weebles wobble but they don't fall down

 To commemorate the reunification of East and West Germany, Berlin will install this kinetic monument in an open square on the Spreeinsel, just to the south of Museum Island, near the Berliner Dom and the razed Palace of the Republic: a teeter-totter, a giant see-saw.

This massive design was picked as the winner in the competition for a national testament to peace and unity. "We are the people; we are one people--" I think it would be fun to shift the whole installation with the weight of the crowd, and it delivers a clear, symbolic message, public interaction required, that it is the people that move the country--though sometimes events move more like a carnival ride rather than participatory art.

23 skiddoo

We are avid fans of antiques, and thanks to H's discerning eye and shrewd bargaining skills, we have together amassed a houseful of fine things from the art deco era, though we have not discriminated overly against the inclusion of other styles. We have quite a good beginning collection of clocks. The tintinnabulation of the sychronized chimes is really something quite grand, along with the artistry and craftsmanship of it all, lamps, vases, sliver and statuary. H has entertained the idea authoring a blog about our finds, which I am strongly encouraging.

I do wonder, however, how 3D printing, a technology just over the horizon will affect collectors, revival in style, cottage industry and the post-industrial world as a whole. Is what you wish on, spun out of ticky-tacky, like the backdrop of a stage set, or will it have the heft and detail of the genuine article? If one can design it himself, even if the concept is sort of a let-down compared to Star Trek style replicators--though I never would have believed clones of pets were commercially available as well as any image ever created with the right amount of ink, and given the input of time and material, one should certainly be able to recreate any masterpiece of form and function on any level, from decoy to living replacement.

screed or the bad shepherd

The blog TruthDig has an important, if not too disheartening, article on the disturbing trend and designs on institutionalized education that are compelling teachers and professors to produce faithful cogs fit for the larger corporate state. Inculcated with the means and attitude essential for the modern measure of scrapping by (not even success, since that's still taught to those privileged enough to afford it), the resulting classes would be perfect, receptive consumers, industrious and effective workers and obedient voters, without the bothersome wherewithal and character to question authority, orders or profit motive. That's a rather grim and depressing result of standardized testing, and such uneasy questions about substance and breadth of edification have always inspired debate and discussion as well as students and teacher since before the time of Socrates.

The dull and conformist rhetoric, however, was formerly reserved to despotic chieftains, religious dogmatists, megalomaniacal ideologues, evil headmasters, crooked principals or grumpy deans, and producing unquestioning drones was never before touted as something that could generate revenue, big business found in for-profit schooling, academic management organizations (accreditation boards and quiz-writers) or union-busting for competent teachers. That is a dangerous development and will surely lead to lack of innovation and imagination, if not totally taming and dispiriting learners and instructors. The situation is certainly not uniformly dreadful and there are certainly places where education is celebrated and valued and teachers inspire, but one can hope that this gamboling form of American Exceptionalism does not take root elsewhere.

scylla & charybdis

 Negotiations of how US fiscal policy amid the drone of political dishonesty from both parties and amateur and professional analysis is coursing through some dire straits and neither route presents a very positive outlook: either the US risks its standing as a beacon of creditworthiness and cheap, liberal monetary charisma by restraining spending and letting darling-debt lapse temporarily or the US steers to rarify its currency even further by printing more, risking hyper-inflation that could take decades to recover from, if ever. Restraint--done honestly, does not mean dismantling of all social and civic programs that government provides but rather closing the disparity in taxation and enforcement of taxation, corporate welfare and exodus of labour.

Libraries, medical and scientific research, consumer protection, parks and recreation--as well as public assistance and protection--are all potential good things that should not be whittled to meaninglessness for the sake of the profits and portfolios of a few who apparently need not stoop to public amenities. Truthful sacrifices and compromise must be wielded by all sides, and there should be enough collective stamina to face the realities that could come with a temporary default, which is still preferable to financing an endless downward spiral.

just deserts

Karma and irony are sometimes the only concepts able to connect and make sense of the disparate events of history. The same ideas, however, seem to also be taking on a commanding role in determining foreign policy and outreach in present statecraft, and seemingly in many cases, the only framing factors in diplomacy and decision-making.

On some levels, it is only fitting that the Western powers are struggle to contain the Frankenstein’s monsters, non-pejoratively, that they have created or stuff the genie back inside the bottle: many powers turned a blind eye to the injustices of those who were the bulwarks of stability politically and economically—however tyrannical or at least unchecked, Italy is facing an onslaught of immigrants from its former imperial aspirations, France is policing its former colonial holdings as well, Germany is being compelled to paid the dues of NATO membership, and the US is facing down hostile jets from the Libyan airbase it held until Qaddafi came to power.

I venture in the current atmosphere, intervention has been needful and protected many innocent people and perhaps gives them to opportunity to succeed, not burdened by governments serving in the omission of their clients and with those resulting price controls somewhat excused. It could be a slippery-slope, however. Why didn’t the French cavalry charge in to kidnap George W. Bush and deliver him to the disenfranchised electorate back in 2001? What if Russia championed a Bavarian independence movement or Hawaiian liberation? Iceland is refusing reparations to foreign investors over its failed banks, but who is to say that international condemnation on America’s fiscal policy is not too risky already and should be subject to the global good? Sovereignty is a delicate thing, which tends to wither before adventures en masse.