"Die Realwirtschaft ist in Geiselhaft der Finanzwirtschaft und ihrer Habgier geraten und hat diese Gaunerei auszubaden." [Edgar Oehler, Chef des Thurgauer Bauausrüsters Arbonia Forster (AFG), NZZ, 29.09.08]
"Egoismus und Geldgier führen in die Katastrophe. Jetzt sind wir da." [Johann Schneider-Ammann, Präsident des Industrieverbands Swissmem, Chef der Langenthaler Maschinenbauerin Ammann Group, NZZ, ebd.]
"Gebt mir die Kontrolle über das Geld einer Nation und es kümmert mich nicht länger, wer dessen Gesetze macht." [Mayer Amselm Rothschild, 18th century]
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Back
I'm back from a three week stay in California. It was work-related, so no pretty pictures from gorgeous vacation sites and beaches. I still had fun, work-wise and on the weekends.
During my stay I survived two Hurricanes on the other side of the country (on all channels: reporters outside, in the rain, fighting the storm, shouting in their microphones), a 4.0 earthquake in Oakland, and the American election coverage on the news. It was the time when McCain for the first time was leading the polls in front of Obama (check the Iowa election market for the most up-to-date, historically most accurate predictions). McCain picked a former beauty-queen as running mate and surprisingly gained popularity among young white males. Obama made a comment regarding putting lipstick on a pig and now the question whether he was sexist was top news for three days. I wonder how the Americans can stand their abysmally bad political news coverage until the election is over.
Regarding political activism: The LGBT group at my company invited a panel of gay/lesbian activists who were fighting Proposition 8. The proposition is about constitutionally banning gay and lesbian marriage in the state of California and there will be a vote on it in November. It turned out to be actually a fund raising event: The three panelists were highly professional campaigners and they argued entirely in terms of money: This is how much money the other side collected so far, this is how much we expect them to collect, this is how much we have, and here are the current polls. We need to be first with TV spots and the other side will have a prayer event with 40k participants which we need to counter. All about money. All about polls. No arguments.
When driving in the States I always listen to talk radio on AM. Last year it was a right wing station that made fun or Hillary Clinton all day long. This year it happened to be immaculate heart radio, a catholic talk radio where you can mainly hear sermons against abortion and where you can call in with a question about catholic doctrine and get told the truth right away. Example: A female caller from Iowa was puzzled about the piece of scripture where Christ said on good Friday to the other guy on the cross they would be together in paradise by tomorrow. But on Saturday Christ was not yet risen? And would the other guy not have to go through purgatory? The host had the answer immediately (hint: the meaning of "paradise" changed over time) and the woman was happy again. Faith restored.
The impression you get from immaculate heart radio about catholicism in America is a bit similar to Germany in the 50s: In attack mode, with a very clear doctrine, quite political, anti-abortion, and anti-contraception, arguing a lot with scripture (probably protestant influence here), complete faith in the pope. I'm not sure how connected this world is with reality: I've been to a number of bookstores and scanned the philosophy/religion/psychology corners as well. The impression you get there is that, besides some degree of confusion (in one case I found Nitzsche in the "self-help and healing" section), actually the Asian religions and especially Buddhism are on the rise and occupy much space on the bookshelf.
Return to Switzerland was uneventful. (Probably a good thing on a plane.) I was greeted by cold 7deg Celsius and cloudy sky.
During my stay I survived two Hurricanes on the other side of the country (on all channels: reporters outside, in the rain, fighting the storm, shouting in their microphones), a 4.0 earthquake in Oakland, and the American election coverage on the news. It was the time when McCain for the first time was leading the polls in front of Obama (check the Iowa election market for the most up-to-date, historically most accurate predictions). McCain picked a former beauty-queen as running mate and surprisingly gained popularity among young white males. Obama made a comment regarding putting lipstick on a pig and now the question whether he was sexist was top news for three days. I wonder how the Americans can stand their abysmally bad political news coverage until the election is over.
Regarding political activism: The LGBT group at my company invited a panel of gay/lesbian activists who were fighting Proposition 8. The proposition is about constitutionally banning gay and lesbian marriage in the state of California and there will be a vote on it in November. It turned out to be actually a fund raising event: The three panelists were highly professional campaigners and they argued entirely in terms of money: This is how much money the other side collected so far, this is how much we expect them to collect, this is how much we have, and here are the current polls. We need to be first with TV spots and the other side will have a prayer event with 40k participants which we need to counter. All about money. All about polls. No arguments.
 |  |
Me eating a burger. | American eating a burger. |
When driving in the States I always listen to talk radio on AM. Last year it was a right wing station that made fun or Hillary Clinton all day long. This year it happened to be immaculate heart radio, a catholic talk radio where you can mainly hear sermons against abortion and where you can call in with a question about catholic doctrine and get told the truth right away. Example: A female caller from Iowa was puzzled about the piece of scripture where Christ said on good Friday to the other guy on the cross they would be together in paradise by tomorrow. But on Saturday Christ was not yet risen? And would the other guy not have to go through purgatory? The host had the answer immediately (hint: the meaning of "paradise" changed over time) and the woman was happy again. Faith restored.
The impression you get from immaculate heart radio about catholicism in America is a bit similar to Germany in the 50s: In attack mode, with a very clear doctrine, quite political, anti-abortion, and anti-contraception, arguing a lot with scripture (probably protestant influence here), complete faith in the pope. I'm not sure how connected this world is with reality: I've been to a number of bookstores and scanned the philosophy/religion/psychology corners as well. The impression you get there is that, besides some degree of confusion (in one case I found Nitzsche in the "self-help and healing" section), actually the Asian religions and especially Buddhism are on the rise and occupy much space on the bookshelf.
Return to Switzerland was uneventful. (Probably a good thing on a plane.) I was greeted by cold 7deg Celsius and cloudy sky.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Maennerbadi
A former colleague now also works in Zurich. We went to the Maennerbadi together. Cool place.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
President
You want to know who's the next U.S. president? Check out the Google Trends data of their websites.
Or take a look at the statistics of Google searches. There is an interesting anomaly here: The News volume of the two candidates is much more similar than is their search volume. This indicates that the media tries to do a balanced job in reporting, even though the public is much more interested in Obama than in McCain.
Or take a look at the statistics of Google searches. There is an interesting anomaly here: The News volume of the two candidates is much more similar than is their search volume. This indicates that the media tries to do a balanced job in reporting, even though the public is much more interested in Obama than in McCain.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Highscool
On Wednesday I met a friend I haven't seen since highschool. She's now married and lives in Zurich as well. We went to a public viewing place of the Eurocup match TUR:GER which ended 2:3.
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