Au+Ag+Ni+Si+C-H-OH

This past week has seen quite a haul of treasures.  Both of our parents were on holiday and brought a bottle of original, fabled Goldwasser from Danzig (Gdansk)--note Secretary Kitty in the background, and then another original rarity from Prague, a bottle of Czech wormwood Absinthe.   Goldwasser probably, influenced by the efforts of alchemists, originated with goldsmith's using alcoholic solutions for the delicate business of gilding and wormworn was held to be a natural tonic since the ancient Egyptians, though its dangerous and crazy-making reputation was probably unwarrented.

Over the weekend, we wandered for hours through Bamberg's historic center and found a few unusual bargains, though the antique flea market's prices, by the concentration of merchants and shoppers alone, were about three times too high. 

Among a few other finds, H spotted this very retro, Rhythm transitor alarm clock, and then little silver oil lamp, which I thought looked like the most elegant and sweetest little incendiary device, marked "Triple Deposit" with a simple triskelion and then "Mappin & Webb / Prince's Plate / London & Sheffield."

scan-tron or à pois rouge

For laureates in most other disciplines, there is somewhat of a probationary period for they are bestowed with high honors. The co-inventor of the process of in vitro fertilization (I like the German term: Retortenbabies, test tube babies) had to wait until the first offspring was a well adjusted adult with healthy children of her own before receiving the Nobel prize. Another dynamic scientific duo from Manchester also had to wait four years or so after their initial experiments and documentary on the material properties of Graphene, a wonder-substance like the advent of coal-tar, synthetic rubber, Bakelite and nylon that is the shearing off of graphite into one-atom thick layers of carbon atoms arranged in a honey-comb.

With proper alchemistic alignment, this substance could yield better photovoltaics and room-temperature super-conductivity. This material, by the way, is the velvety leavings of the lead of a pencil every time a mark is made.

Though I really have grown fond of the original stock background, I have been thinking of repapering the place, maybe brighten it up a bit. I think I would like to keep the King of the Mountains theme. Here are a few candidates.

threat level polka dot or how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

The nebulous warnings that defy further coming into focus and unwilling to bear much scrutiny--like quantum jihadists, though apparently their strength is known, have already had enough mileage through fear- and hate-mongering without a boost in incredulity from a connection that spans the whole of Eurasia and anchors militants firmly in German lands.  Although stoic about these latest developments and implications, European leadership has adopted an appropriate attitude regarding these threats.  Just weeks after US minds labeled their own unsustainable debt and porous fiscal policy a serious threat to national security, however, it seems curiouser and curiouser that these warnings can emerge fully-fledged after months of intelligence work after the US announced that it would flood its coffers with a trillion dollars.  While no nation particularly wants a strong currency presently, since it would harm exports, undoing diligence could certainly help mediate deflationary shocks and maintain a modicum of confidence in American markets and the evanescent dollar.

gleek oder heineit

Last night H and I celebrated the twentieth anniversary of German reunification with a glass of Rotkäppchen Sekt and watching some of the party highlights from Berlin.  There was coverage that will make for singular and interesting footage for future archives: a very elite audience of present and former German politicians sitting in the sunny afternoon on the promenade by the Bundestag and watched a very energetic performance, a capella, glee-club style cavalcade of pop tunes.  Five and twenty years from now, I am sure we will have a glimpse of that spectacular and wonder and maybe cringe at today's popular culture influences.  The assembled did not quite know what to make of it but overall it seemed like a good and appropriate celebration.