Swiss Chocolate Wrap?!

The place I am staying at does very aptly offer a Swiss Chocolate Wrap - it's a Swissôtel, after all. However, this offer is located as a body treatment in the Wellness & Lifestyle section! I am shocked! What a waste!

Meanwhile, I got round to the Soho Apple story to get an iPod photo as requested by T. The place was quite packed on a Sunday afternoon and iPods are selling like wildfire. Here's a picture of the queue at the register (around & behind the pillar) downstairs - they have a similar one upstairs, queue included:

P.S. JJ, the next performance of Dame Edna will take place only on Tuesday evening, when I will already be airborne again ... pity!

Fly away!

Effective in 8 hours 40 minutes (scheduled), I am off to NYC, which probably doesn't quite qualify as Bushistan. But in that few hours, I've got to sleep, pack & get to the airport ... argh! I am looking forward to some good meetings, some gadget shopping and a busy Fifth Avenue! Yay! I'll be able to check on email and blogs, of course.

BOTD: "We ought to make the pie higher." - South Carolina Republican Debate, Feb. 15, 2000

Inder statt Kinder?

A very different perspective on outsourcing: Europeans going to India to work there! Yay for globalisation! I mean it!!

Makes one think though: India appears to have very liberal immigration rules. It is unimaginable for an Indian to come to Europe on vacation and look for (and find!) a legal job here. Doesn't seem to be a problem in India. I wonder whether those people get a comparable standard of living out of their job, adjusted for lower cost of living. Right now, it looks like it's more a kind of extended, exotic work-life-balance thing. Not that that cannot be fun!

But presumably, it won't be long before the BJP starts a campaign against migrant workers from Europe. I am sure there will be a Hindi analogy to the German slogan which rhimes on Europeans ...

BOTD: "It's evolutionary, going from governor to president, and this is a significant step, to be able to vote for yourself on the ballot, and I'll be able to do so next fall, I hope." - In an interview with the Associated Press, March 8, 2000 Doesn't that give a whole new meaning to creationism??

Looking back to NeXTSTEP

Here is a nice, nostalgic flashback "preview" of NeXTSTEP v4 from the days when the rest of the world was still harrassed by Windows 3something (I think) while we happy few users of NeXTSTEP were spoilt with a state of the art operating system which was an easily recognisable precursor to Apple's current OS X (NeXT has been bought by Apple). Most of the core concepts were in place back then already, and I fondly remember having my black magnesium pizza box up in Edinburgh ... see what a silly computer screenshot can do to you?!?

Americans in denial?

This is surprising news which helps a lot to make sense of US politics and perception. It also shows the fundamental flaw in it: It is largely based on non-scientific fundamentalism!

My dear American friends, you've got a lot of very serious discussing to do!

BOTD: "God loves you, and I love you. And you can count on both of us as a powerful message that people who wonder about their future can hear." - Los Angeles, Calif., March 3, 2004

Pure Genius

I am talking about Brad Mehldau's recent album Live in Tokyo, of course.

But it's not just that particular album - the guy is quite the jazz icon already, and amazingly, I like almost everything he does, be that with his Trio or solo - as on the Tokyo album. I was wondering how it compared to the other jazz piano solo cd's i know, i.e. Keith Jarrett. And to be honest, I feared it would be all but too similar.

But not a bit of it - while I always felt that Jarrett enjoyed himself on stage rather more than his music in a quite narcissistic, even exhibitionist kind of way, that's not at all the case with Mehldau: He seems to be genuinely interested in exploring where his music leads him to, and thanks to his well rounded classical education, he has a great deal of resources to draw upon on that journey. It most definitely shows. I guess I'll have to get his early albums as well.

Your screensaver

Got a Mac? Then you can actually use some of my photos as your screensaver! It would be quite a thrill for me to hear whether it works - just do the following: 1) Go to System Preferences / Desktop & Screensavers, 2) Choose Screen Saver, 3) Choose .Mac on the left, 3) Click on options and enter cdreyer (that's me!) in the field .Mac Membership Name, 4) Choose your display options, and 5) Click OK. That's it, you're done! You just have to select my public slideshow when it appears.

Have fun! And tell me about it.

BOTD: "I understand small business growth. I was one." - New York Daily News, Feb. 19, 2000

Swimmin' music

Wow - I need to have this - an amphibious MP3 player! Good thing I will be in New York next week ...

Awakening the Serpent

This is neither a biblical reference nor a film critique of The Exorcist.

It is simply the title of a very inspirational article in the latest newsletter of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, dealing with the maybe not so lost science of viscimetry. And I quote: "Viscimation is what happens when two liquids of different viscosity mix, creating eddies and visible threads or ribbons. These are referred to as viscimetric whorls. The capacity of a liquid to create such whorls is termed its viscimetric potential or index. The study of the phenomenon is called viscimetry." If you still don't get it: We're talking about observing the mix of water and cask strength single malt whisky in a glass, which usually results in above mentioned whorls a.k.a. serpents. A very pleasant science indeed, since it is normally not limited to just watching ... slanthe!

Time for a Bushism again: "Will the highways on the Internet become more few?" - Concord, N.H., Jan. 29, 2000

The End of Tolerance?

The issue that bothers me most these days can best be rendered by a book title: The Open Society and its Enemies (by Sir Charles Popper). I've actually started a renewed attempt at reading this somewhat tiring, but nonetheless challenging book, seeing whether it might grant the same insights in today's confrontation with totalitarian fundamentalism as it did during WWII.

It appears that the emergence of islamistic fundamentalists within European societies endangers a value which we fought hard for: tolerance. The US seems to have made its choice by reverting to potentially similarly fundamentalist christianism, but I have a feeling we may be doing better than that over here. It's some blog discussions, among other things, that lead me to think so: Lyssa has started a heated debate when confronted with a Burka wearing woman in Hamburg while the Weltwoche journalist Richard Herzinger discusses multi-culturalism. Btw, all these linked blogs are in German.

My own cogitations haven't led to anything articulate, yet. But I like Uwe Justus Wenzel's closing remarks on tolerance I linked to above. Here's the translation: "Tolerance is proof of confidence and of the ideal of an open society which doesn't shy away from conflicts. It bears witness to the ability to say Yes and No. Tolerance is for strong minded people - that is, hopefully, not bad news."

Referenda of November 28th

Like every quarter, it's democracy time again. This time, we have just three things (texts in German) to vote on on November 28th, all of them at the federal level:

restructuring of the distribution of the tasks and the corresponding cash flows between the federal level and the cantons,

renewing the legal basis of federal taxation and VAT, and finally

the law on stem cell research.

The Ayes have it on all three accounts, at least from me. If you want to know more, just ask.

That should be an interesting weekend anyway, since I am going to spend it in New York. And the weekend after that, it's going to be Warsaw from the way it's looking. Which is great, since I've never been there before!

I-69

Roaring laughter - any other comment superfluous. Thanks to Expatter for pointing us to it!

Since we're at political entertainment with (more than a bit of) an innuendo - here's the BOTD: "This is Preservation Month. I appreciate preservation. It's what you do when you run for president. You gotta preserve." - Speaking during "Perseverance Month" at Fairgrounds Elementary School in Nashua, N.H. As quoted in the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 28, 2000. Gosh.

Talking of perseverance - this guy probably is a major uhm character, but certainly interesting to talk to ... unless he's in his professional mood. Then again, it's very difficult to picture people like him in private life.

Gelukkige verjaardag!

Die Holländer ... das tönt zwar eher nach einer geglückten Verjährung, aber ich wünsche Dir trotzdem alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Wenda!!

The Final Capitalist Frontier?

Interesting read, this. Once space mining really comes within reach (or preferably before that), we may want to give it a thought or two, however. Especially taking into account the Spanish experience of the 17th century, when the huge influx of (monetary) gold into their economy from South America resulted in a dramatic bout of inflation.

BOTD: "The administration I'll bring is a group of men and women who are focused on what's best for America, honest men and women, decent men and women, women who will see service to our country as a great privilege and who will not stain the house." - Des Moines Register debate, Iowa, Jan. 15, 2000 She won't, won't she. After all, she's capable of performing classical concerts on stage!

Wikipedia

OK, I am done with Wikipedia. I did intend to contribute occasionally, but this comment is a very convincing case against even using it. Although a former Encyclopedia Britannica editor, the author is blatantly biased ("public lavatory" ...) he has an almost irrefutable point: A reference manual does have to state facts and it does have to do so reliably. A fuzzy & indefinite editorial process, even if led by an editorial committee of anonymi (!), while being very politically correct, cannot be conducive to that. Wikipedia, farewell! And here's to user loyalty in the online age ...

Making no sense

Yes, I admit, this post doesn't make sense. But it doesn't have to, given the time of the day. It's just an odd collection of things.

First, unless you read this on a news feed, you will notice a new Google advertisement in the sidebar. Don't worry, I am not becoming ambitious here - I've just played around with Google's ad services for a bit recently, starting an ad campaign on something else (a prize to whoever guesses right!) The concept of search sensitive ads is quite fascinating, so given the strange searches that sometimes end up here, I'll try this. If there's something interesting for you there, please do not hesitate to click on it - I am actually getting paid if you do!

The next item on the agenda is a pointer to this new (well, not really, it's been released in April) P2P file swapping service called BitTorrent which is also available for Mac. Appears to be a quite different architecture from the Poisoneds, Gnutellas etc - but hey, it works, and it works well! Check it out. The only thing is, it takes an awful lot of system resources, so you don't want to have it running in the background.

Right. Finally, I watched 28 Days Later. Fairly disconcerting movie about a London bicycle courier who has had an accident and wakes up after 28 days of coma to an empty, deserted central London. There has been an outbreak of a highly contageous virus which makes all infectees go berserk and very aggressive, but apparently doesn't kill them. The guy bands together with some other non-infected people to look for safety etc etc - no spoilers given. Actually a really good movie. The only thing that I am not quite sure what to think of is the fact that there is a strong notion of residual optimism even in the face of such a catastrophy. Ultimately, civilisation prevails and slowly begins to reassert itself. Realistic? You tell me ...

BOTD: "When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who they were," he said. "It was us vs. them, and it was clear who them was. Today, we are not so sure who the they are, but we know they're there." - Iowa Western Community College, Jan 21, 2000

Flat tax in the UK?

Here's a reference to the recent flat tax report published by the London based Adam Smith Institute, a liberal think tank. I haven't read it in some detail, yet, but it seems to contain an explanation of the economic mechanisms and an assessment of some countries where the system is already in place.

Reading it from a Swiss perspective might turn out to be rather fruitful. We'll see.

Don't want to forget the BOTD: The trial lawyers are very politically powerful. ? But here in Texas we took them on and got some good medical?medical malpractice.""I firmly believe the death tax is good for people from all walks of life all throughout our society." - Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

Gates vs. Jobs: The Rematch

There is a really good article in today's NY Times about the different strategies of Apple and Microsoft in the music business.

BOTD: "The students at Yale came from all different backgrounds and all parts of the country. Within months, I knew many of them." - From A Charge To Keep, by George W. Bush, published November 1999

Fall impressions

Office 2004 Service Pack 1

Enough already! I'm giving up! I throw in the towel!

Microsoft has done it again. They just produce garbage, even for the Mac, despite of all the praise that gets heaped on their Mac Business Unit. At least the Service Pack 1 (11.1.0) for Office 2004 which I am trying to install ever since it was issued just won't work - after a night of "Gathering Information", I am aborting this attempt once and for all. Not only does the installer not stop gathering information, it even eats almost all system resources so the system's response time goes to virtually indefinite. I am a bit disconcerted however that noone else reports such difficulties - anyone?

How appropriate that I can combine this rant with the day's Bushism: "We must all hear the universal call to like your neighbor just like you like to be liked yourself."

Thai Girl

Also, you can count on Joel to go beyond the ordinary travelogue and not dodge difficult questions or come up with simplistic answers. I've nothing to add to his black & white comment other than maybe that his dislike about the old westerner, young Thai couples probably arises from the sheer tastelessness of it, pure & simple. I can comprehend the Thai side of the equation, but how the other side manages to debase themselves like that is beyond me.

Mac Addict?

Nice! Here's a couple of symptomes for your diagnosis from the source.
"You know you're a Mac addict when ...

... as you type, you inadvertently capitalise the second letter of every word beginning with 'i',

... you only take one bite from your apples,

... you feel a sense of peace parking your car in lots labeled G4 or G5, and you drive right past lots named P3 or P4,

... a friend asks 'What do you think?' and you reply 'Different!'"

Do not despair!

You can count on the Economist to dispel any handy preconceptions - in this case regarding the triumph of the religious fundamentalists in the US. Admittedly, it is a triumph, but the Economist's (valid) point is that those righteous people are quite a diverse lot, so there's quite a menu to pick & choose form.

The Manchurian Candidate

I've said it before, I'll say it again - once. Do not go to see The Manchurian Candidate! If you've seen the trailer, you've basically seen it all - he'll be shot. For once, I agree with a film critique of BaZ: It's boring, despite of the political parallels ("They want to plant a sleeper in the White House!").

Much better have today's Bushism: "I think it's important for those of us in a position of responsibility to be firm in sharing our experiences, to understand that the babies out of wedlock is a very difficult chore for mom and baby alike. ... I believe we ought to say there is a different alternative than the culture that is proposed by people like Miss Wolf in society. ... And, you know, hopefully, condoms will work, but it hasn't worked." - Meet the Press, Nov. 21, 1999

World Freedom Day

This evening, I've been to an event on the occasion of the 1st World Freedom Day, commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall which took place today fifteen years ago. The event was hosted in Zürich by Liberales Institut and was entirely commensurate & pleasant. We were treated to presentations by Victoria Curzon-Price, Andreas Oplatka and Urs Egger with musical intermezzi performed by the Ensemble Clarino.

The presentations were unusually rich. While Curzon-Price praised the Swiss federalist system for its setup with 26 political laboratories unless centralised on the incredibly slow federal level, Oplatka described how the changes of 1989 came to pass, exactly 200 years after the revolution in France. Egger performed a veritable tour d'horizon of liberty, remarking that many people didn't appreciate the wall coming down. My take-aways:

Switzerland is between a rock and a hard place - it can either decentralise again or move to speed up its political processes, which naturally entails weakening direct democratic participation.

Gorbachev was not a democrat - the developments in the Soviet Union happened against his will. He will have to be credited however for not deploying force against the imminent collapse.

Communism and Nazism have a lot in common. Nostalgic defence of communism is not acceptable because it idolises a world view which aims for just equality in global prosperity, but whereever it came to power, it resulted in oppression, cronyism and mass graves.

1989 was indeed a remarkable year. Not only did it change the face of Europe by removing its artificial separation - it also saw the violent oppression of a mass revolt in China, which is the final frontier of freedom.

Like a bit of numerology? 9/11 in Europe is today (we use DD/MM), when the Berlin wall came down. 9/11 in the US is September 11th, when the WTC came down ...

Voting irregularities

There's an unsettling lot of post facto talk about voting irregularities. Here's a very nice illustration of how it might actually have happened (Windows Media Player required)! Thanks to Maik for sending it!

How to be a Mafioso?

Apparently the new course about the Mafia for law students at the University of Rome is very successful. One cannot help but wonder however how many of those students eventually will end up promoting their cause ...

BOTD: "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" - Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

Deaths of Philosophers

Wonderful! I love the compactness of the wit - which, by necessity, summarises the most iconic aspects of their work in a scarce few words. See for instance Aristotle: Excessive moderation, or Wittgenstein: Became the late Wittgenstein.

Actually, here is an even richer treasure trove! Very educational: Analytic philosophy & Monty Python.

Darn, I should be working ...

Withdrawal of reason

Unsurprisingly, christian fundamentalists in the US, encouraged by the Bush victory, are trying to turn back the wheel of time to the dark ages before Darwin when gospel held it that man (& earth, incidentally) was created some 6000 years ago, I think.

In a Wisconsin school district, they succeeded in prescribing teachers to waste their students' time & energy on creatonism. That's about as ridiculously fundamentalist as this.

P.S. I am glad to say that Signore Buttiglione has probably picked the worst possible timing for his theo-con campaign in Europe. The man is really quite a specimen - seeing himself as a catholic witch?! That's nearly as tasteless as if a Nazi were to say that he is being hunted like a Jew.

Liberalism!

The Economist is right as usually - we classical liberals should reclaim the concept of liberalism from polarising abuses inflicted upon it by both the (US) conservatives and the (European) left. In a nutshell:

"The idea, with its roots in English and Scottish political philosophy of the 18th century, speaks up for individual rights and freedoms, and challenges over-mighty government and other forms of power. In that sense, traditional English liberalism favoured small government - but, crucially, it viewed a government's efforts to legislate religion and personal morality as sceptically as it regarded the attempt to regulate trade (the favoured economic intervention of the age)."

Unfortunately I am unable to recall in detail Anthony de Jasay's criteria of classical liberalism right now, which stroke me as very stringent when I read them ... but at least here's the Economist's article (subscription required).

BOTD: "I don't remember debates. I don't think we spent a lot of time debating it. Maybe we did, but I don't remember." On discussions of the Vietnam War when he was an undergraduate at Yale, Washington Post, July 27, 1999

Meet NewsFire ...

... my new RSS client! Only 0.28 and already that smart - I can see the Windows world envying us more and more.

Bloggende Weltwoche

Es ist soweit - auch die Weltwoche hat in ihrer neusten Ausgabe das Medienphänomen blogging entdeckt! Der Artikel ist (wenig überraschend öffentlich) eine gute Beschreibung für Novizen. Die Autorin scheint über ein gerüttelt Mass an (gutem!) Humor zu verfügen, was besonders aus ihrem eigenen blog ersichtlich ist.

Aber damit nicht genug - hat doch die Weltwoche sogar ein eigenes blog eingerichtet!

Trio Basilea

Finally, I got round to listening to the latest recording of my former violin teacher before I threw in the towel. The CD contains Dvorak's Trio op. 65 and Paul Juon's Litaniae. I like the record very much - chamber music at its best! Even though it's romantic music, it is very clearly structured and energetically executed. Interesting booklet, too!

BOTD: "The only thing I know about Slovakia is what I learned first-hand from your foreign minister, who came to Texas." To a Slovak journalist as quoted by Knight Ridder News Service, June 22, 1999. Bush's meeting was with Janez Drnovsek, the prime minister of Slovenia.

Bushisms

Since I'll be going to Bushistan the USA again later this month, I'd better familiarise myself with some of the local lingo. Hence I'll publish a daily Bushism here with credits going to this site. Watch out, there's a lot more where these come from ...

"If the East Timorians decide to revolt, I'm sure I'll have a statement." Quoted by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times, June 16, 1999

"Keep good relations with the Grecians." Quoted in the Economist, June 12, 1999

"Kosovians can move back in." CNN Inside Politics, April 9, 1999

Alright, that's more than just one, but give me a break, I have a lot of catching up to do! Yeah - so much from Chris, the Swissian.

Happy Birthday!

Leider hat die Beratung unter Demokraten nichts gefruchtet. Ich wünsche trotzdem alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

Wer die Photos von Niggi & Sarah's Hochzeit noch nicht gesehen hat, kann das hier nachholen.

"Die Post ist schnell

... sehr schnell sogar." Diesen Werbespot der Post scheint die Schweizer Armee unbesehen zu glauben. Ich zitiere aus einem Handbuch der Berufsunteroffiziersschule der Armee:

"5.2.2. E-Mail und das VBS
E-Mails mit Anhang, welche über das Internet in das Intranet verschickt werden, haben eine lange Verarbeitungszeit. Wegen der Sicherheit müssen diese Mails eine besondere Kontrolle (Firewall, siehe Kapitel Sicherheit im Internet) passieren. Jeden Tag sind Tausende von Mails, die durch dieses Nadelöhr müssen. Darum kann die Verarbeitung unter Umständen mehrere Tage benötigen.
- Dringende Geschäfte sind evtl. mit A-Post und Datenträger schneller beim Empfänger."

Dazu ist wohl jeglicher Kommentar überflüssig bzw. grenzt an Landesverrat.

Wer das gerne selber nachlesen will, kann das hier tun. Vielen Dank, Thomas, für diese Perle helvetischen Selbstbehauptungswillens!

Poor America ...

The Sceptical Environmentalist in Zurich

Just great! The author of The Skeptical Environmentalist is going to hold a presentation about his book in Zurich tomorrow, and I am unable to attend. If you want to go, it is organised by Liberales Institut at the Restaurant Neumarkt, Neumarkt 5, Zürich from 1200h to 1330h. Registration not required.

Here's what I said earlier about the book. And I quote from the email that Liberales Institut sent me:

The Skeptical Environmentalist
In The Skeptical Environmentalist Bjørn Lomborg challenges widely held beliefs that the global environment is progressively getting worse. Using statistical information from internationally recognized research institutes, Lomborg systematically examines a range of major environmental issues and documents that the global environment has actually improved. He supports his argument with over 2900 footnotes, allowing discerning readers to check his sources.
Lomborg criticizes the way many environmental organizations make selective and misleading use of scientific data to influence decisions about the allocation of limited resources. The Skeptical Environmentalist is a useful corrective to the more alarmist accounts favored by green activists and the media.

"... probably the most important book on the environment ever written."
review in The Daily Telegraph, UK, 27-8-01

"This is one of the most valuable books on public policy - not merely on
environmental policy - to have been written for the intelligent general
reader in the past ten years. ... The Skeptical Environmentalist is a
triumph.
review in The Economist, 6-9-01

"The Skeptical Environmentalist is the most significant work on the
environment since the appearance of its polar opposite, Rachel Carson's
Silent Spring, in 1962. It's a magnificent achievement."
review in Washington Post Book World, 21-10-01

Denial

No, it's not denial of the inevitable. We simply don't know, yet - and we may not know for quite some time, in fact. So what I am in denial of is premature surrender. After all, last time round, the incumbent didn't and made it despite of the popular vote in his opponent's favour.

What I can already say, though, is that I am very surprised (and disappointed, of course) at the fact that the unexpectedly massive turnout seems to actually favour the incumbent. I would have assumed the opposite, because normally, non-voters only turn up if they want change. But in this case, it seems that the "moral values" issue has brought out a majority of rather narrow minded voters, who eventually will be certain to be wrong, to paraphrase a slogan. If this is indeed confirmed in the electoral college, I can only say: Poor America. Poor World.

Here's the NY Times Election Results page with a very informative electoral votes view.

Muslim prohibition against - yoga!

Very interesting! According to this article (German), the Egyptian Great Mufti has issued a fatwa prohibiting muslim from practising yoga. The reasons quoted are: "Yoga pupils practise movements which express idolatry. They derive directly from heathendom and fetishism and thus contradict Islam."

The article goes on to quote upper level Cairo yoga practitioners who consider themselves faithful muslim, but they say that this fatwa is completely out of touch. I wonder, though, whether that is really true, and whether those upper class people are not out of touch themselves, namely with the large majority of their country's population. At any rate, this fatwa once again proves Islam's inacceptable lack of tolerance towards other religions. It may not be much different in that from other religions like, say, the catholic church, but unfortunately muslim authorities probably have much more sway with their followers.

Marathon man

Just returning from a marathon.

Don't worry, I haven't turned jock just yet. Rather, I've been to a performance of J.S. Bach's 6 Suites per violoncello solo senza basso, played formidably (and no less persistently) by Pieter Wispelwey. It's a solid two and a half hours of Cello solo music. Initially I was afraid that it might be boring after a while, but none of it! Although I know the pieces quite well from hearing them interpreted by Casals, Demenga and Yo Yo Ma, the evening was entirely entertaining and fun. Wispelwey has a very different approach to the Suites and he let me hear them in quite a new way - about as revealing as hearing Bach played by Glenn Gould for the first time. My preferred Suite is still the 5th, though, and once I have them ripped from the CD, I'll post a bit to the sidebar.

Halloween

This is about as much Halloween as we get around here these days - down much from recent years. Not that I am complaining about the result (next thing we'll be having Sächsilütte - just joking!), but the presumptive reason is bad: America is out of fashion, and this is understated.

The incompetent or the incoherent?

Just a few more hours to go until the big showdown in the US Presidential elections. The London based Economist has come forward with its own election recommendation, and it is in favour of the incoherent. If you have the right to vote in the Presidential election, I trust you are aware that you can be coherent and be wrong, especially if you are reluctant to learn from past mistakes. Therefore, please vote for change!

I hope that the trend in the Bush future is relevant and not its last price of 55.2 - to holders of long positions, I wish a spectacular loss.