Tuesday 10 January 2012
penny dreadful
Der Spiegel has an insightful, rather thrifty and sparing with words to let the satire and paradox appreciate, piece on the Prolefeed and rabble-rousing spectacle that is framing not only the Republican’s campaign for the US presidential party nominee but political deportment in general. European values have become a soft-target, a punching bag and it is not just the Republican candidates that are shrill about being less European than their competition: policy-makers and editorializers squarely blame Europe for threatening the world economy, blocking quick and unilateral action against rogue states (thereby enabling the terrorists) and debasing faith and religion with an Ersatz secularism that Europe is only too happy, apparently, to export. Any one in American politics, it seems, interested in keeping his or her job is quick to distance themselves from international partners, and a similar tenor is coming also from just across the English Channel. This revived McCarthyism is nothing new and the pith and moment of campaigning can certainly excite feelings of xenophobia and patriotism that turns in on itself. Once, however, the mudslinging and bashing is over and strained diplomacy resumes and deals are kept out of the public view, there is little hope that opinions and image can be rehabilitated (for the victims of Euro-bashing or any other scapegoat) or the ironies, deflections and the side-shows cleared away. One boon and bane (Fluch und Segen) is that constituents usually do forget this heated levying of accusations and find it novel when the whole spectacle is drug out again.
catagories: ๐ง , America, Europe, foreign policy
Monday 9 January 2012
on hook
I got many nifty and fine gifts this year and one accessory really makes for a clever combination. I am ever resistant to the flashier cellular phones (sogennant Handys) mostly because affording a fancy cachet usually means that one becomes saddled with a contract.
Europe, as I understand is quite different from the States in that one in America is charged for incoming as well as ongoing texts and messages, in terms of options for cellular service. Another choice that does not exist in the States is using prepaid minutes, Guthaben, which is more expensive per unit than with a contract but has no further obligation, since one can still receive calls. Many people, of course, have all sorts of inclusive contracts in Germany, that charge a flat-rate for calls, messaging and internet-access but I have stubbornly hung on to the same SIM card, phone soul, with the same phone number for nearly a decade and stayed reluctant to change. After all, over a three-month period on average, the need to actually place a call was rare and 15 euro in credits went a long, long way. People do know, in theory, what kind of breakfast cereal to purchase without the need for consultation but one does hear a lot of disembodied chatter in the grocery store, nonetheless: just think of the plots spoilt and frictionless history could be had for want of cell phone technology. I did receive, however, a great unencumbered phone with all the nice features that are stock-standard nowadays and a really ingenious bonus that was the big selling-point: slots for two SIM cards (with the chance for multiple ring-tones and wallpaper). I kept my old chip and could reload it as needed, and a space that integrated a partner-SIM card on H’s plan, with a separate, secret number. At a press of a button, I could glom of his service in a pinch or emergency, both of which cell phones have a habit of making, especially when one forgets to replenish his Guthaben.
catagories: lifestyle, technology and innovation
forex or laissez-faire is everywhere
Money, a little bit or a lot, needs rules and regulations to help guide it to the right and best exchange. After all, it is only a tool and sometimes a bit of a cushion in more turbulent times. Without intervention, I don't think that these systems of systems, self-creating and something that no one can get his or her head around, work themselves out--favourably to anyone concerned and only biased towards the chaos which is more of a natural state than illusory sophistication. The eurozone is certainly not willing to risk the autonomy of outlaw markets, and although I cannot be too sure about the purity of every motive and whether or not austerity measures are a way of respecting money as a means and not as an end, the recent downward trend of the currency (EN/DE), and it is not such a dramatic or worrisome change--in fact, it can stimulate Europe's export market by making its goods cheaper, is not being spurred on by the weak performance of any member economies. It is rather just a natural consequence of binding those members in a situation where they cannot create a differential for competition, outside the union and amongst themselves, by devaluing their own currency. Asceticism or the threat thereof is not a healthy engine for market-rivalry, but wage deflation and general job angst is driving something (so too with the spread of interests levied against weak economies versus more secure ones, and what’s being put up for collateral) that is yet to be seen if it appreciates. The inability of individual members to revise downward is causing the whole of the eurozone to slip in relation to other currencies.
Sunday 8 January 2012
slant
catagories: ⚖️, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐, ๐ฑ, ๐ฅธ, foreign policy, networking and blogging, Wikipedia
Saturday 7 January 2012
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.
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.