There’s only 40,000 of them in Rheinland-Pfalz now, but at least the CDU is on the case: “Jobs: Let’s not to do things by halves”, they say on this campaign poster. Quite right. There should be at least 80,000 kids in need of welfare prgrammes…
Archiv der Kategorie: oddly enough
Bird Flu Prevention.
Since the H5N1 cases are hitting progressively closer to home, and given the relative scarcity of bird vaccines, some people are coming up with alternative products for bird flu prevention in travelling birds. (via email from a friend).
Why Americans should not be allowed to travel…
from tauquil.com: travel agents speak out: why americans should never be allowed to travel. One reason –
A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, “Don’t lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state.”
New Pricing model for food!
Via netzpolitik.org comes another data point proving the extent to which the right concepts in the wrong hands can create disastrous results: copyrights running wild – should there be a copyright on cooking recipes? I’m sure the next step will be the inclusion of some kind of DRM into a BigMac tying the food license to a specific licensee who had to identify himself using biometric identifiers. Enforced by RFID chips, sharing food would no longer be possible without purchasing an additional license. Imagine the possibilities…
Don’t scare your friends.
As you may or may not have heard, my gentle readers, the next Fifa world cup will be taking place in Germany next summer. The event’s German motto is “The world hosted by friends”.
I’m not sure, everyone involved in the organisation has completely absorbed that motto yet thought, judging from seeing what must be “one of the world’s most abysmal advertising clips ever produced. And you thought the logo was bad…
Singles@Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart tried to contractually force their employees to restrain themselves from falling in love with each other. And if it weren’t for the German unions and court system they would have got their way. But then again, what’s bad for their employees must not be bad for their business – see this advertisement for a “shopping for singles” event at the local Wal-Mart.
Interestingly, their singles shopping seems to be rather popuplar – at least in theory. Two out of two people I told about this answered that they had not only heard about it, but that they actually wanted to see what it’s like at some point.
Good products solve problems. Good stores should, too. I think it is truly impressive how one private hierarchy (aka company) can be such a ideal-type display of all things good *and* abysmal about a market economy.
Clicking the image will take you to my flickr account. The picture was taken with a SE t610.
The way young housewifes bake.
Despite the title, no porn here, gentle readers. But have a look at the book on the left which I found in the “family library” of the happy couple whose wedding celebrations I attended in Bochum this weekend: a loose translation of the book’s title would be “The way young housewifes bake.” The presence of said book is particularly interesting given that the newly wed wife admitted publicly during the party that her husband is the better cook…
Oh, before I forget: It was the first time I visited Bochum. And although I haven’t seen too much of it, Herbert Grönemeyer seems to be right to claim that is a better place to be than one usually thinks.
On German-American Day, …
“… we also honor the important friendship between the United States and Germany. Our nations share beliefs in human rights and dignity, and on this day, I join all Americans in celebrating the bonds that tie our two nations and in reaffirming the importance of our continuing friendship.”
(via germany.info)
Leaving the the podium the President added to a close advisor – “… of course, we can always suspend it unilaterally, hehehe… that Chancellor guy I hate, what’s his name again, does he still rule those folks? Hmm, whatever, now go, get me a Pretzel! And buy some German knives. And guns. Germans know how to make guns. And knives. Oh wait a minute… guns… hmmm… were these folks really always our friends? Whatever… where’s my Pretzel?”
Recycled News.
So I’m checking my mail, browse quickly through a newsletter by n-tv, the German news-channel, and I’m suddenly two years younger.
Seriously, tonight I’m being told it’s news that George W. Bush allegedly told Palestinian PM Abbas that God told him to go nation-building in countries he did not even know about before.
Hmm, didn’t I write about this in June 2003? Strange, don’t you think?
Well, maybe not so much – The BBC is just doing such a good PR job for an upcoming documentary that the White House felt the need to once again deny these alligations, which appeared in Haaretz two years ago
Actually, I’m not quite sure why Bush has his spokesperson publicly deny this again. Acknowledging the debate is a lose-lose proposition from a PR standpoint. I mean, everyone who’s hoping he doesn’t literally talk to God about strategic decisions will not be deterred from believing that he actually does by a White House denial. On the other hand, those – currently rather unhappy – parts of his/the Republican constituency which would like it if their President spoke with God as literally as possible, might chose to believe…
Slavery.
Spiegel Online reports with reference to the Malaysian newspaper Malay Mail (link in German) that police in Malaysia freed eight Indonesian prostitutes who were forced to have intercourse without contraceptives, and become pregnant, so the Malaysian child trafficking ring could sell the babies for about 4,400 to 6,600 Euros to Malaysian clients. The Indonesian women, two of whom were pregnant when they were freed, were allegedly lured into the country by promises to get jobs as “nannys”, and I’m not sure their “recruiters” weren’t aware of their cynicism.