What does it mean to be "lonely"?

Does it mean people treat you like an outcast – and you are pushed a side and a lone person.

Does it mean you run away from people – because you dislike them or you’re unable to connect to them.

Does it mean you are always at the wrong place with nobody to connect?

Does it mean nobody understands you or nobody can follow your ideas, mindset or attitude?

What does it mean to be lonely and is it real?

Don’t we all love little fluffy clouds? Especially 5 am in the morning, still drugged and excited from a whole night of clubbing and dancing? That was the good unhealthy life back then …

It was neither practical nor romantic to get some hot action in a movie theatre. It was pure necessity, since most people couldn’t afford their own places.

Today you can hook up with your girlfriend in front of your expensive multimedia-beamer-dolby-surround-entertainment-system – and be completely bored by all the bad movies you own without any erotic action.

Maybe romance in public is more exciting, because it’s limited and public?

Sniper Assistant First Grade actually isn’t such a great job – not as exciting as the recruitment officer made it sound like …

This looks extremely lame compared to today’s amazing visuals. But I can assure you that it kept me nailed to the screen for months. It’s not important what you see – it’s important what your imagination makes out of it.

I felt like Luke Skywalker saving the universe every day.

For years the Internet was dominated by male ingenuity and needs:  computer stuff, free porn and killing each other in bloody games.

Now woman are taking control and are putting their stamp on the Internet to satisfy their gender specific needs: looking pretty, knowing all the newest gossip, shop and shop and shop …

Isn’t it great to see that biological patterns still reign supreme in the 21st Century and a totally virtual environment?!

I’ll admit it: I watch war porn from time to time. It fulfills me with a strange excitement and disgust at the same time. It awakes a primitive "awesomeness" within my inner Neanderthal.

But there is another aspect to this: since mainstream media is so sanitized one doesn’t see the full horror of the action in the news. Plus many soldiers post their combat footage or photos on the net – so we all get to see what they do in our name.

I think Internet War Porn is a brutal but necessary way to confront western audiences with the realities of war – or the current madness in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also is a great channel for soldiers to tell us DIRECTLY their side of the story – without any filtering Defense Departments, politicians or media experts in between.

We need the truth more than ever in the age of political spin.

For years now newspapers have been closing down all over the world – and once again it has been a miserable year for publishers. It’s not only paper, but also TV and radio who find themselves under attack from the net.

Personally I love paper – but apart from my weekly edition of the ever great Economist – I don’t read any newspaper or magazine at all.

Overall mainstream media has lost the plot and has been to unwilling to confront the technological change and – MOST OF ALL – the contact to the reader. And there is still that thing called competence …

I knew many journalists in the early 90’s who sneered at so called "New Media" and it’s shiny new world. Today they are either unemployed or deeply into Internet publishing. But still most of them don’t like talking to "the reader" – their very audience. But if you don’t care about your readers – why should they care about you?

Make me smarter, not dumber!

Blogging brought back the "citizen journalist" – who stands on the same "height" as their readers and therefore love the exchange, no matter how bloody it is.

Many great publishing houses and broadcasters have started blogs on their own – trying desperately to build that very same relationship. But they usually fail. You can’t pit the passion of a 24/7 self-propelled blogger against a 9 to 5 work attitude of a normal employee.

But there is a final big mistake all these stations and newspapers make: the lack of depth, seriousness and competence. In the days before Google and Wikipedia it was very hard work for a normal person to research anything those newscasters and experts told us. Today it’s easy to find out if these "professionals" are competent.

Dunno where all that crap is coming from?!

Most mass media web sites are written poorly, offer no depth and real competence. They still just recycle what comes out of the big news agencies like AP or Reuters. Even my beloved BBC publishes only very short and not very deep news articles  – I dare not to mention CNN or MSNBC, which are a lot worse.

Most publishers are still under the illusion that if they offer infotainment and loads of celebrity crap people and advertisers will flock to them. That is why all stations and newspapers have so much trivial crap on their sites, pages and shows. And they is why they are all so exchangeable and don’t deserve any viewers loyalty.

Keep the paper – and give us competence!

Plus: since they all use the same news agencies all their content reads and looks the same. Reuters and AP also offer video and images – not just text anymore. That is why most smarter surfers "leech" the news directly from these providers – not from the recyclers like CNN or any newspaper.

But readers have to evolve as well. They have to be more willing to pay for good stuff and services. Only a few web sites so far have managed to get some money directly from their audience. And that’s a shame! Good journalism shouldn’t be funded by advertising, but by the readers.

But I am afraid in our "all for free" culture this won’t happen.

BBC Comedy / 48 minutes

"Goodness Gracious Me" was a great BBC comedy series placed in the large British Indian and Pakistani community. It broke many stereotypes and introduced many funny new ones.

I wish there was more "ethnic" humor like that – to get a better insight into another culture or lifestyle in a good and funny way.

Click image for more alpine smacking power …

Actually the whole of Bavaria is a secret fetish nation. We are deeply into leather and pain – as the document above perfectly demonstrate.

Music, dance, Lederhosen and a good "Watschn" is all we need to enjoy ourselves …

*Thanks to Edosan for that historical image*

Bastian Schweinsteiger – called "Schweini" by his friends (which actually roughly translates into "Piggy") – is devasted …

Congratulations Spain – you really are Europe’s Football Champion. That title is well deserved – although I still think that the Dutch are an equally  breath taking team.

Germany – once again – didn’t make it to the top. They didn’t play very good and it’s more or less by chance they ended up in the finals.

And I glad it’s over. After a month of madness, endless street parties and over excited fellow countryman I am glad some form of silence and normality is back.

Actually it’s a stupid affair anyway: watching these youngster millionaires sweating it out on the field to make even more money. Almost all of these players are the cream of the top of their national leagues and earn shitloads of money.

So each Euro Championship is mostly about overpaid sport stars duking it out and RAISING their net worth in pro football.

I am actually happy that the Spaniards won the tournament, since it has already helped to heal some of the rift in a still divided country. Spain’s many proud regions usually despise each other and didn’t stand behind their national team in unity. This year was different. So sport and symbolism can have a huge transforming impact – even in so called "modern societies".

Complete Video here

Complete Video here

The problem is an old one: how many "strangers" can a society digest? Especially in Europe with it’s internal open borders concept immigration is still a problem – and especially Britain – with it’s colonial history – has currently a hard time dealing with all the immigrants.

Britain has seen in recent years a huge influx of Polish workers – and the Asian communities (read mostly Pakistanis – like the London Bombers) have been exploding as well.

Still Europe is struggling to decide what to with all the African boat people and recent wave or Iraqi illegal immigrants crossing it’s many borders.

And there is still the Muslim question: many Europeans feel that it’s immigrated and homegrown Muslims don’t appreciate the humanistic, secular and democratic ideas on which Europe is built.

This is not about terrorist propaganda, this is not about free speech, this is not about radicalizing the public – it’s about the truth.

American politicians, American media and most parts of the so called American public simply "sanitize" reality to they don’t have to face the ugly truth: their own soldiers and mostly innocent people die in this stupid war on terror.

Don’t look away! This is your war. You decided to invade Afghanistan and Iraq – now stand up to it and face the blood.

This is the 21st century – you won’t be able to hide such videos and censor images – like the return of your own dead soldiers.

But America has learned from the Vietnam experience – and all side are making HUGE efforts to keep the TV screens clean. Because shocking images can make people change their minds – but cool 3D animations with heroic videos – but no blood or gut hanging out – do not offend …

Documentary / Fiction – 1hour 46minutes – 1990 – the sound is a bit out of sync in the second half

I am a huge fan of James Burke – he is one of the great writers and thinker who can connect the dots and explain it all to mere mortals like myself. A science historian and TV producer with an impressive resume.

The first part is an excellent analysis of human history and how the weather influenced human development and history – and he we have influenced the weather. The second part is more fictional – a docu drama if you will – how a global climate watchdog battles global warming and which measures have to be done to change our current unsustainable lifestyle.

This two part series "After the Warming" was produced 1990 – and it freaked me out.

First – it shocked me, that he had already such an insight and clear suggestions in the year 1990, when hardly anyone – and certainly not the mass media – was talking about climate change and global warming.

Second – his "predictions" or better say insights are spot on, especially watching it now almost 20 years after it has been produced.

Third – we have already wasted so much time to change our lifestyle and we are still far behind what would actually be possible to re-balance the weather system.

Although the quality of the video isn’t brilliant – the content is. So please watch it.

There is not much TV (via the Internet) which is worth watching, but "30 Days" is a great show. It is TV at it’s best: showing people other people and their way of life – so we can learn from each other and gain insights that are usually hard to achieve.

All "30 Days" episodes are built around the same mechanism: one person has to live with another group of people – with a contrary lifestyle or opinion. For example a bible thumbing guy has to live with a San Francisco gay dude or a meat munching hunter lives 30 days with a vegan family.

Most reality TV is built on "stupidity sensationalism" – which means they show the stupid sides of people and their actions and make fun of them. Jerry Springer talkshow is a typical example of this breed of television.

Morgan Spurlock and his team try to keep it real and show both sides of the argument / lifestyle. They never preach, they never portrait any side as better or superior – and they don’t use any cheap television effects to dumb it down.

I really hope there will be some day an international version of these – because it is obviously very US-centric – but nevertheless good.

More? 30 Days – Official Site and Wikipedia

Once again a great painting by Maestro Stuck: simple, harsh and effective. But as usual he nails the story perfectly.

Note to all Heroes: beware of the young princess – she has neither the maturity nor the backbone to withstand the temptations of power and sexuality. She’ll be your doom!

More? Stuck and Salome @ Wikipedia

Producing meat uses many primary food sources like wheat, maize or grain – and also oil for additional transport. Plus meat always needs to be cold – and therefore needs even more energy for refrigeration.

All livestock farts and produces loads of greenhouses gasses – and that’s actually as much bad gas as produced by cars.

You can only get as smart as the programs you decide to watch on the telly. Most people chose crap – so they stay stupid. But also most so called educational broadcasters like Discovery or History Channel are pretty dumb. Fancy computer graphics are no substitute for excellent researchers and writers.

So Germany and Turkey play against each other on Wednesday. Once again it doesn’t matter who will win or loose – in both cases it will be a national tragedy around here – with so many Turk living in Germany.

I personally already anticipate a night without sleep, because people will party all night and I won’t get any sleep.

So far my money was on the Dutch team, by the have been kicked out by the Russian – of all teams. At least the boring Italians are also gone. So my money is now on the Spaniards.

But the best news of all: the madness ends with the finals this very Sunday.

Several years ago a cargo ship lost thousands or rubber ducks in the ocean. Fifteen years they arrived at the English Coast.

But the ducklings long journey actually helped scientists to track the currents of the oceans.

Maybe I start a science project like this myself – the next time my rubber duck and I go for a swim …

Click image to get closer.

Those Swedes – liberated, sensual and always ready for some sexual gratification for any achievement! And they don’t care when and where it happens …

Another one of my Heroes just passed away. I discovered George Carlin just a few years ago and I was hooked immediately. Like other great man – Kurt Vonnegut – he spoke the truth in a clear, often harsh way. He used comedy as a vehicle for change and political criticism.

Are there any replacements? I don’t see any?

The Red Cross has become the modern symbol for help in times of need. Especially in wartime the Red Cross simply tries to help, no matter how is in need.

I am still fascinated that the Red Cross still is a voluntary and PRIVATE organization, who does not rely on governments or other big international institutions like the UN to do it’s job.

It’s the largest humanitarian movement and it has branches all over the world. And as caretaker of the famous Geneva Conventions (Hello Mr Bush?!) they have tried to civilize war and set some rules how to deal with the wounded, captured and dead while madness is rampaging. 

I actually find the additional title "Red Crescent" a bit stupid – but I don’t really care about labels as long as it HELPS someone somewhere …

So if you usually don’t donate any money or time to any movement or organization – you should at least consider to support the Red Cross, because it’s still one of the best and certainly the biggest. Have a look where they are active!

More? Red Cross @ Wikipedia

Click for more summer delights.

After several weeks of old, rain, storms and even floods – summer has arrived in Germany. Boy, is it hot in here …

I still think that Oranje should win the tournament – they overall have played the best "Fußball" so far. Tonight they hopefully kick the boring Russians out of the tournament.

Go Oranje go!

This game also shows you how idiotic the idea of "national" teams has become in our days: the trainer of the Russian team is Dutch and has trained the Dutch team before. But is anyone surprised about stuff like that, when an immigrated Brazilian plays for the Turks …?!

PS: As a German it’s a sacrilege to support the Dutch team – so please don’t tell any of my fellow Sauerkrauts of this …

Hmmm, isn’t the X-Files hype already a bit old?

Don’t get me wrong: I was a huge X-Files fan – it was one of the best things that happened in the 1990’s and it even made me buy a TV to watch the video tapes I bought for a lot of money (note to kids: that was before bittorrent gave you all these shows for "free").

But ten years after the first X-Files flick "Fight the Future" it all feels a bit stale and disconnected. Please Mr Carter don’t turn this into another media zombie like Star Trek that refuses to die.

And putting a comedian – the great Billy Connolly – into the movie as a serious character is not a great indicator of great wisdom. Maybe a less well known face might have been better?

More? Trailer @ Apple.com  and the Official Site

Yep, I finally joined the in crowd – again. I tried Twitter in the very beginning and didn’t like it so much – because it was an "empty universe". And I am still surprised that such a minimalist tool is such an success. It doesn’t do anything new – it’s a sort of public instant messaging and group chat. So nothing your AIM, Yahoo Messanger, ICQ, Skype and MSN are not doing already – but in a bit different way.

But it once again shows that excellent small tools always find their audience. Especially when they fulfill specific needs: in this case 24/7 exhibitionism, virtual omnipresence and peeping into other peoples lifes. Some people would call another step to the ever close global village – other would call it simply the inability to be alone and "disconnected" in our networked modern life.

Anyway …

Ultraorange on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ultraorange

But you can also see the recent twitter posts above.

We regard Newton as one of the greatest scientists of all time: he discovered Gravity and invented calculus. Each one of these would already secured him a place in history.

But he was obsessed with religion and exploring "Gods" creation – he actually wrote more theological texts than scientific ones.

In his time science and religion were still closely tied together. Every professor in Cambridge had to become a Minister in the Church of England – he hated that idea and was freed from that duty.

With the bold prison attack the Taliban scored big time. But I still believe that smarter NATO tactics and a LOT more support for the normal Afghan People this is still winnable.

My hometown and birthplace München just celebrated it’s 850th birthday last weekend. It is certainly not the oldest city in Europe – more like a middle aged one.

What Ms Sklar clearly describes in this interview has been happening all over the industrial and advances countries: the middle class is disappearing and a new form of class system has been forming since the 1980’s.

Thank you Mr Reagan and Ms Thatcher for establishing the greedy philosophy of "free markets", "trickle down economic" and "market democracy". It simply isn’t a social way to run a society and establish a "just" economy.

Social societies are a GOOD thing. Capitalism is good, but it needs oversights and corrections to work for the benefit of all and not just a few people.

They will survive us all!

New Scientist: Jesus-era seed is the oldest to germinate

Forget cryopreservation – hot and dry conditions might be all you need to awake far into the future. A date palm seed some 2000 years old – preserved by nothing more than storage in hot and dry conditions – has germinated, making it the oldest seed in the world to do so.

The ancient seed was found along with several others in the 1960s in the Masada fortress on the edge of the Dead Sea in Israel. Recently, three were planted in soil and one germinated.

Wow! Nature is pretty inventive and tough. This shows us that we humans might be able to kill ourselves and damage nature. But in the long run nature will survive and regenerate itself.

The Big Picture Blog is simply AWESOME. Almost every posting is a complete stunner. Like this series of pictures shot from the space shuttle.

I know this image is from a child bride in Afghanistan … still terrible … 

BBC News: Egypt bans 92-year-old’s marriage (with a 17 year old)

The ministry of justice invoked a law which says the age gap between spouses should not exceed 25 years.

Egypt brought in the law prohibiting the marriage of elderly men to very young girls during the Gulf oil boom.

It was an effort to prevent wealthy men from the Gulf states seeking young poor brides from the Egyptian countryside.

The Middle East is still one of the worst places to be a woman. Unless they work harder on the issue and work on their own chauvinistic egos I can’t take any talk about Arab or Muslim high level of culture seriously. The same applies of course for many Turks – who still enjoy their honor killings …

One would hardly consider the House of Lords as a modern political institutions – but they seem bend on improving their standing with the British Voters. Excellent!

So they got themselves their own channel on YouTube and trying to explain what they actually do.

I really really really hope more politicians get smart about this and try harder to connect to their voters via the web. Cut out the middle man (the so called media) and talk directly to the people you work for.

More? Official Site of the House of Lords

BBC News: Trimmed French military is no retreat

There are two very odd things regarding European integration: Britain’s unwillingness to accept that it is part of Europe and France’s odd military status in NATO.

Finally the later will be fixed soon – after almost 40 years since Charles de Gaulle pulled out of NATO.

France has long been fighting side by side with their other western allies – but they were never officially part of the team. Sarko finally wants to put an end to that charade and join the team as a full member.

He also wants to shake up the military establishment and bring the troops into the 21st century – just like the Brits did several years ago.

Germany still hardly makes an effort to improve it’s military.

And all the big European ideas about a quick reaction force and all these stupid dreams never really gotten anywhere.

Europe still depends on NATO and therefore on the US and Canada.

More? Military of France @ Wikipedia

The naivety of musicals from the early days of Hollywood reflect the overall "simple" attitude to life in the western world. Entertainment was simple, glamorous and mostly eye candy (very much like today’s Bollywood movies I recently complained about).

Cyd Charisse was one of the Goddesses of Eye Candy and dance. She had a grace and beauty you won’t find in any modern movie or music video on MTV.

An era comes to an end.

Dreamlike sequence from "Singing in the Rain" with Gene Kelly.

Hot bar scene from "The Band Wagon" with Fred Astaire.

And another hot scene from "Singing in the Rain".

I have no problems eating animals. Many of them can be very yummy. But I do hate animal cruelty against pets and "food". There is NO reason to cause these creatures any unnecessary pain, even when we kill them to eat them.

I especially despise people who buy animals as pets and simply "dispose" them when they are bored with them. Next time buy a Tamagotchi instead – in that case you waste only the batteries life instead of a real one.

Is this supposed to be funny? Or a documentary? Or simply a reflection of a trivial everyday thing by even more trivial multimedia artists?

These "people" have their own channel on YouTube and many other places. Even more terrifying is, that so many seem to watch and LIKE this kinda stuff.

I wish channels like ForaTV or RealNews would get as much attention! But reality always seems to loose against triviality in our day and age.

Yesterday’s wars are today’s football games. Nationalism and passion boils over when football teams battle for the national pride. Although I don’t like football very much I prefer this form of nationalism over wars and other bloody conflicts.

Today is a tragedy in the making: either Germany or Austria will be kicked out of the tournament. In both cases a national disaster.

Since neither nation likes each other very much a war of words already started last week when it was clear that the German team was in deep trouble after it’s shitty game against Croatia.

Now the mighty German Fußball Nation has to win against tiny Austria – which has been not bad so far in this tournament.

Personally: I don’t care! May the best team win – although I would love to see Austria win, which would result in the bigger tragedy. I think that would be much more entertaining …

So far I think Oranje is the best team – they have played the best games so far and played the most convincing football.