auswanderlust

Senior leadership in France recently announced-- joining a public chorus of others, the UK, Germany and Australia-- the failure of multiculturalism (multi-culti, as the Germans say). It’s a grim pronouncement to make, but it is possible that concessions and accommodations have been proffered in ways that have erred in many circumstances on the side of neutrality in efforts to please everyone, which usually, inevitably, please no one.

Still, no one should throw up their hands in frustration and failure and repair to austere assimilation, quotas, or worse yet intolerance. What policies and practices might work better I don’t know. Such a series of declarations of malfunction, however, may betray a secondary, self-interested motive for Western governments’ ringing support for the budding reform movements in North Africa. For everyone’s sakes, fostering real development and support for improvement make opportunities more viable in these countries and make it possible for individuals and families to thrive without having to leave their homelands. Economic considerations are not the only driving-factors for immigration, but countries able to retain their domestic treasure and talent with the invitation to stay on are better positioned for growth and continued advances. Domestic tranquility, however, should never be an excuse to erect barriers and rescind the truly valuable elements of diversity and cultural exchanges.

renaissance or day of days

With less than three weeks of revolt, the Egyptian people have managed to overcome three decades of rule that smacked of tyranny and despotic under-achievement.  This is a monumental first step.  Though for many the joy and relief was also a fair mix of shock and surprise, to find that there was an alternative to the powers and the treatment that they had nearly become inured to.  Blossoming freedom and democracy, and not the sort foisted on people by some calvary on the charge, is a rare and precious thing, to be nurtured carefully.  The people have begun to remove the obstacles to their self-determination, and with awareness and support all around, I am sure that they will continue on the right path.

zagazig

There is a monumental battle of the wills happening in Egypt. There is also the creeping, crassest of attitudes circulating among a minority of casual observers, a fatigue, like the weariness that exculpated some people's consciences over natural disasters and other unseemly catastrophes. I have a lot of sympathy for the struggle and for the dangling disappointment and hope.

This standoff could go on and on.  Moreover, events like these really illustrate journalistic integrity, slacking vigilance or otherwise. The protest grounds are not necessarily over-crowded with the press, but those who are there are doing a good job and blurring the distinction between the aloofness of reporting and being in and of the moment, which along with citizen-journalism, transfixes the scene and admonishes us of the stakes and what is at issue. The bigger dilemma seems often bringing the reporting to the audience, and though there are virtually unlimited vehicles of delivery, it astounds me how much the media, the visible advertising space, shunts what's in depth off to the side, or when it is not even available in competitive formats. I understand such prime real estate is at a premium, but there is a demand for good coverage and due exposure. Further, events like this--maybe significantly and for the first time, also are very telling of who is in the know and who is brokering power. Predictions and speculation have been proved to be just that. Mostly, no one likes to claim influence-peddling or king-making in media res, but one is accustomed to attributing such abilities or at least intelligence, prescience to certain powers, despite proof of dwindling capital.

fusionen und übernahmen

The Deutsche Börse, the marketplace for the perhaps more familiar sounding DAX (Deutscher Aktien IndeX), is in acquisition talks to take over a controlling share of the New York Stock Exchange. Though the deal may inspire some resistance politically and with cartel-considerations, the impending sale seems to me like a last, desperate attempt to revitalize American stocks with a mortgage that is already over one's head, rather than a consolidating of power and control.

Like anything in large amounts, this concentration of trading certainly has impetus but the equally cavity-causing mob of debt and poisonous liabilities are likewise influential. Making financial hardships diffuse makes it more palatable and opaque. Together in a ten-billion euro quiver, some frantic business can gain legitimacy and even the appearance of value, besides in the swapping. A unified front for managing trades and protection for minority-interests in a monopoly are important and should be weighed against each other, but foremost, I believe, that the German titans of industry should take a close look at what they are committing to. Merging marketplaces makes former paying clients overseas into partners, scouts for new customers. Compared to the sedate and efficient, post-modern Star Trek look of the German Stock Exchange, the NYSE, noisy, crowded, and littered, looks like a scene one would find at the greyhound races.

freeware or zeroth law

The BBC has a neat, inventive profile of a Swiss initiative to equip the thinking machines with the communication substrate that tinkerers and programmers--and regular users--may take for granted. Though developers, engineers in either robotics or software or chariots of exploration, are not having to reinvent the wheel on a regular basis, though taking a second look at first-principles or learning by rebuilding the family jalopy are experiences more tactile and perhaps more valuable than ethereal modeling, but their inventions succeed and struggle in a relative vacuum.

If machines were given an open venue, like a Wikipedia, the speculative possibilities are amazing, a library of lessons and experiences to augment dexterity and orientation, which not only shares designs and intelligence but can be built-up in novel and unexpected way by their own electronically-tempered contributions. In the field of artificial intelligence, there is the CYC project, that has been evolving, parallel for years, giving computers encyclopedic human knowledge for processing. Some of the questions that the computers have formulated are strikingly poignant: given the figures on the human population and the number of entries on notable people, the computer asks why everyone is not famous. Perhaps an almanac also edited in part by machines could yield some interesting insights for both people and robots.

sabbatical

The German English daily the local has picked up on a rumour propagated that has Egyptians' disenfran- chised president taking extended convalescent leave in Germany. This would be a controversial maneuver as getting Mubarak out of the country might defuse the violent clashes and placate the protesters to some extent. The intent, however, seems less than satisfactory since it will allow the vice-president designate the chance to act with the authority and autonomy vested in the presidency, in Mubarak's absence. There is precious little guarantee that this change of power will work towards legitimate coalition talks, however well-intentioned Germany's hosting of the president would be and promising that no possibility of sanctuary, asylum was in the offer--nor not of true exile, neither. It would mark a popular victory, exit the king but not exuent omnes, but I am sure it would not curry much favour for Germany, whose residents are staging parallel protests in Berlin and Nuremberg and all across the country in solidarity with the people.

sunday drive: hügelland

Many of our adventures begin with the prospect--very hit or miss, of a good flea-market (Flohmarkt).  Never admitting disappointment, it is always a good excuse to take a leisurely drive and explore a bit.  First, we walked around the grounds of a castle and chapel in a village in the Haßberge.  This, I admit, was not an honest discovery, since I had stumbled across an event held at in the courtyard of this place some months ago and later researched it a little bit:  

though its information site failed to mention that it was closed for the winter, the castle did want to be one's friend on bookface.  I thought the castle needed some real friends and visitors.  Next, we drove on to a more remote village in the foothills of the mountain range, known for its excellent examples of Fachwerk (half-timbered) houses.  It was quite enjoyable to admire the architecture, especially in this well-maintained concentration.

One of the sons of Königsberg, as the village was called, was the fifteenth century mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, Regiomontanus (born plain old Johan Müller, but styled in Latin after his hometown, Königsberg or King's Mountain). 

I remembered his bust in the halls of Walhala, honored for his achievements, which were instrumental in the development and revival of astronomy as a science.  Regiomontanus was later affiliated with the first observatory and helped with Copernicus' errata, and then worked for the Pope. 

He was, however, promptly and probably disposed of for espousing unorthodox views and the motion of the stars, although it was surely easy to cover up such intrigues with blaming his Bavarian pedigree for bringing the plague (die Pest), which he is said to have gotten sick from, to the Roman court.

Nonetheless, it was a nice lesson and a scenic experience for a lazy afternoon, and there is surely a lot more history and tall-tales and things to marvel at in our backyard.

my illudium q-36 explosive space modulator

The gas station (Tankstelle) across the street from work where I usually fill up had a new offering this week.  Along side the diesel, the normal unleaded and the super unleaded--which cost exactly the same, the Benzin and the Super, on the German market, and higher levels of petroleum excellence, there is now something called e10, a biofuel mixture with some ethanol content.  It looks inobtrusive, this choice that may or may not prove to be more environmentally-friendly, but there are warning signs since not all cars are made to run of this concoction.  It was a bit of research to find the assurance that it would be safe for my automobile, as there is a long list of exceptions and untested models and engine types still out there. 

I do have to wonder what it is though about modern electronic engines that make them overly-sensitive.  I think new cars maybe can work themselves into a circuitry frenzy, especially compared to an older, stalwart diesel motor, which with little coaxing can be made to run off of old kitchen grease and used cooking oil.   The internal combustion engine, in principle, has not changed since the automobile was first introduced, and though wider fuel options may not present the final answer, maybe a number of alternatives can come together to make a real, sustainable change for the better.