Moldova

Claudia Ciobanu gives in her post an inside view of life in Moldova.

She writes, that a Romanian journalist working in Moldova receives 100 Euro for daily expenses which equals the monthly salary of a Moldavian journalist.

An other important topic is the freedom of press or rather the restrictions of free press as well as the corruption and nepotism in the government of Moldova.

Claudia Ciobanu writes:

Still, in spite of these limitations and disappointments, Chisinau gives the impression of a very lively town. The center is full of posters for theatre and dance performances. Young people meet, chat and fill up the internet cafes in search of information. Many will go aboard, some will stay, few hope that life in their country will get better.

Der Fall von Madrid by Rafael Chirbes

I’ve been thinking for some time about further rankings. I am even working at a few.

But now I want to talk about the book I am reading right now Der Fall von Madrid by Rafael Chirbes. I have not found an English translation. Even though I read the German version and not the Spanish Original, I really do like this book. The story takes place in 1975, Franco, the dictator of post WWII is dying in an hospital. We follow the paths and thoughts of about eight people somehow related to José Ricart who on this same day celebrates his 75th birthday.

The aftermath of the Spanish Civil War between the Republicans on one side and the Socialists on the other side separate Spain’s citizens till today and will continue to haunt its people in the future.

This trench runs even between families and what I like most about this book is that Chirbes writes each person differently. A professor talks and thinks in different words than a worker. His writing is best when he writes how the wife of Ricart, who herself is in a state between sanity and madness, sees the world around her.

I can really recommend this book and would give it 9 out of 10 points.

More statistics

I admit, I love statistics. Yesterday I had 13 visitors, one of them from Germany and one from Romania. I’m still waiting till my pen-friends from Japan and US come for a visit.

Death at a Funeral

Death at a funeral is a very British movie directed by Frank Oz, most famous for the Muppet Show and as the voice of Yoda in all six Star Wars. The rest of the cast I hardly know even when I check the Internet Movie Datebase, they don’t really ring a bell. Which doesn’t has to be a bad thing.

The movie is funny, some lines are great and the acting is far better than what I had expected. Never less, I don’t think that you have to buy the DVD. But it is worth your time and money. I just want to say, that I don’t think, you have to or even want to see this movie twice but it would be a pity if you’d miss it at all.

Therefore, from me 8/10 which is much better than Transformers (which I gave a 3/10 and about as good as Stranger than Fiction, even though they play in different leagues.

Statistics

I just received yesterdays statistics which told me that there were four unique visitors. I guess that two of them are me (from the office and at home) leaving two real visitors. Way to go.

Blame the police for everything

Last Saturday, a 25 year old illegal alien from Guinea died after falling down five storeys.

A cousin of the deceased hit a motorbike with her car and absconded. The driver of the motorbike was able to note the number of the licence plate and gave this information to the police.

The police went directly to the address of the delinquent and rang the door bell at 3:00 am. The illegal alien thought they were coming for her and tried to avoid arrest by climbing from her balcony to the neighbour’s. During her escape, she fell and consequently died.

Her relatives with the aid of a pettifogger want to sue the police. But no one told that stupid woman to live in Switzerland illegally, nor her cousin to have an accident and flee the scene of the crime no for the dead girl to avoid arrest.

The police did not even enter the apartment and I would loose more of my confidence in the Swiss Law, if that case was not dismissed soon. But I really hate that Vincent Spira and his kind, always protecting criminals.

An other birthday

Last week, the Swiss Performance Index celebrated its 20th birthday. The SPI is a index of Swiss shares. As its younger brother, the Swiss Market Index, it is a dividend-corrected index of about 230 equity issues (the SMI consists of about 30 blue-chips).

Nesté is the most important share, consisting of over 16 % of the whole index, followed by Novartis (13 %), Roche (11 %) and UBS (10%). The five most important shares therefore are weighted more than half of the basket.

Even though there was a smaller crash this year, the average yield during these twenty years was 9.5 %. Which of course is much higher than what you’ll receive from the bank if you put your money in an savings account. And part of the gain is tax-free because only the dividends are subject of taxes not the advance of the market value.

Novartis stops investing in India

What is the objective of a company? We accept, that people want to earn money. Money makes the world go round. As we read newspapers, watch TV, talk with friends, we all accept, that we want to earn money to buy stuff.

We all know, how communism has failed. And we all know that greed is a sin. But as we do not want to work all day without receiving money, therefore also accepting, that we have to pay for what we want to buy.

One might talk bad about money, but in the end, money is an accepted auxiliary to get what we want and need.

We also accept, that Ford didn’t build cars to aid the drive-in cinemas but to earn money.

Somehow, we do not feel comfortable if physician see the patient as a means to earn money. Therefore we have the Hippocratic Oath. And we feel a bit uncertain about pharmaceutical companies.

As we accept their right to earn money, we also want them to research better medicine and as a formula once discovered can be easily copied, we have the concept of patents to allow companies researching to profit from their research.

Now India has denied Novartis certain patents. Of course we understand the concern and the responsibility of governments for their people and that supplying patients with cheap medicine is per se a good thing. But those countries are also whining about foreign countries neither doing research and development of pharmaceuticals nor they are not researching medicaments for the specific need of poor countries.

It is not just India. Also Africa and South America, patents tend to be ignored and this with the consent of the governments. Why should Novartis invest millions trying to find a cure for Malaria and other Third World diseases when they can expect that even when they find a cure, they will receive no ROI (Return on Investment). It takes more than ten years to do that kind of research.

As a shareholder of Novartis, I want them to earn money to pay dividends. If Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) really want to find cure for those diseases, they either have to protect the companies patents or pay themself for the development of such medicine.

Novartis has, in a first reaction, stopped investing in their R&D. Daniel Vasella, CEO of Novartis, has said in an interview with the Financial Times that „this is not an invitation to invest in Indian research and development, which we would have done. We will invest more in countries where we have protection. .... Do you buy a house, if you know people will break in and sleep in your bedroom?“

Seems that China will be the beneficiary for some hundreds of millions worth investing.

Pro Specie Rara

Today, I want to tell you about Pro Specie Rara. The site is only on German, French and Italian. Pro Specie Rara was founded 25 years ago. In todays supermarkets where we (have to) buy most of our food, there is a suprisingly little selection. There are about eight different kinds of apples, two types of pears and probably six types of potatoes.

Only at markets, you might find more variety, but even that is not sure. But in Switzerland there would be much more. More than 5'000 species of fruit existed less than hundred years ago, half of them lost forever. PSR tries to preserve what is left, their databank has more than 2'500 apples, accounting one third of the total content. There are more than 1'300 different pears listed as well as about 20 different patatoes.

Of course, it is not enough just to make a list. They even sell seeds and plants. But as soon as they managed to get Coop, one of the two major supermarkets in Switzerland, to sell their products, not just the seeds and plants but also and more important the tomatoes etc., they managed to get me as a client.

Every year I look forward to summer, when they sell the „Baselbieter Röteli“ my favourite tomato. I admit, they are more expensive but when you’ve tasted them once, there is no going back.

Private: Tilllate

I know, I might not make a lot of friends, but I think as tilllate is a large part of my life, I might as well talk about it here.

On Friday, after some gaming, I met the tilllate team of Basel for a drink. I somehow feel not unwelcome, but a bit like an alien.

OK, that happens to me quite a lot, not just with tilllaters. I feel alienated but not because of them. Hm, I might be very critical and there are very few people I really like. I like Nebi and Baalu. My favourite is Aline, who wasn’t there on Friday. I am not saying, I can’t have fun with the rest, but I have to work harder to have fun with them.

We got our new T-Shirts. Or rather singular. And not a T-Shirt but a Polo-Shirt. It is black with tilllate.com written on it in silver embroidered letters. Very nice.

But, one is not enough. I like to wash all clothes after a party. And as I wash only every third week, I need larger quantities.

I had a short discussion with one of the others who talked about Islam being the purest of all religions. Aargh. Why do they have to insult other religions and can’t keep their belief to themselves? They wouldn’t really want a discussion with me. But I have had replies about what I wrote about Islam in tilllate which were good but still let me think twice before writing an other post on tilllate. Hope he never reads my blog or I’ll have one‚friend’ less. I had to leave and got an ice ad dieci’s. Anyway, I was not too sad that I had to leave early and went taking some pictures in BarRouge.

The idea of the organizer was to do a casting in a full club. But BarRouge is seldom full and definitely not during the first warm weekend after a long rainy period and with the Klosterberg-Fest taking place in an other part of Basel.

There were only about 15 people casted, most of them before I arrived. They even finished early and I didn’t stay much longer as I had plans to meet a friend at the Klosterberg Fest which I subsequently did.

Stay there till about three, uploaded the pics and played till it dawned.

I gamed during the rest of Saturday and returned to BarRouge in the evening. There were some more people, but not really that much. Far from full. They had even opened the 30th floor but there were about ten people max there.

Upstairs was a bit better. I was booked to take pictures from 22:00 till midnight when I should have been replaced. But the replacements came almost an hour late and instead of taking pictures right away, one chatted with a bartender and the other one sat down with his friend.

I was in my tilllate-shirt and had a large cam, therefore I was asked to take pictures five times. Which I denied because I didn’t want to do both reports. I only had stayed longer because I thought one of them wanted to try my lenses and because I had met an old friend whose wish for pictures I couldn’t deny.

Now they have added those 21 pictures to my gallery, which I don’t really like. I wanted to delete them, but refraind.

Today I spent with my younger sister, her son, the father of her son and two friends with their son. I am going to be the godfather of their unborn son. Which I am quite proud, as both of my sisters didn’t choose me godfather of their children.

Private: Problems with Logitech Mouse

As I wrote in my last post, I started Bioshock. I wanted to play more, but the battery packs of my Logitech Mouse stopped working. I had problems these last few days but the problems couldn’t have come at a worse time. New game and no mouse...

The only one I had, was at the office, too far to get. Therefore I played Civ4 for a bit and went to bed much earlier than planned.

On Friday, I had taken a day off to play Bioshock, therefore I had to buy a mouse first. I went to the Interdiscount in and bought the G3 Laser Mouse. I didn’t fully test it, but I don’t like it at all. I have gotten used to my cordless G7 and don’t like to be annoyed by a cord.

What I dislike or hate most about the G3 is that there are two additional buttons placed where you'd usually hold the mouse. Therefore you constant press those buttons and have to live with the consequences.

It seems, other Logitech users had their share of problems as the G7 is no longer available and Logitech has no cordless mice for gamers anymore. I will try to find a G7 or at least a good substitute.

PS: Could be quite difficult to find a new G7. I've searched the internet to no avail.

Private: Bioshock

I didn’t write for some time, but I want to tell you about my last days. I will take scuba diving lessons in September.

On Thursday, I bought Bioshock, a computer game I was looking forward to play for some months. The intro was a bit disappointing but as soon as the plane crashed down, the experience changed for a better.

The graphics is in most part not as spectacular as I had anticipated but at least it ran smoothly on my 23 inch display.

I was pleased with the immersing game experience. The story is well told even though the gameplay is extremely linear.

After the crash, you emerge in the ocean, surrounded by burning oil and sinking debris. The only feature in the night not directly connected do the plane crash is a lighthouse and after a short swim you find a open door.

As soon as you enter, the door closes and the before dark room is lit by some lights. A large sculptured face looks down on you and gives an eerie feeling. As the door outside is closed, the only way leads some steps down to a small submarine, which, after entering brings you to Rapture, the City of the free.

As you arrive in the terminal, the guy trying to get in contact with you gets whacked and the assailant flees the scene. You then leave the sub and find indications of turmoil and demonstrations.

Soon afterwards you get attacked by the former assailant who herself gets killed by a mechanical sentry system.

The theme is that Rapture was built for humans to be free of „the man in Washington, from the man in the Vatican and the man in Moscow. But some experiments of the free scientists seem have gone wrong and even though I have seen the first Little Sisters and Big Daddys, I still have a lot of questions.

What I like is the atmosphere, the architecture, like in the movie Metropolis, Art Deco, etc. And even though one could rush through the game quickly, there is a lot to explore and I will continue to explore Rapture and tell you of its secrets.

Private: Diving

Today I was at the physician to get my certificate of recreational scuba diving. Tomorrow, I will apply for PADI scuba diving lessons.

Structural problems of Japans agriculture

This is for you, Yuki. NZZ writes about your hometown, Kochi, Japan. Kochi having 330’000 citizens is famous for its market on Sundays. There are a lot of elder Japanese shopping there and the ambiance is described as very peaceful. And there are a lot of elder vendors too who sell their own agricultural products. As in Switzerland, Japan seems to have problems finding enough young men and women wanting to work as farmers. A lot of the farmers are over 50 years old and the young farmers are having difficulties finding wives. This also adds to the problem and there is a great fear, that a lot of farms will have to close down. Some rural communities have organized trips to the Philipines to find suitable wives for the young farmers.

Only about 20 percent of farmers work fulltime on their farms. The majority has an extra job besides the farm. That the Japanese eat less rice, from 9.6 Mio. tons to 8.4 Mio. tons as bread and pasta are gaining market shares.

As the farmers usually vote for LDP, the government supports the farmers with special payment event though agriculture only produces 1.6 % of the GDP.

Two reports about Israel/Palestine in NZZ of 2007.08.22

The occupation of Palestine by Jews is theme of two articles in today’s NZZ. The first is about the situation in Gaza’s hospitals. Fatah demands, that all medical workers in Gaza’s hospitals only work during the morning, or they will not get paid. Needless to say, that this kills Palestinians. One more reason to hate Fatah.

And the Israeli have stopped shipment of fuel to Gaza for several days therefore leaving the hospitals partly without electricity. This because the EU stopped payments but also because Israel still withholds millions worth of tax dollars they are obliged to pay to the Palestinian authorities. The article is a bit out of date because deliveries of fuel have restarted. But still spare parts for machines are withheld.

The chief surgeon says that Hamas is not corrupt as Fatah was, but replaces the old leaders with their own people. I don’t know, but perhaps they were replaced, because they were corrupt.

On the other hand Scort for Peace, for Aid, for Development, organized soccer training in Israel between Israelis and Palestinians. On the second day, of the 14 boys from Jericho, only two were allowed to enter Israel. The rest was sent back at Israeli road blocks. It is unfair just to blame the Israelis. In Fatah-controlled West Bank, a soccer tournament was named after Ziyad Daas, a Fatah-member who in 2002 killed 6 people and maimed 35 at a Bar Mizwa.

Inside view from Pakistan

For the NZZ, Shehar Bano Khan, reporter for the Pakistani but English written newspaper dawn, writes about her view of the nature of Islam in her country. As I wrote about a similar topic some days ago, I would like to share her thoughts with you.

A little bit of background information. Since the independence, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has its share of problems. At its foundation, Pakistan consisted of the Pakistan we know today and Bangladesh being separated by over 1600 kilometres. Even though both parts had and have a majority of Muslims, they were different tribes. Jinnah, Pakistan’s first President declared Urdu to be the state language which left the Bangladesh who spoke Bengali on the outside and thus deepening tensions between the two parts

In 1956 Pakistan had its first constitution with Urdu and Bengali as state languages but there was no stability as four prime ministers took office in two years. Iskander Mirza declared martial law only to be overthrown by Ayub Khan, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army.

Ayub changed the constitution in 1961 and got elected in 1965. Even though the vote doesn’t come close to what we would call democratic, they were the only presidential elections in Pakistan up to date.

In 1971 the two parts of Pakistan fought and with Indian support, Bangladesh gained independence. After the fighting stopped, the generals handed the power to Zulfikar al Bhutto. 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq took power and had the former president executed for authorizing the murder of a political opponent. During his rule, Pakistan became an Islamic country.

In 1985, the Zia-ul-Haq handed power back to a puppet but the puppet became to independent and conveniently died on a plane crash.

A short democratic period followed with Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who were each elected twice and removed from office on charges of corruption. Benazir Bhutto is of course the daughter of Zulfikar al Bhutto. Therefore her dislike of the army needs no further explanation.

Since 1999 Pervez Musharraf rules Pakistan. As in China, the Army is not just the organisation, which protects the country from foreign foes, but is also one of the largest landowners and has a large part of the economy under direct control.

The fear of the Generals therefore is not just to loose power, but also to loose control over a huge industry and a lot of resources.

Lal Masjid, also known as the red mosque is located in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.

Zia-ul-Haq, as well as the Pakistani state security ISI had and have very close ties with the founder of Lal Masjid. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the mosque recruited and trained mujahedin.

After Abdullah (the founder) was assassinated in 1998, his sons Abdul Aziz and Abdul Rashid Ghazi took over the mosque, making it a centre for Islamist teaching and openly opposed the government, partly because its support for the US lead War on Terror.

During 2006 and the first half of 2007, the mosque's leaders set up a Sharia Law in the premises and occupied surrounding buildings.

After a lot of demonstrations and gun battles, Musharraf ordered the storming of the mosque, which resulted in about 70 militants and 8 soldiers killed.

But she denies, this incident to be a sign of Talibanisation of Pakistan. I read some of her articles online and some further of her colleges. One of them writes, that it is wrong of the Musharraf to try to get control over all his country and that the war of the Pakistani Army against the rebellious tribes in Pakistan can’t be won and therefore shouldn’t be fought.

I think, this is a very disturbing sign. What kind of country allows parts of its country to be occupied by militant forces and tries not to regain control over those regions?

Shehar Bano Khan writes, that sixty years of independence are no reason to celebrate, as Pakistan has never had found its peace and freedom. The ordinary people expect little from their leaders and it makes no difference, if they wear an uniform or not.

Islam, she continues, is just a scapegoat for Musharraf, to justify his rule. Receiving billions in aid from the US, he needs a Islamist threat to justify his rule. It is known, that Musharraf and his predecessors have through the secret service supported the Taliban. As well as the US have supported the Taliban in the past.

On the other hand, Islam has become a more important part of Pakistani politics than it was when Pakistan was founded. It is difficult to find the truth from here. I agree, that there were not many demonstrations after the storming of the Red Mosque and there were large demonstrations for Iftikhar Chaudhry, the High-Judged who was removed form office by Musharraf and since then has been reinstalled.

She admits, that there is a difference between rural and urban places. In the cities, the radical Islam has little influence. But on the countryside, the government is weak and radical Islam can profit from the weak state. A peasant reported, that he sent five out of seven of his children to madrasahs, the Islamistic schools and he receives support from Islamistic groups.

In the past, the religious parties have had little success. But as most of the regimes were either controlled by the Military or corrupt, Islamistic partys may, as in Palaestine, win future elections.

If the Army would accept such a victory or act as in Turkey is unknown.

Private Links

Aurel Schmidt has a really nice homepage with some very interesting thoughts. On German. I might try to translate some of his thoughts but those, who speak German, can read the original, which will be much better than my translations.

Private: 10 best looking Men

George Clooney

Brad Pitt

Pierce Brosnan

Russel Crowe

Johnny Depp

Yeah, I know. I only put five. And all of them are actors. If you have any additions, just leave your comments and after reviewing, I might even add them.

Further state ownership of petrol industry in Russia

A Moscow Court ruled to return to state ownership equity stakes in Bashkir fuel and energy companies, which are presently held by private companies. This is just an other victory of Putin to regain complete control over the Russian petrol industry and resources. I do not trust Putin to let the people profit from their owns country resources, but fear, that it will just help Putin to prolong his undemocratic rule over Russia. Some fear, he might try to run for a third presidency, but I believe, he just wants personal control over the Russian petrol.

172 miners killed in China

No news? At least no new news. In 2006 over 4’500 miners died in China. About 13 every day. And this is only the official number. The real number could be more than 15’000. But even with the official numbers, China accounts for 80 percent of the worldwide deaths in mining.

Iran's new truth

Reporters without Borders states, that the situation of the press in Iran is very serious.

read more here

Journalists are in danger of arrests, being jailed or held in secret location without access to a lawyer. Censorship is harsh and constant self-censorship is the only way to survive. But still, several media-outlets were physically attacked during 2006. Government organisations and koranic schools ransacked and set fire to the offices of the Tamadone Hormozgan after its journalists were charged with “insulting Ayatollah Khomeini.”

It is dangerous to write about social taboos, religion, women’s rights and ethnic problems. To criticise the regime’s leaders is also near impossible.

The Internet is an evil place, according to the Iranian Dictator and his little helpers. They are filtering 10 million "immoral" websites. Pornographic sites, political sites and those dealing with religion are usually the ones most targeted. They also seem to be very afraid of women’s rights. And broadband connections are banned too.

But now crazy Ahmadinejad so called President of the Islamic Republic of Iran has found the solution in PRESS TV stating, “The mission of the media is that of the prophets”. PRESS TV would “very quickly” become the flag bearer of the “anti-arrogance” (Western imperialists) crusaders in the field of media.

The prime task of the “Press TV”, the new 24 hours, English language network of the State-owned, leader-controlled Iranian Radio and Television is to “counter” major international mass media like CNN or the BBC in offering viewers and listeners news and views on “unbiased, balanced, true, just and open” basis challenging the “biased, one sided, double-standard, distorted” items projected by the Western media.

I read some articles on PRESS TV and as expected, its pro Iranian, anti Zionist, anti US. Some are quite normal, a lot are very biased and full of lies such as “Manchester … like … London … is famous for gun violence.” or that Negroponte was working with former Saddam regime’s security agents to destroy the sacred shrine in Samarra.

And, according to PRESS TV, there were no terrorist attacks by Muslims in the UK. Quoting Hedyeh Ghavidel on PRESS TV:

“The sloppy work done by the terrorists and the evidence left behind tracing them to the scene of the crime, the easy course of investigations leading to quick arrests suggests these terrorist launching attacks on Britain are very stupid and not very well organized in contrast with remarks made by British officials.

Is it really the al-Qaida who launched this attack or is it another interested party framing the Muslim nation by pointing the finger of blame at a terrorist group shunned by the Muslims?

[They acted stupid, therefore couldn’t be Muslims?]

Reports made by supposed eyewitnesses claiming that men being pulled away from the scene were crying "Allah! Allah" is only a means to convince the public Muslims are the big bad wolf.

[Which they are.]

Raising the security threat level to 'critical', which means another attack is imminent, transmits a clear 'hate your Arab or Muslim neighbours' message which is reminiscent of how the US rounded up the Japanese population in the Pearl Harbor incident in a camp.

[It is a fact, that the Japanese were aided by parts of the Japanese population before the Pearl Harbor attack.]

It is as though Britain is trying to follow in the steps of the global arrogance using the same threadbare propaganda 'blame the Muslims' as an opening act in the new adventures.

In the first act of this play, they enrage Muslims by knighting Rushdie and then they orchestrate a terrorist attack on an airport, which has nothing to do with Rushdie or the ongoing war, claiming Muslims are out to avenge Salman Rushdie's knighthood and the Iraq war.”

blue-is-beautiful has uncovered further lies, which I myself can’t comment on.

Russia restarts Cold War patrols

Russia is a nuclear power. It has land-based, submarine-based and air-based nuclear weapons at its disposal. Some over 7’000 active and about 9’000 reserve. Enough to kill everything on this planet.

On the other hand, there is hardly a real nuclear threat. The US has more than enough trouble handling its conventional wars and it is very difficult to believe, they would attack such a weak state as Russia out of nowhere. The European powers are much to dependent on Russian oil or gas to be of any threat. We like to trade, work and enjoy peace, not to fight wars.

Israel has bigger problems than Russia and neither China nor India or Pakistan has anything near enough weapons to destroy the Russian land-based nuclear weapon systems.

But, Russia seems to be that much threatened, to restart their long-range nuclear bomber patrols. I am not sure, but I don’t think the US have constant nuclear bombers in the air. They rely on their ground and submarine-based weapon systems.

Britain has reduced its amount of active weapons and just keeps one submarine on alert. China has no modern bombers to speak of.

But still, crazy Putin says “the move to resume the flights permanently after a 15-year suspension (because they could not afford the fuel) was in response to security threats posed by other military powers” and that “14 bombers had taken off from Russian airfields early on Friday.” Now with the high on oil prices, Russia has again the money to flex their muscles.

As you might have read, Russian bombers have flew close to the US base Guam, Scotland and Alaska were intercepted by Western forces. We can just hope, that nobody is trigger itchy.

This might just be a sign from Putin, that we should not forget him, but probably, it is also a sign, that his submarine forces are way beyond their best times themselves.

Moldova and Transnistria

We often make jokes about the Americans, who can’t even find their own country on a globe. A lot of people in Europe would not find Moldova or Transnistria. They even might never have heard about Transnistria at all.

So lets look at a very brief history of Moldova. It one was a part of Romania, fell under the power of the Ottomans then the Russians. Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Bessarabia (as it was then called) proclaimed independence from Russia in 1918 reunited with Romania the same year. Transnistria did not join Romania and formed the Moldavian ASSR.

According to Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union forced Romania to transfer authority over Bessarabia to Russia and annexed it. Transnistria was then joined with it and formed the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Moldova moved towards independence from 1988 on and in August 1991, Moldova declared its independence as part of the CIS. Transnistria, which is the part east of the Dniester River, having large groups of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians, claimed independence from Moldova in 1990. A brief military conflict between Moldova and Transnistria in 1992 ended with Russian forces intervening on the Transnistrian side, which helped to secure Transnistrians independence till today. The Russian troops still remain in Transnistrian.

Moldova did not unite with Romania in 1991 either, which itself joined NATO in 2004 and the EU this year. Therefore the conflict in Moldavia and Transnistria, so small it might be, has a larger effect than one would think.

Transnistria is thought of being a safe haven for smuggling. Especially for arms, human beings and laundering of money. Over 20’000 tons of ammunition as well as a lot of arms are ‘guarded’ by over 2’000 Russian soldiers, who are willing to sell arms to any buyer. In Chechnya, they even sold arms to the guerrilla they were fighting. The West is especially interested in the disappearance of surface-to-air missile launchers, something every decent terrorist wants to get his dirty hands on.

The article in the NZZ was about the border between Romania and Moldova, which is now the outer EU-border. As Romania wants to join Schengen, they guard it very well, which causes family ties between those close countries to suffer.

Also Romania de jure offers any Moldavian the citizenship of Romania, but because it fears an invasion of thousands Moldavians, they have only five judges working part time on these cases. Therefore there are over 800’000 Moldavians (about 20 percent of its population) wanting to become Romanian citizens, but only very few citizenships were granted.

Personally, I think that Russia once again shows its inability as a state to act according to international law and to be, what I call it, a good state. I do not think, that Russia is an evil state per se, but I believe, it tries to compensate its weak position, the lose of its former might with any petty deed.

Private

I know, I was not writing the last two days. I did not do much at all. I cooked some duck curry that tasted very well. I wanted to go for a walk afterwards, but when I finally got out of the door, it started to rain. I played some Fable. I started for the fourth time and are content with my progress.

Find of the Day

swiss-libyan-art-project.info

There are some nice pictures about the desert and graffiti. Text in German, English, and I guess Arab.

Amrutham

Amrutham, Hegenheimerstrasse 14, Basel, Switzerland, (061) 381 56 86

Yesterday I ate at Amrutham, a South Indian Restaurant with my father. We were there quite early and the location was empty. The location is ok, not too great but not extremely bad either. We got two different menu-cards. In general, there are four menus, lamb-, chicken-, vegetarian- and beef-curries with dessert and a starter. We got a small glass of mango lassi followed by one Samosa, both not too bad, but not really special either. The curry was slightly hot but the quality of the meat was bad, cheapest meat one probably could get. The rice was uninspired and the portions were small. The dessert was a glob of mango ice which we had to ask the waiter for because he seemed to have forgotten. The menu cost CHF 31.00. Out for five stars, I probably would give one and a half. The food was not bad, but the portions were too small and the Indian food tasted too common, too European and had no special Indian flavour. I don’t think, that I ever will return there…

Siedler 6 Open Beta, Part 2

I replayed Siedler 6 beta for some hours. What I miss most is need. I do not bother, if the settlers succeed or not. Even if they are unhappy, there is no real feedback. They might stand on the marketplace and shout, which is less threatening than Anno 1701 rioting settlers who would burn down the houses.

And there seems to be too little to do. Once you built the main structure, there is no need for fine tuning. It is not even possible to do so.

I also missed the postcard view of Anno 1701 which allowed to get nice screenshots if you zoomed in to the max.

Sielder 6, the final version, will need much more. I liked the different types of settlers from Anno 1701, who had their own needs and would leave or riot, if one did not fullfill them. In Sielder 6 beta, they still pay taxes even if on strike. And you only need money to build, military and trade.

But the build-up is soon done and there is a somewhat natural city-limit which makes it unnecessary to build your city too big. And there is a 1000-settlers total city-limit.

I didn’t use military a lot, because there weren’t enough different types of soldiers. And there was no enemy.

Trade was equally unnecessary. I had to buy cows and sheep if I wanted to have milk (for cheese) and wool (for clothing). But there was nothing more to buy.

I’ll might try a demo, but from “wanting to buy” I have moved to “cautious”.

Happy Birthday

Sixty years ago, India and Pakistan gained their independence. Again, Ethnic Cleansing is my topic of this post. I think all of you have seen Sir Richard Attenborough’s movie, Ghandi. If not, stop reading and watch that movie and read the rest later.

I can very well remember the trails of Muslims fleeing India and the Hindi fleeing Pakistan leading parallel away from their homes to an uncertain future. And of the fight between the two groups starting because of nothing. Twelve million refugees, one million murdered because of race, religion and greed.

Ghandi, who was against the separation, was murdered himself half a year later by a radical Hindu. Not even he could stop the killing.

Those events were not too much different between Turkey and Greece. But I want to know, what we can learn from those events for, say, Kosovo.

I don’t know if India and Pakistan are in a state of war or peace. We know about the more or less constant fighting in Kashmir. And we know, that both countries acquired nuclear weapons even though the cost politically as well as economically was very high.

And we have heard all about the regular terror attacks in India by Muslims and the racist and radical Hindus in high political posts.

On the other hand, India has not fallen apart, even thought there are 22 official languages and ballot-lists are in 114 different languages! Tata Steel, an Indian company paid 13 billion dollar for Corus, formerly known as British Steel. Thousands of programmers are working for Western companies but still half of the Children in India are malnourished.

Pakistan on the other hand is not much better. If at all better. Ruled by a General, Democracy has a difficult stand. There is a huge difference between Islamabad where people go to jail because their fight for democracy and the North-West Provinces, where support for the Taliban runs high. There seem to be some hope, that Pakistan will become more democratic. There were demonstrations in support for the Courts, because they tried to keep the Army’s influence out of the judicial system.

But, as in Turkey and probably Palestine, Muslim orientated parties have to prove, if Islam and Democracy can be combined or not. Personally, I still have some doubt.

Private: Is anyone reading this?

I am not saying, that I thought thousands of people would read this blog. But receiving no comments is a bit depressing.

750'000 people every year said to die prematurely due to pollution in China

A third of a report from the World Bank had to be removed due to pressure from the Chinese Government. The still 151 page report named “Cost of pollution in China” does the rapid economic growth has a price not only to be paid in the future, but even more so every day.

China's Cost of Pollution
The pollution of the water effects the poor the most. Still 115 million people have surface water as their main source of drinking water which leads to diarrheal disease, especially for children.

Smog in Beijing is six times worse than in London. And Beijing is about half as bad as in Tianjin. It is true, the air quality today is much better than it was in 1999 but still far from good.

Still 16 of the 20 most polluted cities worldwide are in China.

The Chinese Government was especially reluctant to remove the number of 750’000 premature deaths due to air pollution and a map of the most affected regions. Financial Times

A retired official of Sepa, China’s State Environment Protection Agency, said some material was omitted from the pollution report because such information on premature deaths “could cause misunderstanding” and “We did not announce these figures. We did not want to make this report too thick”.

Every year:

350,000-400,000 people die due to high air-pollution,
300,000 people die from exposure to poor air indoors and
60,000 die due to poor-quality water, largely in the countryside, from severe diarrhoea, and stomach, liver and bladder cancers.

What is the longest word in German without an E

First prize goes to

Wirtschaftsforschungsinstitut

second to

Fussballnationalmannschaft

(just fun stuff from SWR3)

and the shortest with all vowels:

Sequoia

Siedler 6 Open Beta

Yesterday I played the open-beta of Siedler 6 for about five hours. It includes a tutorial mission as well as a LAN game.

I know, it is only a beta of the game, but the demo has to be much better if they want me to buy the game. The graphics are good, not great but nice. The interface is very intuitive and the sound is pleasant. I can’t say anything about the KI as the tutorial has little and the LAN none.

The town centre and the castle were preset. As always with these games, I got woodcutters first, a fishing hut and a fish smoker. Then a stonecutter, an iron mine, some hunters, leather tanning, and so on.

It went all very smoothly. The buildings can all be upgraded in two levels (three in total) but as upgrading is cheap and easy, I always upgraded every building ASAP. The main character can also be upgraded when different conditions the player has to meet. What can be built is related with the level of the main character (which there are six or so different ones to choose).

There are two kinds of roads, a gravel and a stone. As the stone road is wider than its gravel brother, you just can’t build a stone road over a gravel one if you have buildings on both sides. You might even have to tear down some buildings to improve the road. Which should be changed for the final version.

The warehouse tends to get full very easy. The things you don’t need can be sold. And this is important to do, because if the warehouse is full, the workers stop working and even get poor (because they can’t sell anything). So selling the surplus is very important!

Military. I could build swordfighters and bowmen as well as siege towers, catapults and rams. I would like to be able to build also spearmen and cavalry! I would also very much like the possibility to disband troops (or at least I couldn’t find that option).

As there was no KI I couldn’t fight. It also bothered me, that wild beasts such as bears and wolves constantly respawnd. I got annoyed of the constant “your settlers are under attack”.

Where does settlers stand now. I would say that right now, Anno 1701 is still holding the title. The graphics with Siedler 6 is better, but Anno 1701 still is more fun.

Da Graziella

Da Graziella, Feldbergstrasse 74, Basel, Switzerland
(061) 692 49 40

This is the second great place in Basel to get a cup of Coffee. Why didn't I give five stars? It was not because of the Coffee but that the location has a lot of strong smokers and bad ventilation. Further, it is not located centrally, which is ok, for a restaurant, but I won't travel 20 Minutes for a cup of Coffee. They have nice cakes!

ilcaffè - bar e caffè

ilcaffè - bar e caffè, Falknerstrasse 24, Basel, Switzerland
061) 261 27 61


The best place in Basel to get a decent coffee. It's a crime, that it is only open during the normal shopping hours depriving me of a good late night coffee. And they have the famous Zolli-Cornets, ice of Gasparini.

Tapadera im Krug

Tapadera im Krug, Innere Margarethenstrasse 28, Basel, Switzerland
(061) 281 55 11

The Tapadera is the better of the two Mexican restaurant, even though it is located close to the local prison. Not cheap and forget about coming here without a reservation, but the food is worth the price and the long time you sometimes have to wait, till you get your order.

Stadthof

Stadthof, Gerbergasse 84 , Basel, Switzerland
(061) 261 87 11

The Stadthof is one of my favourite Restaurants and is located in the Centre of Basel. It consists of three parts, on the ground floor there is the Brötlibar where you get sandwiches. It is popular, I don't think it is because of the food. On the first floor are the main restaurant with the Pizzeria in the rear and the restaurant in the front. You can get pizzas in the Restaurant so I see no reason, to eat in the pizzeria. The pizzas are as good as they get in Basel and the rest of the food is far above average. The service is excellent and helps to forget about the not to stylish location.

La Fonda

La Fonda, Schneidergasse 21, Basel, Switzerland
(061) 261 13 10

Of the two Mexican restaurants this is the simpler one. I am not too sure about the authenticity, but I like the food. I would not bring a first date to this restaurant, but I like to take lunch here. Reservation is recommended, especially in the evening.

Militant Animal Activists

I now, we all like PETA. Naked chicks (human) on large posters. And they really think, that any man reads the "I'd rather go naked than wear fur". And I could make jokes about the fun of non-fur muff diving or discuss if they really are shaven themselves.

But trying to be earnest. I do agree with PETA on some points. I don't like how animals we eat are often raised, but I know, that not everyone can afford buying food of fair treated animals as I can.

I also agree with some aspects of their fur-campaign.

But I do think, that:

Animals are an important part of our food.

Animals provide also clothing (Wool, Leather and Silk).

Animals can be used for lab testing.

Animals can entertain and educate humans as in Zoos and Circuses.

What I hate most, is the religious militancy and the lawbreaking from militant animal activists, torching restaurants, destroying property, freeing animals, stalking and even murder.

Thinking being right or even righteous does not give the right to break the law or take law in your own hands. Killing people to save animals is not right or justified.

As the terrorist group they are, they even support harming or killing humans. They seem to follow the most famous Vegetarian, Adolf Hitler, killing everyone not following their rule.

We do live in a democracy, and if their arguments are so bad, that they can't get a majority of the public behind them, their violence will neither. So get a job, a hamburger and some sense.

Israel has a refugee-problem

Yeah, you might say, there are the Jews, who fled/came to Israel and the Palestinians who fled during the different wars.

But now they have a third refugee-problem with people from Sudan. About 200 Sudanese have fled, crossing the Egyptian-Israeli border. About one Million refugees from Sudan live in difficult condition in Egypt.

Some were killed by the Egyptian army, some clubbed to death. In December 2006, at least 27 Sudanese were killed by Egyptian police trying to brake up a demonstration near the U.N.'s refugee agency office in Cairo.

Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem, the Jewish state's Holocaust museum and memorial, recently wrote to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urging Israel to "show solidarity" with the Sudanese refugees and help find a solution.

Most of the 200 Sudanese are held in jails. Israel wants to be an ethnic-clean Jewish state, also a democracy and has no need for further presumably uneducated Sudanese.

And beside the first point, we in Europe have the same problem. The unemployment rate of uneducated is already high enough. Those jobs we had have long ago been transferred to China.

If Israel gives them the right to stay, thousands more would try to cross the border. And if the ties between Egypt and Israel were worse, the Egyptians just could look the other way. Israel needs Egypt as much as we need Libya.

I believe, that we should stop the right for asylum as it is impossible to grant it to all those that come to our doors and we deny it for some reasons. And we should send those back, which manage to come here. If they don't say from where they come, we should send them back to where we think they came from.

On the other hand I would grant the right to stay to following groups:

A) Workers and their families for jobs which we can't find anyone in Switzerland or the EU.

B) People which were persecuted, because either they were for democratic changes or free speech (not because of religion and not if they were part of an antidemocratic, say Islamic, movement).

C) A contingent of people from around the world, as the Green Card Lottery in the US.

D) A contingent of people from war-zones. Families with young children preferred.

Kosovo or Kosova

Serbs call it Kosovo, Albanians call it Kosova. Since the Nato-campaign in 1999 there is a constant discussion, if Kosovo should be A independent, B part of Albania, C part of Serbia, the pre-war status or D segregation.

At least B, part of Albania, seems to be the least possible version right now. But I believe, that if A or D should become reality, B could easily follow. And if we allow the Albanians to reunite, who could stop the Serbs and the Croats to take the' part of Bosnia they already control?

Which would leave the Bosniaks with almost nothing.

A is what the West wants, at least most of it, C has the support of Russia and as far as I know is the thing to do according to international law.

If one changes the rule here, there would be a lot of other ethnic groups all around the world, which would want their independence and if we give that to the Kosova-Albanians, who could deny it to any other group. Even the USA, with their large Indian, Black and Latino groups could be on the receiving end of segregation demands.

Private: Streetparade 2007

The weather was much better, than I had previously feared. So I was working for tilllate, taking pictures. I wanted to go hunting afterwards (for the best pictures) but was too tired.

Tilllate Basel wanted me to go taking photos afterwards, but I wasn't in the mood. Standing from 10:00 to 16:00 takes a toll. What surprises me a bit, is that a lot of tilllater-photographers were at the 'tis and I don't know, why they could not take pictures at 'tis and in the Bar Rouge.

Ups, I just realised, that I looked at the wrong date. They were there on Friday. My bad. Yeah, Rilllate-Basel does not look too good this week...

Friends

I must admit, I really love friends, the series with Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monika, Phoebe and Joe.

I have bought the complete series, 40 DVDs of fun. And I am still watching it the second time. What I don't see, is why Ross wants to get together with Rachel or she with him.

But I do like Monika and Chandler getting together. Probably because I like Monika and I sometimes feel like a less funny Chandler.

Israel deliveres arms to Fatah

Today the NZZ had a very good article about the Gaza Strip and about its future. As you should know, Hamas won the election, Fatah lost, mostly due to its corruption and failure to aid the Palestinian cause. Israel boycotted Hamas, delivered and delivers weapons to Fatah, which of course only strengthens the voices, that Fatah is a kind of Kapo, who help Israel steal more land from the Palestinians. I think, as the acts of the Israelis have turned Gaza Strip and the West Bank in a big prison or Ghetto, Fatah should be renamed to something more suitable, showing their submissive attitude towards the Israeli occupiers.

Fatah might win the next elections, at least in the West Bank, possibly also in the Gaza Strip. But I do also think, that we have shown the Palestinian people, that Democracy is something we in the West talk about, but do not respect. The Palestinian people will find out, that Fatah has no interest in the wellbeing of the ordinary people, but only in its own survival.

And the Muslim world, one again, sees our double standard (which they have themselves too) regarding Democracy and recognition (we still talk, trade, etc. with the Jewish State, even though we know, they are one on the largest Human Rights Violators worldwide. Of course, the last point also goes with every other Muslim country, in which I wouldn’t want to live either.)

10 soldiers beheaded by a Muslim terrorist group

I did not want to come back to this topic so soon. But here I am again, Muslim terrorists, this time in the Philippines, going by the abbreviation MILF where 14 governmental soldiers were killed. 10 of them were beheaded on July 12th. That’s how Muslims treat POWs and the same people rambling about Guantanamo stay silent. The soldiers were searching for Father Giancarlo Bossi, an Italian Priest, who has been abducted and has since been released by the Abu Sayyaf Group.

HIV trial in Libya

is about five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor all sentenced to death because they were accused to have willingly infected over 400 children with HIV. There were a lot of international and independent investigations, which proved that they were in fact innocent.

The recent development is that the Son of Muammar al-Gaddafi, Dictator and Evil Ruler of Libya, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (which means Sword of Islam) admitted, that the accused were tortured with electric shocks to get the confessions.

How do we reward such a bad person, also responsible for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 aka Lockerbie? Nicolas Sarkozy, current President of pathetic France, thinks that selling weapons is the right answer, also bribing might be a good Idea. Bulgaria is relieved, that the six are back home and have also paid as well as Czech Republic, Slovakia and Qatar.

Why shouldn’t we just bomb Gaddafi into smithereens? Or at least break contact with that country? They have oil and we need them to help guard the southern border of Europe from immigrants.

We do not live in a perfect world.

Love thy neighbour as thyself

I do not hat Muslims or the Islam, I do not hate Jews or Christians or any other faiths. I do not see Scientology as a religion so I can exclude them from my “no hate list”.

Islam means submission. And I do not like to submit. I of course would submit to God, if he/she/it exists and would contact me directly (or though Metatron or any other angel). And I am not going to argue if Jesus was the physical Son of God or if it was God, the Devil or a voice in his own crazy voice who talked with Mohammed.

The problem is, that even if I’d accept, that Mohammed received the Koran from God, we sometimes do not know, what the verses tell us. When we look at the Muslim world, some scholars say, suicide-bombings are legal (always according to the Koran) other say it is not. Some say, women are equal to men, some say they are not. Some say women must cover their body completely, some say they should be modest but do not have to cover every inch of their body. Some say, Islam is tolerant, but even in Turkey, a country with a modest Islam, Christians can’t build or even renovate their churches. In Saudi Arabia there are no churches.

My point? The situation is that we can neither ask God or Mohammed ourselves, we have to submit not to God but to someone who thinks that he knows what Gods will is. And a lot of people are willing to give up their freedom and follow someone who says, he has the truth but in fact he has not.

I think of myself not as a true Christian. I hope that there is a God and hope there is an afterlife. Like Ghandi the Sermon on the Mount has touched me. And as the movie Dogma, I think, that we know what is right and what is wrong (even if we sometimes act different) and that Charity (Love thy neighbour as thyself) should be everyone’s motto.

Islam - Religion of Peace?

As NZZ reported, Ehsan Jami, an ex Muslim and his girlfriend was physical attacked by two Moroccans and a Somali. The attackers did not only seem to hate him, because he fell from Islam, but also because he is one of the leaders of a new organisation to support those who want to leave their faith, Islam.

Something, which is considered among Muslims, the worst crime one could commit and is punishable by death in several countries. What of course does not correspond with the freedom of religion, the separation of church/religion and state as we in Western Europe seek and want to live in. The freedom of religion is not only the freedom to choose which religion one wants to belief, but also the freedom to change ones religion when one has lost (that) faith. But despite all of this, Muslims say, there is no danger for Europe from Islam. Probably there is no danger to the continent Europe, but there might be a danger for secular citizens.

It might be true, that what Ehsam Jami says is extreme. For example, he says: "But after reading the Koran I discovered that the prophet was a criminal," and that "If Mohammed were alive today, he would be in the same league as Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein". Of course, the Koran is not very tolerant and alone the fact, that Mohammed had more than one wife and even a wife who was nine years old, when the marriage was consummated. Of course some Muslims say, that she was 14 (which would still be illegal in most states) or even 21. And that it could hurt the feelings of Muslims.

But living in a Western European society, you have no right to hurt somebody just because of hurt feelings. There is a man I see often in Basel, who wears white T-shirts on which he writes things such as "Jesus was a liar", "Jesus was a mass murderer" and I have never seen someone try to harm him. If he'd walk with a similar shirt about Mohammed, he would be long dead.

I often have discussions with Muslims living here and am sometimes afraid, always cautious. They really like to bash the West or Christians, but have no capacity to accept any critic about Islam.

That my fear is not exaggerated the oh so peaceful Muslim world shows us every day, 911, attacks on Madrid and London, Theo van Gogh, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, etc.

why not to hate mondays

I usually do hate Mondays, nut not the first Monday in every month.

Why?

Because NZZ, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the most important serious newspaper in Switzerland, publishes the NZZ Folio.

Every issue has one main theme but I also like some of the normal every monthly articles they have.

Especially "Hallo Taxi" which is "Hello Taxi / cab" which is an interview of a cabdriver mostly from a far place. The questions are all the same, "how many hours do you drive taxi" When Arlindo Estrella, from Sal, Cape Verde, says "five to six hours a day". He earns 1'200 USD, half of which he sends to his daughter in Lisbon, further 300 USD he pays for the car, which leaves him with 300 USD to live.

It also gives prices of food, cigarettes, etc.

I also like "Duftnote" which I would translate to scent. Luca Turin talks about perfume and what's new and good or bad on the market. I am not that much into perfume, but it is well written.

This month’s topic is 13 year olds, the border between children and youth. A lot of fun to read about six boys and girls they followed during their 13th year of their life.

Lost

I am looking forward to December 11th 2007, the release of “Lost – the complete third season”. Will have to take a few days off as soon as I get the DVDs because I too will vanish from earth for some days. As long as it takes me to review the first two seasons and watch the third season.

From the same producer comes 01-18-08 with no more information than the title of the movie is also the release date, that it takes place in New York (how original…) and that some kind of monster is involved.

Aftermath

Still worrying about the fame-event. At least it put things in perspective, such as FCB (which is Fussball Club Basel) loosing to Young Boys 1:5.

I usually like to watch football, but what FCB showed was Greek Tragedy. I am quite sure, that I have seldom seen a soccer-match in which one team was so inferior. Not to mention, that FCB is worth several millions more than YB.

Excuses are like assholes, everybody's got one and most of them stink! And I do not want to hear anything from any player of FCB. Their only chance is to prove they are worth something in their next match.

Racism

I do not see myself as being active racist.

I might be a passive racist sometimes.

You might ask, where the difference is. OK, if someone angers me, I might say "You are a sorry, fat assed monkey". The "fat" of course can be changed into whatever racist comment you know. And I might use every one you know.

But, I would never activly treat someone differnet just because he has an other skin colour, an other religion.

But I do feel right, if I hate those people, coming to my country and treating other people (say me) like shit. And I think that we should send them back home, asap, no matter what laws say.

Probably I am just pissed off because of the fame-incident. I'll write more about this an other time, being more relaxed then.

Fame last night

Last nicht I was in the Fame Disco in Basel taking pictures for tilllate.

Out of nowhere I guy walks straight into me. By the force he was using, it could not be accidental. I say "Hey, what's your problem" which he answers with insulting me and slapping my face.

I don't fight back, because he is so much stronger than me and I am holding a far too expensive camera in my hand and call for security. Which comes and pulls him away, into a back room where the boss of the club is and they try to talk sense into him.

But he just goes on threatening me and so the security guys tell me to leave, which I do.

Afterwards the club owner wants to talk with me, but I'm long gone and will never return to that location.

At home, it takes a lot of time to calm down and to rethink my options. Which are few, if I want to follow the law.

One thing is for sure, there is this initiative from the SVP (the center right party in switzerland) which wants to expel all criminal foreigners. The event yesterday at least got me to sign it and I am really thinking of helping them to get the signatures needed.

Even if I see myself rather being on the left liberal side of the political spectrum, I think I have to do this to get peace. Or get laid. I do like the second option better, but there is no particular lady not that I can think of but who I can think of and can get.

Ali G goes Switzerland

I confess, I am a fan of Ali G aka Sacha Baron. And it seems he has a twin brother.

Check this out.

http://ch.tilllate.com/DE/specialpage.php?pgid=6641

Sadly, Sir Colin really seems to think he is the one, but as we all know, that position is held by Keanu Reeves in Matrix.

So this leaves with a sorry ass bad song, a hot chick dancing and one checking your DVDs for the real thing, either Matrix or Ali G in da House.

Stranger than Fiction

With my motto, Stranger than Fiction, is a must review.

A great cast, not just because of big names, but really believable actors having roles that fit or are as great to fit in those roles.

A story which is new, fresh and not predictable (OK, the ending probably is to some extent).

Special effects which are not just about explosions, transforming cars or talking animals but do help to express the story.

A leading Lady Maggie Gyllenhaal who is beautiful but rather real than what we see far too often. Sure, I wouldn’t kick Megan Fox out of my bed, but I’d rather have a family with Maggie. Sadly, some other guy already had that idea…

Also beautiful photography. A lot of work went into scouting the locations and the colour-coding is superb.

On the negative side is a to some extent predictable ending, a few passages which could be cut a bit more.

The verdict? 8.5/10

Transformers

Take a Motto, “More than meets the eyes”. Use it far too often.

Add a Nerd who loves a Boom Chicka Wah Wah-Chick, some predictable jokes, so old that the actors parents were born, before they were used the first time.

A dull story with Good robots fighting Bad robots who can transform from a humanoid form into cars, tanks, planes, etc.

Mix it with Industry, Light and Magic and you get “Transformers”.

Why should you pay hard earned cash? As a male to see cars and Megan Fox who has a nice face and a wet-dreams-body.

The effects are OK, not grand, sometimes things happen just too fast and probably too fast, because they couldn’t do it better.

But if you want to have a story, emotions, new insights, go somewhere else.

Three out of ten.

Fable, the lost chapters

I started playing Fable last weekend. Of course the graphics are not up to date but what I really like, is the emersion. Your deeds, good or evil, are remembered by the bystanders and when you walk through the town, you hear them talking about what you did. For example, when you are a good child, they say “such a nice boy” and when you are a brat, they say “in our days, we were kinder” etc.

I fought a lot with a sword and got hit sometimes. Now my character is full of scars...

Have to restart that game.

Interstate 35W bridge collapsed Mississippi

Yesterday swr3, my favourite radio broadcaster, talked about the collapsed bridge in the USA.

They said “Still the reason for the accident eludes us”.

WTF. Do they really think, that they will find the reason that fast?

Of course they also talked with ‘the man from the street’ who of course said “Oh, I am very afraid to cross a bridge” and they got an expert who talked about the risk of collapsing bridges in Germany.

My point? Same thing happened in Basel when a experimental aircraft hit a building. Is this really the news we want and need to hear?

I think it is so cheap. Something happens, talk to some bystanders, call some experts move to the next story.

What I miss, is an investigative approach. Not just tell us what has happened, but try to find out what will happen in the future by following leads and get the information beforehand.

Of course this would need more manpower but would also be more helpful.

Welcome World

Being as modest as I am, I do expect that all of you read my blog as often as possible.

According to my title, I want to talk about fun - fact - fiction. Not that much about the difference between fact and fiction and the joy of discussing what is fact and fiction but about ideas I have, things I’ve read or seen.