Friday 5 July 2013
franking privilege or going postal
In order to steam open the envelop, a request need only be forwarded to the Post itself for approval and such a closed system of judge and juror has set precedence for prying into electronic correspondence as well. Being subject to tracing and inspection of course helps uncover networks after the fact and hopefully going forward, like any good detective work—scams, illicit trade and sympathies but such insatiate methods really only help build dossiers, accurate or otherwise, rather than keeping anyone safe and secure.
catagories: ๐ฅธ
Thursday 4 July 2013
tamarod or pitch and putsch
I do not know what to believe about the developing situation in Egypt and regret that I have not invested time in educating myself, since there are a lot of opinions out there either worthy of staving off or consideration, not that I was a particularly competent authority to comment on the previous revolution. I won't say that there was a lack of coverage exactly but a strange sort of disengagement when the protests swelled to the largest moment of mobilisation in human history with seventeen million people rallying for the regime to abdicate—not to mention anger at the US and its diplomacy for its policies and what has been interpreted by some as tacit support for the status quo. For the sake of the people of Egypt, I hope that this becomes a better turn, despite and in spite of speculators.
In what I hold to be a concession too far against tradition, the post by my workplace held its Independence Day celebrations last night, culminating with a fireworks display at around 2200 (it's considerate not to have people work on a federal holiday but it kind of loses its meaning when it becomes such a moveable feast), and I could see and hear the spectacle from my open hallway. It made me smile that the distant rumblings were perfectly in time to celebrations and fireworks going off in Tahrir Square as the regime was removed to jubilation. Differences are always mentionables among friends and co-celebrants.
catagories: ๐บ๐ธ, ๐, foreign policy, revolution
jenseits or rhinegold II
The emperor decided in the late eighth century to transform the existing, ancient manor of a Merovingian king into a stately palace—the village being kindred to our fair city, leagues away in Bavaria, but also commissioned by Charlemagne to include a few forts, a residence and a town wall that's heart-shaped for his wife (I still like that story even though probably no one thought to draw a heart like that or particularly associated the organ with love until much later).
Destroyed by the battles during the Thirty Years War and the wars of the Palatinate's succession, the palatial remains were fully incorporated into the architecture of the town and the extent of the ruins were really forgotten until they were rediscovered as architectural elements throughout the town by archeological studies and showcased, opening up the land that was the Aula Regina, beginning in the early 1990s.
Last summer, H and I had the chance to see the colossal statue Germania, the Niederwald Monument, from the opposing bank of the Rhein, taking a gondola ride from a station in Rรผdesheim that clipped the vines as it flew up the hill to the park above and look down at the river from above.
The city of Bingen is directly across and I remember gazing at it from a distance back then and wondering what all there was to discover.
I trekked across the city and visited the Basilica of Saint Martin and former grounds of a once expansive nunnery that's provided a wealth of early medieval artefacts, including the first inscriptions ever found in German, the written testament to the language copying Roman tablets and I climbed to the top of the dominating tower of Burg Klopp—now the administrative offices of the local government but fully accessible to the curious and with some beautiful landscaping that highlights the fortress and ancient foundations, for a spectacular view, even though the skies turned a bit threatening.
I went back down into the city next and crossed the park that ran along the waterway—there were a lot of cultural and historical installations to look at—and got progressively better views of Germania and the famed Mรคuseturm, Mice Tower, on an island in the Rhein.
I got the tale mostly right about the greedy and cruel archbishop of Mainz who exacted such high tariffs on passing boats that the peasants could not afford grain and the bishop in his tower was besieged by an avenging army of mice that ate him, along with the grain he was hoarding, in retribution. I like this story too, even though it's more likely that the name derives from the Old German infinitive mรปsen for spying or lying in wait, since the strategic location of the tower with the defensive fortresses around it allowed the rulers of this bend in the Rhein to control trade. I was surprised how close one could get and how peaceful it seemed, no crowds and I had the view all to myself and could well imagine again how the romantics were inspired. I rather like too the creative explanations and etymologies.
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, travel
Wednesday 3 July 2013
picture-picture or instamatic
catagories: ๐ง , graphic design, networking and blogging, philosophy, technology and innovation
call your parents
The BBC reports about a new “Elderly Rights Law” enacted in China to promote, under pain of fines or jail time, adult children visiting their parents and never neglecting the spiritual and emotional needs of older people. Though a nice message, regulating visits and enforcing the policy maybe such not be something left up to the authorities and perhaps the criticism is somewhat deserved, since there's no equitable way to apply it and no allowance to help keep children in compliance. I miss my parents and family very much but personally don't need legislated guilt to encourage me to make the time. What do you think? Is such a law necessary and do people need this sort of nudge?
catagories: graphic design, lifestyle
administratively embargoed or not the droids you're looking for
I never thought that civilised nations would ever again, at least until the environment cannot sustain the world's population and resources run out, bicker by any means other than by proxy—preferring to leave the bully-pulpit to business and industry lobbies to statecraft or open aggression, countries in thrall to corporate interests like colonies to the metropolitans of ages past—but I think that some secret-sharing (and not martyrdom) has really revitalised all those antics of the Cold War.
Tuesday 2 July 2013
conservation of surveillance
Though I am in no position to make some unbreakable Law out of policy or a cache of politically wilting realities, it does seem that disillusionment forgets compromise.
There is no excuse for intense and indiscriminate spying or having one's innocent details scrutinized but at least partially the reform that led to more celebrated departures and commitments to end occupation or torture necessitate some kind of reciprocity elsewhere—that lost intelligence is made up for by details served up on a platter and easily captured. Such give and take, of course, has precedence and may certainly be disabusing but perhaps not the sole basis. I do wonder if such a violation might really change the landscape of America's pseudopodia and make its presence less welcome in defending some indefeasible belief.
catagories: ๐ช๐บ, ๐ฌ๐ง, ๐บ๐ธ, ๐ฅธ, foreign policy
muzak or ambiance
One cultural difference that I have noticed due to conditioning and expectation between Hessian and Bavarian Frankonian behaviours is a minor but one that I find myself always walking away from with an experience—the kind that nearly pushes one towards leaving a customer comment card but since it's positive, few bother though the feeling is nagging.
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ง , food and drink, lifestyle