stirring the cauldron or strongly-worded letter

The a reporter on the International Desk of Der Spiegel spied a curiously counter-productive example of outreach on the public website of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Demonstrating the work that the FBI’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit does, the website depicts an image of hieroglyphs that make up a simple substitution cipher, which when cracked, gives instructions for preparing the toxin ricin—a protein of the castor bean (Rizinussamen, the German word does not hide its source very well either), which can be decoded without much bother. The example image is even captioned “Enciphered instructions for making ricin poison found in the notebook of a lone bomber in Virginia.” The methodology set forth is apparently basic but complete and an interested party could produce, with some easy kitchen-witchery, a deadly concoction.

smart suzy-sunset and i are on the case

Demonstrating that hindsight is sometimes the sharpest lens, the Washington Post has a curious article about an Iranian factory with strangely potemkin qualities in a town called Dinslaken in the Ruhrgebiet, an industrial area near Essen.

Although the quiet day-to-day operations may have been completely innocent and above-board (as Iran says of its nuclear ambitions, perhaps unfairly sullen), since being month-balled just late last month, the closing inventory and performance record has again caught the notice of inspectors and authorities, believing that the factory may have been a front for developing the nuclear programme of their home-country. Iran has been quite forthcoming with concessions and transparency, it seems and more so than is expected of other members of the nuclear club—to whatever purpose. Everyone is entitled to whatever threshold of scepticism that suits them but a coalition of preconceptions do not establish nefarious behaviour nor the strictures of imagination that may have contributed to past oversights—sins of omission. What do you think? Is the suspicion justified or should every do-nothing Döner stand or under-patronized enterprise stand be subject to the same kind of scrutiny?

real and present oder perspektiv

One major news service, incidental to the reporting on the Boston Marathon finish-line bomb attacks, raised an interesting, if not back-handed, sociological question by entertaining one report’s questions concerning the whether the event and terrible carnage were staged as a false-flag operation.

Conspiracy theories pander to the lower denominator, in accordance with the theme of the article and citing terrible school-shootings that seem to proceed at their own accord and without the prompting of policy and agendas, and as historical precedent, the sabotage of the Reichstag in Berlin during Nazi times—overlooking Hawaii or the Gulf of Tonkin Invasion that were too close for comfort. What do you think—are such suggestions (since they’re begging the answer) out-of-line and too raw for the present or does a sort of fearful patriotism and solidarity dismiss questioning?

honey-comb hideout continued or pesticides versus pollinators

Correspondence leaked to Corporate Europe Observatory suggests the furious extent of the lobbying campaign on the part of at least two major chemical and pharmacological concerns against a proposed ban of substances that may be responsible for the widespread decline in the bee population.

Although might be several other likely culprits behind colony-collapse, from parasites, cellular masts to genetically modified crops, and the verdict is not final, British and French field research seems very conclusive that even trace amounts of the pervasive pesticide have devastating effects on beneficial insects. There is currently a moratorium on such treated crops, introduced ab ovo, as seeds, and lingering in the mature plant with the same deleterious effects. The leaked litany of contraindications from the business-sector try at various angles, blaming the farmers for overdosing, badly skewed studies that insist agriculture cannot survive otherwise, and even that the EU is being held ransom by a lobby of hobby apiarists hell-bent on protecting their past-time. Industry pressure may convince European Union member states to rescind the ban and ignore stern warnings and grave consequences.

p.s.a. or ribbon-awareness month

America has a penchant for proclamations and especially tends to cram a lot of education and spangled reflection into those months without federal holidays not already identified with some other cultural or health moment and movement. April is over-burdened as it is, what with the distinctions of being national Domestic Abuse-, Child Welfare-, Alcohol Addiction-, and Stress-Awareness month and all tied together as Autism Awareness Month. That’s already quite a spectrum, and added to it, per a presidential executive order, April is also Distracted-Driving Awareness Month. How is one exactly supposed to honour and be mindful of distractions? What other random virtues and vices would you include in this cavalcade?

broadside, broadsheet

While diplomatic niceties, the biting of tongues continue mostly unabated, and the esteem is unfortunately mutual, relations between Germany and Russia have grown increasingly frosty (EN/DE), as reported by Der Spiegel. The introspection is worth visiting, for more than the nonce, because the tenor is distinct from the usual protests and criticisms that the balance of Europe holds for the Teutonic nation and is unlike the dangerously divorced indifference that those governments geographically further away (although I suppose that America is geographically closer) have adopted. It’s these postures and acts that typify expectations and strain relations.
Germany has expressed, reservedly, on several occasions displeasure with Russia’s political and social standings, while trying to preserve whatever civilities are possible under such strain. What do you think? What currency do old prejudice and distrust carry and what sort of relevance is exercised through elevated and formalized disbelief? I do not think the whole matter is solely locked-up in the personalities of leadership and by-gone proclivities treated like broader stereotypes, but such considerations are hardly irrelevant.  Is it the same sort of secure distain that comforts the further West for the near-east?

durch die kurzen hessen und durch die langen hessen

For my weekend commutes, I had found a convenient place to stop midway between home and work to tank-up, which also usually boasts a bonus flea-market on Sunday afternoons.

I took the opportunity to linger a while in the towns, separated by the river Kinzig, of Bad Soden-Salmünster and walk around the historic districts. The towns are located on the Via Regia, a protected road that during medieval times extended from Paris to Krakow, with the high road, the trade route of the Holy Roman Empire, stretching from Frankfurt am Main to Leipzig.
Each town, in exchange for policing their section for the sake of public safety and deterring highway men, was able to exact a toll on travelers, and I thought the way that the churches and the venerable homes that framed the narrow thoroughfare could excite imaginings of ancient merchants making their ways from one extreme of Europe to another. Inspecting the secular buildings, which were all sided with these distinctive and meticulous wooden shingles, I also learned that the armies tended to beat the path of least resistance along these roads too—as the Autobahnen and national highways tend to mirror them as well.
A defeated Napoleon and some of his entourage encamped at a hostel on the main street, I learned, in flight from Leipzig in 1813. It was ironic, I thought, that the armies marched through this same spot once on the way to battle as part of the domain of the bishopric of Fulda, and even though not victorious effected major reorganization and break-up of ancient holdings, retreated (while it was at Waterloo where Napoleon did surrender) through the same spot as what was soon to become part of the Grand Duchy of Hessen and by Rhein.  I am never eager to go back to work but there is a lot of interesting things to discover and learn along the way.

who moved my cheese?

Doubtless the governments of Cyprus, Portugal and Spain will accept the extra funds and for the latter the extended repayment periods offered coming out of the summit in Dublin, but in a rare moment of clarity—though mostly ignored I think as disingenuous, there was a lament by the recipients that more money is not what the beneficiaries need in this crisis. It is possible to throw good money after bad, but no one is going to turn down generosities, even when they might lead to greater sorrows later. The plaintive alternative requested was instead for more administrative flexibilities in managing the assets they have, reforming leadership, regulation and enforcement with but not around those initial life-lines before being presented with overtures of more—with new terms and conditions.

This preposterous suggestion, dismissed, made me think of this scholarly interview from Der Spiegel’s International desk examining the rise of anti-German sentiment across Europe over the euro and re-packaged austerity. It is a difficult and probing question, but I think, from these latest rounds of renegotiation, the public protests are a reflection in part at least of frustration that little flexibility—the structural might that Germany appears to have and seems to influence the body politic, that’s not accorded to the people equitably. Unfortunately, more credit does not equal a measure of determined reform, despite similarly deferred wishes for greater alignment.