kraken or there be dragons here

The Big Think, a surpassingly excellent curator for unusual examples of cartography, has a thoughtful piece on political satire, not such subtle ones, and portrayal of maps with anthropomorphism and zoomorphism. Going by national symbols alone, one would have a whole motley herd of eagles, lions, bears, dragons and griffons, but we also have these geo-political works of art that betray sentiment and fears. One of the more utilitarian propaganda monsters has been the land octopus, the kraken, an unappeasable force of nature that is a bigger threat than caricatures of kaisers and ministers. A lot of different countries, not just Russia and its successors, have assumed these writhing tentacles and it is interesting to reflect on these allegorical portrayals and meaning behind them--like in this map from the collections of Bibliodyssey. United, more or less under shifting regencies, Europe was often depicted as the Queen of the World, Europa Regina. I am sure that along with all available map-making precision at the time, a lot of thought, slights and glories, went into every feature. I cannot fathom the symbolism and deferring nature of this language but I hope we retain the ability to interpret the subtle and the dense and multi-layered.

Karte oft ungewöhn-licher Kartographen und Satirikern finden in The Big Think blog, und in der jungsten Ausgabe befinden sich ein nach-denklich Artikel über vermenschlichter und zoomorphischen Figuren der Karten. Anstatt nur nationalen Symbolen--die Löwen, Adler, Bären, Drachen, Griffins--gibt auch die festlandlich Krake, auf Gefühl und Angst hindeuten. Die pur Naturgewalt--der Kraken--ist Propagandamittel und mehr bedrohlicher als politischen Karikaturen. Nicht nur Russland sondern auch vielen anderen Ländern dargestellt mit Ausläufern war. In der Vergangenheit gezeigt Europa so wie eine Königin. Das ist sehr komplex und vielschichtig. Hoffentlich können wir weiter solche Sinnbilder und Symbolismus schätzen und verstehen.

colossus

The local has a dispatch from the Baltic strand of Rügen about designs to convert the colossal planned holiday-going compound of Prora, which stretches for 4,5 kilometers along the strait separating the Bay of Jasmund (Jasmunder Bodden - recently too elevated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site [DE]) from the sea, after many decades, back towards its original intent.

This ambitious feat of engineering and architecture, built from 1936-1939, had over twenty-thousand accommodations, theatres, dance-halls and a berth for cruise ships and was sponsored by the Third Reich's Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) programme as a rest-and-recuperation facility for military personnel. The KdF programme was also the original impetus, incidentally, to make automobile ownership possible for every citizen, sort of a people's car or a Volks Wagon. As the war escalated, resources were diverted and the Seebad Prora never saw a single guest.

After the war, the complex was used by the East German military for billeting and training, and access for the public was restricted--the buildings' existence was virtually unknown during the DDR time and it still does not appear on many maps. Mostly, since--except for a bizarre and endearing museum installation in the central building, the place has been derelict. When we toured the Baltic in the Bulli last summer, we camped just outside of the monolithic shadows of Prora and had a great time on the fine beach and exploring the unspoilt ruins, untouched and undeveloped. I was a bit disappointed to read, already back then, of plans--placarded on the buildings themselves, to refurbish some of the units and offer them as vacation homes. It was a bit creepy, chilling I thought, to live there--but mostly I would not want to see the place over-developed and loose that austere and imposing isolation, even with surrounding beaches crowded.

Now the state government has introduced a compromise measure, to open up the resort as a youth hostel. Many castles and fortresses here include a youth hostel on their grounds and rather than detracting from the historic character, acts as a curating influence, letting young people get excited about staying in the midst of such a place and keeping away the vandals that helped along the decline.

a.e.i.o.u.

Otto von Hapsburg, the eldest son of the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary, has passed away, at the advanced age of 98, and with him one of the last links to this time in the world, not so long ago, when monarchy and lineage dominated and republics were the exception.

I wonder that people can really put their minds around such a difference in governance and birth-right. Hapsburg of course renounced his claim to crown-lands back in 1961 and has since worked ardently for European peace and unity, but his passing raises questions about a resurgence in entertaining a return to royal rule. Hapsburg was not only a private citizen, serving decades in the European parliament but did live quietly under a self-imposed exile in Bavaria and outside of his native Austria. The subdued word of his death—though respectful—seems like a cautious calculation, to avoid exalting him too highly and invite royalists and courtiers of all persuasions that have used disenfranchised nobility for all sorts of causes, positive and negative. A.E.I.O.U. incidentally was a symbolic (signature) device used by the Austrian emperor, which no one really knows stood for--probably "Alles Erdreich ist Österreich untertan" or "All the world is subject to Austria" but no one is for certain, maybe also in Latin Austria Europae Imago, Onus, Unio or "Austria is Europe's spitting image, burden and unification." Further, I wonder about that singular moment in 1919, after witnessing the nightmare of World War I, when the royals abdicated en masse. How that played out does not seem clear to me: did revolution and revolt compel the nobles or did they choose to give up their power on their own accord, did they all agree without dissent or expect the situation to be temporary or as the Empire and Kingdom went, dukes and barons found their free-hold to be without meaning or enforcement? Such events, something never to happen again since their no ceremony and strife of succession, ought to be marked solemnly, but not kept out of sight or we really will be losing that historical era and that historical change.

national lampoon

A few weeks ago the Onion reported that a think tank in Washington concluded that all of America’s economic problems can be attributed to the fact it was built on top of an ancient Indian burial ground. A few weeks before that, some clever person through the looking-glass started collecting the musings and the outrage of people who do not realize that the Onion is a news parody, whose commentary probably is more telling that most journalism. That jokes and pranks can draw out the same sort of internet hissy-fits is pretty telling as well. What is truly funny does not go stale.

Vor wenigen Wochen gab die Onion ein Bericht, der kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Depression der amerikanischen Wirtschaft erwächst vollständig aus der Tatsache, dass das Land liegt auf einem riesig, vorzeitlichem indischem Begräbnisfeld (wie im Film ,,Poltergeist’’ – hier findet man solche Kultkino Kreationen). Und aggregiert davor ein geschickt Gruppe den Empörung an Menschen ohne Kenntnisse dass die Onion haben die Nachrichten parodiert. Manchmal sagt Parodie mehr, als jede wahr Nachricht, genau wie Leichtgläubigkeit. Obwohl nichts Neues, versauern nicht was lustig ist.

the glazier's fallacy or ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas

The New York Times has a circumspect article on the end of mandatory military conscription in Germany, which official ended today, marking the transition into an all voluntary force. Formerly, when young men and women reached the age of majority, they were required to serve a tour of eighteen months in military or comparable civilian service, with waivers granted for certain career tracks. Often I think about the incidents and accidents and quirks of history and how things would have turned out completely different had events and practices taken another course: H was able to avoid conscription in the East German Peoples' Army because of the timing of Reunification, and without East Germany to begin with, an American military presence in Germany certainly would not have been so enduring. I wonder if one knows when human events took the wrong course. What does that feel like? I cannot speak to whether the experience is formative for young people or whether the democratized military benefited more from mandatory rather than a voluntary composition, but I do imagine that all sorts of business and industries as well as the apprentices gained a lot from the free-help and career-sampling and development opportunities. As the New York Times story points out, a disproportionate number of military personnel are represented by residents of the former East, where sometimes gainful employment can be harder to secure. Perhaps military service, on a voluntary-basis too, can help distribute opportunities to talented individuals and not become the distasteful, minioned last resort it is elsewhere. It is a big experiment to shift the direction of one's armies like this, and while I am not sure about any analogues or the shape of things to come of this, it did not take place without discussion and debate, and perhaps introduces a measure of reason to the stuff of defense and aggression.

Hier geht es zu einem Artikel von Focus über der Ende der Wehrpflicht--der Schnittstelle der Übergangs von obligatorisch zu freiwilligen Dienst. Vormals, werden alle jungen Männer und Frauen müsse, sich mit 18 Jahren entweder für die Bundeswehr oder Zivildienst zu dienen. Often habe ich mich selbst über die möglichen vom Vorfällen und Begebenheiten Geschichtes nachzudenken. Wie könnte es anderes sein? H vermied Einberufung bei der DDR-Volksarmee aus Gründen des Timings der Wiedervereinigung. Ohne der DDR, haben nicht weder der amerikanischen Militärpräsenz in Deutschland für mich erdulden mussten. Ich frage mich, ob das vom Kurs abkommen. Ich weiß nicht, ob das Erleben was prägend für Jugendlichen oder nichts, oder ob das mit gut für die Armee war. Aber ich glaube, dass begünstigte Arbeits- und Sozialausschusses davon Helfer und Nachwuchsförderung. Das Militärpersonal kommen Bürger aus die neuen östlichen Bundesländern. Manchmal gibt dort nur wenig Möglichkeiten, Qualifikationen zu erwerben. Vielleicht wird weiterhin Freiwilligendiensten als effektiver Zugangsmöglichkeit und Bildungschance statt letzten Ausweg unterstützen. Auf diese Weise würde der Armee einen bisher unbekannten Wagemut an den Tag legen. Vielleicht wenn wir setzen die Debatte fortzu, dann können wir eine gewisse Menschenverstand und Vernunft in die Verteidigung und Aggression einführen.

greece is the word or meanwhile back at the academy

I think maybe the coverage--what there is of the protests and plight compared to the media attention for protests in the Middle East and North Africa but it is different kind of challenge to voice dissent and risk portraying the banking Pantheon in a negative light, especially when the media has already confirmed its allegiance to state and business--emerging on the Greeks is too biased and made too complex to allow it to be judged by mortals. Abstracted commitments are not realities and neither are they commitments to pensioners, the poor and the aspiring. Shirking ones negotiated rules of conduct leads to chaos and Greece, as an organization and national, sovereign body, should not be excused or rewarded for failing to manage their money, but the populace should not be made to pay for untold avarice, less than transparent salesmanship and unrelenting coercion to play by the rules on the part of politicians and lobbyists. Like with other enterprises adjudged too big to fail, maybe the way of the Greeks is also a game of kicking the can--down the road and only a calculated, delaying tactic—-poised to price Greek real assets, dignity and even cultural heritage at bargain rates. Spooked, by Greece’s fall into receivership, the markets and mechanism will be aligned for another cycle of bailouts.

Es sieht so aus, als weicht Griechenland in Medienunternehmen den Ermessen vom Normalsterblichen aus. Zuallererst, gibt nur sehr wenig Informationen über die Misere und Protestaktion im Vergleich zu Ägypten oder Tunesien aus Angst vor den schrecklichen Konsequenzen erzürnend den Bankinggötter. Finanziellen Aufwanden sind anders als realen Notwendigkeiten; sie sind weder nicht gleich Verpflichtungen gegenüber ihr Rentner, die Armen und der aufstrebenden Personen. Verantwortungslosigkeit darf nicht belohnt werden, aber dann müssen der Bevölkerung also alle für die politischen Fehler büßen. Gier, falsche Darstellung und Gruppenzwang machen den Preis zu wissen unmöglich. Was ist zu bedeutsam, um zu scheitern--wie Greichenland--vielleich ist ein Ballspiel, nur Verzögerungstaktik--ein Schachzug, um der Erlösrückgang bei Liegenschaften, Würde und sogar Kulturschätzen Greichenlands zu bringen. Diese Zwangsverwaltung sorgte für Panik unter den Schuldverschreibungen, und das Ergebnis dieser Kalkül ist nur mehr Runden von Beihilfsaktions.

semaphore or wonka-vision

A few days ago, the Universal Aggregator Mashable (via the equally swank Neat-o-Rama) celebrated the anniversary of the Universal Product Code--UPC or barcode (Strichcode). In June of 1974, the first commercial product sold to bear the mark was a pack of chewing-gun. It was pretty keen to read the history and development from inventory management, proof-of-purchase, identity verification, to access- and movement-control of the first configuration, arrangement that was legible to machines, blurring for the first time the border between the electronic and physical worlds.
I thought about this milestone again when challenged with a new gadget from the bank: on-line banking is very prevalent in Germany as well but there is an extra level of security attached to every transaction. Customers were issued by post a TAN list (Transaktionsnummer) with a unique series of numbers to accompany a wire-transfer to be entered by the sender. I like this second-verification process though that meant banking was usually done from home where the TAN list was, and I thought there was nothing wrong with receiving a list by mail. The banks in Germany, however, have replaced the list with a new TAN generator, a little calculator that reads the chip on one's bank card. The bank's website directed me to use the machine last time I signed in order to disassociate my account with the paper list of numbers

I thought at first the pulsing bars on the screen were just decorative, but the little machine is also equipped to read this signal-- sort of bar-code like those two-dimensional fingerprints on tickets--and couples all the details of the transaction together. That was pretty keen but maybe a bit too much concentrated and acquainted, befriended information. Maybe there's an unseen element of theatre to it all and maybe we have become too reliant on and accepting of such a branding because nothing is really digitized or beamed away yet there is no arguing with coding.