vorsicht torte or bulli for you

I like the warning "vorsicht Torte!"--caution cake, since it sounds especially alertist in German, like danger, falling rocks.  Some of H's co-workers made him this darling cake in the likeness of our little VW bus for his birthday.  It was a nice way of commemorating the trips H has already taken and send well-wishes for future voyages.  Happy birthday--bully to you!

time-lock

The other day, H and I watched a bitter-sweet documentary "The Vault and the Electronic Frontier" about the singular Berlin discothek whose celebration paralleled the razing of the Wall and German reunification. It was particularly interesting how the MoTown influence in techno was fostered in Germany and then re-exported to the States. The reporting and interviews covered the final months of Tresor through its financial problems and eventual wrecking, which was pretty sad and indignant to see, in 2005 at the hands of a dastardly developer. I remember years ago when I visited Berlin for the Love Parade seeing the low-clearance and sleek letters of Tresor's entryway and regretted not having seen it back then--though, apparently, it was reincarnated in 2007 in an East Berlin electric company. In a related torch-song, the Wall Street Journal had a quirky, brief on the discography of one of Disco's unremembered heroes, Walter Gibbons. I really want to check our this jungle-music album, pioneered at a time before Disco had really gelled as a genre and co-opted by bigger labels.  Though these styles have been formalized into very different, divergent things, techno and Disco, I really appreciate them both--anything with a beat that you can dance to, like the characters from Peanuts breaking into their peculiar routines on the floor when the music plays.

gaudeamus igitur

Look to this day, graduate... I understand that this year's graduating class is pursuing having itself cryogenically frozen until the job market improves.  I feel hopeful about continuing my education--though I have no designs as to what ends.  Perhaps the next spunky flock of MBAs can save the economy from certain doom--or get their come-uppance as they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  We shall see.  I was satisfied with the educational challenge and the material covered, despite a bit of kow-towing to questions of ethicsand corporate responsibility that was approached in superficial kind of way, general lack of engagement and cohension--that I suppose is part and parcel of an online degree, and talk of robust, unsinkable markets that seemed painfully naive and dated.  I really enjoyed the course work, and delving more than a headline's smattering into market analysis, trade and regulatory environments and economic theory.  Good old diploma mill university--a part of the whole experience, however, makes me think of those old Sally Stuthers commercials for career-development in hotel/restaurant management.  Do you want to make more money?  Or just advance in your present job?  Do you like to paint, or just sketch or doodle?  Can you draw Petey the Pirate--or how about Tommy the Turtle?  But maybe such hiberation is not completely out of order.

spacely sprockets

Since visiting the first test facilities at Peenemuende, notwithstanding the occasional pleasant afternoon at the local airshow, I have a renewed fascination with rocketry.  The excellent museum there tempered science with war-waging and was thoughtful but not in an overly preachy way.  German engineers at the National Aerospace Center have successfully developed a new sharp rocket that is poised to revolutionize space travel--all for a paltry 12 million euro.  The new, reusable space glider is much more manueverable, and manages to guide itself safely back to Earth.  Its faceted nose-cone makes it especially resilient and resistant to the heat of reentry.

In related news, the Russian space agency, with no shortage of ambitious missions waiting in the wings, will slowly vacate its cosmodrome at Baikonur, since while the whole region benefited from Soviet investment in space infrastructure, the cosmodrome is fully in Kazahk territory which Russia leases at a high price.  A bigger and better space port will be built in the Russian far east at Vostochny near the Chinese border and the city of Harbin.