al Kaboom

The last US military combat brigade left Iraqi territory for Kuwait, primed to hand over security to native forces.  It seems strange how this day was recorded and perhaps how it will be remembered.  There was mention but secondary and no plays made for symbolism, though I am sure that there were plenty of regrets and remorse for those, both Iraqis and soldiers that were not able to see this day and for whom some measure of reconciliation came too late.  There was no walking back of protests, neither relief, jubulation nor latent anger expressed.  I don't know what the mood and sentiment was really when America withdrew from Vietnam or Korea but do not suspect that the day, symbolic or otherwise, passed with no recognition.  Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, US bankster types helped redesign the dinar, which had been worth the equivalent of four US dollars prior to Iraq-Attacky I, and had been amazed since then that the Tower of Babel was portrayed on their money.  I am glad to have since learned that it is the Great Mosque of Samarra represented there, which was all but turned with skirmishes and US soldiers using the vantage point as an observation post.  Of course, I was convinced also that the elusive weapons of mass destruction absolutely had to be the Ark of the Covenant or the Leviathan.  I hope the people of Iraq can prosper because of or despite of the seven years of war and occupation.  Regardless of the spin and kangaroo court of the US, it was Iraqis that found Hussein and turned him over to authorities, wihout even broaching the question of whether it all was a legitimate aggression since even the claims later recanted could be attributed to everyone's want and need to appear tough and secure and collected to his neighbours and to his meddlers.  It wasn't the US involvement in Cambodia that affected change.  Rather, it was their surrender from Vietnam that allowed Vietnam to press for reform and offer assistance.

rain dance or come Josephine in my weather machine

Not without at least some circumstantial evidence, Russian academics are speculating, as reported by Radio Free Europe, that more and more climatologists are attributing the record wildfires and heat wave to DARPA and secret US technology that can control the weather. Not to cheapen the unimaginable human tragedy in Pakistan, but I wonder if the same Doctor Strangelove weapon has sunk a fifth of the country, in a bid to regain the hearts and minds of the population, whose government and predilections have been recently shown to be not in line with US interests, and perhaps lull more radical elements into submission. This new lend-lease operation may, however, play out in several ways, depending on the US strategy. If Western nations can provide charity and assistance to rebuild and keep the people of Pakistan healthy, then the warlords loose influence, but if it is al Qaeda that saves the people and destabilizes the government, the US has good reason to ratchet up its interference. That sounds diabolically like a win-win situation for the strategists. Maybe all this could take place without the deus ex machine of weather control but it sounds much better, and a little kooky conspiracy theory is very easy to dismiss and diverts unwanted investigation.  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

sola fide

Schiller, Bach, Mozart and Luther, among others, are claimed by many, many towns and villages—to know Marx peered at that cliff from this observation platform or Brahms performed in that church—to the extent that it is always interesting and more than just trivia to have one’s biography filled in with disparate and renowned details, but sometimes too many places asserting their historical personage privileges can make one lose sight of the pinnacle moments. I have seen Luther in captivity in the Wartburg, his academic career in Eisenach and Erfurt, the nunnery where his future wife grew up in Brehna by Leipzig, the trials in Augsburg and Worms. All of these places are interesting and definitely not self-promoting tourists’ traps with specious connections to fame, but I often have forgotten it is in Wittenberg where Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door. While the antique Luther monuments are being cleaned for later anniversary celebrations, meanwhile the city of Wittenberg has set up this ersatz collection of garden gnomes on the market square, perhaps in a bid to regain exclusive Luther privileges. Some people are critical of this display, saying it is frivolous or unbecoming, but I think these colorful statues are more accessible to the people than some frightfully stern old bronze monolith and needs no justification.

tagesblatt

H and I made a short trip to Leipzig and there were a few fun and out of the ordinary items on the agenda.  We attended an organ concert performed at the Nikolaikirche, played incidentally on the largest instrument in Saxony.  The ancient church itself is famous for hosting more recently popular demonstrations against the East German regime and helped spur on the reunification.  It was relaxing and meditative to listen there sitting in the pews, focused on the music but with one's back to the performer, up in the rafters.  These two singular cherubs were the only figural decoration on the ceiling, and reminded me of that pop-culture, meme of the two angels that was remixed as those two grumpy old men, Statler and Waldorf, who heckled the Muppet Show from the theater box. 

Later, we went to a restaurant hewn out of a functioning brewry hewn out of the cavernous arrivals' hall of the old Bavarian Train Station.  The kettles and plumbing were expert equipment from Bamberg brewers, and apparently one could a take a workshop to learn about beer-making and make a few liters of one's own.

While we did not try that, we did take a souvenir bottle, packaged the traditional way, similar to a Bocksbeutel for wine from Franconia that my parents gave us. 

Later in the evening, we looked at the imposing Völkerschlachtdenkmal by twilight.  This monument is the tallest in Europe, out-doing Big Ben or the Eifel Tower, and is an absolutely massive remembrance of the defeat of Napoleon's armies in Leipzig, and honoring those who fought on both sides to bring a decisive, if temporary, peace to the warring nations.

dact and re-dact

As part of its continuing charm offensive to plug potential leaks and dampen whistle-blowers, a communique was issued en masse with current guidance to staff "to NOT/NOT download any documents" recently made public as they are still considered classified.  Further, having this information on one's office or even on one's private home computer would constitute spillage of secure data.

letterboxing

Mike Shaughnessy, of BoingBoing fame, shared his latest find, a collection of vintage colour photographs from Berlin/Verlagsanstalt für Farbenfotographie of a European tour from 1906, as a Google Maps geocaching.   This is a more pleasant alternative to the debate over the invasive nature of Street View.

These pictures are amazing and it's quite remarkable to see what has weathered conflicts and upheavals, even considering how the last century represents in most cases only a small fraction of the lifetime of the sites.  Particularly interesting was this image of Kaysersberg in the Alsace region that H and I visited in the Spring.  The geocaching grafiti tag really was eye-catching, since we had just recently watched the Kevin Costner film Dragonfly, and the symbol.  There's a similar mysterious map-related cruciform symbol that played a significant part in the plot.

naukograd

The unquelled wildfires are still raging in Russia and neighboring lands and it is a terrible and unprecedented tragedy, deadly smog settling over cities and villages wiped away.  Now the greatest urgency seems focused on minimizing potentially catastrophic and lingering damage if the fires reach nuclear research and processing facilities at Mayak--Russian for "lighthouse."  In the midst of all these tragedies that are pinned to failures of something called crisis management, which I guess is a new discipline like managed health care, it is amazing to me how what was buried and forgotten is unearthed and strewn about.  A nearby closed-town, a restricted area for plant workers that is not accessible to the public and probably did not appear on any map, suffered major environmental damage in the past and emblazoned it on its city coat-of-arms as a radio-active, glowing salamander.  The fires are out-of-control all over, but authorities especially want to ensure that latent radiation is not reawakened and spread, like that godzilla salamander or Springfield's three-eyed fish.  I wonder how often these unnamed towns are on the public radar without the spotlight of imminent disaster.  Buried in the distant past, I wonder how much awareness there is even for enviromentalists, residents and the people who keep tabs on the nuclear posturing.  I hope Russia can cope and recover, and maybe take a leading role with such crisis management in the future.