Liberalismus des schlechten Gewissens

Am Ende des alten Jahres gibt es hier ein grossartiges Denkstück für liberale Menschen, welches sich hervorragend als Vorsatzvorlage für das neue Jahr eignet. Danke, Herr Schwarz!

Hooked on classical music

There's this very nice little story about how the founder of that investment firm got to know classical music. I think everybody should have an Uncle Vince!

In my case, though, it was in music classes in high school where I was seriously confronted with classical music for the first time. Actually, it was Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which I then proceeded to listen to over and over, and over again. I pretty much stuck to that routine of serial repeats through the first couple of pieces that I exposed myself to - unfortunately there was no Uncle Vince who could have given me useful hints.

How did you get hooked on classical music?

Podcasting

I discovered podcasts! This is as good a portal to the medium as any, I guess. Currently, I am using iPodder, but you don't really need additional software, I think.

So, what is that podcasting thing? Well, I guess it's not so much different from an audioblog, only that the mp3 is usually published via an RSS feed. In principle, you can use any RSS newsreader to get first access to the mp3. What the specific software does for you is check your channels periodically and put the content on iTunes directly so that when you next sync your iPod for the road, the most recent podcasts are cast on your iPod - hence, unsurprisingly, the name!

It's basically a very simple, cheap & effective way of producing and distributing audio content to a specific group of people. To me, it looks like a great way of building a loyal following for creative people who are into music & program production - yep, that'd be you, Tomi!

P.S. Looks really easy to do, too! And here's what the Mother of all Dot Media has to say about it. Businessweek goes one step further, talking about vlogs already! But the final word belongs to the Beeb, of course.

P.P.S. In related news, it seems to be possible to install Linux on an iPod and use it as a high quality digital recorder without any additional gizmos. Check it out here.

Beijing on the Moskva...

If you want to read some thoroughly unorthodox (from a liberal, free market point of view), almost entirely apologetic research on the Russian market, then I'd recommend Sovlink's Truth & Beauty pieces written by Eric Kraus, whom I have been in contact with earlier. He mentioned that I'd find a lot to disagree with in there, and he was certainly right on that account.

I will credit him however with a sharp, yet often rather cynical tongue and some apparent intellectual honesty, trying to take recourse to Popper's critical rationalism. But given his vested interest of physically being in the market (quite close to the Kremlin, actually) and having had a good ride, I attribute the bigger part of his optimism to investor's hubris. I'll certainly keep watching, and when they'll finally pull out, I'll start thinking about getting back in again ...

The BitTorrent Effect

There's a quite interesting article in Wired on the effect that BitTorrent is having on the movies industry, bringing it close to the music industry: "The content distribution industry is going to evaporate."

Quite so. My current recommendation for an OS X client of BitTorrent is Java based Azureus.

Ocean's Dozen

How might the Merowingian from Matrix Revolutions have it? Quelle m*rde, avec des espèces de !£>*" ... this is an utterly ridiculous, badly done movie full of cliché'd fabrications suggesting European incompetence, even in matters of thievery, which the movie shamelessly glorifies!

On the other hand, I think it is a very easy going, fun piece playing on a lot of motives, clearly enamored with European style, despite of what everyone else might say. The introduction is a bit lengthy, but from there, everything accelerates constantly. Rather special camera - I have never seen a frontal final landing approach in landscape, just to give a detail. The cast is indeed legendary and must have had a lot of fun making the film - it shows.

Go see it! It's very enjoyable - as was catching up with M after far too much time. Thank you!

May the Force be with you

This is equivalent to "God bless America", if this article in Prospect is to be believed. The article is proposing a valid strategy change to the democrats and has some good arguments in support. It would be interesting, though, to have the author expand some more on how he sees Switzerland and France to be the most republican continental countries in Europe. FYI: I used to subscribe to Prospect before I returned to the more profane Economist.

More to the point re Force is this gap analysis of the Bush administrations foreign policy after 9/11 in Foreign Affairs. Very insightful analysis with a lot of good advice - we'll see whether it will be acted upon. I doubt it, somehow.

Xmas Dinner

I stray from my usual reluctance to publish menues (actually, it seems that I am not that reluctant, but that's just to get my readers salivating!) for the traditional treat we got at my sister's. Here's the menue:

Weihnachten 2004
Das Festessen beginnt mit einem

Gruss aus der Küche:
Gefüllte Artischockennestli
Champagner Guy Charlemagne
Grand Cru Millésimé 1999
* * * *

Brüsselerschaumsüppchen
* * * *

?Däddys Nüssler?
im Ananas Bett
Valserwasser
* * * *

mit Morcheln gefüllte Kohlrabi
Vanillerieble fürs Bieble
Corton Charlemagne 1995
Grand Cru
* * * *

Perlhuhnbrüstchen mit Ricotta & Granatäpfeln gefüllt, auf ihrem Spinatbett
Kostbar schimmernde Champignonperlen
Clos de la Roche
Grand Cru
Henry de Villamont 1996
* * * * *
Süsses

Marroni Schokolade Baumstamm
* * * * *
Mit ihrem Sorbet gefüllte Mandarinen
* * * * *
Hagebuttenschaum
* * * * *
Hausgemachter Caramelpudding
* * * * *
Pfefferminzparfait
* * * * *

Gutsele

Spitzbuebe, Zimtstärne, Brunsli, Züriläggerle,
gfüllti Dattle, Kokosgutsi, Florentiner, Zitronehärzle

und vo dr Mame

Läckerli, Aenisbrötli

Kaffi

Here are some pictures of the stylish decoration. It was entirely delicious! Thank you very much, C&R!!

Of fools and GNH

The concluding issue of The Economist is remarkable indeed. Not only does it give us a summary of the past year in verse, as mentioned earlier. It also contains a critical review of modern day (perhaps) Shangri-La in its reïncarnation as Bhutan (subscription required) - a country which apparently is not looking to maximise its GNP, but rather its Gross National Happiness! Which would be nice, of course, if it were not to run some serious risk of Orwellian doublespeak.

But that's not all: in a fit of self-referentialism, it surveys - firmly tongue-in-cheek - the post-modernist academic literature deconstructing The Economist and comes to a surprising conclusion. Read it here if you can...

Equally surprising is the paper's finding that George Bush is not too religious, although it is not made that explicit. Personally, I am not so much worried about his religiousness, or asserted lack thereof, rather than the administration's increasing inability to listen to outside positions.

Finally, the wisest fool:

"He was deeply learned, without possessing useful knowledge; sagacious in many individual cases, without having real wisdom...He was fond of his dignity, while he was perpetually degrading it by undue familiarity; capable of much public labour, yet often neglecting it for the meanest amusement; a wit, though a pedant; and a scholar, though fond of the conversation of the ignorant and uneducated...He was laborious in trifles, and a trifler where serious labour was required; devout in his sentiments, and yet too often profane in his language..."

Even though some may think that this is a profile of yours truly, it's a description of King James I.. The Economist is running a competition for the Honourable Title of The Wisest Fool. The criteria are as follows: He or she must be fundamentally an idiot, but a shrewd or cunning one. Candidates need not inhabit Christendom, but they must be alive, or have been in the past 50 years. Submissions to reach competition@economist.com by January 17th!

P.S. My heartfelt congratulations to the Ukrainians! According to the exit polls and - more importantly - the Central Electoral Committee, the liberal candidate has ended up winning by a large majority, which is a major slap in the face of the Russian president. I don't think he qualifies for the competition ...

The magnificent iPod

When I saw the headline of this post in the RSS newsreader (incidentally, highly recommended V0.5 of Newsfire - yes, you PulpFictionLite101 users, this one's for you!), I had to double check whether the feed really was libertarian Samizdata - but it was alright! Even our ID-phobic friends from the far ... libertarian side have discovered the "frivolous" joys of portable music gadgets! Mind you, their colour scheme is suspiciously similar to MaCNN's! Next thing I know, we'll see the merry folk of the Adam Smith Institute rocking away on their iPods! I can imagine worse things happening ...