30.8.2010 von Jean Jacques.

I rarely get involved in political discussions, and when I do, I try to be diplomatic. Unless of course I do not like the verbal adversary at the time, in which case I am unlikely to even listen to his/her argumentation, worse, take the opposite side even if it does not represent my views, just for the sake of an argument.  It gets exponentially worse if alcohol intake is involved.

And in any case, who in his right mind would start a political discussion.

This is quite obvious when watching the live TV coverage of the British Parliament. Ninety percent of the honorable members present are fast asleep on the benches. Obviously they are recuperating from a long drawn lunch session at the local pub. The remaining 10 percent, usually 2 (it takes a minimum of 2 for an argument I guess) obviously managed to dose themselves correctly so as to reach their optimum debating skills at the right time. It must take quite a lot of practice.

Who needs politicians anyway? I am more and more appalled by their behavior and lack of achievement.I think one can summarize a typical 5 years in the office as follows:

First year: get acquainted. Nominate cabinet but especially visit a lot of countries.

Second year: develop policies and test the water. It is best if a lot of committees and independent enquiries with famous and trustworthy people (who have no clue on the matter) are started. But it looks good.

Third year: start a war. This is the best way to get the economy going and more importantly get those ratings back up. If you cannot afford a war, a good sex scandal will do.

Fourth year: is the tricky one. The non existing policies are not working, the budget overruns are larger that the planned income for the next millennium.

Fifth year: start of the new election campaign. Nothing else counts.

Anyway, I have not found that article (see previous post) again yet. I have however found a similar one. And when I say similar I mean similar. Practically a copy. That will get me going for sure…

So watch this space for more to come. 

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29.8.2010 von Jean Jacques.

Will this be transfered to Facebook? Testing…

Not done much today. It has been pissing down with rain in any case.
Short 4 days week ahead, then long weekend in France.

Need to make a trip to the Apple shop this week to see if the USB adaptors for the iPad have finally arrived in this part of the world. If not, then I guess I shall have to rely on some of my relations in the US to get one for me.

Mind you, I am quite keen on a trip to Chicago. It has been a long while since I have been there.

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27.8.2010 von Jean Jacques.

Once in a while, one ought to be serious. 

 Not too serious of course, but enough to keep the impeding grey cells burn out at bay as long as possible.

I read recently on line an article (I lost it in the meantime, but I will hopefully find it again before I publish this) which made me think…

A rare occasion some of you might say, but a fact nevertheless. I cannot say I have had sleepless nights about it, but all in all, I probably dwelled on the subject for a few hours, mostly whilst staring at the horizon above a sea of clouds.

I usually tend to end up in something approaching a transcendental state, when sitting on a plane at 30,000 feet. As far as I am concerned, the reason is the obvious lack of oxygen to the brain at this height. More likely however, are the large Gin & Tonics one is usually gulping down as soon as cabin service is permitted. Or could it be the lack of nicotine intake one has to suffer for hours on end, forcing one to think of something else.  And there is no denying it, I fly a lot.

I miss those Air France long couriers which offered a curtained off section with a bar where one could indulge in the odd cigarette. It did not bother anyone else and gave the chance to the likes of us, not only to indulge in that filthy but satisfying habit, but also make some interesting acquaintances. Mind you, most of the time it was the inevitable gay steward. More entertaining were the stewardesses (and there were around 1,254 of them on a Jumbo 747 before the latest economic crisis. Somewhat surprisingly the whole flight deck crew itself was to be seen once in a while. I always wondered who actually flew the plane.

Anyway, the said article was written if my memory is correct by some “unknown to me” US scholar on religion. I personally think we have here another case of a grant being misused.

The theme of the article was about tolerance or in this case, the lack of it in Europe and of course particularly in France towards the Barkha and the new laws (I am actually trying to find the details of the said law) being passed to forbid such things. Such ignominy would never occur in the US according the author.

That point alone made me mad to start with.

Do not get me wrong, I like our American cousins. There are quite a few things I do not like aboutn them but let’s face it, America is trying to “police” the world. And it is something we should be all grateful for, even if they do it for the wrong reasons and to my mind, very often, the wrong way. But at least something which surely is needed is being done. Take note EU leaders. The world security is more important than debating the value of an English sausage and whether in fact it can actually be called a sausage.

Not that Europe as a whole could not afford it. The 2009 GDP figures show the EU with 16,400,000 million dollars (and that is only with the 19 member states as opposed to the 27? today) compared to the USA with 14,200,000 and peanuts.

I wish 1 voice was possible in EU, but that is basically impossible.

Now I have lost my thread and I still cannot find the article… So you will have to wait.

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10.7.2010 von Jean Jacques.

I have not had a chance to comment on the place till today (August 25th). This is mainly due to the fact that my main computer (yes, the infamous iMac) is still on the waters somewhere between Shanghai and Bremen. It was my understanding it was due to arrive end of August (yesterday in fact) but no news up to now. The second fact is that, despite the fact that I love my new iPad, I cannot make blog entries with it. I can put a title but no way will it let me do more than that. I guess I have to thank Mr Steve Jobs for that and his aversion to Flash Adobe… I shall have to enquire with WordPress as to which solution they are working on and basically when they will switch to HTML5 (if that is the issue of course). Basically one is being controlled by a handful of people like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates to name just a couple. Not sure this is acceptable but there is little one can do. And I do not think Linux is a viable alternative.

In a round about way, this brings me to Langkawi. The idea was to have a few days holidays in between departing from Shanghai and coming back to Germany.

I arrived at the hotel late in the evening and after check in, was brought to the chalet (looking for a better word) on what I would describe as an elongated golf cart. It reminded me of one of my all time favorite TV series “The Prisoner” in the late 60s (17 episodes between 1967 and 1968 to be precise). Only those who are old enough ta have watched it will understand of course. I felt really in the “village”. When the portier / driver, who was more than a friendly chap, said if there were any queries, he could be contacted via reception and that his number was 14, that did it for me. Did I make the point?

 Nice enough resort, well kept, clean but not too much action available despite the fact that it was in the middle of football world cup.

That particular island is fine, but basically it is a collection of hotels and resorts. There was no real night life outside that I could see. Even the main town was a bit of a disaster to say the least despite the fact that it enjoys a “duty free” status.

So basically I spent a week reading, reading and reading a bit more. This is where the iPad came to its own. I think I read 7 or 8 books including the Stieg Larsson Trilogy, which I really enjoyed by the way.

I have in fact downloaded the film “the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” only  last night. So you all know what I am going to be doing this evening. Actually this is another first for me, I have rented the HD film version on iTunes (4.9 GB). Good thing I can connect the iPad to my rather large HDTV.

Anyway, those who know me, know that I travel light. Very light in fact. Imagine if I had to carry those usually thick 8 paperbacks. Where would I put them? I now know why I have read so little in the past 3 or so years. But now it has changed. Thank you Mr Jobs for the iPad. It works for me.

So all in all, Langkawi was fine, but a bit boring. Good thing I needed to decompress and had a lot on my mind to try and sort out. Wich of course I did not.

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27.6.2010 von Jean Jacques.

A sad occasion indeed. 

To follow

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27.6.2010 von Jean Jacques.

Shanghai D-4 

Hard to believe, but I am leaving Shanghai after almost 3 happy years to return to Germany. Four days to go, admitedly with a refuelling stop over in Malaysia. Is 9 days on a tropical island, in this case Langkawi, enough to put away those those 2.5 years.

I know what is awaiting me and I cannot bear the thought. From the effervecent mega metropole life back to a village life.

I am supposed to pack right now but somehow cannot find the energy. I still am not coming to terms with the whole thing.

I realize I have not updated my blog for ages, never able to find the time really. I have a lot of catching up to do. I am not know to be pessimistic, but I know I shall have plenty of time on my hands to surf around the net and update the half millions blogs and homepages I have running, as well as all the social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Xing and the rest of them who seem to be indispensable these days.

Sorry, could not resist switching over to Facebook and inform the rest of the world that I was in fact in the process of writing on my blog.

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8.6.2010 von Jean Jacques.

To follow

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