Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Post Titled:Diagram of Kate Moss


scanned from the book "TOTAL INTERACTION: theory and practice of a new paradigm for the design disciplines" Edited by Gerhard M. Buurman, 2005 Burkhaeuser Publishers for Architecture, Basel, Switzerland www.burhhauser.ch

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Post Titled: 1. How DO they Do it? and 2. How Long Can it last?

"The French economy is the second largest in western Europe, even though the country has a high unemployment rate, one of Europe’s lowest retirement ages, and a 35-hour working week. The country is also the fourth largest exporter of goods and the third largest exporter of services in the world." (The Economist Magazine.)

REGARDING Euro-stuff
, I was disturbed to learn of the GEZ tax in Germany, basically- as far as I understand- it is a tax that one must pay for the public channels such as arte and the like, as well as radio and internet??? Dude, I didn't ask for this stuff, so... hmm. A dilemma. Out television barely even works and we listen to approximately 5 minutes of radio per week... how does this tax apply to us? Apparently -according to my echter Berliner mitarbeiter- they come door to door, knocking to ask if you payed. Enter: ignorant American- "Tax? What tax?" hopefully that will work if- IF they eve come a knocking. My co-worker said the tax could be as much as €20 per month per television- uhh, can any readers fill me in on this??? Please comment, thanks!
...ugh..

5 minutes later...

Just in-case you were wondering where that money goes:
"ARTE – programming information is given in euros. Of the channel’s total budget ( 352,6 million euros),programmes receive 235,7 million. Themed programmes receive 30,8 million; cinema, 31,1; documentaries and magazine programmes 79,4; fiction 31,5; spectacles 19,3; informative programmes 16,7; other types of programmes 12,5 million of the budget. (Arte 2005.)" CREDIT:
Department of Communication,
University of Helsinki,
Mapping Media and Communication
Research: France, Germany
Communication Research Centre, University of Helsinki, Finland
Liina Puustinen

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Post Titled: Second Life Revisited

FROM an article in WIRED called "How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life"

(in Second Life) "On a random day in June, the most popular location was Money Island (where Linden dollars, the official currency, are given away gratis), with a score of 136,000. Sexy Beach, one of several regions that offer virtual sex shops, dancing, and no-strings hookups, came in at 133,000. The Sears store on IBM's Innovation Island had a traffic score of 281; Coke's Virtual Thirst pavilion, a mere 27. And even when corporate destinations actually draw people, the PR can be less than ideal. Last winter, CNET's in-world correspondent was conducting a live interview with Anshe Chung, an avatar said to have earned more than $1 million on virtual real estate deals, when Chung was assaulted by flying penises in a griefer attack."

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Post Titled: THIS AMERICAN LIFE EPisode 296: After the Flood.

I just found THIS again after hearing it when it was originally aired in September of 2005. It is truly amazing. Do listen.

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Post Titled: Technology Embracing Life (er, something)

9to5 "Wir Nennen es Arbeit" Festival This is one of the coolest things I have heard of lately- thanks to WE MAKE MONEY NOT ART for posting. Intro:
"Living and Working at the Festival
The „9 to 5 – Wir nennen es Arbeit“ festival camp is an event for those who feel that working should be more like living – and not the other way around. On three different days, each given its own daily concept (day 1 is all about burning money, day 2 concentrates on getting things done, while day 3 encourages you to try and change the world for the better), you are invited to come and join the fun and games at Radialsystem V in Berlin."


SOME NICE-SOUNDING PROPAGANDA from SIEMENS' OPEN COMMUNICATION Campaign, basically this well-spun articleequating work-from home flexibility with green sensibilites. sure. great. maybe they are right. probably are. but they are still trying to sell this open communications package to make you fullfill your work-from-home dreams. granted, the package is well-wrapped. Oh and Dear Siemens, if you happen to read this can you please send me an 80 gig iPod and I will gladly alter this post to praise your PR campaign and ideas and blah blah. we'll talk.

Diddy. Ugh, that guy. ripped from REUTERS"NEW YORK, July 30 (Reuters Life!) - Wanted: Rap music impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs seeks assistant with attitude, confidence, ability to count -- and a good video resume.
Eschewing written resumes Combs has turned to video sharing Web site YouTube to recruit his next personal assistant, saying only people with a burning passion to get into the rap world need apply -- and he's received over 10,000 inquiries.
Combs began his search for a new assistant on July 11 when he posted a video on YouTube of himself, filmed in his New York office, asking potential applicants to post videos explaining why they should be chosen as his assistant."


sure, why bother with paper resume´s- I mean, ...yea. right. Ugh, Diddy. that guy.

ok, so apparently today has been cursed with CRAP POP-ola news, but here is a clever post by In the Pink TEXAS regarding the arrest of AL GORE III for speeding and possesion of a bunch of drugs. awesome. who knew Al even had a son? I didn't. Remember the daughters...

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Post Titled: Paris Hilton
Post Subtitled: The most Mature and Articulate thing I will accomplish today

(small revenge for the fact that I wake up and on of the first things I see is her face on the fron page of bbc.co.uk, ok?)

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Monday, July 30, 2007

Post Titled: Kreuzberg Represent

Pat sent me this piece from the Guardian:
"McDonald's - will soon join the mix and the arrival of the fast-food giant is causing consternation in Kreuzberg, for decades a stronghold of left-wing, anarchist and anti-globalist sentiment.

Police on Saturday barred a small demonstration against the restaurant that they said had no permit, organized by a citizens' initiative under the German name McWiderstand, or ``McResistance.'' Several demonstrators in Ronald McDonald wigs nonetheless managed to sneak through a construction barrier and put up a banner decrying the restaurant.

The site's fence already is smeared with obscene anti-McDonald's graffiti, and the company has hired security guards to watch over it. "

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Post Titled: Bio-functions in artistic projects (revisited)... eew.
Is it feminist or just icky? Todays post about a visual and performance artist Jae Rhim Lee in We Make Money Not Art:
"The artist undertook the task to grow food using her own urine, with her body acting as a filter to maximize nutrients for growing the cabbage. She first sent her urine to a floriculture lab, followed a customized vegan diet designed to transform her urine into the ideal nutrient solution for plants.She then used the resulting cabbage to cook kimchi and fed her colleagues and gallery visitors from the living unit."
brought to mind Toi Sennhauser's Oktoberfest "By adding a trace amount of my vaginal yeast to regular brewer’s yeast, my “Original Pussy Beer” pays homage to beer’s ancient creators from “the cradle of civilization.” Woman is literally reunited with the beer."

I'll just let readers sort through these complex issues themselves...

AHm, ok, onto other complex issues: from the BBC here is a story of Bible Action figures which will soon hit the shelves at Wal-MArt.

Their creator, David Socha, says "If you go in a toy aisle in any major retailer, you will see toys and dolls that promote and glorify evil, destruction, lying, cheating."
- a statement which contradicts the earlier mention in the article "brands like Transformers and Spiderman dominating marketing."
Hmm- as mentioned previously in this blog, Spider-Man has quite a bit to do with making the right choices, and of course "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" etc. Optimus Prime also, right? Stories like the ones found in Spider-Man and TRANSFORMERS and STAR WARSare essentially morality tales, contemporary fables- guess they just lack the proper god(s)...

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Post Titled: Beat Down dat Ausländerbehörde, worrrd.

After 25+ hours of waiting in various German govnerment buildings, and 10+ months of waiting I got my friggin Aufenthaltserlaubnis which is good until April 10, not that that matters any longer since I am married, but I just wanted to get those sweat-and-bloodstained stickers stuck permanently in my passport. Yao.
I was a half-hour late to my appointment because I decided to ride a bike- and mapquest the directions before hand (I#ll blame product placement in a recent re-re-watching of BROKEN FLOWERS on this one), problems being:

A. Mapquest directions were designed for CARS, not bikes.
B. Mapquest directions did not know about the massive "Umleitung" (construction detour) in the middle of the trip, thus null-and-voiding the last half of the directions. grr.

Nevertheless...
After a 2 hour wait and another €50 I eventually got everything I needed. Finally. Like a fight to the finish, (or just simply point of exhaustion) as if the German bureaucracy (huffing gruffly) respected my perserverance, and was exhausted of its own reasons and ways to say "no" or "not possible" we came to a settlement... (nod, return nod.)

Anyhow, finds of interest this morning:

a report called "PUBLIC RAdio'sSOCIAL MEDIA EXPIRAMENTS" by Abbey Blake Levenshus (sponsored by the Ford Foundation-? WHy?)
and a fun little Doonesbury Survey from SLATE.COM.
and a blog entry (err- piece) called Virtual Virtues, By Sean Lennon found in a MySpace Blog that is quite interesting...

ooof. that's all I got.

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Sunday, July 29, 2007

Post Titled: An imagining of the Philip Morris HQ Building:

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Post Tilted: "Contemporary Communications Boom"
Majic Marker on Fax Paper, 8 x 18 in.

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Saturday, July 28, 2007

Post Titled: Fruit FLy infestation

I respect life, consider myself a pacifist and also happen to be a vegetarian but when you cannot ge t rid of the dozens of tiny fruit flies that have invaded your kitchen then something must be done...
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Post Titled: One-legged Grasshopper

We found an injured grasshopper in the apartemtn, on of the legs was folded in-half, so we tried to nurse him back to health, but he ran away after 2 days.

photo credit: Pat Dwyer

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Post Titled: KanYe West video with Will Oldham aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy

Paul Der Andere sent along this MAGICAL LINK, I will never look at hip hop culture or white people quite the same way again.

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Friday, July 27, 2007

Post Titled: "Study Says Obesity Can Be Contagious"

Wierd report from New England Journal of Medicine as reported in the NY Times By GINA KOLATA READ HERE

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Post Titled: Republican Refusals for CNN/YouTube debate is suicide

Seriously, the Republicans had almost no chance to begin with, but shunning the YOutube debates sould be a very serious nail in the coffin, (nothtat I really care) but somebodies' campaign advosors need to pull their heads from out their asses and not ignore new media... alas.
According to the Washington Post:
"Four days after the Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C,. more than 400 questions directed to the GOP presidential field have been uploaded on YouTube -- targeted at Republicans scheduled to get their turn at videopopulism on Sept. 17.

But so far, only Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) have agreed to participate in the debate, co-hosted by Republican Party of Florida in St. Petersburg.

"Aside from those two candidates, we haven't heard from anyone else," said Sam Feist of CNN, who's co-sponsoring the debate with the popular videosharing site.

Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney, both with dozens of videos on their YouTube channels, have not signed up. Neither have the rest of the Republican candidates, including Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.), whose "Tancredo Takes" on his YouTube channel draw hundreds of views."

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Post Titled: "Where is the Rebel Base?" vs. "Zen and the art of Dudeliness"

a google search for the phrase "Where is the rebel base?" produced this disturbingly bizarre image:

ok... well then there is this little bit from the Guardian by Jeff Bridges about being "the Dude"

Hmm, regarding the "Friendly Fire" Death of Cpl. Pat Tillman

"Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
"The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators."

FULL ARTICLE

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Post Titled: glam.com

whoa, I accidentally came across glam.com today... it is the girliest thing I have ever seen. Polar.

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Post Titled: Comments about some new show called "Mad Men"
ring true with my current work environment, soo... 1960 New Your is in some ways related to 2000's Berlin...
""What a miserable piece of garbage," said Irwin Warren, who was a copywriter for Doyle Dane Bernbach in 1965. "It's a kind of a poor man's The Apartment". Jerry Della Femina, who was in the mailroom of agency Ruthrauff & Ryan in 1960 before becoming a copywriter and a founder of his own agency, loved the depiction. He had recently participated in a panel discussion at Michael's about the show. "It’s a pretty fascinating as a study of the 60’s."

But how accurate is it? For those who haven't seen it, the show is a parade of constant smoking, near-constant drinking, casual sexual harassment and anti-semitism. Warren admitted that much of that was spot on. "But that was accurate for any business back then, not just advertising," he said."

Ok, so I exaggerate. But is a softer, more h
armless way... there is some comparison to be made. More than anything that resembles an American workplace, that is fo' sho.
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Post Titled: Google Search for "Post-Google" turns up a book called:



Artscience
Creativity in the Post-Google Generation
by David Edwards
Link to the Harvard site apparently he is also founder of a place called Le Laboratorie in Paris "New creative space dedicated to expiramental collaboration between artists and scientists opening October 19, 2007."

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Post Titled: WHy I have to approve comments
Because people post stuff like this:

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Post Titled: 24 Hours With CocoRosie

Documentary HERE at Dazed Digital.

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Post Titled: ... uhm. blank-ing out here... shite.
(3 minutes later)...
Oh, duh.

Post Titled:
Not it!

For work -anytime I email anyone from the European Commission all I get in return is a "not it!" or "not really quite my job try this guy or try somebody else who will be back from Holiday in 2 months" which is no fucking wonder that nothing ever happens/gets done, ... maybe we can form a committee to talk about setting up a time period in which we can establish a potential date for talking about a integrated solution to this problem then we can set up a special council to discuss the solution openly for a period of 6 months and see if the public response from the cetified bodies will be covered by local, national and international media.

Seriously, I kid you not, read some of their White Papers. IF you can find anything on their crack-baby labyrinthine website(s)

against my will I must quote Homer Simpson with the word "Doh!" in regards to teh whole ______ beast.

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Post Titled: ALT CODES

ooooh, ALT CODES all together all in one place.

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Post Titled: Baby Hedgehog


Awesome, my mom found and adopted an ailing baby hedgehog.

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Post Titled: Being offended all the way to the Bank
as a sort of update to yesterdays post involving the "F-U-U-K YOU CHINA" German t-shirt made in Europe here is Die Welt Online today it is reported that "Deutschland wird den Titel eines Exportweltmeisters im kommenden Jahr an China verlieren." (Germany will lost the title of 'world's largest exporter' to China in the coming year" so, really, China can be as offended as it wants, but at the end of the day... China wird 2008 Deutschland überholen

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Post Titled: "Berlin's art scene, once wild and free, is increasingly commercialized
The do-anything spirit that burst forth in post-Communist Berlin is being overwhelmed by market-mindedness."
I don't believe this article matters, and even if it does, things change and things come in waves, so no matter at all. Yea, Berlin is different than it was. so is everywhere.
ARTICLE HERE from the L.A. Times...
however, Lost Angeles calling Berlin commercialised is like - well, if anyone whats to crank out a clever comparison and plot it in the comments section feel free...

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Post Titled: Red Dot.

wow, this red dot is public domain and can be dowloaded HERE. odd.

other fun facts:
over the past week readership for this blog has fluctuated between 29 and 99, Sundays are always the (s)lowest.

annnnnd (drumroll) The most consistently popular post that keeps people randomly coming to the blog is the Matthew Barney at the Babylon Theatre transcript from October, mainly because it is on his english wikipedia page.

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pOST tITLED: wierld brief little Jeff Koons interview

HERE.

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Post Titled: Q:What makes the Dali Lama furious? A: Mosquitos.

Interview with the DAli Lama from Die Welt : "Mücken Machen mich wütend" To quote a certain Ms. Jakob: Wie geil ist das denn?

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pOST tITLED. CHICK WITH GUN

In school there was a girl who always bragged about just having been in the Israeli army and all the training she went through and planes she'd jumped out of and weapons she'd fired... it was a bit odd since we were in a painting class together and most no one else in the class had ever even held a gun much less marched in formation.

Anyhow, the blog Leitmotifish brings all of it back in one big whoosh, same visuals, different girl, and intruguing and disturbung photo blog... it tickles "the fear" in me... in that HST sense of "the Fear"...

OH, but this is much much scarier- another Max Blumenthal video from HuffPo, this one called "Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour" Watch it, QUITE amazing-!

NOTE: I am not trying to draw a connection between the upper and lower sections of this post, it was an odd coincidence that I came across both of these things at about the same time.

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Post Titled: Writing on the wall about the History of Mt. Rushmore

Ok, so I have been mulling over a few of yesterdaz's crazy posts and realised that I completely forgot to mention the current exhibit at Hamburger Bahnhof. There is an artist (NAME???) exhibited upstairs right now whose work is fascinatingly political, one piece in particular is a series of perhaps 25 little text blurbs stenciled directly onto the wall under their respective dates (much like the title, artist, year label next to a painting) but these little texts go through the history of Mount Rushmore, from its geological birth until its (projected) erosion-caused death.
The history of mount Rushmore includes another (I quote) "final solution" proposal, well, basically, just many different efforts to contain and destroy the American Indian population....
Americans are quick to point their fingers at other peoples' dark bloody past, while quickly an quietly overlooking their own... unfair, really, why areN't we all walking around feeling a collective shitty national guilt like the Germans? It wasn't that long ago...
ugh.
speaking of Rushmore, in lighter-hearted news here is a link to the new Wes Anderson film "The Darjeeling Limited"

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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Post Titled: CNN YouTube Democratic Debate

PART 1 HERE 35min
PART 2 HERE

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Post Titled: "Catapulting the propaganda", eh???

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Post Titled: "Meisterstück in Gelb"

Der Spiegel goes so far as to call the Simpsons film a "Meisterstück in Gelb" or a "Masterpiece in Yellow"... which is interesting because just yesterday we were wondering what the hell they could possibly have left to do as material for a full movie...

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Post Titled: "...experiment into the German personality."
Post Subtitled: How do you spell "faschist"?
Post SubSubTitled: No, really, I do not know how to spell "fascist"-- seriously.

Biking to work this afternoon, my thoughts were:
1.Yes, Biking is the superior and most free(ing)means of (self)transportation. After months without a bike, finally having one again re-affirmed this near-fact.
2.Punctuality and the enforcement of punctuality is complete ______-ist brainwashing
(feel free to insert your own "ism" there before the "-ist")
3.that it is creepy that in the United States we re provided with manditory schooling until the 10th grade but NOT Health Care. What does this mean? It SEEMS to mean that it is more important to indoctrinate youth into the _____-ist "YOur butt must be in that seat at _o'clock every day" mentality that to actually have a healthy population which can rest with peace-of-mind that it can be taken care of both on a regular basis and in case of emergency by a medical professinal and it won't cost them the next 15 years of thier job earnings. This thought was partially die to certain scenes in "the Last Samurai" by Helen DeWitt (see "Paperpools")
4. I worked from home today from 8:30am-2pm and I got just as much done as if i were there. Email, skype, who needs an office? In fact, in a perfect world if we were all as actually on-top of things (faschist) as we could possibly be... well, no, let me just say that I "waste" an hour and a half of my day GOING TO A LOCATON THAT I DONÄT EVEN NEED TO BE AT TO ACTALLY WORK- thanks to technology, UGH!- effing amazing, right? Shoot, man gotta re-negotiate my contract... simply baffles the mind... ON THAT NOTE:

5.I found THIS piece of writing by a Professor named Ron Jones, exerpt:
"We were studying Nazi Germany and in the middle of a lecture I was interrupted by the question. How could the German populace claim ignorance of the slaughter of the Jewish people. How could the townspeople, railroad conductors, teachers, doctors, claim they knew nothing about concentration camps and human carnage. How can people who were neighbors and maybe even friends of the Jewish citizen say they weren't there when it happened. it was a good question. I didn't know the answer..."

I am not sure if this is actually a short story or a non-fictional account, but it is worth a read - FULL ACCOUNT OF EXPIRAMENT HERE. (actually, I think it iIS a study-)

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DISCLAIMER: WARNING READERS I AM TIRED CRANKY HUNOVER AND CRANKY AND - YEA; THAT WILL CARRY OVER INTO TODAYS POSTINGS:
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Post Titled: Racist German T-Shirt now selling big on eBay

Actually, I don't know of that is true , but if this headline is true: "F**K You China" creates a stir in China's blogosphere.

My (effed-up, err, uhh; to-the-point) response to this on CONVERSATIONage will probably not be published, and just as a disclaimer NO I am not a racist I just get so bored of people accusing each other of racism... so bored. SO SO soooo bored and annoyed. Having said that let me accuse the continent of Europe of racism. I mean, as an american born in 1980 one gets indoctrinated with tolerance and acceptance training from the time you start school (which is all well and good, but you do get a bit burn out) and then you move to Europe and all of the sudden it is like starting from square one all over again... its like stepping back in time almost- and I am not saying that all white Europeans are racist, but there is a definte underlying current- a tendency amongst the majority to NOT quite treat minorities like full human beings... and/or are simply completely unaware of their own deep-seeded predjudices...
POST CSR ASIA -well, what the heck, this is a complex matter and I am not even qualified to discuss it really... but it does exist, and may continue to thrive/survive until "old Europe" or at least "old-school thought" in Europe dies out.

My deliberately effed-up comment on CONVERSATIONAGE:

"Dude, shouldn't those chinks shut the *** up and get back to work, they've got a globe to conquer.

(Just kidding.awh, ***, that was wrong.) (Ugh, -where's my coffee?)

But seriously, this shirt demonstrates something(a) - or rather "manifests" two important things:

the inherant racism of mainland Europe, of which it doesn not care/is not challenged by/ is not usually even aware of-

and

this could just be a result of the cooler-than-thou cynical hispter sense of humor, which only the cynical hipster culture can truly smirk at, oops. sorry china.
Love,
A Cracker in Kraut-land"

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Post Titled: Don't click on those ad games

charmed by the aesthetics adn animations of one of those sidebar ads I clicked and started playing / wierd stuff, Sheeople err, Sheep-people at BOOK of DEVIANTS is just bizarre. so, yea, watch what you click...

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Post Titled: Live Coverage of Web Crash 2007
Officials confirm that all online data has been lost after the Internet crashed and was forced to restart. Special report:




yea, dorky, ok- but great.

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Post Titled: Quarterback gets arrested and charged with a felony for dogfighting...

a search for "nike" on Technorati produced this MYSPACE BLOG...

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Post Titled: Security consultants claim to find vulnerability in iPhone
"A team of computer security consultants say they have found a flaw in the iPhone that allows them to take control of the device..." full article HERE in the International Herald Tribune

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Post Titled: the internet as a tool...

Found in an article from 1997:
"If you were going to attempt to influence a potential buyer to purchase and use your product, wouldn't you use every means of persuasive communications at your disposal to influence the purchasing decision? Of course, you would.

You would use product design, packaging, point-of-purchase, counter-cards, posters, direct mail and/or direct response methods, paid broadcast or print advertising, special events, publicity, news conferences, give-aways, kiddie-clubs, CD ROM's, the Internet . . . if you could conceive it, and could afford it, you would do it."

I love how the internet is listed LAST, even behind "kiddie-clubs"... how cute, 1997.

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Post Titled: 35- Hour Work Week, pffft!
Translation stolen from Eurotopics:
"Slovenia - Dnevnik
Dušan Jovanović on workaholism and capitalism
Workaholism is the driving power behind modern capitalism in Europe, writes Dušan Jovanović. The 35-hour-week that the French fought so hard for back in 2000 has no future, he concludes. "Today work, hobbies and leisure are melting into a combination of duty, suffering and pleasure. ... A person who works a 35-hour-week isn't suited to independent work or intellectually demanding professions because being a lawyer, manager, stockbroker, academic or consultant still requires the willingness to work a 70-hour-week. ... Sociologists hold the view that societies in which the traditional division between working time and leisure remains intact will be left behind, because they prevent the formation of a broad class of workaholics to boost the economy. The latest insight is that capitalism needs workaholism. ... Without it we would continue to be a socialist economy with state-owned property and people who hate their jobs and even go so far as to sabotage them." (23/07/2007)"

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Post Titled: D.C. artist Mark Jenkins

Patrick pointed out the work of D.C. sculptural installation artist Mark Jenkins to me, HIS SITE HERE be sure to check out the Resteraunt video...

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Post Titled: "Thriller"
Post Titled: Another testament to the beauty of YouTube...
I have been eyeballing this on Technorati... thinking "Is it reeeeallly necessary to drop in the blog?" well, Neccessarrry, noooo- but such an odd little bit of human entertainment, what the heck: it comes along with the description:
"1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines at practice! This is not the final routine, and definitely not a punishment! just a teaser."

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Monday, July 23, 2007

Post Titled: Tagcrowd!
Using Tagcrowd I created this cloud, which is soooo beautiful from a simple design standpoint, oder?:



created at TagCrowd.com


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Post Titled: Test, Test, 1, 2, 1, 2

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Post Titled: strange but true stories of the weekend...

Ok, so my friend Partick came into town whom I haven't seen for years (11 actually, eleven friggin years) and we went out for a night on the town. CCCP wasn't open until 10, so we stopped off at the only other bar in Mitte that I know of which is Muschi Obermayer on Torstrasse "That's where Brangelina bought a flat" I always like to point out when I walk on Torstraße even though the exact location has never been confirmed like some kind of goshard national secret- I believe it to be number 140 based on hearsay. ANyhow, it is so hot in the bar that everyone is outside on the wooden chairs crowding the sidewalk and we have a beer.
A guy sitting nearby starts asking us if we know where a brothel owned by a prominent Irish Publisher is- "uhh, nooo. ... errh." but we spend a very long time trying to locate it on Patrick's iPhone "Uhh, google 'puff in Berlin'" Over and over.
THe puff-seeker, a smallish guy who looks like he could've been in Wilco and his large buddy who looked just like a gnarlier version of the Fantastic Four's the THING (in Human form) joined us at the table. Turned out they were from Scotland and when they spoke with eachother we couldn't understand a single goddamn word. Pure nothing jumble of syllables. I couldn't believe this was the english language even.
These guys were on a 'stag run' and had somehow gotten separated from their group, a group of either 9-14 guys all from Glasgow, where for 4 days to drink incessantly, rent fast Germna cars adn sleep with German prostitutes, apparently. The THING-looking guy was a professional Blacksmith named Marcus sweet guy actually, so drunk that he could barely talk or sit-up straight, and his buddy, whose name we never caught, insisted on telling a story about Marcus:

"Lemme teelya about Marcus, mate, ohhh- Awhile back we were out at a club in Glasglow and Marcus was a bit drunk and disorderly so they tossed him out and after he got tossed out he realised that his jacket with his keys and phone and all were still in the club, but they wouldn't let him back in- so he went around back and climbe up three stories of drainpipe up onto the roof, where they have a real American semi-truck. So he sat in the semi and threw bricks at the gotic club across the street for awhile-"
"Coins, mate, I was throwin' coins"
"Anyhow, he's thrown things at the homos at the gothic club across the street nd then starts climbing the apexes of the roof and he busts through a window into the attic of the cluband he's walkin around and through the wall he can hear the THUMP THUMP THUMP of the music, this is a thin old brick wall and so what does he do? He busts through the wall like the incredible-fucking-hulk and when the dust clears there hhe is on the dancefloor and the music comes to a stop and he bellows "WHEEEERES MAH JEECKIT!?!" then it takes 5 blokes to wrestle him to the ground..."


We relocated to a place called the Schokofabrik, an artsy dive with a labyrinthine backyard Hof of tables, bars, people, dogs, lights, food, etc...

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Post Titled: O. My. Gawd.
Post Subtitled: Damien Hirst's Diamond-Studded Skull cleaned up and put out as trash
Thanks to this tip from CEAS, (can't remember if I wrote earlier abou this "$100 million" work of art), buuut apparently it was tidied-up, if this site is to be believed....



Found at/Stolen From MAeX Art Blog Miami Art Exchange: Art Commentary, Reviews, Cultural Critique and, Ideas

Uhh, What was that movie with John Malkovich and Andie MacDowell are con-artists... about the Henry Moore that got tossed out?... Object of my Affection? or something like that...

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Post Titled: '$100 laptop' production begins...

I seem to come across this story periodically, (throughout the last few years, actually) btu today It struck me: could this thing really alter the dynamics of life, level the playing field even more- as Thomas Friedman has gushed?... I mean, up until now home computer technology has pretty much been a luxury of middle class or wealthier people of wealthier nations... anyhow, full story HERE.

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Post Titled: Twit. err...

So I added a Twitter Button... why, I dunno, maybe it will develop into anoter tiny addiction, maybe it will be forgotten or ignored...
first true to life and banal twitter post (ok, second) is:
"The internet was down for the first 45 min. at work, fortunately a PDF of Stephen Hawking's Theory of Everything was saved on my desktop... less than a minute ago"
Like that is supposed to make me look smart or something. OOOf, Monday.

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Post Titled: South Park
Since manü and now patrick have brought the following South Park episode to my attention I felt the need to at least include the intro here:
free video hosting
Free Video Hosting

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Friday, July 20, 2007

The Bad Pitch Blog: PR People Suck!

Post Titled: Bad Pitch Blog
is fucking hilarious.The Bad Pitch Blog: PR People Suck!
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Post Titled: EXPonential Head Explosion

Ok, so the Graph I posted yesterday of my daily research loop-de-loops suddenly seems obsolete as the floodgates seem to have opened adn that Graph suddenly seems about 4 times larger. I do not know what to do with all of this but am vigiourously del.icio.us much of it... today of all days, lingk-to-link-to-link forever, so it seems...
Which made me think of the relationship between teh supposedly ever-expanding universe and the ever-expanding internet... la-dee-da, I am burnt out, it is Friday, need to go go go home.
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Post Titled: World map: Global distribution of the ecological footprint

stolen from: Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft

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Post Titled: Exploding Head.
It is Friday, I have been at work for just over 2 hours because I got here 10 minutes early, and my head is about to explode for readons like THIS (from the Friendly Ghost) and a thousand others...
indeed, I have been hearing about Twitter and reading about it for months now but still haven't the foggiest...

hmm. LIST of Global Top 500 websites from ALEXA.com

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Post Titled: "Email is for old people"
Ouch. at 27 I am "old", heh. see:
"It’s come up a few times on blogs recently where the phrase ‘e-mail is for old people’ comes up. (where ‘old’ = 26, heh). Out of the mouthes of babes. There’s something there."
from I, Platform "The functional death of e-mail"

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Post Titled: New Roisin Murphy song "Overpowered"
formerly of MOLOKO, brand spankin' new song from
the Irish girl with a voice "like honey on toast"

brough to my attention by á la discothèque blog.

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Post Titled: It is all smooshing together
So, there are rules at work, like, you are not supposed top check your personal emaiols except on breaks, but as of recently I have come across gray areas:

1. Social Networking sites. things like Xing, LinkedIn and Facebook are now (or now CAN be) just as much of work toos as play tools, so... uhh.

2. this blog. this blog is not really work or play...

3.OTHER people's blogs. might be useful, might have naked photos of them rolling around like a newborn on a fur rug, never know. Fortunately, I work in an environment that wouldn't actually care much if there was a naked girl on my screen since there are already naked girls in the ads on the subway.

4.ALL THOSE WIERD SITES. same as complaint above. gawker, boing boing, valleywag, the onion-esque and maybe 2 dozen others I can't evne remember until my eye meets the bookmark... all useful/trash. ok, so the onion is fake news, but still...

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Post Titled: SKYPE
love this image:



attached story in valleywag.

Ruminations on Russia is an interesting blog.

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

Post Titled: Personal Internet Research Graph

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Post Titled: Oh, Good.
Read that if Greenland melts and polar icecaps adn whatnot that the sea-level would rise 21 meters, fortunately Berlin is at a height of 34–115 meters above sea-level...
Brussels: zwischen 15 und 100 Metern über dem Meeresspiegel
Madrid: 667 m
Venice: 0-1 m
Paris: 28 m–130 m
Stockholm: 15 m
Oslo: 1 m
Barcelona: 12 m

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Post Titled: "Generation Chickenhawk: the Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour"
On HuffPo by Max Blumenthal HERE, watch, really-, jeez.

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Post Titled: Prank...

My teenage babysitters in Illinois in the 1980's liked to brag about how they would call and order a bunch of pizzas and have tehm delivered to their math teachers, who, in turn would then end up having to pay for them... they would also put dead frogs in people's mailboxes.

just remembered that.
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Post Titled: EUTube in question
I have been glued to EUTube watching little news and info and infotainment snippets for a few hours now (with Microsoft Word opened as well 'working' alongside it) and I can't help but wonder it EUTUBE isn't just a goshdarn EC propaganda device, I mean - propaganda for the "good", but still...

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Post Titled: "Sony launches major High Definition campaign in Europe"

I began drafting/throwing down ideas for an article which has now been shelved and I am not sure if it will ever see the light of day sooo - welllll, why not plop it in the blog, I can always remove it later if necessary:

"CLEAR TARGET: SONY PUSHES BLU-RAY IN EUROPE.
Over the past 10 years most of us have amassed a decent (or at least some sort of) DVD collection, -discs which play on our laptops, PCs and reasonably-priced home DVD players. Enter: HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Based on these new high definition formats, which is very cool and super crisp, you – the producers and distributors- are now charged with the task of getting us all to switch over and start buying (or re-purchasing) a whole new collection of movies all over again? Ok, so this has happened before, from 8-track to vinyl to cassette tapes to CDs to MP3s, we, the consumers, are not unfamiliar with the change in format every decade or so, but for the first time (that I can think of) this is a matter ho heavily/purely based on quality. In the past, it was more a matter of practicality. No one was going to drive around with a record player in their car or lug around a huge book full of compact discs when a device the size of a matchbook could hold all the same songs, but now, with HD it really comes down to a matter of entertainment value.
It is hard not to be dazzled by the crystal-clear quality such technology has to offer, but then there is the shocking pricetag. How many of us are realistically going to spend €10,000 just for the ability to see the hairs protruding from Mr. Bean’s nose more clearly?…"


on a Tech note: "Alex takes a look at the blingiest fridge in town... For more video see www.shinyshiny.tv"

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Post Titled: Google's Free Trade Agenda
From FORBES: "For the past several months, Google has been quietly lobbying the U.S. government to include restrictions against Internet censorship as a stipulation in free trade agreements with other countries.
The California-based Internet giant says that barriers to the free flow of information over the Web restrict commerce and economic development, and should therefore be considered barriers to free trade as well."


FULL STORY HERE

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Post Titled: Prinzessinnenbad


Just saw the film Prinzessinnenbad, a documentary about 3 girls in our neighborhood of Kreuzberg, Berlin. Really impressive little piece, "charming" if you can say that- I mean, not completely depressing but almost so- it is actually impressive that the girls have turned out as well as they have given the circumstances.

One of Nadine's first comments as we walked out of the theatre was how natural the girls seemed in front of the camera, as if they were unaware of the fact that they were being filmed. Most of the guys on the other hand are acting up or more-obviously acting in front of the camera.
We also wondered if a film like this can changed these girls' lives... at least now they are somewhat famous. However, I was surprised that there was no trace of the film or the girls on MsSpace - which you'd think by now would be an obviously integrated part of any independent film marketing campaign... Wonder if it has any kind of opening in the states yet...
(update: it has and has had favorable reviews, see below)

ON a daily basis one sees these types of teenagers all around, and of course one can only wonder what actually goes on in their heads and their lives- I actually came across a German review which desribed them as "prolltussis" (translates to- hmm, "ghetto-fabulous trashy chicks" or something close to that)which I think is an unfair judgement call because they are fairly "normal" withing their environment...

It was also completely surreal to watch a movie that was filmed so close to where we live that I was literally able to recognize the graffiti, I go through Kottbusser Tor twice daily, it is the station for the U-Bahn where I get on to go to work - and as I told a recent visitor "never will you come across such a hive of scum and villany" well, not really, that is an exaggeration- it comes across to me as being pretty harmless in a way, (it is Germany, afterall)but definitely not the cheeriest or best-smelling place. Coincidentally, we were at the "Prinzessinnenbad" two days ago(actually called Sommerbad Kreuzberg on Prinzenstrasse) and earlier in the summer we were practically forces to evacuate when a sudden storm rolled in- like in the opening of the film.
Apparently the english titled is "Pool Of Princesses" which is kind of shit, really, why eventranslate such a lovely word as Prinzessinnenbad?

Wikipedia seite auf Deutsch.
and Variety review here.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Post Titled: INsanity fresh from the world of Bizznatch (uh, Business) and Politics, Economics and PR

This is quite a gem: CLICK "The Geographical Processes behind Innovation: A Europe-United
States Comparative Analysis
by
Riccardo Crescenzi (Università degli studi Roma Tre)
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose* (London School of Economics)
Michael Storper (London School of Economics and Sciences Po)"


Beppe Grillo's Blog is insane, but enjoyable-

SIXTYSECONDVIEW's most recent post
is also a bit astounding in its scope.

Then, don't you "Four men jailed over cartoon demo" have anything better to do? Oh, wait, that is coming from a guy who spends half his waking life sitting in front of a computer screen. But really, is the cartoon rage still raging? Isn't there something else to rage about by now?

Ooh, "Boy gets £44,000 in eBay parcel"

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Post Titled: Europe learns to stop fearing the Germans
By Gideon Rachman
From the Financial Times


and ripped from an english translation of an italian article via EuroTopics:
"For American political theorist Francis Fukuyama, the failure of the European multicultural dream eats away at the foundations of democracy. "In Europe, after the Second World War, there was a strong commitment to adopt a European identity. But with the rejection of the European Constitutional Treaty in France and Holland in 2005, citizens signalled to their elites that they weren't ready to renounce national sovereignty to the state. ... Contrary to the United States, national identities in Europe are based on ethnicity. The majority of European countries tend to conceive of multiculturalism as a frame in which different cultures coexist rather than a mechanism that integrates new arrivals into the dominant culture. ... The European failure to integrate Muslims is a time bomb that has already contributed to terrorism and which will provoke a strong reaction from grassroots organisations.""

In another article Fukuyama states:

"'I believe that the European Union more accurately reflects what the world will look like at the end of history than the contemporary United States. The EU's attempt to transcend sovereignty and traditional power politics by establishing a transnational rule of law is much more in line with a 'post-historical' world than the Americans' continuing belief in God, national sovereignty, and their military.'"

ALSO, from the BBC, this is -err, well, bound to happen, or probably has been going on for awhile?:
"Imagine a man whose entire life revolves around social networking.
It occupies all his business and personal time and keeps him so busy that he struggles to keep up with the constant messages, blog posts and photos. So busy, in fact, that he now pays someone to be him online."

found on Desirable Roasted Coffee

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Post Titled: Corporate Watch

Slanted, yet interesting: HERE.
Fun quotes:

"The nano-scale
Its difficult to grasp quite how small the nano-scale is. To give some reference points one nanometre (nm) is one billionth of a metre, or one millionth of a millimetre. A human hair is 80,000nm thick, a red blood cell is 5,000nm in diameter, a DNA molecule is 2.5nm wide and 10 hydrogen atoms arranged side by side measure 1nm.

What is so exciting about the nano-scale?
The nano-scale is special in two ways:

Everything is the same
When viewed at the nano-scale the whole world starts to look the same. Everything on this planet both living and non-living is made up of atoms and molecules, and at the nano-scale that is all you see. The paper this briefing is printed on (or the computer you are viewing it on), the trees you can see from the window, the glass in the window, your cat and you yourself, everything is made up of atoms and molecules arranged in different combinations and different structures.

Biotech broke the species barrier. Nanotech breaks the life/ non-life barrier
Things behave differently
The other important feature of the nano-scale is that substances start to behave very differently when they are very small. Below about 100nm the rules that govern the behaviour of the elements of our known world start to give way to the rules of quantum physics, and everything changes. To take the example of gold, we are all familiar with gold at the ‘everyday’ macro-scale, for instance, a gold ring is a familiar shiny orangey/yellow colour. The same is true of a particle of gold 100nm wide, but, a particle of gold 30nm across is bright red, slightly bigger than that it is purple and going smaller still it is brownish in colour. Not only colour changes at the nanoscale. Other properties including strength, reactivity, conductivity and electronic properties also change as size decreases...

Major corporate nano-developers or users include:
computers/electronics: IBM, NEC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Phillips, Hewlett Packard, Samsung, Motorola, Mitsubishi, General Electric, Microsoft
food: Kraft/Altria, Unilever, Nestle, Heinz, Sara Lee
drugs/healthcare: GlaxoSmithKline, Smith and Nephew, Merck
oil: BP, Exxon, Chevron/Texaco, Shell, Halliburton
clothing: Burlington Industries, Nike, Gap
defence/aerospace: Sandia/Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Qinetiq, Raytheon
cosmetics: L'Oreal, Body Shop, Boots
chemicals: Dupont, Degussa, Dow, Henkel, ICI
agriculture: Syngenta, Monsanto, Bayer
cars/automotive: BMW, Renault, General Motors, Ford, Caterpillar"

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Post Titled: Genealogical signs used in printed publications:
Post Subtitled: So ist das symbolistisches Leben

(clearly inspired by time spent at the Amts of Berlin.)


symbol German English

* Geburt birth
(*) außereheliche Geburt illegitimate birth
Taufe baptism
o Verlobung engagement
oo Heirat marriage
II oo 2. Heirat 2nd marriage
o|o Scheidung divorce
o-o uneheliche Verbindung unmarried couple, common law union
+ Tod death
*+ Totgeburt stillborn
9 Begräbnis burial
x gefallen killed in war

geklaut von: www.ggrs.com © Sabine Schleichert

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Post Titled: Definition of Meme

Pronounced: "MeeeM" is sort of Like Living-Dying INformation? HMm- WIKIPEDIA DEFINITION HERE

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Post Titled: WOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Post Titled: From CA/LA trip
Manu made this great video!
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Post Titled: Ok, this is the last news article and photo I am goingt o rip-off this morning.
"Homo Erectus" from the Guardian

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Post Titled: Will most likely not be weaned...
Hmm, ok. I will not complain about the state support of the arts in Europe... in fact, I am definitely flip-flopping on how I actually feel about it, I eman what is creation without struggle? What is a 3 year old painting student doinf just crusing by, "studying" studying- hungry- perhaps, but not starving, hmpf? Dinno, just throwing out generalizations.

STOLEN FROM EUROTOPICS (because I can't read French)
"Luxembourg - Woxx
Should the state continue subsidising culture?
Luxembourg has been designated one capital of European culture for 2007. This has sparked an outpouring of cultural events, up to the point where the journalist Luc Caregari asks if public subsidies are still necessary. "Artistic creation has, little by little, gotten used to state support, which also pushes it into a sort of sick dependence. Is a piece of theatre that criticises current policies still credible if it is funded by those who it criticises? It's one of the questions that most contemporary artists don't like asking. Even with all that lies ahead, it will become the inevitable challenge of artistic practice in our regions. Dependence on bureaucracy or selling-out to sponsors, artists have to choose. Before others make the choice for them."


Office Space update: Lyrics to Wu-Tang's "Method Man" from 36 ChambersHERE -read them, they're, like, ridiculous.

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Post Titled: Infrared KNUT
stoled from der Spiegel
note the glowing orange-red eyes... HMMmmmm...

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Post Titled: No Fighting in the WAR ROOM.
Post SubTitled: Dr. StrangePutin or Dr. Strange-...uhm,"us" Re-revisited...again

Yesterday, walking by the same Berlin Wall blown-up photoinfo displays I walk by every day, I actually stopped to read a brief description of what happened during the Cuban Missle Crisis and was shocked and delighted to realized that it was more or less (well, very similar)
to Dr. Strangelove (which is one of my favorite movies)- I KNOW this must all sound very ignorant at this point, like- whyyy did it take me 27 years to find out the basics of the Cuban Missile Crisis??? Well... keine ahnung. I had a GENERAL idea of what it was:
Communists installing nuclear missles in Cuba, which would, of course, be pointed at us... us getting very uppity about that idea...
Hmm, ... ok, so maybe the only thing I learned about from the Berlin wall was the
outcome/resolution and about the direct phoneline setup between Kremlin and the White House-
do they still use that phone, and why aren't they using it NOW? From the Guardian:

"The current fad of tearing up vital arms-control agreements was started by America when it abrogated the anti-ballistic missile treaty in order to build its missile shield. Russia followed suit on Saturday by announcing that it would suspend its obligations under the conventional forces in Europe (CFE) treaty. If the trend continues, the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty could be next. And then Europe, freshly liberated from the cold-war threat of instant extinction, will be bristling with missiles. The US will have its missile interceptor base in Poland and a long-range radar in the Czech Republic that can direct a missile on to a target anywhere in Russia. To counter that, Russia will deploy long-range Iskander missiles in its enclave in Kaliningrad, behind the line of the Baltic states and right on the Polish border. Heavy tanks will once again roam the forests of Germany and central Russia, just like the good old days."

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Post Titled: RFID update
From WIRED- as a little footnote to yesterdays RFID post, here is a Steel Wallet which protects from RFID identity theft.

Drinking out of a Sparkasse coffe cup I am reminded of how Alicia jokingly said "I got an account at "Spark-ass" and as I drink the last schluck, printed at the bottom of the cup is the word "Gut." which catches me off-guard. It should mena "good" but for a split second it meand "belly"...

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Post Titled: Polterabend
thanks to susanne we had a dozen people on our doorstep last night smashing dishes. which (didn't know this part) we then had to sweep up together as a couple while swigging sekt from the bottle. and it was pretty great. I always thought that was a cool tradition.
uggh. really hot outside still,
I woke up and straight Office Space'd it to work in a suit listening to Wu-Tang's 36 Chambers. the walk seemed to take hours and I was a half hour late, but didn't much care. everyone is on holiday anyhow.
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Monday, July 16, 2007

Post Titled: "Whole Foods CEO Throws Ethic out the Window"

From Jon Harmon's FORCE FOR GOOD blog: "Whole Foods' CEO Throws Ethics Out Window, Where is the Media and Blog Outrage?" it is kind of a funny story that does raise some serious ethical issues when it comes to bashing people (or competitors) in blogs... anonymously. Which raises the question: "Is my blog anonymous?" well, no, I am an entity and there are photos of me... but I do tend to hide a bit and someone would have to work pretty hard to find out who I actually am... hmm.
So I suppose I shouldn't post that "Axel Springer sucks balls" bumper-sticker I designed. Schade...

On that note perhaps there is simply a generational humor gap... this is always hovering in the back of my mind, like how my grandparents generation could NEVER really "get" the Onion or Strangers With Candy- and how there is even a pretty slim chance that my parents would embrace this dark cynical absurd humor - and where does it come from? O.D.-ing on Political Correctness in the 1990's? That would be my guess. THink about "Knocked Up" for example, big popular surprise hit at the box offices, completely crude, yet clever in its crudeness. Hmm... ok, mull it over.. Flight of the Conchords. hmm. wierd American humor -err, kiwi humor.

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Post Titled: David Byrne's "Don't Call it a Blog" Journal

HERE

Bored at work I used to read it daily, and have fallen out of the habit in the past year or so, but now I finally check it again to find that he is in Berlin- odd.
Anyhow, the only downside is that is doesn't allow for comments... but I guess it could get easily flooded with wierdo fans that way, hmm.

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Post Titled:...uh.

Wierd blog found.

Ok, so the cool thing is that on account of the heat I am getting out of work 2 hours early!, unfortunately our breaks will be cut from 15 to 5 minutes and lunch from an hour to a half hour AND we are supposed to be in a half-hour earlier tomorrow... but it is still worth it, gonna hit up the PrinzessinenBad or whatever it is called. I think it is actually called Prinzenbad, but Prinzessinnenbad is waaay cooler-sounding and it is the title of that movie.

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Post Titled: "Emissions don't make Europe happy" from the BBC
Uhm... ok. Odd little "DUH" article about overall happiness in relation to carbon emissions... but as nadine put it "If the Germans have nothing to complain about then they are very unhappy. They need to complain."
Like, if you took a poll by going around saying :
"Are you happy"
Most people would probably be like "Uhh, no." then give a thousand reasons...Because we always want more and always want what we can't have. Oh, wait, or is that more geared towards the Americans>?.. can't remember anymore...
My mom always said "Be happy with what you have." Good philosophy... then again I never learned how to properly use money because we just didn't buy much thus foregoing the personal economic experience.
Anyhow, there must be a balance- a "satisfaction" to be found between recognising what you have, appreciating it, being thankful - YET moving forward to also obtain those things you want out of life... ouioui, is the sun getting to me???

Oh, and back to that article:
" "Countries like Iceland... demonstrate that living within our environmental means doesn't mean sacrificing human wellbeing," said Nic Marks, founder of Nef's Centre for Wellbeing."
Iceland has a population of just BARELY over 300,000 people (jackass!), even though the whole country drives SUVs (out of necessity) HOW BIG OF A GODDAMN CARBON FOOTPRINT CAN THEY EVEN POSSIBLY LEAVE??? I mean, jesus, 300,000 people is the size of most people's neighborhoods.

as well as this quote:

"
Scandinavians, Icelanders and the Swiss are the happiest people in Europe, while the unhappiest seven are all former Soviet-bloc states."

Ja, NOOO SHIIIIT -living in a socialized and/or wealthy blonde-haired blue-eyed Utopia might make me happy too whereas living is a debased and chaotic post-communist zone of shock and confusion might make me UNhappy. Ugh.

Soorry about the ranting. I am trapped in front of a computer on a lovely Summer day.

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Post Titled: MSNBC Video and the beauty of Rhys Ifans.
there is some seriously wierd shit on MSNBC Video today, namely:
World's tallest and shortest meet
World's tallest man weds
Pedestrians pinned by truck
Wrecking ball havoc
and the news summary where
the man in Bend, Oregon
pulls a real-life Danny Deckchair.
Which, by the way is a great film starring the
unstoppable Rhys Ifans... who, strangely enough, I just remembered also
has a role in a film about an out of control hot-air balloon
in "Enduring Love"... always that same hair... basically, I think you can reny any film with Rhys Ifans in it and be happy... paricularly Human Nature.

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Post Titled: Sci-Fi on the Fly

OOh, RFID in Japan, so scary, so cool... so the question is to we/are we constantly writing out own future through Sci-FI?
Like, allow me to throw out a generalization: if "nerdier" people are more likely to read sci-fi AND more likely to work in scientific and technological research and development THEN do the authors of Science Fiction ultimately determine the look, feel, and goals of or ever-unraveling technological future?
Q:How many times in the past few years have I said "You know- like in BACK TO THE FUTURE 2?..."
A: a lot.
Although, now things are getting more Minority Reportish... like these RFID -enabled Posters- I mean, it READS you as you walk by- huh? Then informs you on your phone. Ugh, ÜBER-intrusive ads -alas, ...where is the 5th Element when I need it? I stil think The Fifth Element is a far more realistic future than most... despite the shape-shifting aliens and intergallactic battles, what I mean is the WAY people live int he 5th element- the chaos and the technology, that seems likely to me...

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Post Titled: Clever-and-or-Completely-Practical Use of Popular Social Site
What do you think of this new "O" logo? It reminds me of something... but what?...
(grumble, grumbel digging through pop-subconscious...)

Guess I haven't looked very in-depth at any one politican's MySpace Profile, but I was slightly impressed with Mr. Obama's HERE... I mean, this page is PACKED FULL- Embed codes, twitter box, and with "Top Friends" like "Barack has a Posse" and "Barack the Vote"...

I'm thinking this is the first sucessfully hip political web-thing I have seen in quite awhile, if/or ever. I mean, I have been hesitant lately to fully support Obama because I feel he has had to water himself down to meet the masses since announcing that he will be running... but then again... dunno, I have no reason not to support him at theis point. Even this early in the game I am still pretty sure he will win with or without my vote.
Just in case you were wondering about the origins of the "Has a Posse" stickers, read HERE. and
Frank Shepard Fairey here.

Whoa-ok, Obama Girls Vs. Guliani Girls Video:

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