slant

US congressional factions are doing their worst to pass a bill that would not only break the internet but this piece of legislation is being shown nearly as sinister, menacing and interconnected as the elements of the USA Patriot Act combined, liberties, privacy and dignities sacrificed in the name of combating terrorism. As the Guardian reports, America's ambassador to Spain bullied the country into adopting SOPA-style internet regulations, threatening to blacklist Spain, adding them to same group of ne'er-do-wells with Russia and China without stringent copyright enforcement. It is not only about arrogance and ignorance and greed on the part of the entertainment industry. After all, for all of its visibility, music and film labels only account for a small percentage of the US economy and could simply be bought out by any of the top internet or technology firms. It is not, I think, just about box-office receipts but also about preserving credibility and "reliable sources." This tangled web of interests and protections extends far: one publishing dinosaur, an industry heavy-weight that US school kids were introduced to early on in the textbook racket, is the parent company of one of the big three credit rating agencies, who’ve attacked the reputation of Spain and many others from that other front. Free knowledge (sometimes lambasted by nervous members of the old guard) is the biggest threat to educational demagogues, who would be more than happy to restrict the voice of dissent and those who would offer a different approach to the facts. And they have the money and influence to do it. Usually, the winners are the ones who get to write history. Just like with the Patriot Act, US policy spread to become the world's burden, and SOPA too, I don’t think will stop with America's firewall.

badeort

It was another dreary day and H and I decided to visit a nearby spa (Therme) for a few hours. We had been to this place several times before with its naturally heated outdoor pool, saunas and salt water baths, where one can float around effortlessly, and it always proves very relaxing and refreshing. I like the sci-fi adventure look and feel of the place as well: not only do the glowing, colour-changing columns of the space-age main hall look like the warp-core of the Starship Enterprise, at the front desk one is issued a fancy bracelet with a small electronic disk that opens and secures one's locker and records the time when one entered--and the duration of the stay paid for, plus exit pass provided that one has not exceeded it.

The clever system reminds me of the palm-flowers (life-clocks) from Logan’s Run (which that more recent movie In Time is reminiscent of, I think). It is too bad that the disk does not change colour as one’s time is running out. It's easy to lose track in a place like this, and that is probably not just by design.

typebox

Some clever people at Art-Equals-Work have developed an application that is able to identify any font, including size and weight, used on any webpage. That is a pretty handy tool to have at one's disposal for enhancing the look of one's own website, after being inspired by a neat and clean and legible presentation. This is a step towards the tool-box, the quiver that I've been wishing for, an optical character reader that can also match text for fonts, approximating the typeface captured in an image. The tool Fount goes into ones bookmarks bar, latent, for use on any page, like another clever app for the Apple platform, Tap-Translate, which can be a big help in quickly deciphering the lay of foreign websites.

botanical update

I am sure that sometime in the near future, one’s house plants, pets, and evn one’s own bodily organs will be afforded the opportunity to enrich the internet through social media and will be able to update their own status, without us having to speak for them. I seem to remember reading something about some odious smelling flower in a botanical garden "tweeting" its daily impressions or some zoo-captive with a running commentary of its audience--or perhaps I am just imagining that. I am sure that humans would be disinclined to friend or follow a wood under siege from a lumberjack, farm animals, etc after a while. For now, however (and I enjoy speaking for the trees too), the venerable baobab is starting to bloom.

The little flowers are quite nice, delicate and with a repeating five-point symmetry. I also wanted to share a picture of the less attractive primogenitor of all those healthy offspring. Fit to burst that little honey pot, this is the sort of baobab that the Little Prince had to look out for, lest his little planet be split in two.

imperium or neap tide

Speaking from the Pentagon, the US administration announced (DE) some vaguely but patriotically worded plans to transform America's military forces into an agency more compact and agile and with costs commiserate with desired results. Although the reduction is promised to be significant (it remains to be seen what they will be able to deliver, considering the soldiers of fortune, mercenaries and defense contractors probably have other plans) and few details were specified other than what goals are to be sustained--all of them and more with less--the speech was symbolic, not for the cuts to military support which is the only form of social welfare and support that the US has executed well and millions of soldiers and families rely on for careers, education and health care since the number of soldiers can be cut but because I doubt the budget will go down, and they will be replaced with drones and kill-bots and service contracts, but rather symbolic for America abandoning its self-appointed role as world-police.

Though the US was oblivious or otherwise in denial to its decline, this nebulous but surgical extraction from that leadership position does bring into contrast those differences between a vested and a vetted leader. For many decades, the US has not been fighting the world’s wars but rather its own battles, drawing the rest of the world into it, and the other major powers have avoided direct confrontation and fought wars by proxy: the US funding the Taliban in Afghanistan to send the Soviet Union over the tipping point, USSR vs US vs China in Vietnam and Korea, the US vs the British Empire in the Suez Gulf through currency manipulation that devalued the Pound Sterling. I wonder if there’s the potential even for a power-vacuum to be created. Recent military adventures have created more miseries all around than good and it would be a welcome change in attitude and posture if the priorities of the US erred on the side of restraint and partnership, but I think America, pensive and excitable over its faded glory, will try to maintain the same hulking footprint in the world with video games, and with the same costly profligacy and with fewer (soldiers--who put their lives at risk but are valued and cared for) whom stand to profit by it but with just as much to lose.

something in the water or it's the plumber, i've come to fix your sink

I am continuing to use plain soap when I brusha-brusha and I am pleased with the results, although I think rehabilitating my teeth, bad habits notwithstanding, have hit a plateau.

Reviewing the literature, I guess the second most important practice for unconventional tooth care is avoidance of fluorinated, treated water. Being outside the States and Russia, the two major areas that manage their plumbing as such, I thought I was safe. A few weeks ago, however, I noticed a curious installation at the Family Housing Area, the American Army Ghetto, called "Chlor-Station," which incidentally was heavily fortified against tampering. I wondered about this feature and the water towers but never was bold enough to ask, for fear of looking like a kook. Just recently, the Public Affairs Office, to assuage the tremolo-fears of American families newly arrived in country, put out a press-release that detailed how, ja, German tap-water is safe to drink (especially delicate goldfish, like Schrödinger's goldfish, test the waters at purification facilities around the country) and how the Army's engineers strive to make the water taste better, according to American standards, by adding chlorine and fluoride. This is done for the entire military community and not just for those apartment buildings where the soldiers live. Taste better?

I was a bit horrified with what was on-tap, thinking about the office coffee being made with conspiratorial water or all the regular trips to the water-fountain for a sip. Now I have resolved to bring in bottles of tap water from home for everything, including the plants. I do not know if I ascribe to all the supposed plots behind why drinking water is treated, but the claims that it makes for stronger and healthier smiles have been proven untrue. Maybe they put fluoride in the water to gird their population against the effects of radiation poisoning, with an on-going nod to the Cold War--or maybe fluoride has keep dentists in business all these years, but it is just as likely these additives are an opiate for an obedient workforce.