by PeWi
Sat Oct 29th, 2005 at 07:25:48 AM EST
Well, the locust won in taking over the Berliner Zeitung...
"I have to admit the mood of the meeting was a bit cynical," Renate Gensch, the head of the paper's works' council told the Guardian. "Mr Montgomery doesn't speak German. He had to talk to us using translators," she added. "We looked hard on the internet and couldn't find a single good word about this guy."
The Guardian
some quotes after the fold
by PeWi
Mon Oct 24th, 2005 at 06:06:54 AM EST
Back from the front page ~ whataboutbob
We all have heard that the Syrians are upset that they are accused of being involved in the killing of the former Lebanese Prime minister. But what is interesting is that the guy that did the research did not want this information to be published
"The names were not in copies of the report released for general distribution."
- because it was only one single source that supported it.
In einer neuen Fassung habe er die Namen gelöscht, weil sie von einem Zeugen nur genannt und nicht bestätigt worden seien. "Es hätte einen falschen Eindruck" von Schuld erwecken können, sagte Mehlis.
In a new version those names were blackened, since only one witness named them, and I did not want to create the impression that it has been confirmed. "A wrongful impression of guilt could have been construed." said Mehlis the prosecutor and author of the report.
Now Rice is calling to invade Syria. - well not quite yet : find a way to hold Syrian authorities accountable.
[update] central witness is a known crook. The spiegel reports this morning. [/update]
by PeWi
Sat Oct 22nd, 2005 at 02:43:23 AM EST
Back from the front page ~ whataboutbob
Yes, it is time for a Thursday Bridge Blogging, you might wonder, that I am very early today, well I have a conference starting at 9am and have to finish some more charts till then, also I expect to be too exhausted to do much afterwards.
but there are some images that are always welcome. f.e Galloping Gertie...
by PeWi
Mon Oct 17th, 2005 at 04:11:01 AM EST
Todays Bridge Blogging will be bridges or their designs that have parallels or are named after animals.
so f.e this Butterfly bridge:
which is across the River Great Ouse in Bedford.
by PeWi
Sun Oct 16th, 2005 at 11:30:01 PM EST
one word of warning. I am not an economist or do I know much about Geman newspapers, but I thought this little note I am about to discuss, fits quite well into the discussion we are having here.
Background in German
In the moment there is an expected take over bid for the Berliner Zeitung through, Mecom by David Montgomery and 3i with Veronis, Suhler, Stevenson.
In reaction to that the editors published a statement, basically saying, Please don't sell us to the vulture capitalists, since you seem to need to sell us, please sell us to another publisher.
Their key reason: Publicistic ambitions, that are equal to the economic interests. ... it is not their aim to maximise the rate of return for the owners, they want to become the first true, unified newspaper in Germany. Something they think, they will not be able to realise with an investor that expects a 20% return, and has ambitions to "simplify" the Germany Newspaper market.
The attitude of the editor is not really surprising, but it is interesting, that he makes this clear distinction. He of course states, that it still is a sound economic business.
Returns are not its highest interest but its distribution...
by PeWi
Sun Oct 9th, 2005 at 09:37:08 AM EST
To get a different slant on this gloomy Sunday afternoon, something to brighten your day...
this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/howeuroareyou
is a test on the BBC website, to test you general attitude towards Europe.
It is quite funny
by PeWi
Sun Oct 9th, 2005 at 05:00:16 AM EST
From the diaries ~ whataboutbob
Today's TBB is about a Bridge that does not exist anymore, but which nevertheless, is still very present in many peoples mind, for its history. In its place is now a peace museum which bears the following theme:
Every day let us work for peace with our mind and heart.
Each person should begin with himself.
Well, this was written in 1980 and the German version is gender neutral.
by PeWi
Mon Oct 3rd, 2005 at 06:15:37 AM EST
This short diary is meant as a reminder of reunificationday in Germany. I personally cannot remember, where I was that day, as it really was a political act. But I do remember some funny stories about 1989.
One of my relatives, had escaped the GDR with his motorbike and via the CSSR in late October 1989. We were told to expect him in at some point during a particular day and had prepared the house.
When the doorbell rang, I ran to the door to open it, only to be surprised to see his uncle and aunt standing right there, asking to see him.
They were "Linien treu" and had taken it upon themselves to make the journey and bring "the lost son" back home.
I brought them to the livingroom, where we were having a civilised cup of coffee and some cake. Afterall they were our relatives too, even if their appearance was a little surprising. Later that day, they returned empty handed, we had managed to keep their nephew away from them.
He still lives in my hometown.
On their way back, they traveled with another of my relatives from the GDR, who had been on a lecture tour in the West and visited us on his last couple of days. He entered the GDR half an hour before Schrabowski said: "Reisen nach dem westlichen Ausland können ab sofort ohne Vorliegen jeglicher Gründe..."
There grammar has always been atrocious.
So tell us your renuification story. Any memorable ones?
by PeWi
Sat Oct 1st, 2005 at 06:18:52 AM EST
From the diaries ~ whataboutbob. Bumped by Jerome. This disappeared way too quickly yesterday.
Or TBB as it is called among the initiated - which you are now.
This week I present to you the transporter bridge in Middlesbrough. Even though I don't live too far away, I hadn't been to Middlesbrough until yesterday, and - well it didn't make the best impact on me, but I drove accross one bridge, I really liked and saw the worlds widest still operational transporter bridge.
It spans 259.3 meters to be exact across the river Tees.
by PeWi
Tue Sep 27th, 2005 at 01:25:02 PM EST
I have a semi serious question. In today's Spiegel is an article on Ted Nudget. Now those of you, that have heard the name, know what comes, I didn;t. Basically he is a former musician (open to debate?) who likes shooting things, supports Bush and is quoted with the follwoing sentence:
"Anybody that doesn't think it is better to blow someone's brains out than to be raped, deserves to be raped! If you don't think your life is worth it then please go out there, don't wear any underpants and get RAPED!! Cuz you deserve it..." (WRIF-FM, Detroit, Nugent as guest D.J., September 23, 1991)"
Now, I know, he is a rightwing loony and it probably is not the worst statement of a rightwing loony, and he is not the first wanting to become governor of Michigan either. But could some please explain to me, why this utter inhumane statement is being accepted?
Why is it?
This is not a question to attack America or the American way of life, it is my question to come to term with this 'reality?' and if there are ways to counter this. Or how to best deal with it.
And I don't mean aggressively. Has anybody of you successfully argued with someone like this and presented them with the utter despicableness of their statement, so that they realised how wrong this is.
Or are some people just to far gone.
On the other hand, is that really such an outrageous statement, or is this just my European sensibility, that has not cottoned onto "real" life?
by PeWi
Fri Sep 23rd, 2005 at 01:07:32 AM EST
Now, as you all know, I love bridges, and I love art as well. so this week it is an artist, Lyonel Feininger, an American who came to Europe on order of his parents in 1887, when he was just 16. And I am showing some of his bridge paintings
Here are the earlier Bridge Blogs:
Activities on Brooklyn Bridge (Sept 15th)
Bridge of Alcántara (Sept 8th)
Tyne Swing Bridge(Sept 1st)
Muengstener Bruecke (Aug 25th)
Mostar Bridge (Aug 18th)
by PeWi
Wed Sep 21st, 2005 at 12:40:50 PM EST
The Union in this dairy is the Union of CDU and CSU - a theme that you might have heard me push the last couple of days.
I seem to be obsessed with this issue, but really I am just an outside observer, that loves political meetings and their procedural rules. No better place to drift off, nod off and dream...
So here goes.
According to this article in the Sueddeutsche, the SPD wants to revert the procedural rules in the Bundestag known as ,,Lex Union" to its original state, before it was altered under a CDU/CSU Majority.
The current law states that a fraction are those parties that are in no rivalry with each other and allow CDU CSU without agreement of the Bundestag to form a parliamentary fraction. (which means, rooms, seats on comittees, softer chairing etc..)
Reverting would mean, that this can only be achieved, if the Parliament agrees to the faction building by majority.
As the strongest party in parliament it however mean SPD would be eligible to nominate the President of the Parliament, a mostly procedural position, but nevertheless very powerfull.
So apart from a clever move, there are powerfull questions attached here.
by PeWi
Mon Sep 19th, 2005 at 09:46:59 AM EST
Post-election opinion from the diaries (with a few edits) ~ whataboutbob
My suspicion is that Schroeder with his 38% ploy before the election, would know, he would be heading the strongest PARTY, not Parliament Faction, and would therefore try to lead the coalition conversations with the two parties CDU and CSU. This was irrespective of the FDP result. the CDU/CSU could have become up to 39% (if i added correctly) for his scenario to work out.
So this result is just super for him.
Was there was agreement with Fischer about this before? There was a almost unnoticed, or uncommented slip of the tongue, where he called Fisher the "ex- foreign minister" in the elephant round - his apology did not sound straight.
That would also explain that Fisher is so resigned to going into oposition.
Is he now out to weaken Merkel and then lead a grand coalition?
by PeWi
Sun Sep 18th, 2005 at 09:40:27 AM EST
according to this article, voting in more traditionally CDU areas is down compared with areas of traditional SPD voters higher than three years ago.
NRW is a traditionally SPD country.
I still believe that a higher voter turnout means more votes for SPD and less for Links
more when more comes
by PeWi
Thu Sep 15th, 2005 at 02:16:40 PM EST
I left a rant at Daily Kos
since it will be gone there in three seconds. it is cross posted here as well.
don;t fall asleep over peak oil!
by PeWi
Thu Sep 15th, 2005 at 11:44:02 AM EST
A weekly favorite from the diaries ~ site gnomes
Well, it is Thursday again, so it must be time for...Bridge blogging!!!
As you might have noticed, so far there has been nobody on the bridges I brought to your attention. Well, this changes this week. Here are the earlier Bridge Blogs:
Bridge of Alcántara (Sept 8th)
Tyne Swing Bridge(Sept 1st)
Muengstener Bruecke (Aug 25th)
Mostar Bridge (Aug 18th)
O.K so this week is: activities on bridges. I think it is a good activity to demonstrate on bridges (-:
Any other good activities on bridges pictures?
by PeWi
Wed Sep 14th, 2005 at 08:03:37 PM EST
this just cannot be not on this blog. here it is
Potty training
this is so funny.
by PeWi
Tue Sep 13th, 2005 at 06:25:34 AM EST
As you know, I am not just reading this blog, no I lead my ways to all the different paths of the Internets and come accross some wonderous examples at times, however I will only present those here, that are of wider interest for me and maybe for you?
by PeWi
Fri Sep 9th, 2005 at 03:31:41 PM EST
This is the translation of this Website. It tries to give you an idea, who to vote for in the forthcoming election. The questions have been collected by Young Germans and 75 of them were subsequently sent to the CDU, Greens, FDP, Linkspartei/PDS and SPD. The parties had the choice: Agree, Neutral, Don't agree. Out of the returns, the following 30 questions were chosen to provide and enable a distinct difference between the parties.
For each answer you have to note down the letters given.
(In my setting I have to scroll quite a bit down to get to the table - maybe someone could fix this? Thanks.)
by PeWi
Fri Sep 9th, 2005 at 02:48:13 AM EST
From the diaries, with edits ~ whataboutbob
Here is a quick bridge blog for this week:
Doing my research I came across a webpage of a real enthusiast with some fantastic pictures At least he is an engineer and is giving all the technical specifications and explanations.
Earlier THURSDAY Bridge Blogging:
Tyne Swing Bridge(Sept 1st)
Muengstener Bruecke (Aug 25th)
Mostar Bridge (Aug 18th)
