Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz in power since 1959. Has led his country into isolation and missed the chance to open his society after the fall of communism in the late 1980’s. Although the US is also to blame for the decades of useless embargo it’s mostly Mr Castro’s fault that Cuba is such a miserable place.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe running or better ruining his country since 1980. Great work! It has fallen from being Africa’s high ranking food producer to a starving and terribly poor country. He hunted down gays, disowned white farmers and wasted huge amounts of foreign aid with his cronies.

Kim Jong-il is since 1994 continuing his fathers work of starving and killing his own people. While neighboring South Korea and China have made huge progress his country spiraled downwards. But at least he became a world famous atomic bomb salesman and movie collector. Well done little man.

Muammar al-Qaddafi – self proclaimed leader of Libya since 1969. Sponsored terror on his people and the west for decades. Although he finally succumbed to American pressure and military power his country is still in ruins. Economic reforms are badly needed although it is rich in oil. His family and cronies have a total grip on the country. The rule of his laws is harsh, there is no political culture nor any official working opposition.

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud current King of the House of Saud, which is running the richest and most depressive country in the world since 1744. The House of Saud teamed up with Wahhabism – an especially conservative brand of Islam to sanctify it’s hold on power. The country riches are mostly given to the huge royal family – according to Wikipedia around 25.000 people. The Saud tyranny and grip on power is supported by the US since 1945. Most islamic terrorism is funded with Saudi money as well as manpower. Osama bin Laden is the most prominent example. Saudi clerics are among the fiercest in the region and they can rely on the official religious police to see their rules empowered.

Did I miss anyone? I am not sure to include Iran, since it’s people to continue so much to oppress themselves. So I consider it more like a fascist state with changing players at the top. Suggestions welcomed!

I wonder whatever happened to all these hand painted buses and cars – you hardly see them anymore. Apart from a cup holder people hardly customize their vehicles – I wonder why? We humans normally try to make almost anything our ‘own’ by adding something personal. Just look at computer screens in your company – everyone glues something on them.

In most modern countries birthrates have been going down for decades and divorce rates have been climbing. Can we blame it on evermore egocentric citizens? Or is the economy responsible? We are certainly heading for a more single lifestyle societies – and the old family construct of a ‘breeding contract’ is no longer intact. Many woman just do on their own – being on your own is no longer shunned by society, religion or politics. But also the relationship models are no longer built for eternity. We also live much longer and (have) to change much more within a lifetime. Also our modern speed is killing the social fabric.

The job for life and the family for life ideals are long gone. Birth and divorce rates are simply reflecting this new reality.

But modern societies are still not perfectly adapted for these new ways. Divorce laws are often arcane or favor one side of the equation. Also the patchwork families and unmarried relationships have to be honored better. Not enough big companies offer internal Kindergartens for their employees. There is a lot to be done.

I just can’t help myself – these creatures look aristocratic, snobbish and funny at the same time. They can get pretty big (over 1 meter in length) and heavy (up to 60 kg) – bit like a large dog. They are domesticated in South America for meat.

Actually it would be funny to keep one of these as a pet. I would call mine Lord Mullberry or Lady Waffelhoffel … something like that.

To RGB or CMYK – that’s the Question!

You are a person with many interests and many skills? You love art, you produce art – but you also live with a huge pile of creative guilt? Welcome to the club! It’s hard to be a digital artist, since your computer enables you to run amazing tools – which have been unthinkable twenty years ago. A creative powerhouse in one small box.

Wanna make a movie? No problem use Adobe Premiere or AfterEffects. Are you a graphics person? Your choice is vast and wide – Photoshop, Illustrator, FreeHand, Painter – to name but a few. Wanna go 3D and do amazing effects or animations. Once again the list boasts absolutely amazing tools like Lightwave, Maya, 3D Max.

Oh my – you are a creative person! Wow!

You make music and love to sample and tweak sounds? A small feat these days – cool software is cheaply available, even Star Wars was remixed on a simple PowerBook using everyday digital tools and even great modern musicians use the same Samplers, Synths and Sequencer like you do.

Not to forget our good old writing tools to produce anything ranging from articles or complete books! You can go from a simple solution like Microsoft Word up to publishing powerhouses like Quark or InDesign. And how about your own web page or weblog? I am sure you want to show the world what you are capable off, let’s buy Flash, Dreamweaver or GoLive?

You had enough? Fine.

More human than human – welcome to the new 3D art universe (image: Miles Estes)

Modern designer are rapped and pushed to be digital renaissance artists – nothing is impossible. Since the DTP revolution in the late 80’s smashed the old lines between technician and artist – we creative types have to be both today a Geek and a Michelangelo in one person.

Once it used to be enough to excel as a writer, painter or photographer – know you have to be you own typesetter, reproduction expert, scanner and editor etc. as well. But since this is the analog2digital (A2D) generation we love to have multiple choice – since we know how limited we felt with our old tools: clunky typewriter, tipex, letraset letters, dirty chemicals to develop slides, dangerous cutters, slow snailmail and mechanical copy processes to name a few. No surprise: we love absolute control and absolute choice.

Welcome to a mad artists world.

But it’s driving us mad. Instead being limited to a certain area of art or projects we suddenly find ourselves doing a thousand creative things all at once: writing articles & weblogs, drawing illustrations, retouching photos, programming web sites, layouting a new CV and looking for background music for our presentations.

Did you really think one huge monitor would be enough?!

So much to do, so little time and energy. And the web as a global showcase doesn’t make things easier. There is a constant stream of competition and inspiration to cope with. Have you seen those cool Japanese animations? This great Danish photographer? These old retro covers of some weird fashion magazine?

All these choices, ideas and doors waiting to be opened drive any creator mad. The total overflow of choice makes it hard to focus on just one project, just one set of skills, just one insanely great idea. A tough decision for anyone who loves to surf in possibilities.

Modern artists still want and need to be kissed by their Muses as well.

And we feel a lot of guilt of not pursuing all those ideas that pop up in our minds. The guilt of not pursuing another great business idea or product the world desperately needs. We get paralyzed by all the doors we could jump through and enjoy another adventure in creativeland. And this guilt sucks big time.

Anything else Sir? But there is an additional problem: business. Today’s clients and employers all want a young super geeks with a Maestro’s thirty years of experience and wide ranging skill set. But just one arty farty person please. We are on a tight budget these days.

Ah, when art was simple and computers limited. (Image: Andres Becerra)

So it’s really hard to say ‘I am just an illustrator’ or ‘I can only write good articles’, since you don’t want to cut yourself out of the market. So we learn and buy many different software packages, try to stay on top of a gazillion technologies, names and gizmos. But most of all, we lose the time, energy and focus to be masters of our trade – to be simply open, productive and creative.

Although art involves knowledge and craftsmanship as well, once again we should start to make distinctions between mastering expressive techniques and mastering production technologies.

There is a difference between animating something and writing a flash script. There is a difference between composing a great stream of words to entice your readers and operating a content management system. There is a difference between taking great pictures and layout an art book. Let artists be artists, technicians be technicians and geek’s … oh well …

*repost 2003-08-19*

No Ronald Reagan did not bring down communism – it simply collapsed under it’s own weight. Soviet economists already warned their ignorant Politbüro in the 70’s that without market reforms the union could no longer ‘work’. Gorbatchev was smart enough to admit the final failure instead of doing anything stupid.

It must have been an eerie scene: flying between the cloud in bright daylight, coldness and bullets around you. The air war over Germany cost the lives of many thousands of Soldiers and Civilians – and till today it’s not really ‘proven’ it stopped Hitler’s war machine. Albert Speer moved the production underground and the output never declined. The ever shrinking number of troops (pilots) and fuel put a serious dent into the war machine of the third Reich.

More and more people find their favorite websites blocked by corporate firewalls. Also email filters clamp down on stupid attachments like the newest ‘funny’ video or porn.

Actually I can only recommend to anyone working in a big company not to visits websites you like in private, nor use the companies email address for mailing your friends and family. Most admin’s don’t care about your stuff – but looking at your mails and surfing habits is a gold mine for any middle management asshole to find a reason to kick your butt.

So get yourself at least a private webmail account that supports secure transmission and is hopefully not blocked by your corporate admin. Don’t surf any pr0n, funny or dating websites during work – not even during lunch break. It will be recorded – and used against you …

Overpopulation is still one of our biggest problems. Humanities growth is unsustainable for our own good and the rest of nature. This becomes especially clear in the case of the global water crises. Here some insights from the ‘old’ (2004) BBC special report Planet under pressure. Check part 2 ‘running dry’ for some gruel news.

But I am afraid nothing has changed in the last two years – the poor are still thirsty:

* One billion people without access to clean drinking water
* 2.6 billion without adequate sanitation
* Rapid urbanization increasing pressure on water resources
* 30-40% of water ‘lost’ through illegal tapping and leaks

(Source: UN World Water Report)

If you are really interested you should also read the recent BBCs comment page regarding the water crises. We need conserve water, stop overpopulation and the total commercialization of water supply. Water is a common good, it needs to be protected, but not overpriced so it becomes unaffordable for the poor.

After almost a week of rain some good vibes from the sky. The Oktoberfest is half way finished and I am sick of seeing pseudo Lederhosen everywhere. Have a nice weekend!

Since Leonardo requested a posting about the great Bach I have tried to wrap my tiny mind around the Genius of this Giant. To be honest: I think you have to be a composer, a philosopher, a musician and a mathematician to really really really appreciate the depth of this Maestro. And he created a massive amount of ‘notes’. To know Bach means to spent days and weeks listening to a huge amount of music.

He is part of a great period of Germanic enlightenment: Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Mendelssohn – and many more. It was a time of restless Teutonic renewal and overall change in Europe (Age of Enlightenment). The period that laid the foundation for modern day democratic and humanitarian Europe. But it was also an age of wild romantic compassion and insight.

Cantata BWV 208 – Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!

You can feel still some old medieval Europe in Bach’s music – the devout churchgoing citizens. But these citizens are different, because they are slowly grabbing power from the old institutions like Holy-Mother Church and blue blooded Aristocracy.

Toccata And Fugue In D Minor For Organ BWV 565

Bach’s music is often very ‘churchy’ – but you can also find many intimate and passionate pieces that rival Beethoven’s later achievements in spirit and emotion.

Many of Beethoven’s compositions were deemed too erotic and too emotional in their days. But you already can hear that intimacy in Bach’s music – albeit not as explosive as "Freude schöner Götterfunken!".

Suite No. 1 For Solo-Cello In G-Major

More? Wikipedia and the Bach.org website.

PS: Leonardo – sorry, that’s all I can write from a personal perspective. I am simply not genius enough to drill through this Mountain.

PPS: Anyone else out there with some more personal insights on Bach?

What is it with woman and their tiny doggies? A substitute instead having their own kids? Boredom? Or finally some creatures they have totally in their powers?

The great thing about abstract art is – that you can tell the audience almost anything and they believe it.

Still a great art by maestro Picasso.

Orange Rock Gurus – seventies styling. PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!

Maestro Mancini is one of the greatest composers of the last century. His music scores and themes are beautiful and everybody knows and loves them. What? You don’t know him? Sure you do! Pink Panther? Peter Gunn? Breakfast at Tiffany’s? The ‘Baby Elephant Walk’ from Hatari? I am pretty sure you will know many of his great melodies and themes when you hear them. Browse his stuff on Amazon.com and the Pink Panther soundtrack is actually a very nice album.

Breakfast At Tiffany’s – Moonriver

Hatari – Baby Elephant Walk

More? Henry Mancini @ Wikipedia

No, the blond gene won’t disappear any time soon – that’s a lie. Neither will Peroxide to create artificial blondes nor will general dumbness and dumb blonde jokes.

Two way radio changed warfare forever. Before this invention allowed commanders and troops to communicate they tried all sort of devices and methods: carrier pigeons, couriers, smoke signals, flags … hand waving (in WWI airplanes).

Hitler’s invasion of Poland and France showed how tanks and airplanes could cooperate perfectly via radio in the so called Blitzkrieg. The polish army hardly had any tanks anyway, but the French had tanks – but these were not equipped with radio and they had not developed any new tactics since WWI.

It’s a feature – not a bug!

My basic question: Is there a religion without fear?

Although we seem to find the motive or promise of love or eternal bliss in so many religions – we also find the element of fear and some form of damnation in them as well. There always seems a special place for the faithful: like Heaven or Valhalla. Even the concept of Nirvana is in it’s metaphorical meaning similar to a blessed place – compared to the wheel of reincarnation.

Read the rest of this entry »

(I know this is old stuff)

And another great Internet geek moment was born! ‘Fear of Girls‘ is a video about thirtysomething D&D players – and it is perfect. Way too perfect – it hurts! And the crowd at Slashdot went bananas!

I have been an early adopter of D&D here in Germany in the early 1980’s – so I know the crowd well. Yes, I did play D&D like mad (and many other pen and paper RPGs), I went to conventions, once again dressed up in fancy costumes, wrote my own adventures and campaigns, even published a role playing fanzine called ‘Maud Magazin‘ (fan magazin) and lived through the beginnings of the LARP madness.

The video is hosted by Google – so normally the link won’t work outside the US. Use this link if you live outside the Google Videosphere. Enjoy!

People still model their lives on old ideals and role models like the shining Knight and cool Cowboys. It is amazing how much influence simple images have on our minds and personalities – although our surrounding no longer have any space for sword wielding Samurais or innocent Burgfräuleins.

Archetypes can help us as mental devices to transform ourselves – but we should never confuse an inner image with reality.

60% of US Americans are overweight.

It might be a cheap shot: but I really think that fat America is literally eating away the worlds resource in a devastating and unfair way. Not only is it unhealthy for the people themselves, but also the food production and distribution wastes many resources. Plus obese people need bigger cars and seats in airplanes – and more fuel is needed to get them from A to B. Obviously most obese people walk less, therefore more transportation in ‘obese’ cars like SUVs is needed.

For example China is now #2 in fuel consumption – but that is for a billion people compared to ‘only’ 300 million in the US. Many Africans would happily live on a third or even a quarter of the calories many Americans stuff into themselves on a daily basis. So Americans proportionally use more resources than anybody else on this planet.

So the obesity of a rich country has far more consequences then just fat people. It’s a waste of precious resources on a colossal scale – and one of the biggest challenges ALL industrial nations are facing, because obesity is already becoming a problem in other places as well – but with so many things America is ahead of the World.

Loose some fat and save resources for your fellow humans.

Obviously there is hardly any Jewish culture left in Germany. Most of it is tucked away and hidden. Plus the old guilt complex makes any ‘normal’ exchange painful.

German Jews were always an important aspect of my country – until that maniac came along. The brain drain thanks to the holocaust as well as immigration was incredible. The intelligentsia, as well as artists and academic sector was depleted of thousands of important people.

We badly need that Jewish humor and wits back – plus a normalized relationship again, like in pre-war Germany before 1933.

Can’t wait for the ‘perfect girlfriend construction set’. Just wondering how much the upgrades will cost?

We shouldn’t keep all the old traditions – many are out of date, racist, sexist or simply stupid. The same applies to wearing old traditional costumes like Dirndls or Kilts. Why not dress in leopard skins and mammoth fur as well?!

For years now the ‘war’ between the mainstream media and Bloggers has been raging. A new form of media is storming in scene and shifting the balance of the old media market. This is nothing new: movie theatres complained about TV for everyone – which took away most of their eyeballs. The original press people sneered first at radio and later TV reporters as well. Every form of mass communication has to proof it’s worth and develop it’s style.

As much as I applaud the new citizen journalist I don’t think we / they have taken over the world, nor deeply influence the rich and powerful. Plus the number of Bloggers who actually contribute NEW information and reports is very small.

One of the big difference between Bloggers and journalists is, that the later ones go out and report directly from wars, press conferences and events – while most Bloggers simply recycle these reporting’s. Sure – there are Bloggers in the field, but they are few and not ‘organized’. Big news corps like Reuters and BBC News have offices all over the world and they provide a continuity that is very different from the more sporadic blogosphere.

When life was simple – only those Viking terrorists and your soul to worry about

Although I don’t think that an unorganized and unstructured reporting is a bad thing (because I believe that chaos is always a self organizing affair), it is also important and highly valuable to have news providers and archives from either state funded news organizations (like many European TV stations) and commercial ones.

But most important aspect of all is that news consumption has changed – not just the reporting. The media explosion in the 80’s (actually pushed by the likes of Rupert Murdoch) and the later web revolution has changed the viewer / reader as well. Once people read / watched only a few sources and usually never questioned it’s content. That has greatly changed for good. Equally important is that news consumers started searching for their own truths. Thanks to search engines news and fact finding is no longer a domain of the professionals.

Hey, I know how to solve your problems – trust me!

But sure as hell the extra work and the extra confusion is making life more complicated and less understandable for many. No surprise that populism also has risen strongly in the last few decades. Simple and strong messages always were a part of politics – but in confusing and harsh times there are more people willing to listen to them. Instead of working and coping with a more complex reality many people prefer a simplification of (their) problems.

So in a strange twist the more noise the old school media and Bloggers make – the less they actually support the public. They actually create more confusion and ‘white noise’. And splitting the ‘truth atom’ into even more bit doesn’t create ‘more truth or a better version of reality. But on the other side a big public discussion is better then none or a truly state organized affair like under the Nazi regime or Stalinist Russia.

Life is complex, it sucks and still we have to deal with it.

More? A BBC opinion piece about the return of the citizen journalist.

BBC News: Burma’s saffron army

Haven’t we seen this too many times before?! Peaceful demonstrations, then the ruling powers intervene. Bloodshed and chaos follows, but sooner or later the people win.

But then what? A new government is formed and often fails.

It is very hard to recreate a working state apparatus after years of abuse and corruption. Power structures, ministries and other important parts of a working state are not built over night. Good government and experienced bureaucrats don’t grow on trees – and you need them to run the show!

The reason why so many corrupt governments stay in place for so long is by killing all other able politicians and power elites. So people are unable to organize a revolt or renew the state from within.

Let’s hope Burma can makes this as easy and peaceful as possible.

Mr. Herzl is the founder of modern Zionism – and therefore one of most important figures of the 20th century – although he is hardly known.

Herzl and many more other after him (including rich families like the Rothschields) tried for a long time to establish a Judenstaat for Jewish immigrants from all over the world. But none of the regional and colonial powers like the British and Ottoman Empire seriously supported the idea. The Zionist were not just religiously motivated, but reacted to a growing anti-Semitism in Europe (not just Germany, but also France and later in Russia).

Only after the Holocaust and a bloody struggle with their Arab neighbors and against international resistance was Israel established.

Theodor Herzl’s idea has come a long and bloody way.

Nature invented the male to create a greater genetic variety in the gene pool of it’s species. There are creature out there that simply clone themselves, but they are much more vulnerable to diseases and parasites.

So guy, we are just there to spread the code!

After centuries of ignorance western societies finally come to terms with their bodies. While Asian philosophies and traditions always saw body and mind as a unity Christianity and ‘intellectualism’ (I think therefore I am) never was comfy with physical pleasure, sex or touching.

So it’s no surprise that Westerners hunger for Asian massage, Yoga, Tantra, Tai Chi, various forms of meditation and martial arts – all of them designed to develop the whole human being and not just one aspect. Not to forget traditional Chinese or Tibetan medicine which find more and more followers in the west as well.

Today words like ‘energy’ and ‘chakras’ no longer are completely alien to us. Time to catch up, educate children on schools how to work with body and mind – maybe even introduce Tai Chi lessons in factories like in China?!

Gee, the Mother of all image manipulation programs in it’s infancy. I grew up with Photoshop – but I don’t envy anyone trying to learn this complex beasts from scratch. Great software … almost an operating system by itself.

Photoshop (and computer graphics) have changed our world completely. The phrase ‘doctored pictures’ reached a new level with ‘it’s photoshopped’. Stretching the truth got a lot easier with this great tool.

And designer use it on a regular basis to masturbate eye candy for our screens … it’s all about filters, effects and coolness baby!

Isn’t love great? Somewhere out there waits your perfect soulmate for you. Right? Wrong! If there is one idea in the spiritual scene that drives me nuts it’s the illusion of the soulmate, because it’s so wonderful egoistic and blatant unspiritual …

The very idea of the soul mate is so very appealing: the great cosmos has just the perfect match for you in store. You now longer need to surf russianbrides.com or draw angel cards in the morning to find him or her.

What is your soul mate supposed to be? First of all, this person connects to you on an extremely deep level – yay – it’s not just the usual shared interests and screwing all day – this time it’s spiritual!

I just wonder what a connection on ’soul level’ really means? Total understanding? That would rather imply you are clones of each other, not very exciting. And why is total understanding so important that makes it such a top priority to most people within relationships?

It’s one of the main mental fixations of stressed modern individualists that hardly anyone understands them. Why does nobody understand you – simple in most cases: people hardly communicate and care for each other anymore. To know a person well and participate in their lives takes a serious amount of time and dedication. Sending an eCard from work and met once in while to have a latte together hardly counts as ‘involved’.

In an era, where many people suffer from loneliness, depressions (harhar) and single lifestyle – nobody wants to embarrass themselves or their friends by being ‘emotional’, ‘high maintenance’ or ‘too serious’. It’s the age of easy friendships, fun and laughter … join the party and don’t you dare to come depressed. Join the fucking prozac nation of happiness.

So a ‘good understanding’ of another person can be achieved with some work and time – you don’t need a soulmate for that one. To connect to other people is a simple set of social skills, not a big spiritual task.

Back to the ‘connecting at soul level’ – another illusion about the soulmate is the reincarnation myth. Would it be great walk the path to nirvana with friends, lovers and family from former lifetimes?

I personally believe in reincarnation, but that’s as much thought I give about the whole thing. Why? It doesn’t matter that we already lived once or a hundred times. I am living now! I must take responsibility about people and actions I do in this lifetime. Spending to much time thinking about reincarnation is like trying to insure yourself against life …

People love the whole karma thing, because it’s an easy way to score points for being a good person! The concept of good and bad karma is very ‘logical’ and appealing for spiritual types (like saving points in your local supermarket – but only for the next life). But it confuses most of them. It transforms them into karma nazis: ‘Oh look at this crippled guy over there, he must had have bad karma in his last life, that’s why he is so disfigured in this life.’

Why do people love the idea of karmic relationships – lasting several life spans? It’s a nice romantic idea: life lasts only once, love forever. This idea seems to appeal especially to women or men who like to cling to their partners. ‘Hey, I will be stuck on you for several reincarnations – how do you like that?’ Yuck!

Since nobody can proof we really incarnate, there is also no proof our souls come back as the same or similar package. And this is a stupid idea anyway. The whole idea of the karma cycle is that you try improve yourself and come back as a more evolved soul (depending what you did last time and what you have to learn on your next tour). Some traditions say that our soul lives start as insects or other less aware life forms. We hopefully graduate with each experience on this earth to finally exit to nirvana anyway.

What would be the point of reincarnation, if the same old boring you would come back like a television rerun? This would be like Groundhog day, repeating yourself with the same people and mistakes until you ‘get it’? Nah …

Most boring of all: why would you spent your next lifetime with the very same souls you already met last time? If this cosmos stand for one thing it’s diversity and complexity – there are billions of different stars, alone on this planet we have millions of species and again billions of life forms walking this earth. I bet my life that the spiritual cosmos is at least as complex, colorful and chaotic as the real one (if a separation exists at all!).

And in this universe nothing gets lost nor wasted. My guess: like matter gets reused to build stars, dogs and biscuits – spiritual energy won’t get lost, but recreated into a new soul.

Let’s get to the most egoistic part of the soulmate thing: that there is an exclusive partner in the universe just for you to love and live with. What an ego centric view of spirituality. First of all we are ALL soulmates! It’s the very idea of almost all religions and spiritual traditions is that we all have a soul and are equally created before God(s).

Another very basic spiritual idea that speaks against the exclusive soulmate is the concept of universal love. An enlightened being should be able to love everyone and everything the same way. An exclusive soulmates does ‘not compute’ within the equation of universal love.

And speaking of love or rather lovemaking we come to the last, but deepest illusion about the soulmate. Screwing your soulmate is supposed to catapult you to a higher state of consciousness – the perfect cosmic fuck guarantees the perfect cosmic bliss. Heaven on earth. The ultimate union between two people, surfing the spiritual energy wave. Enlightenment by super pussy and long dong lingam.

I certainly subscribe to this very idea, since I have done tantra and still adore many of it’s ideas.  But the ultimate orgasm is not the end nor the means to enlightenment. It’s a great moment, you relax, you are happy, you are loved and love. But does it really make you a better person?

But using a soulmate as a substitute for your own happiness or enlightenment is a feeble excuse: ‘When I’ve found my soulmate everything will be fine.’ Nah, spiritual work is your own lonely duty.

Once again the idea of the soulmate is just used by the ego to promise itself a better life … another illusion to get rid off to come closer to this state of existence.

Soulmates? They are all around you. Don’t try to screw them all, start by with accepting them in their crazy variety and with all their sins. Most of all: start loving yourself in an universal way and share that feel to everyone and everything …

*repost 2003-10-05*

If your life started in such a colour nightmare you are entitled to at least two good therapists! I think a lot of interior designers of the seventies deserve to be shot.

Every vote counts. Every dollar/euro counts even more.

How times have changed – or have they? Can you still impress modern woman with a fancy car, a great dinner and maybe a visit in a cool club?

No matter where you go – you inner guru is always with you and lifts you up. The problem is only to find people will to carry your heavy ego around.

Before inventive males created the bra – woman had to carry their mammary glands manually. But we wanted them to have their hands free for more important stuff …

Do you own pictures of dead people? Not just people you knew who have died – but people you never met, but are part of your family’s history? Our fear of death has made us produce great ancestral art, monuments, long chains of memory – to give us some reassurance that not all is lost, because of death.

Our psyche can’t cope with death – therefore we simplify it, try to make it understandable, to trick ourselves into believing that we or our loved ones continue in some way.

This little buddy is way to cute for his own good. Explore the world of the Puffins via Wikipedia.

All guys with loads of muscles have to be stupid and a small penis. Yeah, right! Some muscle men became rich actors and now govern one of the richest states in the world.

Ted Turner is changed our media landscape with CNN. He pushed the new news cycle into a new era of speed and real time coverage. I still remember watching the beginning of the first Gulf War via CNN at night. Creepy, unreal – but real nevertheless.

He later sold CNN for a handsome profit, but continued his groundbreaking work with the Ted Turner foundation and the incredible pledge to give one billion dollars to the UN. Apart from that he is the largest landowner in the US and also has a started a restaurant chain.

Although highly successful he still is very critical of the media business and politics – not afraid to raise his voice. I loved his recent comments about the decline of his brainchild CNN and celebrity news (quoted from AP News on myway.com):

“I would like to see us to return to a little more international coverage on the domestic feed and a little more environmental coverage, and, maybe, maybe a little less of the pervert of the day,” he said in a speech to CNN employees outside the old Atlanta mansion where the network first aired."

“You know, we have a lot of perverts on today, and I know that, but is that really news? I mean, come on. I guess you’ve got to cover Michael Jackson, but not three stories about perversion that we do every day as well.”

His remarks won applause and laughter from CNN employees, but the moderator for Turner’s remarks, CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, said: “But everyone else is doing that. Why do you think it’s important not to?”

Turner replied: “Somebody’s got to be a serious news person. Somebody’s got to be the most respected name in television news, and I wanted that position for CNN.

“I wanted to be The New York Times of the airwaves. Not the New York Post, but The New York Times. And that’s what we set out to do, and we did it.”

Amen to that – kick that Wolf Blitzer Crap!