The land of the free has elections next Tuesday. What about the state and quality of freedom in this country? Given its huge challenges and the many tasks that the next president face may make us think about how freedom will be affected. Some helpful inspiration:
"Freedom is the oxygen of the soul." [Moshe Dayan]
"Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves." [Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, 1888]
"My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular." [Adlai Stevenson, speech, Detroit, 1952]
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." [Abraham Lincoln]
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" [Benjamin Franklin]
"None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free." [Goethe]
"Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently." [Rosa Luxemburg]
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_freedom.html
Sonntag, 2. November 2008
Samstag, 1. November 2008
Indulgence....
Indulgence is when ...
... you can read again a newspaper after having had to deal only with econ/math/equations for weeks to study for midterm exams
... dedicate your time again to do some politics (e.g. vote early in the US for the presidential, House and Senate elections as well as some local elections and local ballot issues; e.g. Swiss politics, as Swiss voters face 5 federal referendum issues on Nov. 30th, as well as Cantonal government elections in Aargau)
... finding time to dive again into some political philosophy (and being reminded how sad it is that no party in the USA reflect this brand of thinking, i.e. cf. e.g.
F.A. von Hayek, "Why I am not a Conservative"
http://www.fahayek.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=53
and, of course: indulgence is when a friend spontaneously invites you to original Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup lunch at a Pho75 restaurant (cheap, simple, but great food) in Falls Church.
The beef briskets gets cooked in the hot soup (a bouillon) whith bean sprouts, rice noodles, Thai basil and some other herbs. Dunk the beef slices into the pepper/chilli sauce and enjoy!
Afterwards feel even more comfortable by sipping iced Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk .. hmmmm.
... you can read again a newspaper after having had to deal only with econ/math/equations for weeks to study for midterm exams
... dedicate your time again to do some politics (e.g. vote early in the US for the presidential, House and Senate elections as well as some local elections and local ballot issues; e.g. Swiss politics, as Swiss voters face 5 federal referendum issues on Nov. 30th, as well as Cantonal government elections in Aargau)
... finding time to dive again into some political philosophy (and being reminded how sad it is that no party in the USA reflect this brand of thinking, i.e. cf. e.g.
F.A. von Hayek, "Why I am not a Conservative"
http://www.fahayek.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=53
and, of course: indulgence is when a friend spontaneously invites you to original Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup lunch at a Pho75 restaurant (cheap, simple, but great food) in Falls Church.
The beef briskets gets cooked in the hot soup (a bouillon) whith bean sprouts, rice noodles, Thai basil and some other herbs. Dunk the beef slices into the pepper/chilli sauce and enjoy!
Afterwards feel even more comfortable by sipping iced Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk .. hmmmm.
Donnerstag, 2. Oktober 2008
Sound bites and punch lines
Ceci n'est pas une gaffe...
If you watched this night's VP debate (ahem, was it really a debate?), you may understand what a gaffe may be. If it is successful, it may be called sound bite, particularly when A delivers it to score points relative to its counterpart B (which may then be called a 'punch'line:-).
Maybe also thoughtful, some funny comments, given by Thomas L. Friedman (NY Times, Wed, Oct 1, 2008, page A31) - hopefully, this is enough of citation), about what for possibly most seem more of a concern than talks on issues which are not really addressing the questions in so-debates.
"I've always believed that America's government was a unique political system - one designed by geniuses so that it could be run by idiots. I was wrong."
We have House members, many of them whom I suspect can't balance their own checkbooks, rejecting a complex rescue package because some voters, whom I fear also don't understand, swamped them with phone calls. I appreciate the popular anger against Wall Street, but you can't deal with this crisis this way. "
[the House rejected the bill on Monda, Sept 29, the Senate passed it on Wed, Oct 1]
"We're all connected. As others have pointed out, you can't save Main Street and punish Wall Street anymore than you can be in row boadt with someone you hate and think that the leak in the bottom of the boat at his end is not going to sink you, too. The world is really flat. We're all connected. 'Decoupling' is pure fantasy."
[didn't he write a book with the 'flat'-title...?:-)]
"I always said to myself: Our government is so broken that it can only work in response to a huge crisis. But now we've had a huge crisis, and the system still doesn't seem to work. Our leaders, Republicans and Democrats, have gotten so out of practice of working together that even in the face of this system-threatening meltdown they could not agree on a rescue package, as if they lived on Mars and were just visiting us for the week, with no stake in the outcome.
The story cannot end here. If it does, assume the fetal position."
If you watched this night's VP debate (ahem, was it really a debate?), you may understand what a gaffe may be. If it is successful, it may be called sound bite, particularly when A delivers it to score points relative to its counterpart B (which may then be called a 'punch'line:-).
Maybe also thoughtful, some funny comments, given by Thomas L. Friedman (NY Times, Wed, Oct 1, 2008, page A31) - hopefully, this is enough of citation), about what for possibly most seem more of a concern than talks on issues which are not really addressing the questions in so-debates.
"I've always believed that America's government was a unique political system - one designed by geniuses so that it could be run by idiots. I was wrong."
We have House members, many of them whom I suspect can't balance their own checkbooks, rejecting a complex rescue package because some voters, whom I fear also don't understand, swamped them with phone calls. I appreciate the popular anger against Wall Street, but you can't deal with this crisis this way. "
[the House rejected the bill on Monda, Sept 29, the Senate passed it on Wed, Oct 1]
"We're all connected. As others have pointed out, you can't save Main Street and punish Wall Street anymore than you can be in row boadt with someone you hate and think that the leak in the bottom of the boat at his end is not going to sink you, too. The world is really flat. We're all connected. 'Decoupling' is pure fantasy."
[didn't he write a book with the 'flat'-title...?:-)]
"I always said to myself: Our government is so broken that it can only work in response to a huge crisis. But now we've had a huge crisis, and the system still doesn't seem to work. Our leaders, Republicans and Democrats, have gotten so out of practice of working together that even in the face of this system-threatening meltdown they could not agree on a rescue package, as if they lived on Mars and were just visiting us for the week, with no stake in the outcome.
The story cannot end here. If it does, assume the fetal position."
How is America?
When you live for some period of time abroad, you wonder how to depict the more and less subtle differences. Sometimes you do not even recognize them, sometimes you do not know how to conceptualize them.
Here is one, I (still) cannot make sense of.
To my experience, it seems that stairs are usually a representative part of a building, and for this reason it may seem legitimized to put them on a crucial spot in the building.
Even more, security, safety and emergency concerns may impose additional restrictions on how to design a building and its stairs. no wonder, that soccer stadiums tend to have many many gates, in order to fill/empty the structure quickly (quess what would happen in panic, when you seem not to be able to move out quickly? Don't tread on me...). And so it comes that you see not only audience, but many gaps due to gates and stairways which cut across the rows of seats.
But let's look at a more common type of stairs, in buildings of every day use. We might expect huge stairs in huge buildings, for huge crowds and to make a huge impression on the visitor. this may be valid for Gaston/Healy Hall on the Georgetown Campus (likewise for European palaces, but similarly - scale adjusted - also for single households).
But - where are the stairs in the Walsh School Building? Where are the stairs in the ICC building or in the Lauinger library? They are not representative, not impressive, but closed up, away from the main hall/entrance room/atrium. As if the stairs are not a part of the building, but something to hide (and indeed, their walls are sometimes not even painted). And those stairs are small, maybe not even 1.5m (or 6 yards?) wide...
WHY????
Given that those few elevators are slow, old and small, they do not tend to provide enough capacity for the loads of students, faculty and others to get through the structure.
Is there any good reason for this? Cutting costs? Space constraints? Static challenges?? Or just different conceptions of how (thought of) modern buildings should look like?
If you have a powerful explanation, let me know.
Here is one, I (still) cannot make sense of.
To my experience, it seems that stairs are usually a representative part of a building, and for this reason it may seem legitimized to put them on a crucial spot in the building.
Even more, security, safety and emergency concerns may impose additional restrictions on how to design a building and its stairs. no wonder, that soccer stadiums tend to have many many gates, in order to fill/empty the structure quickly (quess what would happen in panic, when you seem not to be able to move out quickly? Don't tread on me...). And so it comes that you see not only audience, but many gaps due to gates and stairways which cut across the rows of seats.
But let's look at a more common type of stairs, in buildings of every day use. We might expect huge stairs in huge buildings, for huge crowds and to make a huge impression on the visitor. this may be valid for Gaston/Healy Hall on the Georgetown Campus (likewise for European palaces, but similarly - scale adjusted - also for single households).
But - where are the stairs in the Walsh School Building? Where are the stairs in the ICC building or in the Lauinger library? They are not representative, not impressive, but closed up, away from the main hall/entrance room/atrium. As if the stairs are not a part of the building, but something to hide (and indeed, their walls are sometimes not even painted). And those stairs are small, maybe not even 1.5m (or 6 yards?) wide...
WHY????
Given that those few elevators are slow, old and small, they do not tend to provide enough capacity for the loads of students, faculty and others to get through the structure.
Is there any good reason for this? Cutting costs? Space constraints? Static challenges?? Or just different conceptions of how (thought of) modern buildings should look like?
If you have a powerful explanation, let me know.
Samstag, 30. August 2008
Settled in Arlington
Hey
Life has been and is still quite hectic. After having introduced my successor (intern) at the bank, I ended my internship, packed my few belongings and took the plane to NYC (yes, it's apparently much cheaper to fly to New York (via Dusseldorf), from ZRH, instead of heading directly to Washington (Dulles)). The bus from NYC to hot-humid DC was a mere 20 bucks (there are many Chinatown buses).
I think I still have to get used to many small things here (e.g. why the hell do they use different sheet sizes? Nobody here knows the DIN A4 page, they all use standard 10 (8.5 x 11 inch or so, which is a bit broader, but less long).
After a strenuous two week math camp I try to get used to the semester which started this week. And I am still waiting for most of my textbooks (which are usually bought second hand here, as the prices are just crazy). However, an annoyance is amazon, where I ordered most books. There is not just a huge difference between the shipment date range and the delivery, but they apparently postpone bot date ranges. So what seemed to be a matter of 3-5 days becomes not a waiting time of 3-5 weeks.... not enough calamity: here you pay also the transport costs while e.g. amazon germany ships the books for free if their value exceed 50 bucks.
Let's see, what else is coming
Life has been and is still quite hectic. After having introduced my successor (intern) at the bank, I ended my internship, packed my few belongings and took the plane to NYC (yes, it's apparently much cheaper to fly to New York (via Dusseldorf), from ZRH, instead of heading directly to Washington (Dulles)). The bus from NYC to hot-humid DC was a mere 20 bucks (there are many Chinatown buses).
I think I still have to get used to many small things here (e.g. why the hell do they use different sheet sizes? Nobody here knows the DIN A4 page, they all use standard 10 (8.5 x 11 inch or so, which is a bit broader, but less long).
After a strenuous two week math camp I try to get used to the semester which started this week. And I am still waiting for most of my textbooks (which are usually bought second hand here, as the prices are just crazy). However, an annoyance is amazon, where I ordered most books. There is not just a huge difference between the shipment date range and the delivery, but they apparently postpone bot date ranges. So what seemed to be a matter of 3-5 days becomes not a waiting time of 3-5 weeks.... not enough calamity: here you pay also the transport costs while e.g. amazon germany ships the books for free if their value exceed 50 bucks.
Let's see, what else is coming
Samstag, 28. Juni 2008
Saying goodbye to the army
What a special feeling, to turn back all army stuff (yes!, always surprising for foreigners, the Swiss keep their army rifle with 50 bullets at their homes as soldiers) that I kept for the last five years. However, after the 15-week recruit school in 2003, I just served one WK (annual repetition course that takes 3 weeks) in 2006, while the other years I "postponed" it:-) and - given the recent turmoil around the army, it's a goodbye with a multitude of meanings.
But, I fulfilled another annual duty so far, i.e. the also mandatory shooting on a 30om range with the SIG 550 (aka assault rifle 90 ("Sturmgewehr 90") of the Swiss Army) and I scored quite satisfactorily.
After that, furbishing and greasing, the weapong together with the uniform, bags and stuff turned went back to the army base.
The incident on the Kander river, some weeks ago, that killed 4 soldiers on a boat trip, stirred up emotions and all kinds of political opinions about what to do and what's wrong with the army.
Since the lost popular vote on the proposal for an army base in Rothenturm in the early 1980s (the location was a natural preservation area) and the first people's initiative to abolish the army altogether (also in 1980's) and the end of the Cold War, there is a kind of a vanishing consensus about what the purposes of an army should be.
Some important trends of warfare have been overslept, some equipment is outdated, the selection of the officers is ambiguous and a career in the army - in opposite to Cold War times - is highly unpopular in the business world.
Incapable officers, a lack of commitment and a complete lack of a meaning or understanding (in what to do on a daily basis in their role as soldiers if a war would erupt) have hollowed out this organization, so much that dramatic changes seem to be a necessity.
Who knows, maybe we too shift to a professional army (away of our Miliz-model), or reduce the size again dramatically.
One thing seems plausible: amidst all that shit around the army, we're definitely not in the need of new war planes, but of a huge clean-up in organizational/structural terms.
Montag, 26. Mai 2008
SWFs are here - no need to fear
Hot debates emerged in 2007 about Sovereign Wealth Funds and their implications. Be it oil exports, FX reserves or fiscal surpluses, the Mid-East and some East-Asian growth-states saw their SWFs mushrooming in the last few years.
An easy reader and entry for laymens is provided by the Council on Foreign Relations:
http://www.cfr.org/publication/15251
Some nice stuff is also avaiable at the IMF and the Peterson Institute for Int'l Economics (mainly written by E. Truman).
Check it out, and you won't have that much fear anymore, even though some policy questions remain and, as Larry Summers last July pointed out, potential problems exist.
What about a Code of Conduct and the reliance on market discipline and its forces? Will this work?
In the long run, not even hard-core special interests can stem themselves against the logic of a good return (cf. the problems with the Chinese CIC...)
An easy reader and entry for laymens is provided by the Council on Foreign Relations:
http://www.cfr.org/publication/15251
Some nice stuff is also avaiable at the IMF and the Peterson Institute for Int'l Economics (mainly written by E. Truman).
Check it out, and you won't have that much fear anymore, even though some policy questions remain and, as Larry Summers last July pointed out, potential problems exist.
What about a Code of Conduct and the reliance on market discipline and its forces? Will this work?
In the long run, not even hard-core special interests can stem themselves against the logic of a good return (cf. the problems with the Chinese CIC...)
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