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Category Archives: Opinion
bad, worse, worst, CAPTCHA, reCAPTCHA
Think what you will of Google products. I personally try to avoid them for privacy reasons. But there’s that one Google product that is at the same time the crappiest and most ubiquitous Google product ever conceived. It’s called reCAPTCHA. … Continue reading
Blame Russia!
Since Trump is slated to win the electoral vote and the DNC and Hillary Clinton blamed Russia during her campaign for all mischief that hit the campaign, why isn’t anyone trying to remove that president elect which allegedly won as … Continue reading
Dear US-Americans, cut out the middlemen, would ya?
While all the — hopefully embarrassed — pundits and other experts, including the statisticians that produced such an epic fail with their forecasts, are weaning themselves to the notion of President Trump, the press coverage fails — yet again — … Continue reading
Posted in EN, Opinion, Thoughts
Tagged democracy, election, POTUS elections 2016, US, usa
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So many questions this morning
Did Hillary already prepare her concession speech? Will Hillary accept the election results or keep us in suspense? How long will Mr. Drumpf’s term be? He’s not going to be as profitable to the MIC1 as Hillary would have been, … Continue reading
President Trump
Let’s face it, it looks like Trump will win, despite the bitching and moaning of the so-called “liberal” press in the US1. Obviously the US has a certain history of assassinations (or attempts thereof) of its presidents, so it’s possible … Continue reading
Does the Brexit mean we can have the word “Marmelade” back?
The German loan word Marmelade for any kind of fruit preserve predates the first mentioning of marmalade in English literature by about a century. The real origin can be found in Greek, passed to us via Romance Languages, in particular … Continue reading
Stupid news story
So currently a story about some Mormon1 from the US-of-A survived two – according to some even three – terror attacks. So in case of yesterday’s attacks in Brussels he was a mere few meters away. Fair enough, I’d count … Continue reading
Posted in EN, Opinion
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Merry Christmas, America! (Don’t be so overly politically correct all the time!)
Language shapes how we think. It changes our mindsets. Not only George Orwell acknowledged this with his novel Nineteen Eighty Four, where MiniTru – the Ministry of Truth – rewrites newspaper articles and manipulates recorded history. I am an atheist, … Continue reading
Posted in EN, Opinion
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Finally … (adblocking)
I’ll out myself as iPhone 5s user now. I bought it with a German vendor who specializes in used and refurbished devices, not just from Apple. The latest update to iOS brings two features I really like: accommodates ad-blockers and … Continue reading
Is it really skyr?
Arla, the big Danish dairy manufacturer, started selling a product named “skyr” inside the EU – including in Germany – which claims to be skyr according to Icelandic traditions. Well, the news caused quite a stir1 in Iceland and the … Continue reading
Dear Mister President (POTUS)
I know I don’t get to vote for or against you despite being subject of a vassal state of the US, but then the same applies to some of your own citizens in certain overseas territories. Nevertheless I hope you … Continue reading
Civilization
Several botched executions in the recent past in the US after the individual states had trouble to acquire the drugs for the deadly cocktail whose inventor – a pathologist – is, by the way, against the death penalty now. All … Continue reading
Death penalty again
Two recent editorials of The Times of Shreveport (Louisiana) shine a light at the mechanisms behind the death penalty, especially the second one: State should give Ford real justice RE: “State should give Ford real justice,” March 8, 6D No … Continue reading
American Sniper?
What’s the buzz about that “American Sniper”, Chris Kyle, right now in the US? Wasn’t he but another murderer killing from safe distance? Much like drone-killer dad who kisses his kids goodbye in the morning, drives to work and kills … Continue reading
Rodney Reed
As recently noted below the article about Tony Abbots remarks that Texas was about to kill an innocent man. Good news is that the execution scheduled for 5th of March 2015 has been postponed according to the Wikipedia article (permalink … Continue reading
Tony Abbott is right
I’m no fan of this hardliner, but him asking for clemency for two drug traffickers from Australia on the death row in Indonesia was the right thing to do. The outrage of the Indonesians is understandable, because those drug traffickers … Continue reading
Posted in EN, Human Rights, Opinion
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Honest words
In a recent interview US president Obama conceded that the USA behaves on our planet like a bully in would in a school yard. His words: Now, I also think that if we were just resorting to that and we … Continue reading
Posted in EN, Opinion, Peace
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Fairfax County (VA): Thou shalt install proper crosswalks
… and traffic lights for pedestrians. Honestly, I now know what Americans mean by “going the extra mile”. I have seen at the very least three cross junctions with only two crosswalks. Takes no degree in mathematics or deep knowledge … Continue reading
Posted in EN, Opinion
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Only in Germany
… will it matter to the vain to proudly carry a “Dr.” (used for PhD and other doctoral degrees) in front of their names. It’s not like you’re forced to put it there, it’s very often literally abused to convey … Continue reading
Posted in EN, Opinion
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Anders “Fokk” Rasmussen: Iceland crucial to NATO
Helvítis fokking fokk! The NATO flag was flying at the ministry of foreign affairs, approximately a hundred meters from our office here in Reykjavík, on Wednesday. I pointed it out to my colleagues who hadn’t recognized it while we took … Continue reading