eight-bit or the red-coats are coming

The military, especially the US army, has an expensive fashion-sense. I understand the role is of fatigues and battle-rattle to help keep soldiers safe and inconspicuous but a lot of changes seemed to be pushed through all at once, the repeal of DADT besides. The reviled standard issue black berets went away and combat boots changed, Velcro badges, and now the introduction of the latest camoufleur pattern to be field-tested downrange in Afghanistan. Surely, it is pricey for the government to award all these apparel contracts, and it’s at a cost to the individual solider too, who though issued uniforms end up paying for it on store credit (not to mention the dry-cleaning bills) like a carefree troop of novice flight-attendants. Here, a deploying unit is in formation with the rear-detachment, who will stay behind. The juxtaposition is interesting, and I do like the new retro-camouflage a lot better than the pixilated old one. One got used to it and I suppose the uniforms become invisible though no one really blends in. The new so-called multi-cam has a classic look, single and in the right sun, the colours almost look like a trained, super-imposition of an old Kodachrome photograph, instead of some cheap and over-done CGI special-effect.

fahrsprung

H has become quite handy and bold with assaying our fair Lady, and making sure she is fully outfitted for our upcoming big trip. The word jalopy has, I think, too many negative connotations and can't aspire to be something refined and finely engineered. Our third generation Volkswagen Transporter--sometimes sold as Vanagons in the States (Lady is a "Sport R" and I always thought that was a very special and rare model... maybe we should have named her VGER like the Voyager space probe in the first Star Trek movie)--was the first model of bus water cooled (instead of air-cooled) and was the last VW of any type to have the engine in the rear. That's a bit like those dinosaurs that had two brains, one in the head and one in the tail to govern each. The word jalopy does suggest, however, dependability--or at least, flexibility, serviceableness and the ability to intuit. It is always comforting to know that one's trip won't have a contrary, single-minded computer as a roadblock and that with less, one can go further.

H- hat sehr kompetent bei der Ausrüstung der Ladys geworden, und sie ist fit für die Reise. Jalopy heißt Bleichkiste, aber hat das Wort einen negativen Beigeschmack und steht nichts für etwas ausgereift und verfeinert. Unserer dritte Generation Modell war das Erste mit Wasserkühlung die letzte mit einem Heckmotor. Statt Transporter ist die Lady als Sport R genannt--eine sehr exklusive Sonderauflage. Dennoch verspricht das Wort Bleichkiste Elastizität und Zugänglichkeit. Wir kommen mehr mit weniger aus.

odious debt

As the economic sleight of hand for the US became only a delaying tactic and the States are galloping towards the legal debt ceiling (Schuldenobergrenze), debate over how to interpret the sibylline leaves of their constitution (which is not a technicality given its well-trod appeals and reductio) and ideological anchors that cannot be finessed or maneuvered around is just making the situation appear more and more dire. On a sub-national level, governments have been shutdown and there does not seem much urgency to restore it, nor an institutional life-line to reach resolution.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, German and EU officials are holding emergency meetings to in part address the framework and mechanisms that do not cause debt and deficit but rather the language and esteem used to talk about it. German finance ministers, among others, do not want the European Union threatened with dissolution over the opinions of the three dominant and American-based credit-rating agencies (Ratingagenturen). This cartel has been ceded too much power, Germany, argues and although these firms failed to avert disasters in the past, like internet and housing bubbles, can spook the markets and scandalize countries with a cross word, like with Greece and Portugal.

I think further that this exclusive group of Stygian oracles, beholden to the will of banks, certainly nudges a controlled-crash, an emergency-landing of debtor nations right into receivership. German is entertaining either promoting more competition and diversity of opinion by splitting up the big agencies, or establishing separate, regional entities to cover European and Asian sovereigns separately. The debt and credit-worthiness of individuals and countries are not measured in the same way--though perhaps they should be, either both strictly by the numbers or both on hope and promise and being a good neighbor--and maybe muting down doom among the general din might yield a credit score that's more meaningful, limned with those same dimensions of long-term aspiration, inheritance and legacy. One can still manage, however, to make any pronouncement portentous or pessimistic, depending on what one wants to hear.

the perils of penelope pitstop or dutch-east-india company

The final stage of two eras is in the works: one, the de-commissioning of the US Space Shuttle programme, and the edict of the German government to end nuclear energy within its borders. The latter decision, in my opinion, was a bit rash, maybe too hysterical, but nonetheless a necessary one, since nuclear power and the waste it produces is not a tenable situation in the long run. The former choice is being met crestfallen, while on the other hand, Germany’s action was not made without debate and planning for contingencies. In fact, businesses, universities and scientists are recognizing that there’s a job to do to satisfy this mandate and fill the deficit left in the country’s power supply. Already, creative thinkers are working together to approach this problem from all angles, designing more aesthetic masts for high tension wires, wind-turbines and photovoltaic arrays with input from ecologists, engineers, architects and historic preservationists—as well as the daydreamers. The space shuttle is a shuttle, something for hauling cargo, but I think representative of ingenuity and at least the spirit of exploration. There’s little waiting in the wings, it seems, to replace it (thank goodness for the hale and hearty Soyuz that Russia is not stinting and continues to deliver). Proceeding without a framework to replace this flagship is a bit disheartening—especially for the rocket scientists at NASA, I’m sure—and is not conducive to invention. Hopefully some creative entrepreneurs will usher in greater strides, but space should not be solely a commercial enterprise for any partner in discovery.

poll tax

Ever pragmatic and with a healthy dose of skepticism, the German public is divided over pre-election promises to lower taxes. The survey does not delivery overwhelming verdicts either for or against cutting personal taxes over austerity, shoring up funds for a rainy-day, but a clear majority is doubtful that any reduction or reprieve would translate to any appreciable household savings. It reminds me of the excruciating and mean-spirited debate last year over increasing the monthly allowance for families on welfare (Hartz IV) that netted five euro in the end. Of course, allotted over all recipients, that's quite a monthly cumulative sum but it probably was more an insult than a help individually. With German employment at record highs and the export-mechanism churning strongly, the government is realizing some windfalls but it is still scheduled to take on more public debt. About half of the respondents were more in favour of sustaining their current tax situation and not undermine the economic recovery or handicap the ability to weather future turmoil. Most further view this tax-cut proposal as a myopic campaign-promise, which probably fails to factor in (I think) the loss of Zivildiener or Zivis with the end of mandatory conscription for young Germans. Without this labour pool to draw from, I think, social services will become more expensive to provide, and no one would want to see a cut in that area. If the government insists on paying back the people, maybe they'd do better to roll back the Value-Added Tax (Mehrwertsteuer, sort of like a national sales tax) by a percentage point. Everyone, regardless of their tax-situation, would see an immediate benefit and cost to the treasury, I think, would be minimal in the long-term.

green shoots

Watching this plant recover and slowly start to grow again once moved from the window sill to the balcony, it's new bunch of leaves ready to unfurl like something inchoate from a chrysalis, and the venerable, old cactus sprouting a new pseudo pod, has got me think about the different cues of light and temperature that plant-life has outside of seasonal fits and bursts. Perhaps there are things more subtle in the senses that yield good horticulture and horticulturists.

Our geraniums were looking a bit unremarkable, healthy but late-bloomers, and learned that if during transportation, the flowers are kept in the dark for more than forty hours, they hold off on further growth after the first spurt. Despite any amount good care and coaxing, they need to normalize their cycle on their own terms. That too made me think about the curious story of tropical poinsettias (Weihnachtsstern), which will only flower or develop those trademark red leaves when exposed to equal amounts of diurnal sunlight and dark night, like the conditions near the Equator.

kraken or there be dragons here

The Big Think, a surpassingly excellent curator for unusual examples of cartography, has a thoughtful piece on political satire, not such subtle ones, and portrayal of maps with anthropomorphism and zoomorphism. Going by national symbols alone, one would have a whole motley herd of eagles, lions, bears, dragons and griffons, but we also have these geo-political works of art that betray sentiment and fears. One of the more utilitarian propaganda monsters has been the land octopus, the kraken, an unappeasable force of nature that is a bigger threat than caricatures of kaisers and ministers. A lot of different countries, not just Russia and its successors, have assumed these writhing tentacles and it is interesting to reflect on these allegorical portrayals and meaning behind them--like in this map from the collections of Bibliodyssey. United, more or less under shifting regencies, Europe was often depicted as the Queen of the World, Europa Regina. I am sure that along with all available map-making precision at the time, a lot of thought, slights and glories, went into every feature. I cannot fathom the symbolism and deferring nature of this language but I hope we retain the ability to interpret the subtle and the dense and multi-layered.

Karte oft ungewöhn-licher Kartographen und Satirikern finden in The Big Think blog, und in der jungsten Ausgabe befinden sich ein nach-denklich Artikel über vermenschlichter und zoomorphischen Figuren der Karten. Anstatt nur nationalen Symbolen--die Löwen, Adler, Bären, Drachen, Griffins--gibt auch die festlandlich Krake, auf Gefühl und Angst hindeuten. Die pur Naturgewalt--der Kraken--ist Propagandamittel und mehr bedrohlicher als politischen Karikaturen. Nicht nur Russland sondern auch vielen anderen Ländern dargestellt mit Ausläufern war. In der Vergangenheit gezeigt Europa so wie eine Königin. Das ist sehr komplex und vielschichtig. Hoffentlich können wir weiter solche Sinnbilder und Symbolismus schätzen und verstehen.

colossus

The local has a dispatch from the Baltic strand of Rügen about designs to convert the colossal planned holiday-going compound of Prora, which stretches for 4,5 kilometers along the strait separating the Bay of Jasmund (Jasmunder Bodden - recently too elevated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site [DE]) from the sea, after many decades, back towards its original intent.

This ambitious feat of engineering and architecture, built from 1936-1939, had over twenty-thousand accommodations, theatres, dance-halls and a berth for cruise ships and was sponsored by the Third Reich's Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) programme as a rest-and-recuperation facility for military personnel. The KdF programme was also the original impetus, incidentally, to make automobile ownership possible for every citizen, sort of a people's car or a Volks Wagon. As the war escalated, resources were diverted and the Seebad Prora never saw a single guest.

After the war, the complex was used by the East German military for billeting and training, and access for the public was restricted--the buildings' existence was virtually unknown during the DDR time and it still does not appear on many maps. Mostly, since--except for a bizarre and endearing museum installation in the central building, the place has been derelict. When we toured the Baltic in the Bulli last summer, we camped just outside of the monolithic shadows of Prora and had a great time on the fine beach and exploring the unspoilt ruins, untouched and undeveloped. I was a bit disappointed to read, already back then, of plans--placarded on the buildings themselves, to refurbish some of the units and offer them as vacation homes. It was a bit creepy, chilling I thought, to live there--but mostly I would not want to see the place over-developed and loose that austere and imposing isolation, even with surrounding beaches crowded.

Now the state government has introduced a compromise measure, to open up the resort as a youth hostel. Many castles and fortresses here include a youth hostel on their grounds and rather than detracting from the historic character, acts as a curating influence, letting young people get excited about staying in the midst of such a place and keeping away the vandals that helped along the decline.