torch song

Protests and boycotts are always of a selective nature. Parallel to the threats by some European countries to sit-out the Euro 2012 final matches to be held in the Ukraine over the host’s treatment of its former prime-minister (apparently having had selectively made an example out of her perceived violation of public-trust) and even propose the games be held in another venue, like Germany or Poland, holding the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan was not without controversy.

Just as it is a valid question whether a soccer tournament ought to be treated as a political football or is a matter for personal and private convictions or international attention on other issues is not out-competed by the competition, many groups wondered if Baku was the right host with a poor record of human rights, including allegations of a rash of attacks against journalists that went uninvestigated and the forced removal of residents from the location where the auditorium was built for the show. Confrontations were subdued ahead of the gala, whose tradition began nearly sixty years ago as a way to test cross-compatibilities of different national broadcasters and native systems across Europe in a live event. And although the show is meant to be apolitical and some regard the whole affair as something square and un-hip (though probably very much the opposite), it still relevant and demonstrates compatibilities and cultural interpretations (which are sometimes translated with considerable license) with a review of distinct ballads and reinventions of pop songs. Though protests and boycotts did not materialize, the producers made me happy (in addition to fun performances by the Babushkas, the Iranian Reindeer, a reprise of the Irish twins and others) because they did not avoid the subject of human-rights and justice in televised profiles of the host country and presented it as a challenge. Because of the spirit of the Eurovision, I think, unlike with other grand extravaganzas, Azerbaijan won’t be forgotten with only the fancy band shell to remind them once how they were once the focus of a critical and concerned eye.

not to scale

Before going on vacation or otherwise leaving your house to a care-taker, it would be helpful to provide your neighbours or your house-sitter a floor plan or layout of your pad for orientation purposes and to more easily find all your house-plants, the fire extinguisher in an emergency, et cetera. One can even be very detailed with the symbols and legend, communicating a specific watering-schedule, although I suppose most trusted care-takers could figure it out on their own. Making a domestic map for whatever purpose (a scavenger hunt, a serious housekeeper regiment, an escape route or just getting to know better one's topology) from memory and then comparing it to the actual dimensions and sharp corners and inventories of furniture is an interesting exercise, to see how well one sees through the walls recreated and can place things within them.

bottle of red, bottle of white

We’re no connoisseurs just yet but with the heat of the summer descending on us and for want of something lighter and with a bit less of a wallop, but we are enjoying discovering white wine as well, instead of just the usual spectrum of reds. That white wine does not seem as strong is a bit counterintuitive to me and I suppose one must consider all the chemistry to appreciate the different notes.

Of course there are red grapes and white grapes but some whites are produced from the same variety as a reds, just with the skin and the gradient of alcohol content is not always a factor—sort of like teas, in all colours, coming from the same tea tree, only harvested, dried and prepared different ways. Another distinction that white wine has earned, either in fact or possibly by association, is that some vintages contain traces of the element lithium. In various concentrations, all soil has lithium in it, so it would stand to reason that a red wine cultivated on a neighbouring vineyard would also have a natural dose of lithium, which some count as another benefit of wine, acting in small amounts as a mood-stabilizer and generally lifting spirits and apparently promoting civility. Consider the wine producing places of the world. Maybe it has something to do with the fruit expressed, however, since it seems that many (but not all) foods are white or light coloured: rice, grains, asparagus, bananas, cucumbers, cabbage and cauliflower. Maybe it’s more an elective affinity having to do with the theory of colours. A man-made tonic, bright, effervescing and an anti-cola, 7-Up was introduced in the 1930s as “Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda.” Later, the lithium was removed from the recipe but the formula was re-branded “seven-up” as an homage to the atomic mass of the element and for its elevating effects.

chinese fire-drill

Cornered with prospects of more market bubbles (a dot-com bust redux of 1999 and 2008 after a less than stellar performance of a networking platform that’s only, but, not merely, the sum of its user-generated antics), aspersions are quick to be cast out, like so many throwing-stars and there are the usual targets, scapegoats.

Revelations that, after several years of negotiations, the Chinese central bank has been afforded direct access to the Federal Reserve’s treasuries auctions without having to go through a middle man, a Wall Street bank, to complete the transaction—bidding on, buying US debt, have raised headline indignation. While it is a fact that no other bank, domestic or foreign reserve bank, has this special privilege and everyone else must use a Wall Street intermediary and that does raise some suspicion in itself (especially in light of another revelation involving military contracts and knock-off computing components), it does seem like a false-flag diversion to first question why buying up American liabilities is facilitated for China and deflates the underlying premises: even the transactions between the Federal Reserve and government agencies are brokered by major investment banks, charging a commission, and perhaps other institutions ought to wonder about the special privilege that these select middlemen have. Are the bankers of Wall Street less than trustworthy? Should the US manufacturing Would more public disclosure of any country’s debt-buying activities (mediated through a bank) cue market volatility or keep prices low for the bidding pool of a closed-auction? Should such a pyramid-scheme be any country’s or institution’s primary means of staying afloat, no matter what nation is buying? Looking for engineered snares and backdoors, regardless of who’s the trigger and who’s the trapper, and cyber-warfare is healthy and circumspect paranoia, but overshadows more basic questions that should be asked of America’s penchant for off-shoring—its defense and its public obligations.

unkraut bleibt unkraut or a fist full of flowers

There is a German tongue-twister that goes, Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid—that is, red cabbage stays red cabbage and a wedding dress stays a wedding dress.
I don’t find it so much of a challenge to enunciate but believe it has philosophical value, especially as a tongue-twister which is not. Unkräuter are weeds (not herbs) and belongs to a funny class of German words with Unwetter (storms, bad weather), Unding (an anti-thing, something impossible or unbelievable), Unart (not disciplined, a bad habit), Unverstandnis (a misunderstanding) and Unwort (a contrived nonce word). After getting some flowers for the balcony, quite by accident and not even in view of the home improvement/garden store where we found the geraniums, I spied this advertisement for a much decorated and controversial brand of weed-killer. Germany has roundly rejected the other toxic vertical monopolies of this agribusiness concern, at least publically, pressuring their genetically modified foodstuffs into exile and not subscribing to the patented plantation-style farming programme (a modular scheme where gardeners and farmers are obligated to buy all the precisely formulated extras—from seeds to fertilizer to insecticides), and I don’t know anyone here who would go to the time and expense of forgoing getting one’s hands dirty and doing a little gardening and maybe even tolerating the spare weed.  I was happy to see that this billboard’s location was not an affront, and was relegated to an alley by a casino and a discount store, like an advertisement for cigarettes.

svegliarsi

The latest earthquake that has devastated the northern Italian regions of Emilia and Romagna is a spiraling nightmare for the people of that area, whose realizations, the rugged landscape of disaster are quick to manifest after the initial shock and immediate loss. Not only are families dealing with bodily injury, lost lives and being displaced from their homes, they are also facing the loss of their livelihoods moment by moment as factories remain closed—so too shops, hotels and resorts, and the damage done to many historic landmarks is not just a blow potentially for the tourism industry but these fortresses and churches are a font of community, pride and character. Local producers might see a huge batch of ripening cheeses go to waste, unable to reach the aging rooms. As residents survey the rubble and struggle to get their immediate affairs in order, there are the sombre declarations that there is no money to rebuild. Cushion-less financial rigour is easily buckled by nature’s unreckoned discipline, and one cannot hope to promote recovery and growth by allowing any one community to wither. I hope these towns and villages are able to recuperate and save their historic and cultural treasures and not suffer alone, and as a result, that governments on all levels not connive to come up with exit or ejection strategies, assigning blame, but rather, in response to this tragedy, come up with ways to assist, which is really the meaning of union.

sock puppet or propagaИda

Bundled and buried within the US omnibus defense bill is a rather unassuming rider that would overturn protections for the American public from being subjected to disinformation campaigns by the government and the military. Proponents of this language argue that past measures, which came into force after World War II and a bit ahead of the Red Scare, makes for ineffective diplomatic correspondence in demanding a measure of accuracy in message and reporting, and the success of propaganda used on terrorists in foreign lands is too promising and ought not to be squandered on domestic audiences. I suppose now it might be even more of a challenger to discern the hype from the distraction and truth, half-true from the total fabrication.