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.

And it made me wonder how those celebrities, though already made and secure, might feel about the chances of the future artists they hope to inspire, when, if such trends succeed, everyone would have to go through a very litigious checklist before posting or sharing anything, if they can even find a forum to host it in the first place. The proposal, drafted and sailed through legislation is of course sponsored by an entertainment industry that knows no shame, dark and divorced from their product and producers (actors, actresses and artists), would not only protect, hermetically seal, both stale and inviolate renditions by making it a crime to cover, parody or re-mix the copyrighted work of another, the industry with the support of the American government would gain broad and arbitrary (without appeal or recourse) to shut down large swathes of the internet for infringement. Of course, every host would recede at the merest threat. So much for derivative talent and inspiration, but then, one might expect that this change might promote the truly original and talented, without acknowledging that the most productive practice comes from revisiting the classics. That hope is also dashed by this legislation, however, because there are yet more insidious parts to this bill: alternative and independent news sources would be edged out, because citing or referencing the copy of mainstream sources would need to be vetted through permissions and licensing—for each and every link and citation. There would be no more American Wikipedia, though seeking hosting outside of the bill’s jurisdiction is becoming more and more attractive. Even enriching the internet with original art and information with blogging could be made prohibitive, because the bill strongly encourages private contributors to register their works with a media clearing-house, so their unwanted patron can determine how their work is shared and held in trust. The whole world is hoping that Americans do not go quietly down that dangerous path, but given the political will in general there and the practices that have eroded privacy in the name of security, maybe the best the world can hope for is that this trend does not spread and other countries can play the gracious host.

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.

Still, intention or accident, the damage has been done—for those who put faith in the opinions and prognosis of such offices, and besides sewing doubt in France’s surety, makes Germany more unilateral and obligated. Perhaps France could capitalize and restore the same weighted-credibility with a more modern myth (a strange draw recently featured in Atlas Obscura): the village of Bugarach in the Aude Department, between the Pyrenees Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, is being invaded by thousands, and possibly as 31 December 2012 draws closer, thousands more, because some believe that it will be spared the Doomsday Event, interpreted by one take on a Mayan calendar.

French authorities, however, are doing the responsible thing and down-playing the hysteria, and the agency MIVILUDES (an acronym that translates into something like Mission to Combat and Monitor Cult Deviancy) have been quashing publicity and have the whole area under surveillance. Believers cite the location of the village along the Green Meridian (the line of longitude that runs through Paris and long time rival of the Greenwich Meridian for reference in navigation and world time) and the unusual geography and tectonics of the Pyrenees that makes the tops of mountains here old than their bases as reasons for gathering there. Yesterday, with the confluence of elevens, I was thinking about prophesy and prediction and how strange it seems to try to resolve, synchronize calendars, clocks and time-zones, and I suppose the location of that real-estate is sold on terms as convincing as the judgment of creditors.

elevensies

Quirks of the calendar are certainly something to take notice of, especially when one considers how these days were ordained, pre-determined since the beginning of time, driven by calendar-reforms, the base of our numbers systems, and other events. Today, I read in the paper, an area, in Germany where it is also the Feast Day of Saint Martin when geese are rounded-up and devoured like turkeys on Thanksgiving for giving away the reluctant saint's whereabouts to Church authorities and children parade with paper lanterns, holding a nighttime vigil, brother and sister (twins) are celebrating their eleventh birthday. Patterns tend to rise above the din, but that's really a story in itself to mark this day.  What would your story be?

entente or cabbages and kings

Despite all the talk and headlines beguiling with strong language and hyperbole that is more fitting of events decades ago and lasting centuries, it cannot be said too often how European peace and integration, the common-currency too being part of that grand experiment, is a remarkable achievement, transcending very real and recent battlefield traditions that are not at all metaphorical. States and political personalities are still players but self-determination (brilliantly or dimly reflected in diplomacy and policy) and inclusiveness, not uneasy peace brokered by strategic marriages or segregated sentiment, have drafted this framework for stability and cooperation. Unpleasantries (Unannehmlichkeiten) aside, the potential loss or gain wagered on the success of the pact that is European identity and relevance, is not the kinetic energy that comes of this alliance and continued partnership. Whatever parts of this formula are not working, rather than racing and raging to support some other defunct system--a self-perpetuating and shared-delusion, members of the EU are unencumbered to change (independent and so far as greed and vanity allow) and resolve.

Financial speculation and prospecting are not ripping Europe asunder and stoking misgivings, as colourfully and graphically as the same headlines would portray these powers, but greed and fear, inelastic, make for short tempers in negotiation and would squarely remove protected and respected cultural differences to the immature tyranny of the stock markets--and the vision of the Treaty of Rome was not to replace sceptre, sword and mitre of kings with seigniorage and adoubement of banks. For Armistice Day, one should recall not only the difference between squabbling and war but also where we came from and where we want to go.

heurism or green fairy/blue tooth

9 November marks Inventors' Day (Tag der Erfinder) in the German Sprachraum. Perhaps coincidentally--perhaps not, the local's Swiss edition featured an article earlier in the week of Swiss inventions, which in addition to milk chocolate, the Helvetica font, and the Swiss army knife, include Velcro, LSD and absinthe. The occasion, purposed to encourage people to pursue their own ideas and remind people about the forgotten and unsung innovators, is observed on 9 November because of the birthday of Austrian actress and Erfinderin Hedy Lamarr, in recognition of her 1942 discovery of frequency hopping spread spectrum technique that eventually enabled the development of cellular telephony and Bluetooth technologies.