WP's Key

Remarks

One Way or Another

Explains a lot:

There is a theory, which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory, which states that this has already occurred.

Douglas Adams in: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Part 2: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Encounter some further own small thought flakes in [Splitter] (for all with limited span of attention and in German ;-).

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Everything looks rose-colored

Three days after April 26th 1986, when the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Chernobyl had over-fulfilled its 5-years-plan by far, the German Minister of the Interior at that time, Zimermann, said in front of the press:

We don't know what has happened. [...] but there is no menace.
[...] In German nuclear power plants something like this cannot happen.

Why not like this: »There is no menace and it is decreasing hour by hour. Moreover precautions have been doubled.« (In stead of one red warning flasher now there are two!)
Anyway: Why extravagantly concentrating the nuclear wastes in certain permanent repositories and not just homogeneously spilling them all over the world again? (Well, to some extent it is already done with DU (Uranium) ammunition.)

Through the glasses of a politician

At the reunion of Germany 1989/1990, former Chancellor Kohl spoke about »flourish regions« the new five eastern states would develop to. Really he has been right: how nice daisies and dandelions bloom in the wall gaps of transacted industrial regions.

In this context I have to remember the fleet building program of Emperor Wilhelm II: »Germany's future lies on the water...« And yet it went really downstream.

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Errors of the others

The weak Greeks! We are happy enough here in Germany that nobody looks over our shoulders in a similar accurate manner. Which big earner, which big company, does still pay taxes here?

Splendid Isolation - The Unbalanced Kingdom

After (Great?) Britain has shown its distance to the EU with the Brexit it is just a rumor that England may intents to flood the Channel Tunnel in next future? Isn't it?

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Enquire the other perspective

Applause will not be unusual, when the tourist bomber rolls to stop after its landing. Although it is said flying would be the safest kind of traveling. But have you ever heard cheering in the much more dangerous traffic, when a bus has reached the bus stop? Or in a train?

Or no perspective?

Haven't you the strong impression, too, that the folks calculating the data of the economic and the share price development obviously are the same, who are responsible for the weather forecast?

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Ensign »Free way for free citizens«

To nowhere,
but very fast

Reducing the democratic fundamentals to reckless full throttle on the German Autobahn (freeway; superhighway without crossings and often without speed limit) is misunderstood too often as »Free death for free citizens«. (Well, it should be »Road clear for suicide«. But then the play on words wouldn't work. ;-)

By the way on the Autobahn one notices that Germany is a football nation: »Hold on tight to your opponent!«

I have a suggestion for improving the new driver license with by EU limited validity of fifteen years. Why not integrating a chip like in prepaid cards? When the value is debited by motoring fines the driving license turns void.

And the car manufacturers

In the mean time the voluntary self-limitation of the automotive industry crumbles. 250 km/h (155 mph) aren't sufficient enough. Actually they have already realized that the demand of dead drivers for new cars tends to be nil. What else for the increasing amount of airbags in a car (in the meantime more than a dozen)? What comes next, the ejection seat or, like in the movie Demolition Man, the complete foaming out?

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Electrical Bahn is coming

To demonstrate the acceptance of the new installed S-Bahn (Engl.: city-railway) line in the mid-1980s complete fast train sets were arranged at a platform in Nuremberg main station, their doors were locked and then the empty trains were carried ahead almost 16 km (about 10 miles) somewhere in the wilderness. There they waited for the S-Bahn, which brought the passengers along. These entered the meanwhile unlocked fast train to continue their trip. One can imagine the commuters' enthusiasm waiting in Nuremberg 20 or even 40 minutes in the cold for the S-Bahn watching the railroad staff locking the fast train, the same one they were allowed to enter 16 km away afterwards.

But does not get started

Fact in the 1990s: due to overloaded high-speed InterCity trains on the South-North main branch Munich - Nuremberg - Hamburg, many passengers had to stay (and stand) in the corridors partly for hours, the trains were SHORTENED by two wagons in order to decrease the demand by reducing attraction.

And present since summer 2010? - Bogus claim: ICE is labeled outside and sauna is inside!

Besides it is just a nasty rumor that the Bahn has special teams available, who in view of occasion quickly throw trees onto rails and overhead wiring in order to be able to pass off delays as force majeure.

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Enjoy the native cuisine

During a business dinner with various international sales representatives the following dialogue happened with the Spanish colleague.

Carlos [...] I like some German dishes. Especially - I don't remember the exact term - fermented vegetables.

WP [quietly thinking] Fermented??? Have we really spoiled or foul food here then? Perhaps rotten? Or should it mean something laid in alcohol? [...]

Carlos It is a delicacy, a typical special.

WP ??? Well, hm ... [desperately] sauerkraut?
 
Carlos In fact, that's it.

In international affairs

A former colleague told me the following true story:
A Chinese delegation had come to Nuremberg for a visit. The company settled here hoped for starting intensive business relations. Part of the framing program was a sightseeing tour including a business lunch in elevated atmosphere. Something had gone totally wrong during the planning. Thus the responsible person had no choice, but had to accept »Saure Zipfel«, a Franconian simple fare, as sole dish. The Chinese guests didn't betray something smiling due to their Asian mentality. Of course, the host was scattered to pieces. Nevertheless, one came into business
Some time later another Chinese delegation made an appointment. During the preparation phase a very polite letter arrived asking, whether it would be possible and not causing too much trouble to serve these extraordinary white sausages again. The colleagues would rave about them to everyone all the time.

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Earth's precursor to paradise: Bavaria?

Frank and free?

Almost heaven - at least according to governor Seehofer (February 2015). The Free State of Bavaria consists - as is known - mainly of Munich and Old Bavaria. Less than 100 km north the world finds its end. For example the outlying Munich airport should receive an additional third runway come hell or high water. The airport in Nuremberg providing optimal transport connections by highway (Autobahn!) and subway/ICE high-speed train is starving of lack of traffic. And other Frankonian regions like Würzburg, Hof, Aschaffenburg ... just don't really count to Bavaria. Where is a state-wide development plan worth of its name?
(At least we have the Annafest in Forchheim, the Erlanger Bergkirchweih, the Fürther Michaelis-Kärwa, and, and, and ... Who needs an Oktoberfest then? ;-)

Banana Republic

We are not so far away from the strange scenario of the Boomtown Rats. The Upper Frankonian District Administrator had designated a local wood as protected area. That didn't suit the forest and agricultural industry and therefore the State Government just simply changed the according law to make its submissive District Government competent to give a ruling - » Lex Steigerwald«. (In old tradition - in the 1980s the same procedure occurred concerning the finally canceled nuclear reprocessing plant in Wackersdorf: Lex Schuierer.)

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L'État, c'est moi

Not only sun King - the state, it's me - Louis XIV had his moods. Also our great white hope and Nobel Peace Prize winner ex US President »plug-in« Obama could be very particular:

We are fully committed to peace. Where our drones hit there is peace. Definitely!

(Or something of that kind. ;-) Expressions like »bomb« or »weapon« are not best choice - just too negatively burdened. Why we don't talk about »pacification devices«?
Just a thought: wasn't there the chance or will to withdraw the Nobel Price? Meanwhile there is only left to say resignedly:

Don't make stupidity great again!

All power emanates from the people

Constitutional keystone of each republic. The government of Germany, however, doesn't feel obliged to protect its citizens against unconstitutional persecution by foreign and own secret services, not in the least. And in Brussels EU and government envoys are seeking in best secret diplomacy with the CETA, TAFTA, TTIP, TISA, or what so ever free trade agreements to secure the sinecures of the lobbyists and the trusts and those of over-the-hill politicians as well. The state is not an end of itself. It is there for its citizens. And a lot of its officials, in fact our employees, show no shame anymore.

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Episode with cleaning lady

21 meters empty corridor between laboratory and administration building. At the opposite side the door opens. A Vietnamese(?) cleaning lady approaches.

13 meters: How to greet her? If she doesn't understand German, it will be somehow unkind to engage her in small talk shouting a »Guten Tag« [Engl.: how do you do] against her and she cannot respond a word. One need not feast on others' handicaps. But I cannot talk Vietnamese, thus in English or in French? Oh how good I am - or just in Latin »Salve regina pulvis«. How disgustingly arrogant!

8 meters: Thus ignoring her, presenting a busy face, eyes absent-minded focused on infinity. But this looks priggish and we are in Germany. Not that she thinks or even fears I'm hostile to foreigners or even something worse.

5 meters: Should I nod my head smiling? She could misunderstand it as sexism. Where the sex-tourists fly to always? Well, it's Thailand, isn't it?

3 meters: »Hello« is somehow too personal, we never met before. At first sight it could seem to be condescending.

2 meters: So should I nod my head, with a stern face? What the heck should I do?

1 meter: She starts to smile and says »Griiss Goood«.
[Engl.: Ho-dii (Howdy)].
Relieved I return the greeting.

1 meter further I laugh about making life more complicate as it is.

And another clean story

Visit in the electronics laboratory of the research and development institute. Nobody in the room. Nervous, almost run down a student worker in the corridor. He thinks the engineers are still in the canteen downstairs. In the staircase voices, giggle, clatter. Three scientists are helping with enthusiasm the cleaning lady changing the dust bag of her vacuum cleaner.

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Each of these managers is our fortune

Do you appreciate those work package suppliers, too, whose main business seems to be forwarding e-mails »to all« without making any decision by their own?
Practicing their motto »Prefer delegating instead of disgracing« finding a »I suppose I haven't to do anything now, don't I?« instead of a greeting at the end of the email wouldn't be surprising.  See [Manageritis] - a dialog of somebody about to learn managing (in German). If the old Egyptians had managed and projected in the same style, they wouldn't be ready with their pyramids up to now yet.

Not to mention those braggarts stating all the time: »Always look forward, never backward!« Probably in order not to see the devastation they have left behind, when thy move on like rental nomads.
And indulging in their main occupation red traffic light management - not solving problems, but continuing to play the ball.
There are just more and more problem administrators than problem solvers. Not to mention problem preventers. Those last pros administrate, document and report themselves to death, while the creamers confer and play their management Tic-Tac-Toe.

Without specialist knowledge certainly one can approach problems without bias and solve everything by communication (alias chatter-boxing) and networking (alias backscratching) - see [Die Galeere], a farce (in German).
Even if the decisions are not just outsourced to external consultants, because who makes decisions could be blamed selecting the wrong one. But it is easy to change this: »If I make wrong decisions, then only because I have been informed falsely.«

But poverty isn't a shame

All the time we asked for folks, who make the work. Now we have got managers. Perhaps we should have expressed it more carefully, because we should have needed guys who do their work. Well, a few have a chef many have a supervisor.

Management circle: when the blind one describes the deaf one the silent movie.

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Earnestly telling the truth?

Scary is the bad habit of politicians and mangers to shamelessly unscrupulously lie, quasi out of comfort, without any necessity. Following their motto »there is no right for truth«. Moreover they do not distinguish between truth and lie any longer. They only know the difference between »brings profit for me« or »does not bring profit for met« yet. There is no right for truth.

Although one has good lawyers?

Failure? That does never occur! Without hesitation and doubt those windbags glorified each of their mishaps as success. If one hits one's thumb with a hammer, it is celebrated like a triumph, because theoretically additional fingers could have just been knocked. And so drunken by success they stumble from one epochal breakthrough to the next one.

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Eminent, planning is important

Exact siting

One of the most preferred positive managers' wording, however, is »flexibility« instead of the aimlessness, which it is in real. And in order to find a place for all the bachelors and management aspirants they have to enhance every hit on the pot to a project, see [MIL Lions], a real satire (in German).

But not all

A planning error first of all requires that there has been a plan at all - see [Das Projekt], a played gag (in German).
If one reaches all one's goals this could indicate having set them to low.

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Elementary: Why simple

In those times the technicians were asked, men were sent to the moon and returned safe. Nowadays in the age of managers and controllers it is causing problems to operate the driver-less underground between Nuremberg and Fürth (or Buda and Pest or New and York ;-).

If it could be done complicated?

Millions were spent in the 1980s for the freeway travel guide system around Nuremberg. Due to obvious reasons in the meantime collapsible »Out of Order« signs made of durable metal were screwed to the masts.
In periods when the freeway oracle worked with regular accuracy, the speed was limited to 120 km/h (75 mph) during the rush hour, as if a timer was working in the background. This function, however, one could have realized with some simple traffic signs for some thousand Euros as well. But that would have been too easy for politicians and managers. (A developing engineer told me once spiderwebs are the poor horror for movement and especially rain sensors.)
In 2008 the signal bridges were completely replaced by new LED modules. They are less consumptive. Well, operating! (The out of order signs have still remained for years.)

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Everyday Truman Show

ARTE, December 13th 2022: »Work without Meaning«. (But you never walk alone. ;-)

It does not really need a spotlight to drop down from the sky right before one's feet... But aren't there days in the company sometimes you hope somebody comes up to your desk and announces with a smiling face: »Just kidding! Candid camera, now you are on TV!«

English translation of ARTE's description of the broadcast:

Work without Meaning: The documentary takes us behind the shiny facades of the company and uncovers the systemic problems in the workplace. Unnecessary meetings, paperwork and incompetent managers. Toxic jobs with meaningless demands damage health in the long run. The documentary film humorously shows why we allow our labor to be wasted. (Translated text of the figure on the right.)

And the company in the course of seasons

Spring fatigue - summer influenza - autumn depression - hibernation.

All the time your boss makes you believe that you are here on sufferance only. Until you want more than two weeks holidays at a stretch...

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Established dress code

Caution - wear protective clothes! Something stupid has already occurred. The laboratory assistant has spattered the acid. Well, her wounds will heal, but my jacket is ruined.

By the man who knows how to read women

Of course,I support my wife when ironing. I'm taking care about the wash-and-wear shirts and she about the rest.

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Emission: Dr. Schäuble or

The Ex-Minister of the Interior's billed for shooting down airliners by fighter aircraft in case of a possible terror attack is just out of focus for the time. Perhaps, however, isn't there a chance to use anti-tank helicopters in order to blast away ghost-drivers - as much as five per day - from the autobahn?

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Federal Spy Ware

Thanks to the untiring efforts of Dr. Schäuble and the parties CDU/CSU data of private persons will be stored at a secure place soon. After a severe hard-disk failure it's clear who will offer help. Then the bothersome individual data backup will be obsolete. Already now there is no need for writing a diary, because the connection data and locations are logged on stock.
Excellent, finally a good thing to spend the tax receipts for.

The German Minister of the Interior warns: privacy harms your security!

The remote forensic program »SpyBot63RMANY« supports your security.
Please log in as administrator and deactivate firewall and anti virus program. Then start your browser and type in »http://www.bmi.bund.de/download« in its address line. You will be led to the installation program. In the next future neither interrupt your Internet dial up nor switch off your PC.

Additional cost may arise. Harmless smaller incompatibilities may happen, e.g. a click in your telephone line during a call. In case of an extremely improbable loss of data you will find help at »http://www.bundespolizei.de/restore«.
Thank you for your co-operation.

Thus when a striking inconspicuous gray BMW with a faded sticker on  I ♥ Pullach  (move to Berlin in 2019; well, for foreign residents: the German Langley ;-)

frequently parks in your street it is time to check the security settings of your WLAN.

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Engaging drone administrator's advice

Anybody who has nothing to hide just doesn't stand under a tree or in its shadow.

Improve your communication

The NSA as provider, webspace at PRISM, vicinity to Echelon and, of course, emails in plain English can speed up your data exchange significantly.

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Enjoy the brave new world

German Ex-Chancellor Gerd Schröder had already appealed the »fun society« to end the »Geiz ist geil« (Engl.: stingy is randy) mentality and has reminded it of the civil duty for consumption.

An unbelievable stupidity to let people play difficult games without increasing consumption by that. Madness!

(Aldous Huxley in Brave new World)

Chronic German Ex-Minister of Public Health Ulla Schmidt has succeeded in punishing childless couples and singles in the governmental health insurance.

She had two names for it, one was »think of our baby« and the other one »fulfill our duty to the party«.

(George Orwell in 1984)

After sixteen long years »ausge-Merkel-t« - have we to fear the »aus-Merz-ung«, after all?!

In digital

Have you already thought about where digital media, DRM and the repression of own, copy-free media and books will possibly lead to in the end? What sounded anyhow too complicated in Orwell's 1984 - collecting already distributed print media again and again to fake them according to the present situation - becomes now very simple.

By the way: one has no troubles to read some hundred years old books. Is, however, your PC able to handle a few years old 3½ inch or even a 5¼ inch floppy? (And together with digital dementia some problems are solved automatically.)

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Endeavor to come clear with digitization

Self-defense - till the bitter end and on... (A reboot is always good.)

It is told that the computer capacity of the first Space Shuttle generation was equal to that of a C64. Just imagine what was installed in the moon rocket Saturn V. And - it was really successful!
And thanks to VPS VHS video recorders faced no problems catching time-shifted broadcasts completely.

Publicity lead us to believe we need gigahertz monsters with multi-cores to surf, to send a couple of mails, to play some games and to scour a couple of video on demand accounts. And what do you finger with right now?

But obey IT all the time?

There are alternatives. I appreciate paper and pencil. They boot faster and keep their data. (And with the newspaper on the WC there is a fallback position at hand. ;-) But imagine a powerful notebook on one's knees during gas-poor starving winter ...

Even if the digitization makes life easier - after all there is just no time to bother about the real important things.
After three weeks of holiday you switch on your PC and it seems to downloads half of the internet as update.

Not to forget: God notices everything - but Google knows more and Facebook sees more. And in Instagram it looks better.

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Electronic clearing of the highway

With the internet of things complete new possibilities arise. While certain movies already show how traffic lights are set to red or green on demand, the networking in the automotive sector, however, offers the chance to ask the hacker of trust to clear the highway for the trip in the vacation by feigned traffic jam message and re-routing recommendation.

And other features of the IoT

Internet of things - mankind has eagerly waited for some hundred thousand years for that: the razor with five-fold blade is followed by the electric toothbrush with artificial intelligence, Bluetooth and smart phone app.
Just even now the net toaster with Java Beans client and the webcam inside the refrigerator to check whether the light is really off, when its door is closed, and we are ready for the future. Well - with the selfie drone the expression ego-shooter finally receives its true meaning.

Besides I'm looking for a shaver with GPS, camera and Bluetooth in order to twitter (to x-en? ;-) in which area it is working just in this moment, to depict in tik tok the »smooth as a baby's bottom« and to post in the blog how many square inches I have cropped today. And, of course, to improve trimming with AI. Obviously toothbrushes have almost reached this level.

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Equalization

Hundreds or even thousands of officers control telephone and email traffic and what else, all in order to stop dangerous terrorists. With increasing number of emails, SMSs ... with contents like »Aunt Mary is well« there is just something cooking.
Of course, there is no time left to prevent ten thousand tons of contaminated foods to reach the market.

In politics

Due to the terror menace one wanders through the airport in stockings, in one hand the shoes, in the other hand the belt, looking for a dustbin in order to throw away liquids exceeding the 100 ml limit (the so-called Bin-Laden-Shuffle-Dance). It won't last long until nudism flights will come.
On the other hand just in Germany tens of thousands die in roads traffic and of consumption poisons each year, but scorching and alcohol are continuously played down. And not to mention the nicotine junkies.

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Endangerment reduction of bicycling

Caution: carpet crawlers?

Even if one simply cruises with the bike - a helmet is needed. Best directly decreed by government. Of course, if riding along a creek a life jacket and during winter time an avalanche transceiver in order to support when buried by a roof avalanche. A parachute for tours in hilly countryside is not supposed to gain acceptance.

By the way: a judge has hold partially guilty a cyclist for an accident without fault of her own, because she dared to wear no bike helmet, what, however, is no duty. Just good he hadn't the idea that without cycling, she wouldn't have been hit by the car. Otherwise 100 % guilty were for sure.

Instead, design the border stones lower in order to avoid impact with the pedals. And - are the anti car posts in the middle of cycle tracks really necessary?

Do not set up bottle banks at cycle tracks

If once a day in some hundreds or thousand years archaeologists unearth the colored shards of glass around bottle banks, the wildest theories will arise which cult they possibly served.

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Exciting reality in movies

Do you dare to park backing up between two cars, just after watching a typical action movie? Since many directors want to make us believe that cars and houses blow up in gigantic explosions due to smallest causes.
At the end of a long TV evening: »Well, I await the next three explosions, then I'll go to bed.« Or according to newspaper editor Ponkie from the Münchner Abendzeitung: »Only action provides satisfaction.«
(Just try to light a drop of diesel or even petrol (benzine) with a match. You will be disappointed.)

And in the public

Again and again TV watchers complain about the rude language and fecal-expressions used in crime serials and their influence on children. They don't loose, however, just a single thought about using severe crimes for entertainment and about the partly excessive exposition of violence.

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Education by TV

More and more special interest-stations bother us with - well, very sympathetically - pseudo-scientific segments and documentations. Often enriched with the notorious computer simulations and dolly shots. Meanwhile more serious TV networks are infected by this lightweight commercial, often Anglo-American (un-)style. (Easy to identify by the repetitive summaries in a couple of minutes distance to take up the threat after commercial breaks.) Provided, of course, that there is enough space between such in-depth historical contributions like leader's hairdresser, gardener, dog and so on.
Besides it causes disconcertment that even in present documentations - marked with »new documentation«, because this stuff is really running in an endless loop - very, very bold assumptions up to massive falsifications occur.
But what almost gets more on one's nerves than this small-bore infotainment blah blah is the over-dramatization like »Caution now! If he tears off the toilet paper too short now, it can turn out bad, but if he tears off it too long it even could clog up the drain!«

57 Channels And Nothin' On

(Netflix appreciates what Bruce Springsteen already sang in 1992!) But how much confidence can one spend in advertising-financed and rating-orientated media concerning critical and independent covering? Or even if there is a conflict of interests with potential advertising customers?
About the certain bunch of so called journalists - just skimming the according Wikipedia article and then operate as experts - I'm not really willing to descant on.

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Earth's message in a bottle

The Voyager space probe and others were used to send image based and acoustic messages to possible extraterrestrial intelligent life forms. Now there are concerns whether it was the right decision to catch the aliens' attention and even to firmly invite them.

Beam me up Scotty, there is no intelligent life down here.

Freely adapting Captain James T. Kirk, U.S.S. Enterprise. So we listen with SETI on radio signatures from aliens. Well, if they do the same and receive our TV broadcasts there will be no danger that they will hold us worth a visit.

Sitting as »motor pool« for a visit in the hospital, during several hours of waiting in the background the afternoon TV program was running with all those horrible naggers you can think of. After that I was almost ready for hospital, too. This collective electric mental enfeeblement sucks!

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Election research

Misestimated.

Just a little bit.

Even just before closing the polling stations the election research institutes present their computer prediction. Including decimal places. Scientific correct error bars, however, are not shown up to now. Not yet (written in 2013).
Soon, with the digitization we won't need elections any longer. The AI algorithms will just know what is good for us.

And other evaluations

Almost the whole civilized world obeys the whaling ban. Just Japan refuses. It pursues »research«. Well, perhaps it is investigated, which sauce fits best to whale meat.
And BP additionally revolutionized commercial production of sardines in oil with its project Open Pipeline 2.0 in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Ecological

More and more (pseudo) off-road vehicles are to be found in German streets. Although the country is developed very well. Obviously the owners just want to express their solidarity with nature. Because only a few of these urban tanks really make it off road. The sole thing these SUVs - I'm 2 cars, at least I occupy the space for them - get under their tires possibly is the weed in the pavement gaps of the local supermarket. That much understanding for environmental protection is worth an appreciation. Probably for long therefore the reduction in motor vehicle taxation for these in parts regular monster trucks.

All the time

Command for today, April 1st 2022:

In accordance with the insignia of the peace and ecological party Die Grünen/Bündnis 90 and to emphasis these aims for public swearing ins of all arms from now on a sun flower is to carry in the rifle G3 and G36. In short barrel fist weapons a flower of choice, but uniform for each unit. In large caliber barrel weapons, particularly in artillery, tank and navy cannons, generally it is to renounce in order to offer birds willing to brood an opportunity for nesting places.

Ecological Greens and in the 1970s and 1980s they carried toads across the roads during all weathers (and therefore in filthy duds). Meanwhile in designer outfit they bring their dough in tax havens with plushy SUVs (or private aircrafts).

yet some years ago they defied the water guns in front of nuclear power plants and carried toads across roads. Today the pull up their Porsche Cayenne in front of the organic grocery store and talk about their next New Zealand vacation.

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Eternally the power supplies will sing

Isn't it odd that many appliances aren't really off when they are switched off? So the stereo system continues softly humming, the set top box upon the TV set shows household watch number seventeen and the PC printer does not even offer an off switch at all and delights us with its fancy play of numerous lights in its stand-by mode. Unused socket power packs heat the air all the time anyway. It is possible that power consumption over the year in stand-by exceeds that of power on mode. Just take a TV with 50 W for three hours a day in on mode and 9 W in stand-by.
Any hope the EuP ecodesign directive of the EU, C2009/125/EC will bring a remedy here?
Meanwhile the single toaster - with just one slit - is mandatory. But what does it say to all the smart phones with firmly integrated battery, the more or less planned obsolescence? Not to mention digital photo frames.

And recycling is better than avoiding

The WEEE and the RoHS directives of the EC should rule recycling of electric and electronic wastes. Obviously not their reduction. Because gadgets like blinking key rings and squeaking electronic greeting cards, thus things already being trash, when just in working condition, are exempted. They end up in the household waste.

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Europe's Rescue

Atlantropa - Herman Sörgel's project to dam the Mediterranean Sea and and reclaim land thereby back in the 1920/30s - would have spared mankind a lot. Well, climatic impacts, tectonic and social faults and so on one should not underrate. This epoch, however, did not go down in history as such Eco-friendly and social compatible. (Has somebody already made a scientific study about the fine particulate air pollution and climate impact of WWII? - Weren't there extreme cold and snowy winters for example?)

With his extension, giant inland waters in the region of Kongo/Lake Chad or the railroad line from Rome to Cape Town (solar energized?, even today all could have a tough time of it and demonstrate their potentials or what so ever.
(The Netherlands and Germany just can exercise in the Watten Sea first. - Project Rungholt? ;-)

And that of the world (perhaps?)

Giving real aid to developing countries is difficult, fair trade only limited realizable and single campaigns are locally effective only. How to support in the right way and with really a lot of money in the long term?
At first sight it may look morally more than questionable and it is absolutely contrary to the causative principle - but what's about final disposal sites for nuclear waste in Africa? One can evoke a complete educational, employment and traffic infrastructure thus a self-supporting economic system. And according to the radioactive nature of the thing on the long term, too. Besides it seems more logical to deposit the poison shit in less denser populated regions. Just Germany alone has presently set 36 Billion Euros reserves for depositing nuclear waste. Perhaps the UN just warms up to that thoughts.
In any case better than thousands try to swim across the Mediterranean Sea further on. (Really cynical neo-colonialism!)

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Eclipsed Middle Ages

How crazy the people behaved in the Dark Ages, when facing the plague? Without any understanding, anywhere between complete despair and rowdy end time party.

Versus Brave New World

Today thanks to education, digitization and last but not least due to social networks we absolutely professionally react being confronted with Covid-19. Don't we?

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Era of the swarm intelligence

Bomb War - Like it! To each one's own...

All the time I thought it is just a local problem. Former (oh - when all was so much better supposedly - see [RAIDER⇔TWIX]), a moron could rage out himself chopping wood, breaking stones ... Otherwise telephone booths or tires were next. Nowadays the ab-reaction of these trolls often takes place in more or less social networks as shitstorm directly: »f*ck you, a**hole, b*tch. [...]« and how all the other sophisticated gush may sound anyhow. Not to mention the fake news. It is really alarming how enviously and unrestrained vicious some people have to act out in anonymity. Meanwhile also in real (alas again).

Well swarm intelligence, decisions without insight. - Do you really want to sit in a Jumbo, when the passengers select which buttons to press for landing?

M - a society dabbles in mobbing

I don't know what is worse in the long run, those trolls mentioned above or these naggers, which feel affected to have to post every belch or toilet break. And there are even ones, who must add their »like it«! These guys obviously get excited being sprinkled some hours by the telephone time service - »By the next beep it is 11 o'clock, 17 minutes and 30 seconds...«.
In combination with the post-truth demagogues they foster mental enfeeblement and coarsening of the society. (And maybe the desire to de-anonymize the internet.)

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Experience democracy

Isn't it strange, when the radio moderator calls for voting, whether the winter shouldn't find its end soon, the local sports team should win the championship or the summer is too hot or too wet, and dozens of hearers ring up?

Elections

Free elections almost no one takes part anymore.
Apparently to put »Like it« somewhere seems to be sufficient enough instead of forming a political opinion.

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Envoy

In the morning of October 2nd 2012 almost literally broadcasted on Bayern 1:

Attention: a vehicle comes your way on the Autobahn (Engl.: superhighway) A73 between Bamberg South and Hirschaid. Drive extremely cautiously in both directions, do not drive side by side and do not pass. We shall inform you when the danger is over.

[...]

All-clear: the ghost-driver on the Autobahn A73 between Bamberg South and Hirschaid has left the Autobahn. Caution, complete police road block in this section. An emergency rescue helicopter is about to land.

The show must go on

The [...] actor Dirk Bach deceased yesterday. [...]

Sam Cooke: Wonderful World

[Sad addendum: as a result of this accident five people died, two of them little children.]

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Eternal Catholic Church is not behind the times

Since Galileo not even 400 years have passed, and already it is taken into consideration that the earth may turn around the sun.

But is religious

And a priest celebrating in the year 2010 the Lord's Supper together with Protestants is not burned, but excommunicated only.

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Excesses of the Old Romans

Re-directed? - Maybe A.D. 1307
the mobile phone battery was flat!?

We cannot definitely understand why in the Colosseum thousands of hilarious spectators could watch gladiators killing each other and people being torn to pieces by beasts.

We nowadays, however, are much more civilized

Millions of television viewers watch live the bombardment of a capital city during weeks, while the »nicest« explosions are even celebrated by banner waving journalists.

Additionally the Discovery Channel and many other second and third exploitation channels bless us with massive lousy and obtrusive promos about the beauty of our weapons and how sweet it is to kill for one's country or what ever.
Have you noticed that the news more and more use the wording wounded civilians than injured ones. The weapon systems get more and more intelligent, but the fraction of civilian victims, however, grows bigger and bigger.

Various TV cameras mercilessly aim on accidents and disasters to be spread all over the world with relish.

Denn mit sei'm Color-TV sieht er alles ganz genau.

(Engl.: Thanks to his color TV he sees everything very clearly. Rainhard Fendrich in his song Es lebe der Sport; Engl.: long live sports)

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Enemies - with friends like these necessary?

The NSA drones and the Big Brother Brits unrestrainedly and automatically spy out their partners. If their algorithms work as well as those of Google, then one has to fear what reputed cross-links will be found and how successfully you score therefore.
What will happen if we communicate in local dialects? (Well, won't work for inhabitants of Oxford.)

Thought Police

The German intelligence service, however, has a hard job to do. You as a reputed honest citizen slouch in front of your monitor in well-worn sneakers or even in sandals. And you lonely post with tangled hair contents of the same style in any so-called social network. On the other side there are companionable guys enjoying collective hiking, presenting proper hairstyle and strong footwear and are keen of »Teutonic« treasury of songs.

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Entanglement in the Hindu Kush

Supported by allies the USA fight against international terrorism in the Near East. They just have the means and the power for that and are looking for an adequate opponent. (About twenty years and numerous victims later and after the »Afghanization« of the conflict I just have to think now of Billy Joel's Good Night Saigon.)

The other ones fight against terrorism in Liechtenstein and Switzerland

They endanger our free and democratic fundamental order, our values and everything what we love. Isn't it justified then to strike back with all sharpness? To strike back the rating agencies, finance juggler and professional tax defrauders? Germany does it just at its front-door. One could reach the certain neighborhood countries even by tank directly. And money for tanking is already there. Or just in the own country, because Germany is not really unknown as money laundering stronghold.