up your own. Furthermore, Grammar Angel (who could possibly help with my translations) admonishes that Spell-Check is not a substitute for functional literacy: "aloud" is not the same as "allowed," despite the number of times it appears in postings.  What would your meme say?

Akademiker und Wissenschaftler haben sich bei viral, stichwortartigen Internet Meme sehr viele Gedanken gemacht. Zahlreichen Beispielen sind humorvoll--zugรคnglich, obwohl offenbar oberflรคchliches. Diese Fรคhigkeit wird derjenige Kraft (parasitisch und viral) ermittelt, zu stellen eine vollstรคndige Idee aus ein Pรผnktchen unter. Meme vermitteln die Ideen, und werden auf die gleiche Weise wie teilt die Gene (als kleinste รผbersetzbare Einheit erkennt) das Leben, die Herkunft und die Nachkommen mit. Nur bei Kunst ist ein kleinerer Teilchen mรถglich. Hier ist eine Vorlage, um deine eigenen Meme zu gestalten. Vielleicht kann mein Grammatik Engel auch helfen, meine รœbersetzungen zu steigern.  Was hรคltst du davon?

Monday, 27 June 2011

artful dodger

There has been a rash of headlines from all over the United States, disturbing yet fascinating, about metal thieves poaching copper and other scrap from all sources, without discrimination or regard for safety or cost to the public. There have been multiple reports of gangs dismantling rail road tracks causing trains to derail, stripping utility poles, antique fittings and fixtures or unthreading the copper condensing tubing from air-conditioning units. To replace this old infrastructure will certainly be expensive, not even beginning to consider the hardships individuals and municipalities are facing to find support systems taken for granted have been pulled out from underneath them. These crimes are desperate, with gold and silver already priced out of the market for most--and melting pennies is not a productive activity since the copper content of cents has been replaced with zinc, and the US Secret Service, as part of its original task to prevent counterfeiting and protect the money supply's integrity, have made it illegal to deface bills and coins. I wonder what the composition of these gangs are: a pick-pocket band of Dickensian street urchins, a swarm of nano-sized robots picking things clean like termites or a plague of locusts, copper hungry Vogons, or a mad-scientist trying to build a Voltron. I wonder what this junkyard trend forebodes for the economy.

Amerikanischen Metalldiebe sind in jรผngster Zeit in die Schlagzeilen geraten. Ohne Rรผcksicht auf die Gefahr oder รถffentlichen Preis, abwerben die Bande aus allen Quellen: Bahngleise, Leitungsmasten, antik Einbau, oder Rohre vom Klimaanlagen. Das Ersetzen dieser Infrastruktur wird teuer sein, und Gemeinschaften leiden den Verlust des Unterstรผtzungs-systemen. Diese Verbrechen sind verzweifelt versuchte. Gold und Silber halten fรผr die meisten Leute zu kostspielig, und das Schmelzen von Pennies fรผr Kupfer geht auch nicht--denn das Hauptmetall Zink ist. In der ursprรผnglichen Tagesordnung sollten die US Geheimdienst der Geldmenge wahrnehmen. Es ist strafbar, Geld zu รคndern oder zerstรถren. Wer sind die Mitglieder dieser Rotten? Taschendiebe aus der Zeit von Charles Dickens, schwรคrmenden Nanotechnologie, Metall-hungrig auรŸerirdischen Leben, oder ein verrรผckte Wissenschaftler mit einem grossen Projekt? Ich muss mich fragen, was genau diese Schrottplatz Entwicklung fรผr die Wirtschaft bedeutet.

Sunday, 26 June 2011

PET project or post-consumer comment

The big ideas blog, the Big Think, features an article about a new concept, inclusive grocery store scheduled to open soon in Austin, Texas that will be among the first of its kind—mainstream and not a farmers’ market or cooperative, to sell a range of products without packaging. Shoppers would be encouraged to bring in their own containers and top off however much of whatever product they need. Moreover, produce, in addition to loosing that wasteful veil of packaging, would only be offered in season and promote local sources. Even in places with fully-ingrained recycling programmes, it is shocking how much packaging goes immediately after purchase to separate bins and how quickly it accumulates. I think it lessens environmental impact and any and every effort is important, but there are more consequences, I think, to reduction on the outset. Recycling is noble but it’s prohibitively expensive to reincarnate a bit of plastic wrap back into a new bit of plastic wrap and instead there’s some devolution. Another really shocking thing, aside from all the decorations that go on to throw-away card-board boxes and drinks containers, is that statutory scheme of deposits on bottles (Pfand). The bottles are not cleaned, even the glass ones, and re-issued sparkly new but are shredded and shipped away for processing like everything else. Driving around ones trash to return it to the place of purchase probably negates any net gain. I hope this idea of a food-filling station, where one not only brings one’s own bag, takes off internationally.

In die groรŸe Ideen Blog, Big Think, findet sich ein Artikel รผber eine neue Lebensmittelgeschรคft in Texas, verpackungsfrei Ware anbieten fรผr Verbraucher. Einkรคufer werden ermutigt, um ihre eigenen Behรคlter zu verwenden. Wie an einer Tankstelle, sie kรถnnen sich damit fรผllen, was sie brauchen. Neben die Verringerung der Verpackungen, fรถrdert das Lebensmittel den Gebrauch Produkten der Saison und lokal angebauten Nahrungsmitteln. Trotz fester Wiederverwertungsprogramme gibt es viel Verschwendung. Das Recycling ist wichtig, aber die Verminderung hat mehr Wirkung. Recyclingmaterialien sich einer Abbau unterzieht, und Kunststoff-Mehrwegflaschen (oder einer aus Glas) sind nicht wiedergeboren bei Rรผcklauf. Pfand macht Flasche brandneu nicht, und der Extratransport verneint wahrscheinlich jeden Streben. Ich hoffe, dass diese Vorstellung startet durch, und Einkรคufer werden mehr wiederverwenden als nur ihre Tragtaschen.