jailbreak

A US federal judge and the Librarian of Congress, in two separate rulings, have in the former decided that it is permissible to disable, fold, spindle, or mutilate DRM (digital rights [restrictions] management) protocols to enhance functionality, so long as it's not with the intent of infringing copyrights, and in the latter that one can tinker with one's own smart phone in order to liberate the hardware and open it up to the service provider of one's choice.  This is fraptuous news, and I am sure after the browser choice injunction, the EU will welcome these precedents.  German-American legal relations on these sort of matters can be strange.  I have learned about an early, founding case, along with becoming more educated on Richard Wagner's opus of works.  There's a flood of publicity concerning the Festspiel in Bayreuth, who annually host productions of Wagner's works.  It's nearly impossible to secure tickets, and there's a ten year waiting list--if I tried for good seats, it would probably mean that I would have to choose between Wagner or Oberammungau, whose next Passion Play is the next decade.

 I did not realize that Wagner's operas debuted there under Wagner's direction and have a founding connection with that particular, storied opera house.  The early legal wranglings between America and Germany, with a collolary to copyrights, telephone and utility and bookface monopolies, regarded performances of Parsifal.  Staging rights belonged exclusively to Bayreuth and the opera was never shown outside of Germany, until US courts ruled that Germany had no jurisdiction over a group of Wagner enthusiasts in New York City and could not stop the show from being put on.  Wagner had hoped to secure a perpetual allowance for his wife and surviving family by granting Bayreuth exclusive rights, but this was in jeopardy by relinquishing control.  Quite a few singers from Germany repaired to the States for the first performance outside of Bavaria.  Wagner's widow, however, got her reckoning by making sure that none of these players ever worked in the German theater again.

quagmire

To confound any legal attempts to block publication, Wikileaks triangulated its trove of a press-release with Der Spiegel and the New York Times, which has framed the break in the dyke quite nicely.   Some criticize the media for trumping up the nature of the documents, saying that there are no real surprises, no shock-and-awe, which I think is a strange critique, coming from the venerable third estate: it is journalism's job to limn a situation, an environment and interpret and reveal through its objective lens.  Comparison to the Pentagon Papers are apt, but these are unprocessed bits of evidence, and it is the newspapers which tie together a proper daisy-chain accounting.  Nonetheless, if there had been a transparent horde of documentation from the beginning, the US and NATO would not have engaged in the war in the manner in which it did.  It is disheartening to have confirmation on the cheapness of Afghan lives, duplicity of the US Pakistani partners and the general glossing-over of way the war is being prosecuted.  Rather than playing the enemy of mine enemies against one another, like the Americans did to the Soviets in the region, it seems the coalition forces are enacting their own counter-finance.  Perhaps the biggest outrage and surprise ought to be the US focus on plugging the leak and visiting vengence on the free press, rather than addressing the problems exposed.

unterwegs

My navigation device is still one of my favorite innovations, but I find fewer and fewer reasons to use it on a daily basis (i.e., when one knows where one is going).  At first, I had a co-pilot all the time for its MP3 player when I did not have a radio--also to monitor the speed traps and project my estimated time of arrival, which was always reassuring to know I would not be terribly late to work.  I had a thought that I submitted to the TomTom brain-trust for their consideration.  Perhaps it's an irresponsible and dangerous proposal, but given all the amazing user-created content, maps and points-of-interest, I have to wonder that they are not conducive to new ideas.  Could TomTom be trained, and in turn, train its driver, to beat all the traffic lights, timing the intervals and having one slow down en route to miss them?  I would like not to catch all the red signals in Bad Karma in the afternoons, and sometimes, it seems that I do.  If the navigator had told me to relent in speed just a little bit on the approach, could I avoid leaving the engine running at the intersection?  It seems like a good idea, but maybe it is also tempting fate just a little bit.  After all, how many bad things were we oblivious to because we missed them, waiting at the corner?

språchraum or lollipop guild

At the end of the summer, friends of my parents are visiting and are hoping, among other things, to visit Oktoberfest.  Normally, I would probably discourage entering into that mob, and possibly going to one of the counterfests or side-shows--especially as my parents are in the storied jewel of a town, Bamberg, with its own local celebrations and home-brewed delights.  I crowded in one of the beer tents once, and felt that that was enough for that particular experience.  This year, however, on the two-hundred year anniversary of the party's founding, first held so the whole town of München could toast the wedding of Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese, aside from the total smoking ban and the high prices, Oktoberfest will be returning to its origins with fancy costumes, a fest king and queen, and great fun Renaissance Festival stuff.  Huzzah!  O'zapft is!   I think my parents' guests will have a lot of fun there. 
I was doing a little bit of research to see what other ideas jump out for entertainment in the area, and I see that after tapping the first keg, the parade through the market is led by the Münchner Kindl, whose name and appearance is apparently the source of Frank L. Baum's Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz.

gordian knot

The European Union banking sector is expected to report today on the findings of its self-assessment--the stress test.  Studying 91 major banking institutions that represent some 65% of all EU transactions seems pretty comprehensive, but I wonder what junk-journalism and bad review practices were learned from the Americans and their financial report card.  This too could prove too secretive and selective to be of any real value in terms of guidance or for pointing out potentially explosive deficiencies.  Low marks could trigger a crisis in the sector and non-findings would probably garner due suspicious in this exercise.  I hope, though, it becomes a good heuristic tool: the bankers framed their analysis in some moderately dire economic and growth conditions: EU in recession and veering into worse territory.  Maybe the threshold was set too low or the research was not of expected rigor, but seeing what impact the banks can withstand, I think, is an important first step.  The EU is not simply one big undifferentiated mass of debt and subsidies and there may be some saving vindication in store yet.

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!