Monday, March 19, 2012
Myths and facts about Germany's switch to renewables
The Heinrich Böll Foundation (of the German Green Party) has just published a layouted version of my article entitled "Myths and facts about the German switch from nuclear to renewables" (PDF).
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Next FDP "plagiator"
Just in case you are counting, yet another member of Germany's libertarian party (FDP) has had his PhD taken from him because his dissertation was found to be plagiarized. His name is Bijan Djir-Sarai; there does not seem to be much information about him in English on the Web.
What I find amazing is how many members of this party, whose slogan used to be "Leistung muss sich lohnen" (performance should be rewarded), cheated to get where they are.
What I find amazing is how many members of this party, whose slogan used to be "Leistung muss sich lohnen" (performance should be rewarded), cheated to get where they are.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Fukushima = Hukushima?
Last night on the nightly news here in Germany, the newscaster pronounced "Fukushima" in a way I had never heard before: Fu-KU-shi-ma – which led me to wonder how the word is actually pronounced.
There is no dearth of information on the subject online. There is this sample, which does not sound completely unusual, whereas this guy felt strong enough about the subject to put up a dedicated website explaining that the SHEE that practically everyone in the English and German-speaking world is stressing is actually schwa, but that's not what I'm hearing in the song video below (warning: Japanese babe alert) – but before you listen to it, you might want to read this explanation of how the fu sound is actually very close to hu (take a look at the way people's lips are positioned in the video for that first syllable):
The hu certainly sound like the first sound in the English name "Hugh" in this rendition.
I have no idea what they're saying in that song (aside from "I love you baby, Fukushima. I need you baby, Fukushima" – if anyone has a translation, feel free to post as I could only find Portuguese, which I do not speak), but it is touching to see that the video seems to have been made only a few weeks after the disaster with various people expressing their affection for Fukushima – and this version is adorable.
Another thing that struck me from the video is how easy it seems to pronounce Japanese, which is indeed considered one of the easiest languages in the world in terms of pronunciation. And though this website does not directly comment on the pronunciation of Fukushima (aside from reader comments), I did enjoy the man's obvious annoyance in all of his instructions along the lines of "it's To-kyo, not Tow-kee-yo." And while Japanese may be easy to pronounce, see if you can get your head around the proper pronunciation of Hiroshima.
On a similar note, I saw a documentary this week on German television, and a resident of the nearby town of Minamisanriku was actually in good cheer as he talked about what life was like now. He smiled as he said something I found especially interesting: "Since the disaster, everyone has been talking with everyone else."
There is no dearth of information on the subject online. There is this sample, which does not sound completely unusual, whereas this guy felt strong enough about the subject to put up a dedicated website explaining that the SHEE that practically everyone in the English and German-speaking world is stressing is actually schwa, but that's not what I'm hearing in the song video below (warning: Japanese babe alert) – but before you listen to it, you might want to read this explanation of how the fu sound is actually very close to hu (take a look at the way people's lips are positioned in the video for that first syllable):
The hu certainly sound like the first sound in the English name "Hugh" in this rendition.
I have no idea what they're saying in that song (aside from "I love you baby, Fukushima. I need you baby, Fukushima" – if anyone has a translation, feel free to post as I could only find Portuguese, which I do not speak), but it is touching to see that the video seems to have been made only a few weeks after the disaster with various people expressing their affection for Fukushima – and this version is adorable.
Another thing that struck me from the video is how easy it seems to pronounce Japanese, which is indeed considered one of the easiest languages in the world in terms of pronunciation. And though this website does not directly comment on the pronunciation of Fukushima (aside from reader comments), I did enjoy the man's obvious annoyance in all of his instructions along the lines of "it's To-kyo, not Tow-kee-yo." And while Japanese may be easy to pronounce, see if you can get your head around the proper pronunciation of Hiroshima.
On a similar note, I saw a documentary this week on German television, and a resident of the nearby town of Minamisanriku was actually in good cheer as he talked about what life was like now. He smiled as he said something I found especially interesting: "Since the disaster, everyone has been talking with everyone else."
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Culture shock in reverse
About a month ago, I was visited by three engineering students from Korea. As you may remember, I visited Korea in late November – and wrote about the culinary experience here.
I thought I had done quite well for those eight days with all of the unknown kinds of food I had to eat with metal chopsticks, but when I saw the three young men trying to cut open a German bread roll at a breakfast buffet, I realized how awkward I must've looked the whole time.
The guys had filled their plates with cheese, salami, and jam from the buffet, and one of them put all three things on his bread before I had a chance to warn him. When the second guy looked poised to do the same, I tried as diplomatically as I could to explain that we generally don't throw our meats together with our jam.
But the joke was on me later that night, when I took them to have a schnitzel. I ordered two different kinds for them, and for me I ordered some venison with cowberry sauce (Wildgeschnetzeltes mit Preiselbeeren) -- a staple here in Baden, but for the life of me I cannot find a decent picture of it online to share with you.
Anyway, it is essentially chunks of venison with jelly, aka meat with jam. Why the Germans don't mix the two for breakfast, but only for supper – I was at a loss to explain it. And indeed, I had not even realized the conflict until then.
I thought I had done quite well for those eight days with all of the unknown kinds of food I had to eat with metal chopsticks, but when I saw the three young men trying to cut open a German bread roll at a breakfast buffet, I realized how awkward I must've looked the whole time.
The guys had filled their plates with cheese, salami, and jam from the buffet, and one of them put all three things on his bread before I had a chance to warn him. When the second guy looked poised to do the same, I tried as diplomatically as I could to explain that we generally don't throw our meats together with our jam.
But the joke was on me later that night, when I took them to have a schnitzel. I ordered two different kinds for them, and for me I ordered some venison with cowberry sauce (Wildgeschnetzeltes mit Preiselbeeren) -- a staple here in Baden, but for the life of me I cannot find a decent picture of it online to share with you.
Anyway, it is essentially chunks of venison with jelly, aka meat with jam. Why the Germans don't mix the two for breakfast, but only for supper – I was at a loss to explain it. And indeed, I had not even realized the conflict until then.
Monday, February 13, 2012
RIP Whitney
Although I did not own a single album of hers at the time, I remember exactly where I was standing when I heard that Whitney Houston had married rapper Bobby Brown. I remember thinking, "what a waste."
Things actually went much worse for her then I imagined at the time. And while we now have Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé and a slew of other melisma signers with an incredible range extending over four octaves or more, it was Whitney who took all this to a new level.
"How sad her gifts could not bring her the same happiness they brought us."
-- Barbra Streisand
Sing it for us one more time, Whitney....
Things actually went much worse for her then I imagined at the time. And while we now have Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé and a slew of other melisma signers with an incredible range extending over four octaves or more, it was Whitney who took all this to a new level.
"How sad her gifts could not bring her the same happiness they brought us."
-- Barbra Streisand
Sing it for us one more time, Whitney....
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Good ol' Bismarck
This week, a recently discovered audio recording of former German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck popped up on YouTube. It is the only recording of this man from the 19th century.
I found it absolutely remarkable because of what he says on it. He starts off with some light-hearted verse in English, followed by a trivial poem in German, a few sentences of Latin, and the Marseillaise (the song of the French Revolution and the current French national anthem) in French.
Bismarck has a reputation of being Germany's first militaristic leader in modern times – which he certainly was, but the British and the French in particular were not exactly pacifists with their battle for global colonialist hegemony. If anything, Bismarck has gone down in history for his Blood and Iron approach because it proved successful; at a time when soldiers stood in a row facing each other because they had to load their muskets standing, Bismarck sent in an army with the first rear-loading rifles, allowing his soldiers not only to re-load their guns faster, but also do so lying down.
It also does not help that we perforce view history in reverse, so it's hard to see anything German in the 19th century without interpreting it as part of the fatal developments that eventually led to the disaster of Nazism.
True, Bismarck reunited the Protestant northern and Catholic southern German states, thereby creating a single Germany that could be a dominant force, but as this audio recording shows, Bismarck was not a Führer, but a cosmopolitan who spoke several languages, enjoyed the good life and, when he had the chance, chose to record himself for posterity with a display of his linguistic talents – and his penchant for light humor.
The recording ends with some advice to his son: don't work too much, but don't eat or drink too much either. Good idea. Sounds like Otto was the kind of guy you might want to have a beer with.
I found it absolutely remarkable because of what he says on it. He starts off with some light-hearted verse in English, followed by a trivial poem in German, a few sentences of Latin, and the Marseillaise (the song of the French Revolution and the current French national anthem) in French.
Bismarck has a reputation of being Germany's first militaristic leader in modern times – which he certainly was, but the British and the French in particular were not exactly pacifists with their battle for global colonialist hegemony. If anything, Bismarck has gone down in history for his Blood and Iron approach because it proved successful; at a time when soldiers stood in a row facing each other because they had to load their muskets standing, Bismarck sent in an army with the first rear-loading rifles, allowing his soldiers not only to re-load their guns faster, but also do so lying down.
It also does not help that we perforce view history in reverse, so it's hard to see anything German in the 19th century without interpreting it as part of the fatal developments that eventually led to the disaster of Nazism.
True, Bismarck reunited the Protestant northern and Catholic southern German states, thereby creating a single Germany that could be a dominant force, but as this audio recording shows, Bismarck was not a Führer, but a cosmopolitan who spoke several languages, enjoyed the good life and, when he had the chance, chose to record himself for posterity with a display of his linguistic talents – and his penchant for light humor.
The recording ends with some advice to his son: don't work too much, but don't eat or drink too much either. Good idea. Sounds like Otto was the kind of guy you might want to have a beer with.
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