I love (pseudo-)historical shows like the Tudors, one of the view entertaining ways to look back in time. Sure – this show is not perfectly accurate, which I find a shame, but at least it’s entertaining.

I actually thing that many old real stories are far more entertaining and spooky than most stuff Hollywood can make up. I am still waiting for great TV series about Ancient Greek or Rome (that are accurate). There is enough blood and drama to keep even the Twitter-Generation entertained …

More? Official Site

Documentary about Japan’s secret Empire. Enjoy!

Charming and insightful documentary by Stephen Fry about the machine that changed the world.

Mr Newman is a brilliant and explosive mixture: comedian, historian, anarchist and activist. His show about oil is intelligent and insightful. You might learn more about this dark substance and it’s political influence than watching a whole year of CNN and the Discovery Channel together.

And it’s bloody funny too!

Don’t forget to visit Mr Newman’s great website and buy some of his stuff?!

*Update: This is a repost, because the old video was deleted.*

I am sure this guy "fighting" Chris Matthews isn’t really dumb – but it was really dumb not to say "I don’t know". I love this kind of media coverage …

A new study shows that ancient humans used shoes already 40.000 years ago. Wow! So before the Iron Age we had the Shoe Age. So maybe the woman’s obsession with shoes goes way back …

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

From Wikipedia:

An insight into the history of nuclear power. In the 1950s scientists and politicians thought they could create a different world with a limitless source of nuclear energy. But things began to go wrong. Scientists in America and the Soviet Union were duped into building dozens of potentially dangerous plants. Then came the disasters of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl which changed views on the safety of this new technology.

More? Pandora’s Box Series

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

From Wikipedia:

A look at how former Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah set Africa ablaze with his vision of a new industrial and scientific age. At the heart of his dream was to be the huge Volta dam, generating enough power to transform West Africa into an advanced utopia. But as his grand experiment took shape, it brought with it dangerous forces Nkrumah couldn’t control, and he slowly watched his metropolis of science sink into corruption and debt.

More? Pandora’s Box Series

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

From Wikipedia:

A modern fable about science and society, focusing on our attitude to nature. Should we let scientists be the prime movers of social or political change when, for instance, DDT made post-war heroes of American scientists only to be put on trial by other scientists in 1968? What kind of in-fighting goes on between rival camps before one scientific truth emerges, and when it does emerge, just how true is it?

More? Pandora’s Box Series

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

From Wikipedia:

Thirty years ago, a group of economists managed to convince British politicians that they had foolproof technical means to make Britain great again. Pandora’s Box tells the saga of how their experiments have led the country deeper into economic decline, and asks – is their game finally up?

More? Pandora’s Box Series

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

From Wikipedia:

Focusing on the men of the Cold War on whom Dr Strangelove was based. These were people who believed that the world could be controlled by the scientific manipulation of fear – mathematical geniuses employed by the Rand Corporation. In the end, their visions were the stuff of science fiction fantasy.

Curtis most recent documentary ‘The Trap’ also comes back to these think tanks featured in this documentary.

More? Pandora’s Box Series

Adam Curtis / documentary / ca 44 minutes

Once again Maestro Curtis delivers some excellent insights into modern affairs. This time he reports about the inner workings of the Soviet Union and why it’s economy failed. This is once again highly recommended to anyone who wants to understand our present world.

Important note: some minutes of the end are missing. Nothing really essential. Just don’t be surprised if some final statement is abruptly ended. The rest is still brilliant!

More? Pandora’s Box Series

BBC 4 / documentary / 3 episodes each ca. 1 hour

This is what I would consider basic knowledge or better say insight what happened in recent history.

I can recommend watching all parts – but number 2 is especially important, because it shows that Racism was one of the driving forces in America that swapped over to Europe (again) in a scientific disguise and supported the old idea of the Masterrace, which suited the Nazis perfectly.

Part 1: The Philosophy of Racism

Beginning by assessing the implications of the relationship between Europe, Africa and the Americas in the 15th century, it considers how racist ideas and practices developed in key religious and secular institutions, and how they showed up in writings by European philosophers Aristotle and Immanuel Kant.

Part 2: Scientific Racism

Looking at Scientific Racism, invented during the 19th century, an ideology that drew on now discredited practices such as phrenology and provided an ideological justification for racism and slavery. These theories ultimately led to eugenics and Nazi racial policies of the master race. Some upsetting scenes.

Part 3: Modern and colonial Racism

The third and final episode of Racism: A History examines the impact of racism in the 20th Century. By 1900, European colonial expansion had reached deep into the heart of Africa. Under the rule of King Leopold II, The Belgian Congo was turned into a vast rubber plantation.

Men, women and children who failed to gather their latex quotas would have their limbs dismembered. The country became the scene of one of the century’s greatest racial genocides, as an estimated 10 million Africans perished under colonial rule.

One amazing documentary about India, early human development and culture. Highly insightful! It deals with the first big cities and settlement, as well as the story of the Arians and other early cultures.

More? Some background on the mentioned early cultures Sindhi and Indus Valley.

If you society only imports technology it lacks the experience of reinventing the wheel and the progress of adapting this new idea.

Many inventors were far ahead of their societies, but because nor the public or the elite could understand the invention and it’s glory they got forgotten.

Improving society by invention is also about communication, education and integration. That is why progress takes time – ideas, change and technology needs time to take roots.

So the wheel has to be reinvented again and again, so we understand the process, learn from it and appreciate it.

Furniture is relative new invention of human culture (and bloody interior designer, Martha Steward and Feng Shui consultants as well).

Before bookshelfs, comfy chairs and pull out sofas our ancestors were pretty happy with simple tables and chairs, slept on the ground and used simple boxes or a sack to put their stuff into …

Max Planck is one of the godfathers of modern physics – like Einstein. Together with Niels Bohr he worked on the breathtaking quantum theory. I am still trying to wrap my head around it’s implications.

More? Wikipedia entry

I guess only the complicated western mind could develop such a crazy system of eating utensils? While other cultures are happy with a a knife, spoon, some bread and maybe chopsticks to pick up their food – Europe indulged into a complicated system of silverware.

From Wikipedia:

Cutlery refers to any hand utensil used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the original meaning of the word. Since silverware suggests the presence of silver, the term tableware has come into use.

The major items of cutlery in the western world are the knife, fork and spoon. Traditionally, good quality cutlery was made from silver (hence the U.S. name), though steel was always used for more utilitarian knives, and pewter was used for some cheaper items, especially spoons. From the nineteenth century, Electroplated Nickel Silver (EPNS) was used as a cheaper substitute; nowadays, most cutlery, including quality designs, is made from stainless steel. Plastic cutlery is made for disposable use, and is frequently used in fast food or take-away outlets and provided with airline meals.

Two forms of utensil combining the functionality of various pairs of cutlery are the spork (spoon / fork) and knork (knife / fork). Cutlery gets its name from the term for a person skilled in making knives, a cutler. The Worshipful Company of Cutlers was one of the London livery companies, reflecting the importance of this trade in the Middle Ages.

Cutlery gained prominence during the Middle Ages.

There are not many guns and rifles a normal person will know by name (unless you are a gun nut anyway). The Magnum .44 is something everybody knows – and the famous Winchester Rifle, which appear in any old western movie.

But capitalism is able to bring down even well armed icons. The company Winchester that produces the gun has moved abroad and no longer wants to manufacture this gun (BBC article here). It’s simply not profitable.

I wish that would happen to all guns and riffles!

More? Winchester Rifle @ Wikipedia and the movie Winchester 73

He certainly is one of the real giants of the last century. He formulated and created a new way of looking at ourselves and exploring humanity. Many of his theories are now proven wrong – but Siegmund Freud wouldn’t mind that. He based his work on empirical evidence, not dogmas. He changed his several of his theories several times.

Too bad many people turned his theories and observations into dogmas – especially in contrast with the terrible events of world war II. Freud’s work gave many people the reason to believe that the human animal is bad, driven mostly by his deep sexual desires and needs. This is certainly a part of the human equation, but not the whole story.

Especially evolutionary biology has shown that the ‘selfish gene‘ in us is much more altrustic and pragmatic then Freud and many other prophets of doom want us to believe.

Simply mentioning the word ‘UFO’ either provokes a smile or some awe – depending on which side of the discussion you stand. There are four big camps here: the Esoteric UFO nuts, the Conspiracy Experts, the total Deniers and the serious Researchers.

Here are some thoughts about each group. And think about yourself: do you like UFOs, because you want some nice alien alternative to our earthly madness or do you deny their existence, because you are a super sceptic?

The Esoterics

Believing in UFOs has become a substitute religion for some people. Some odd cults followed leader either chosen by aliens or who have claimed they are aliens themselves. There is no coherent believe system in this group – it ranges from Inca gods to UFO references in the Bible. Anything goes.

I am the super intelligent life form from Sirius and here to save you my true believer …

Arguments: There is life out there. Aliens brought life to Earth. Aliens are our beloved cosmic ‘parents’ and watch over us.

Material: UFOs in the Bible (video), Erich van Däniken (video) and his Wikipedia entry

These are mostly people who want to believe ’something’. Aliens, Gods and Angels in shiny flying objects is just such a tempting vision not to resist. It is the perfect fantasy for a ‘nice’ future in your head.

A God’s Chariot in the Sky = Alien in a spaceship …

Most of all it’s religious escapism: someone will chose you and take you away from this miserable planet to the heavens. You are a true believer, therefore an Überbeing will reward your faith and give you something special no one else gets. Since ‘God is dead’ (thanks Herr Nietzsche) living aliens are the best ‘mental sugar to fulfil this desire.

Total Deniers & Debunkers

Hey, I am just a weather balloon!

The essence of this group can be easily summed up with one question: If Aliens would have visited us, why haven’t they simply made officially contact with us? It makes no sense to fly a gazillion kilometers through outer space to scare some Redneck in Arizona or mutilate cows in Texas.

There are also many serious people out there who have debunked many sightings are natural phenomena or simply aircraft sightings.

Argument: We want a complete UFO and Alien to dissect and study – anything else is not enough to prove their existence.

Material: UFO debunking website, Top Ten Alien encounters debunked, Larry King special with a ‘debunking battle’ at the end (video), fake alien autopsy (video), Roswell Wikipedia entry.

I personally strongly agree with a skeptical approach, since people often love to SEE things that are simply not there. Plus it’s always good to remember the literal meaning of UFO: unidentified flying object – simply something that flies in the sky and you don’t know exactly what it is. It does not automatically imply little green man or an alien god coming for you.

But the Anti-UFO camps often seems to eager to deny everything – that is why so many Conspiracy Experts like to label Debunkers as agent of the dark and secret government.

We need these skeptical minds, because people are willing to believe almost anything, especially the esoteric types and many of the mad conspiracy ideas need to be challenged most of the time.

Conspiracy Nerds

Heil Alien! (Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Alien!)

UFOs built by Nazis? The existence of UFOs well known and hidden by the Government? Secret technology abused by the rich and powerful to keep us mere mortals enslaved? The Government is building secret weapons based on alien technology?

Sounds all like an episode of the X-Files, right?

But you are in for a shock. Although some Conspiracy Nerds are nuts, some of their points are actually true.

Nazi Germany did experiment with many weird and outstanding technologies back then. The flying wing – like today’s B2 bomber -was one of these concepts.

The Gotha Horton was in the early design stages shortly before the war. It was way ahead of it’s time – and is the forefather of the B2 Bomber.

The same is true for flying saucers. The German Andreas Epp actually developed the concept of flying saucers for use as target drones for the German Luftwaffe.

This research was first used by the Russians and later by the Americans. So military flying saucers are no fiction, there were actually several declassified projects developed like the Cypher and the Avrocar.

But not all these points have a solid foundation like the Nazi flying saucer. A lot – and I mean a lot – of crazy ideas, suspicions and rumors get mixed together in this camp. Any wild idea ranging from Hitler’s secret bases in Antarctica, Freemasons on the Moon to Aliens disguised as humans in our Governments are included.

Some old construction plans from 1956 – based on work during the war.

These outrageous stories illustrate the biggest weakness of the Conspiracy Nerds – that they love to develop one big theory that explains and connects anything to everything. Their own vivid imagination is their biggest enemy. And there still is a big difference between connecting different theories and having definitive proof. Too often vague ideas seem more interesting to them than solid facts.

Arguments: We know that something is going on! We have figured it all out! The Government is hiding everything!

Material: Interview with Andreas Epp (video in German), German Saucer (video) and an article excerpt about the German saucer experiments. UFO conspiracy Wikipedia entry. Some more about Andreas Epp. If you have a lot of time then watch this hardcore video about “Nazi UFOs – how they fly” (video), which mixes Tessla Coils and Nazi UFOs together …

We do need these Nerds to dig deep and connect the wildest ideas and drive out in the desert to shot images of secret military projects. Only a nutty nerd would do that – normal citizens stay at home and watch American Idol.

Area 51 Warnings – a total Nerd magnet!

As much as we need the skeptical debunkers on one side, we need the overactive minds and patience of the Nerds to put all the pieces together. Even when many ‘results’ are weird or false, because sometimes they are right! And conspiracies DO HAPPEN. Sometimes Governments do lie and dangerous people in power will do anything to hold on to power or increase their influence. And it’s not just the Nazis that would do weird and evil stuff …

Serious Researchers & Witnesses

Hey, I saw something in the sky – and it was not a peanut!

In recent years there is a growing movement of ’serious’ people, who want the governments to more open about UFOs in general. First let’s look at my claim of ’serious’: one wouldn’t consider Shirley Maclain are serious expert, especially since she has been very ‘new age’ and hardly qualifies as an technical expert. But one would consider military and civilian pilots as well as former government officials as ’serious’ or experts on either Government dealings or things that fly.

But just seeing something unidentifiable in the sky is no proof of anything – especially not any government involvement. But these people often have seen unexplainable phenomena close up or on their radar screens – AND have experience their governments murky response to it (like denying it ever happening or confiscating documents). Any such behaviors fuels of course suspicions.

It looked like a flying triangle …

Many ‘Black Projects’ like the F-117 and the B-2 Stealth Bombers certainly look like flying saucers when viewed at certain angles. And they are supposed NOT to appear on the radar screen. So it would be no surprise that the American Government would deny or suppress any sightings or ‘proof’ of these once top secret weapon projects.

This is less about little green man, it’s more about Government secrecy.

Argument: We want some proof and the government to deal openly with this.

Material: former Pilots and Official ask the US Government for reopening UFO investigations (BBC News article) and video

Disinformation, secrecy and smokescreens are pretty normal political tools for any Government. We can’t expect the Government to be open about everything. Secrecy is important and black operations are needed to deal with enemies within and outside the country. But this is not a carte blanche to do anything.

Especially in our days and the hyped up fear about terrorism it’s necessary to watch all governments even closer. It doesn’t matter if it is about UFOs or something else, the people at the top need to be controlled, military projects and spending have to be regulated as well.

Click image for a larger execution.

The drama, the tears, the brutality! I am actually surprised that so many old paintings are pretty bloodless. You rarely see gory scenes like in modern movies. This is especially surprising since those times were pretty bloody, so horrific scenes have been pretty normal to those people – not like us, who see violence and war only mostly on TV or made up movies.

Joseph Niepce took this picture 1826. Wow!

I am making here a little fun of the historical concept of Absolutism.

One of the major underlying difference between so called left/liberal and right/conservative (plus fundamentalist) dogmas is the conflict between ‘relativism’ and ‘absolutism’.

In a dogma of absolutism you have ‘true’ and solid values and ‘points’ in your world view that are not negotiable. (Wikipedia on political and moral absolutism.) Some of it’s heads are: Thomas Hobbes, Immanuel Kant and Aristotle.

With a relativistic world one thing leads to another, you hardly find solid positions to navigate, but a mere set of ideas that keep a network of borders that constantly shift. (Wikipedia on moral relativism.) Some of it’s heads are: Karl Marx, Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger.

Absolute concepts and values are of course easier to understand and present, since their set of rules is less wobbly – hence the word absolute.

Karl Marx – bloody relativist communist scummmmm …

Here are some statements about Absolutism by Mr. Richard Hooker (taken again from here):

Political philosophers attempted to extricate themselves from these matters through two different, contradictory approaches: “natural law” or “the Divine Right of Kings.” According to natural law political thinkers, there were immutable natural laws which should govern states and their relations to their citizens and to other states. According to the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, a system of thought derived ultimately from medieval theories of kingship, certain kings ruled because they were specifically chosen by God to be kings. Surprisingly, both of these approaches could yield the same result: the idea that the best form of government is an autocracy, or rule by a single person. This person was not to be questioned or disobeyed; this became known as “absolutism,” since the monarch ruled with “absolute” power, that is, unshared power.

Natural law yielded absolutism in the work of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), who believed all things, including human society, could be understood using principles of geometry. Hobbes’ central argument was that all humans are driven by two and only two impulses: fear of death and desire for power. If left unchecked, human beings would act on these impulses and live violent, brutish, inhumane, and solitary lives. In order to keep these impulses in check, human beings, according to Hobbes, drew up a social contract, which ceded authority to a single person in exchange for a level of security. The single ruler would control the violent and selfish impulses of individual members in a society through brute force; individuals would lose their liberty, but they would gain security and community. Hobbes didn’t care what form this single rule might take, whether a monarch or a dictator, only that absolute power was required to keep society together.

Relative guilty? Absolute Guilty? Relative dead? Absolute dead?

This is of course a nasty rhetoric trick from my side, to mix modern conservative thinking with an 17th century ideology. But I can’t help the feeling that the overall attitude is very similar?!

But it is about time that we leave dogmas behind us as political tools and aspire to use whatever is the best idea for the problem. But that would again imply that that solutions are relative to the problem and it’s circumstances. So is life in the end relative and not absolute? Can one defend absolute ideas in the end? Read this christian refutation of Relativism.

The ‘invention’ – the AK-47

The original German Sturmgewehr

Usually I am don’t give a peep about nationalistic sentiments – but it just drives me nuts, when history gets abused. Mr Kalashnikov recently bragged about his invention and how much American soldiers loved his AK-47. Well, I am no weapons expert, but you can read about the AK-47 reliability in any recent war reports. The American M-16 never seems so popular – since it has hardly improved since it was introduced 30 years ago.

BUT … the AK47 is a perfect of the German Sturmgewehr 44, which was introduced in the last battles at the eastern front and deeply impressed the Soviets. No surprise they endorsed further developments of these fast firing attack weapons and even adapted their infantry doctrines to reflect this.

Although this is a very health conscious generation – we are even more addicted to coffee then any generation before us: soda drinks with caffeine, water with caffeine, energizer drinks with caffeine, the normal cokes and Pepsis, latte’s and cappuccinos.

Plus we pour huge amounts of sugar, sweetener and also milk into these drinks (maybe not into a cold coke) – not very healthy either. It’s a mad generation Starbucks and Diet Coke rolled into one big global addiction. You find no country without coffee shops and cooled coke dispensers. There is even a Mecca Cola.

You have to turn to Mecca before you take a sip.

Here are the basics about coffee from Wikipedia:

Coffee is a beverage, usually hot, prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant. These seeds are usually called coffee beans, although they are not technically beans. Coffee is the second most commonly traded commodity in the world, trailing only petroleum. A total of 6.7 million tonnes of coffee were produced annually in 1998-2000, forecast to rise to 7 million tonnes annually by 2010 FAO figures. Coffee is one of humanity’s chief sources of caffeine, a stimulant. Its potential benefits and hazards have been, and continue to be, widely studied and discussed.

The word entered English in 1598 via Italian caffè, via Turkish kahve, from Arabic qahwa. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, there being several legendary accounts of the origin of the drink. One possible origin is the Kaffa region in Ethiopia, where the plant originated (its native name there being bunna). Coffee beans were first exported from Ethiopia to Yemen. One legendary account (though certainly a myth) is that of the Yemenite Sufi mystic named Shaikh ash-Shadhili. When traveling in Ethiopia he observed goats of unusual vitality and, upon trying the berries that the goats had been eating, experienced the same effect. A similar myth ascribes the discovery to an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi. Qahwa originally referred to a type of wine, and need not be the name of the Kaffa region.

Consumption of coffee was outlawed in Mecca in 1511 and in Cairo in 1532, but in the face of its immense popularity, the decree was later rescinded. In 1554, the first coffeehouse in Istanbul opened.

Largely through the efforts of the British and Dutch East India companies, coffee became available in Europe no later than the 16th century, according to Leonhard Rauwolf’s 1583 account. The first coffeehouse in England was set up in Oxford by one Jacob or Jacobs, a Turkish Jew, in 1650. The first coffeehouse in London was opened two years later in St. Michael’s Alley in Cornhill. The proprietor was Pasqua Rosée, the Ragusan servant of a trader in Turkish goods named Daniel Edwards, who imported the coffee and assisted Rosée in setting up the establishment. The coffeehouse spread rapidly in Europe and America after that, with first coffeehouses opening in Boston in 1670, and in Paris in 1671. By 1675, there were more than 3,000 coffeehouses in England.

The British actually love coffee as much as tea.

Women were not allowed in coffeehouses, and in London, the anonymous 1674 “Women’s Petition Against Coffee” complained:

“…the Excessive Use of that Newfangled, Abominable, Heathenish Liquor called COFFEE […] has […] Eunucht our Husbands, and Crippled our more kind Gallants, that they are become as Impotent, as Age. “

Legend has it that the first coffeehouse opened in Vienna in 1683 after the Battle of Vienna, taking its supplies from the spoils left behind by the defeated Turks. The officer who received the coffee beans, Polish military officer Franciszek Jerzy Kulczycki, opened the first coffee house in Vienna and helped popularize the custom of adding sugar and milk to the coffee. Another more credible story is that the first coffeehouses were opened in Krakow in the 16th or 17th century because of closer trade ties with the East, most notably the Turks.

Turks at the Gates of Vienna: We are only here to deliver the coffee!

The first coffee plantation in the New World was established in Brazil in 1727, and this country, like most others cultivating coffee as a commercial commodity, relied heavily on slave labor from Africa for its viability until abolition in 1888. The success of coffee in 17th-century Europe was paralleled with the spread of the habit of tobacco smoking all over the continent during the course of the Thirty Years War (1618– 48).

One brand to rule them all – and with dark brew to bind them …

For many decades in the 19th and early 20th centuries Brazil was the biggest producer and virtual monopolist in the trade, until a policy of maintaining high prices opened opportunities to other growers, like Colombia, Guatemala and Indonesia. The mother plant for much of the arabica coffee in the world is kept in the Amsterdam Hortus Botanicus.

After so many dry facts I need a coffee myself!

I find it highly strange and fascinating that some of the darkest visions about the future come from Britain: 1984, V for Vendetta and Brave New World. We consider British society as one of the most liberal and ‘free’ societies on earth – still nightmares of total state control and suppression seem to haunt the British mind. It is also true that Britain has more camera watching it’s citizen then any other country on this planet.

I suspect it’s all connected with the good old class system, the terrible human conditions of the industrial revolution and elitist games. As much we may think of Britain as in Jane Austin terms, witty games of the upper class, there was always a dark and big underbelly in British society. Achievements like the Magna Carta and many modern democratic rights were only granted to the upper class (very much like in the rest of Europe).

We can’t lower our standards.

But since British society was also the first to experience the industrial revolution – it was also the first to encounter the horrors of this new era in human history. Terrible slums with unbelievable conditions, smog everywhere and extreme poverty. Certainly this has happened in big cities before – like in good old Rome. But never to such an extend.

And it was set in contrast to the Age of Enlightenment – new ideas about human rights and social equality. No surprise that Karl Marx (who lived for some time in London) and many other socialist thinkers were deeply influenced by the conditions of the new working class in Britain.

The British Empire of course had an ugly history of colonialism and brutal suppression. Almost any uprising was bitterly crushed. Only a few countries like America escaped the Empire by use of revolutionary force.

George Orwell started his writing career as an investigative reporter. He lived among the poorest of the poor and exposed the social dark side of this new industrial world in his great book Down and Out in Paris and London. But also his book ‘The Road to Wigan Pier‘ digs deeper into the dirt. Both books shocked Britain.

Victorian society slowly woke up to these truths and started to change. But only after social unrest and several waves of infectious diseases threatened their lifestyle too. But also revolutions first in France and later Russia ‘helped’ the upper class to see the need for change.

Oh look Charles, this is really shocking! Those poor people …

Without such minds like Karl Marx and George Orwell Britain might have never developed to such free society (yes, socialism was a big influence in the UK – although Maggie Thatcher cleared most of it out). So every country needs smart system critics as well as pressure from the street and money willing to make changes. Social development doesn’t come for free and doesn’t ‘just’ happen.

The evil image of an totalitarian society as the twin of a great society might be a good way to keep people and politicians on their toes.

I love the irony: a flying human carries the birds who symbolize peace, but are now both used to fly for the great european war. Life is … weird!

If you like to know more about the dreadful failure of the so called Tiananmen Square revolution and today’s China please watch this great documentation: The Tank Man.

It tells in great detail the story of a failed revolution and how China’s communists brutally knocked down the people’s will. Sure – we are all amazed by today’s economic boom in China – but still it’s more like a brutal economic progress for the few rich and the party – not for most of the people.

In rural areas the poverty and devastation is unbelievable. Schooling and medical support has broken down in most of the country. Factory workers are denied basic rights – rights the communists used to fight and campaign for. No strikes are allowed, so sick leave is paid and accidents are not covered. It basic and brutal capitalism at work here.

This distorted ’success’ is on one side rebuilding China’s failed infrastructure on the backs of Chinese laborers, while putting the western economies in turmoil. In a strange way both sides are ‘paying’ up to bring China out of the misery of 60 year of stupid communist government.

I still can’t believe that China got the Olympics of 2008.

So Mr Bush is threatening war again – against another ‘evil’ country. Iran is producing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorists. Deja vu anyone?

Yes, Iran is run by a theocratic upper class that suppresses democracy, woman’s rights and free speech. Yes, Iran’s economy is down on it’s knees – if it weren’t for all the oil money (thanks for the high prices to the Iraq war) the country would be unable to sustain itself. Yes, Iran supports terrorists and is working on nuclear weapons. But so many countries push ahead their strategic interests, allies and defences.

But NONE of these facts gives ANY other country right to invade it or threaten it with a military attack to take out some of it’s ‘evil’ assets.

Let’s look back in history: the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was supported both by the British and Americans and he supplanted a democratically elected president. It was the bad regime of the Shah that caused the people to raise up and kick his butt! Instead of supporting the people’s revolution the Americans fought it (more details here).

Once the mullahs were in charge the Americans supported their enemies like Saddam Hussein. During the VERY bloody Iraq vs Iran war the US supplied arms and military intelligence. The Iranians didn’t loose the war, because the used massive amounts of suicide bombers (mostly teenagers).

Anyone surprised that the people of Iran consider the US of A their biggest enemy?!

But the people of Iran suffered under the Shah and now under the followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. Maybe some day there will be a another revolution and maybe the people of Iran will get it right this time and find the right balance that suits their culture and needs.

But the Iranians should change their society – not someone else.

Wikipedia: Iran

Surprisingly this very practical bed was done during Europe’s Dark Ages and it’s so very Ikea! Maybe a Viking bed?

Very cool TV series from HBO. It’s not as cheesy as those old Hollywood movies, it tries to be historically accurate (but there are some serious errors) – at least in it’s settings and design.

But I do love those characters and their very different attitudes. The personal stories and character development is interesting to watch. The acting is excellent. Life in Rome is full of sex and brutality – it was just ‘normal’ back then, people dying and fucking all over the place.

A nice change to all the doctors, lawyer and other soap operas. I actually would love to see a PROPER series about Athens and other Greek city states – not that Hercules & Xena crap. HBO are you listening?

Rome makes you wander if we have progressed at all? Hail Caesar!

More? Wikipedia

Who did the spell checking here? Were all the craftsmen literate? Could they read what the were ‘writing’? And did they include ‘Easter eggs’ in some texts?

BBC News:  Armenia welcomes ‘genocide’ vote and BBC News Video plus the response of the Turkish President

Almost all countries have their dark spots in history: America’s decimation of native Indians, Belgium’s brutal rule in the Congo and Turkey’s slaughter of Armenians.

Some countries like Germany went through a long and painful process of understanding it’s own history and apologizing for it. Some countries like Japan or Turkey seem to be in eternal denial.

Especially the Turkish macho attitude to national pride and identity are more a curse than a blessing. Yes, you can go to jail for any crime or insult against ‘Turkishness’ (whatever that means).

How dare the US to speak truth to Turkishness?!

Back when it all happened it was the US who condemned and reprimanded Turkey for it’s bloody deeds. Until this day the US congress and many American and of course Armenian NCO’s kept the memory alive. Turkey hasn’t moved an inch since the first Armenian was killed.

Nationalism is always in the way of truth. Being a modern country means also to accept your own dark spots and simply asking for forgiveness for things that went wrong.

Denial in the age of information looks rather stupid and backward, no matter how much pride a nation can muster.

Some more background: Turkey’s Armenian dilemma and BBC Q&A about the Armenian genocide.

Compared to most animals we humans have developed a huge variety of jobs. First we started out as simple hunter-gatherers with only a specialization between genders. But as our mental capabilities grew – so did the job market.

Since we are lazy creatures we tried to find methods to make life easier and work less. Technology and machines are the result of this – sadly slavery and feudal systems as well.

Until the industrial revolutions everything was handmade – machines played only a limited role for example in irrigation, mills and building. That all changed with the steam engine.

But in early stages of industrialization life & work was still harsh and deadly.

World War II laid the foundation for a different global economy after colonialism and the coming information age.

Overall work (and life) got a lot easier for most humans. We even invented holidays – a very modern social gimmick that would be astonishing to Egyptian slaves or medieval peasants.

Even more amazing is our range of jobs: some people get huge amounts of money for hitting small balls with sticks, some very few navigate machines thru the sky and some others simply for listening to other people’s problems.

Amazing, don’t you think?

One of our most basic building blocks of our modern culture today. Nails have been around for a long time (the romans already used them), but many cultures have developed building technologies without nails – especially were iron was not easy to find.

Erwin Rommel was always considered one of the ‘good’ Germans of WWII. He was a brilliant tactician, loved by his soldiers and respected by his enemies. He was forced to commit suicide, because he was suspected to plot against Hitler.

Overall the German military establishment utterly failed to stop Hitler in it’s tracks. They are – with a very few exception – a classical bunch of non-thinking military figures. Just following orders!

Although it might weaken a military, but a modern country needs ‘thinking soldiers’, critical of their leaders, critical about war and the reasons for it. No fatherland, no motherland, no religion, no dogma is worth dying for.

You should put your life for a good reason on the line.

Wikipedia entry

The first of 41 satellites. One of the greatest achievements of mankind and one of the greatest PR move ever! America was shocked out of it’s wits by the Russian Beeper in space.

Some videos from that time: Russian Show reel, Dutch report, American reel and great BBC dramatization.

Happy Sputnik day!

Soon it will be twenty years that the war ended for the two Germanys. East and West become one again. Today is a public holiday celebrating the big event.

But is Germany reunited?

No. Huge amounts of money have been spent to bring east Germany up to western standards. The infrastructure has been updated to world class levels. But the economy is simply not speeding up. East Germans have been leaving their homes in droves (1,3 million) for the golden west – while the golden west is loosing it’s shine, because all the money for infrastructure went to the east. Public funds and people went in different directions. The effect was pretty stupefying.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl promised east Germans they would be as fat and loaded as he was …

Today east Germany mass unemployment, unhappiness and depression rule the land. Neo Nazis and old communist found fertile grounds for their ideas. Both parties got seats in local parliaments. Plus there is growing hostility towards foreigners. Again and again brown or black people have been beaten up on the streets. Is Fascism rising again? Not really, these are just underprivileged people trying to find someone to blame and beat up – while the rest of the brave citizens wallow in innocent ignorance.

But the whole country is still under an extra tax burden to still finance the cost of reunification. More money to waste. Politicians and companies have filled their coffers with shady deals and subsidies. The usual. most east German states are already in debt, because is irresponsible spending. So much about German planing and precision.

Germany is still bugged down by the cost of reunification, the economy and the people are slowly coping with the effects of globalization as well. All social programs have been cut down pretty harsh, very similar to Britain during the Thatcher years.

Hair density equals amount of brain cells.

German culture is built on steadfastness and mutual consensus – not exactly qualities you need for global competition. Germany has to learn to be more flexible, fast, creative and aggressive.

We still have good educated work force and good engineers, but Germany has dangerously neglected it’s education system. PISA has repeatedly given Germany some of the worst scores for European countries. That is a national shame. But for years now there has only been talk, talk and even more talk. The school system is regulated by each state, which has created a chaos over the last forty years: some states do not recognize other states diplomas. You would thing that an knowledge society like Germany would be smart enough to develop a good national education system? Nah …

We are better at developing weapons than putting many troops in the field. The German Bundeswehr hardly scares anyone these days – maybe except Liechtenstein …

The new Germany has shed of it’s historical restraints. We have sent troops to Kosovo and Afghanistan. Germany always spent a lot of money on international support and development. Our politicians would love to have a permanent seat at the UN, while the average Teutone doesn’t really care. Plus our military budgets is still shrinking, so our few soldiers here and there are hardly equipped with the right stuff to do any serious fighting. But we are pretty decent in rebuilding stuff – like we do in Afghanistan.

Our dreams of power are long over, all we want to be is to be good Europeans – fly somewhere for a nice vacation, do some nude bathing and watch stupid TV shows like everybody else.

Fifty years after WWII it’s ok to be a German again …

Last years World Cup brought an unexpected boost in moral for the country, but I am afraid that the lack or slow speed of reforms will cause a lot of trouble in the future. Germany still is a strong economic power and pulling it’s weight on the in international scene. But it should concentrate more on it’s internal problems instead of trying to be a world player.

Two more issues are important: the Muslim integration and the aging society. But I consider these European issues, since all members have shrinking populations and yet to fully integrate our fellow Muslim citizens.

Overall Germany is a ‘normal’ and a nice country now with some baggage that’s slowly fading.

More? Wikipedia entry on Reunification

Every time I hear a modern politician emphasize the need to democratize the backwards nations on this planet I want to applaud and punch them in the face at the same time. This also applies to many political commentators and of course Bloggers, who love to pounce undemocratic countries and make them switch to the best political system invented yet by sheer willpower.

Although I am a staunch supporter of Democracy, I don’t believe in it as an instant solution to most countries problems. Democracy is an indicator for a modern and developed nation – but Democracy itself doesn’t transform backwards societies into shiny new ones.

Europe has not only invented many forms of government – but also tried and tested many of them. It’s a rich tradition paid for with many life’s and often centuries of terrible consequences. Most of all it took Europe nearly two thousand long years to transform itself into these shining beacons of enlightenment and peace as we know it today.

Aristotle’s Politics at work in Greece.

But the History of Democracy itself is a funny and ugly affair – with a huge whole between it’s beginning and final modern success.

Although it was so famously invented by the Greek nation states (most notably Athens) around 500 BC. But it was not the form of democracy we hold so dear today: woman, slaves and bloody foreigners were excluded from the process and of course regarded as second class citizens. Most important of all is that Demokratia was in the beginning successfully exported to some other nation states, but pretty fast abolished through other forms of government. Here is another good background article on Greek Democracy.

A similar development happened to the Roman Republic – which freed itself from it’s kings around the same time as the Greeks discussed in public meetings. The Roman Republic also had many elements of a modern state: a senate with lively debates, a citizenship, rule of law, votes and elected officials.

Greece lost it’s independence to the Romans around 150 BC – Rome itself turned slowly into a dictatorship after many bloody civil wars and chaotic rule by the Senate. This transformation found it’s great dictator with Julius Ceasar.

A republican Senate is boring – lets get ourselves a proper Dictator

Now comes the funny thing – since the end of the Greece and roman experiments not much was heard or seen of Democracy in Europe. Some tribal societies had smaller democratic elections or forms of community (like the Althing in Iceland – established 930 or the polish Veche), but no big democratic state or system emerged for a long time.

Also the idea of Democracy was more or less forgotten by European thinkers and statesmen. The medieval mind was more occupied with symbolism and religion then democracy or equal rights for everyone. Now it was time for feudalism and religion to bring blood, tears and ignorance. The common men lost any chance in participating in ‘big government’.

For almost 1500 years until the Renaissance nobody had any real interest in old Greek ideas and values. Rich merchants, the clergy and feudal ruler continued to suppress peasants and workers. Even the Reformation didn’t change much about this. Martin Luther supported the ruling class during several peasant uprisings. It was not yet time for social equality nor democratic rights for everyone.

May I have your head your Majesty?

But all was not lost – especially in England. The first Parliament (later split up into the House of Commons and House of Lords) was formed during the reign of King Henry III in the 13th century. Still not mass democracy, but a start to sharing powers and establishing the modern rule of law.

It was still a feudal affair, a political class system instead of a system of democratic equals. And still the Crown ruled supreme. It was a long and bitter process over many centuries and civil wars to change this.

Almost 500 years later Oliver Cromwell made the Parliament a permanent establishment instead of a ’seasonal affair’ created and disbanded by the Crown at will. Now the people reigned supreme instead of the Monarchy – but it took two bloody civil wars to cut of the monarch’s head (1649) and establish the Parliamentary System in England.

What say ye old wooden tooth?

The biggest step for European Democracy happened in … America and their fight for Independence from the British Empire (1775 – 1783). The American Revolution started with the impressive Declaration of Independence in the year 1776.

This great document was the ‘result’ of the European ‘Age of Enlightenment’ – a political, artistic and philosophical movement that created the mental cornerstones of our modern societies with it’s humanism, socialism, secular and democratic systems. But it was the achievement of young American society to build the first nation based on these ideas. It was much harder to transform the old and encrusted European societies – but it happened eventually.

Now we have to applaud the french people who finally got it right and started their first revolution of 1789, which lead finally to the Abolition of Feudalism.

The modern House of Commons from 1851.

It still took almost two hundred more years since Cromwell till Democracy was more firmly established in the UK by the Reform Act of 1867, which allowed more ‘normal’ men to vote instead of the privileged gentry and it also abolished so called rotten boroughs. Still no women were allowed to vote.

The real reason for the breakthrough of modern western Democracy was the Industrial Revolution. With the emergence of the working and middle class the old class system was finally abolished and replaced by new modern movements. Socialism, Feminism and Communism were triggered by the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

Say hello to a new political power – the industrial working class.

The miserable living and working conditions of workers in slums, child labor and the slow organization of Labor created the pressure for huge changes, like medical care, housing projects, education, equal rights and the vote for everyone. The new economy broke down many social barriers and also allowed a new upward mobility.

And finally the suffragette movement – started in the early 1800’s – established the right to vote for woman (1920 in the US and 1928 in the UK). Once again a slow process that took almost another hundred years to be globally accepted.

The new ‘mass societies’ also demanded better forms of representation and government – as well as accountability and social justice. The shock of the Soviet October Revolution finally convinced even the most hardened elites in Europe that mass democracy was the best way to go for the future.

Democracies have to be protected against the enemy from within

But modern Democracy faced two final test before it got the global stamp of approval: it had to fight to defend it’s values against Fascism and Communism before it was accepted as the best form of government. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Moussolini and Franco transformed their nations by popular support into terrible societies.

So it was a long and bloody road from the first forms of Democracy until our modern mass Democracies. To establish itself Democracy needs first the rule of law and a broad industrial society with a rule of law and separation of powers.

Without economic support to pay for education, medical care and a national infrastructure it won’t work. You also need a big and strong middle class and educated elites to develop a political landscape, start parties, run ministries, the judiciary system, an independent media, ‘neutral’ police and armed forces. Too many Democracies fell victim to military interventions ‘to save the country’.

We elect Allah as our Leader.

Equally important is a strong secular humanism within the society itself – the separation of Church and State. It took Europe centuries of war and millions of deaths to learn that lesson.

Many African or middle eastern countries lack many components I just mentioned and you can’t for example develop a strong economical base over night or an educated middle class to form a strong political landscape. The same is also still true for a few Asian countries, but they have picked up the basics much faster then many of their African and Arabic counterparts.