#i miss you aperçu.

[whoslaurapalmer]

i really should keep a diary regularly again but i am not and i like validation so you're all fucking stuck with me!!!!!

-sometimes i am like 'this is fine!! we're fine!!!!!' and it's average! and sometimes i am like 'aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' because everything is still happening!!! we're fine but it's happening!!!!!!!!!!!! my mom is getting chemo and it's a thing that's for sure fucking happening in my life!!!!!!!!

-they're pretty confident that she should not be sick from it. but this is a very intense phobia of mine so that's. a thing. in my head somewhere

-it's tough when you have 1) sinus issues 2) a breathing tic that involves sniffing/big inhale/a sigh, depending on the moment 3) developed severe anxiety with breathing last year that you are painstakingly working through 4) CRY A LOT 5) are not as active as you were between anxiety and three or however many years of a pandemic it's been by now

-sometimes i literally just cry because i keep going 'you're okay!!! everything's okay!!!!'

-idk about that one chief

-i feel a lot like i am breathing too fast or not enough and need to remind myself that i can breathe but it's!!!!!!!!!!!!! hard. and i'm a lot better than i was earlier in the year but it's still. hard.

-sometimes i wake up and within like a minute all the anxiety just drops back down on top of me and i hate that a lot :(

-but i get to see an ENT on wednesday and my neurologist appointment is FINALLY next week! and hopefully. that should work out.

-i always get scared doctors won't like me or will say 'well i don't see the problem what do you want me to do' and it's not like. they've ever said that before but some doctors certainly haven't liked me and i get :(

-like!!! you don't forget when you were a kid and a doctor didn't like you or thought you were difficult. even if it was only like once or twice. you still remember. or i always do

-i miss taking not otc sinus medication bc when i was younger i didn't have big sinus problems!!!! just sinus infections twice a year but that was because. i was In School

-sometimes i really really miss my dad. just to have somebody else in the house who can adult. who can take care of me and my mom so we don't have to take care of each other.

-he wasn't perfect and i think as i got older we wouldn't have gotten along. very well. but he was my dad and he loved me and he loved my mom and i miss him being here a lot because there'd just be somebody else

-and he loved to laugh and at least he'd make me laugh :(

-i don't think i ever really really let myself be upset about losing my dad when i was a teenager

-he had a handkerchief i loved when i was a kid and i carry it with me a lot and the funny thing is it's a fucking. bud light handkerchief???? but it has spuds mackenzie on it and when i was a kid all i saw was cute dog!!!!

-it's held up very well for yknow. being from the 80s.

-a lot of the time i just want Somebody Else being the one to tell me i'm okay and everything is gonna be okay. i mean it's still gonna make me cry to hear it bc i cry when people are nice but it's nice to hear it from just somebody else. Somebody Else who just!!!! knows better than i do!!!!!! knows everything better than me!!!!!!!

-i feel like i do therapy wrong bc i still cry a lot and i feel like i don't explain how upset i get right or what i feel like

-i like my therapist fine i guess but we have only had like!!! idk six sessions or something???? if that??? and that's not a lot in the grand scheme of therapy!!!!!!

-i want to get to the root of my anxiety, mariann!!!!! not just think of things to do about it!!!!! i want to talk about all the stupid shit i don't let go of!!!!!!!!

-I WANT TO MAKE A GOAL LIST, MARIANN, WHICH I FEEL LIKE WE SHOULD'VE ALREADY ADDRESSED IN LIKE THE FIRST OR SECOND SESSION

-anyway i see her tomorrow but sometimes i autopilot and i don't say the right things during an appointment and i feel like i do everything wrong :(

-and i love my psychiatrist but i hate that he's out of network and expensive and can only see me once a month :(

-he did prescribe prozac (and greatly emphasized 'lulu. you don't have to take it. you can fill the prescription and keep it on the table and just look at it. it's okay.') but i am not particularly enthused about 1) the adjustment period (like. oh very obviously from the top of this post i CANNOT at ALL handle one of the side effects even for any length of time.) (i don't actually typically GET medication side effects but i'm still not fucking chancing it on THAT) 2) the idea that it might not work and i would have to change doses or medication and do the adjustment AGAIN 3) the idea that eventually that could stop working!!!!!!!!!

-LIKE ISN'T THAT JUST COUNTERINTUITIVE?????? TO THE WHOLE ENTIRE DAMN THING?????????

-i also don't know if i can swallow it. it's not terribly big but. it's bigger than i wanted it to be

-anyway. big switch comes this week and i am. very excited. and my mom and my brother are too!!! and that's something to look forward to.

[bopinion]

2024 / 14

Aperçu of the Week:

"If everyone wanted to help each other, everyone would be helped."

(Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian poet and psychologist in the 19th century)

Bad News of the Week:

The whole world fears for the well-being of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza. Except Israel. The whole world is worried about the local conflict escalating into a full scale Middle East war. Except Israel. Lately, when someone asks me if I've heard "that" from Israel, I have to answer "what do you mean?". Because, as sarcastic as it sounds, there is something to tear your hair out about almost every day.

Take the example of the civilian population in Gaza. The circumstances that led to the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen employees clearly show that the Israeli military deliberately makes no distinction as to who or what it bombs. According to the motto: anyone who is not with us is against us. The fact that there are, of course, many more differentiated positions does not matter.

Take the example of the Middle East conflict. There is open talk of military operations across the country's northern border, i.e. on Lebanese territory. Regardless of the fact that Hezbollah can do whatever it wants in this failed state, Lebanon is a sovereign state. Incidentally, it currently has the highest proportion of refugees in the total population of any country in the world. But so was Syria when Israel effectively annexed the Golan Heights in the "Six-Day War" in 1967 (!). This is still the status quo after almost 60 years. The fact that this is almost universally not recognized by the international community does not matter.

As a German, I'm asked more and more often how Germany justifies being Israel's largest arms supplier after the USA, when these weapons are obviously not only used for defense (which Israel of course sees differently). The justification is simple: historical guilt. And this apparently prevents us from seeing what we don't want to see. Yes, the world would be easier to understand if we could divide it into black and white. That might still be possible with Israel and Iran. But not with Israel and Palestine.

PS: Next week I'll complain about something else - I promise!

Good News of the Week:

Following the successful agreement between the unions and our national train company Deutsche Bahn, there has now been arbitration achieved at the airports and our national air carrier Lufthansa. It should be noted that both will cost a lot of money. Both the generous wage increases and the compensation for reduced working hours through additional staff are expensive. And they will not be covered by coffee money, but by hefty price increases for the customers who (have to) use these means of transportation - in other words, all of us. At least I don't know anyone outside the vacation season who travels for fun but has to get between A and B somehow. Beam me up, Scotty!

Nevertheless, it is good to see that there is now a reasonably solid planning security again. And I'm not just talking about the usual commuters to work, of which I am one. But the logistics themselves. Of people and goods. After all, what I've seen in my environment alone in terms of missed meetings and broken supply chains is also a cost factor. If projects cannot be continued and production comes to a standstill, that costs money. Money from all of us. And very few of us have been asked if we agree. Not to be misunderstood: I don't want to question the great good of the right to strike. However, I am of the opinion that the proportionality of the means must not be lost sight of.

Personal happy moment of the week:

It was a summer weekend at the weekend - with temperatures of almost 30 degrees Celsius in southern Germany. We took advantage of this to kick off the cycling season. Of course, we started with a harmless route that we already knew, and of course to a nice country inn that we also already knew. And we were not disappointed. That will comfort us when the temperatures now drop back down to 2 degrees and it rains. Just a normal April. Good too. And nature is happy.

As I write this...

...I am delighted that we may soon have a fiber connection at home. It makes perfect sense for a household with adults working from the home office and teenagers on the internet. Especially if we usually stream music during the day and a series or movie in the evening. I find this astonishing because we live in a village with a maximum of 200 inhabitants. I hardly think that's profitable. It's more likely to be categorized as an infrastructural measure that a municipality implements for its population. It's nice that in this country we don't always just look at the money.

Post Scriptum

Employers' President Rainer Dulger is stunned by the German government's planned "Pension Package II", because it "now wants to massively increase pension spending once again, even though we are facing the biggest ageing spurt ever seen in Germany". Sounds logical. Especially because the pension system has long been financed not only by the contributions of the working population, but increasingly by subsidies from the tax pot. If fewer and fewer people are working and paying tax, while society is (over)ageing at the same time, this creates a gap. Who should pay for this? Especially when the burden of taxes and contributions is already so high - and not just by international standards?

On the other hand, many pensioners are already living at the limits of what is feasible in view of the constantly rising cost of living. In many cases, it is no longer possible to speak of "living", but rather of "existing". That is sad. Unfortunately, it is no bad joke that some people buy dog food without being able to afford a dog. It must be the task of every society to care for its weak, young and old when they can not do so themselves. Especially if they have done the best they can. But a woman, for example, who has raised several children and then cared for her sick parents is not taken into account by the system. After all, she has never paid into the system - at least not in monetary terms. Old-age poverty is an ugly word. But it is increasingly becoming the bitter reality.

[letdecemberburninflames]

Pain in the Ass

Aperçu: When Vince gifts his sister a backstage pass to a show, he is unaware that she is already quite familiar with the band. Specifically, the drummer.

Fic Type: Tommy Lee x Reader, Brother!Vince Neil x Reader, The Dirt fanfic

Warnings: It’s Mötley fucking Crüe, dude.

Author’s Note: This is the first band fanfiction I’ve ever written (let alone Mötley Crüe), and the first actual fic I’ve written in a long time, so constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.

*_*_*_*_*

Having an older brother had pros and cons. Especially when he was in an internationally renowned rock band. To all the girls in the audience, he was some sort of sex-god, above all wrongdoing and rebuke.

To me he was just a pain in the ass.

A pain in the ass who thought backstage-pass tickets to his show would forgive the fact that he forgot my birthday.

Forgetfulness must run in the family, because I had conveniently “forgot” to mention that I was dating the drummer of my brother’s band.

And that’s how I ended up here, lounging on a dressing room couch, watching Tommy Lee apply lipstick and rouge in preparation for the show. The room was a bit hazy from the cigarettes we were chain smoking, and several empty bottles of beer littered the floor. Clothes and belts were tossed haphazardly around (Tommy had been very indecisive about his costume tonight) and there was a pile of unfinished blow sitting on a cymbal perched precariously on the side table next to me. He had never been the cleanest guy- not that I cared. I had grown up around Vince for fucks sake. And to be fair, those were my boots on the floor, and a couple of the beer bottles had been mine.

“So dude,” Tommy smeared on some eyeliner, “when are we gonna tell your brother that we’re together?”

I sighed, and picked at a loose string from a seam of the couch. I could feel Tommy’s gaze as he watched my reflection in his vanity mirror.

“I mean, he’s bound to find out sooner or later… But you and me both know that he’ll lose his shit-”

Tommy smirked, “‘Cus I’m fucking his sister.”

I laughed, and half-heartedly threw one of my boots at him.

“You’re mean!” Tommy fake-whined, spinning around in his chair.

I rolled my eyes, “C’mere silly, you have coke on your nose.”

---

Vince strolled into the greenroom, half expecting to see Y/N chatting with Nikki and Mick. Well, chatting with Nikki and probably talking Mick to death. She never seemed to shut up.

No Y/N, but he did find the headband he’d been looking for. That and a beer.

“Hey, Nikki,” Vince took a swig of his Heineken and slapped the bassist on the back.  “Have you seen a girl about-” he raised his hand to indicate height, “yea high? Leather jacket and jeans?”

“What, you already lose a lady friend back here?” Mick raised an eyebrow.

“No man, I’m looking for my sister.”

Nikki shrugged, looking agitated. “I dunno, but do y’know where Tommy’s at? We’re on in ten.”

“Shit,” Vince spat.

Last week, he’d forgotten Y/N’s birthday, and in a half-assed attempt at an apology, he’d offered a backstage pass. Of course, she’d laughed in his face, but she took it anyways. Yeah, he kinda felt bad. But hey, he was busy. There were shows to put on, cities to visit, girls to fuck…

Mick looked up from practicing riffs on his guitar as Nikki stalked off to go find the missing drummer. “You have a sister?”

“Yeah, unfortunately.” Vince spun in a circle. “She’s not hiding in here, is she?”

“Fortunately, no.”

Vince collapsed on the couch opposite Mick’s, and downed a third of his beer. “She’s probably just making out with a roadie or some shit.”

“Wonder where she gets it from,” Mick muttered.

---

Nikki was in a sour mood. Well, more so than usual. The bass tech had somehow managed to lose one of the basses he was supposed to be playing tonight, and the replacement lacked the pyrotechnic abilities of the original, which completely ruined one of his favorite effects in the entire show. On top of that, Tommy was missing with less than ten minutes to showtime, and Vince had brought his fucking sister.

She was a pretty thing, though. Dripping with charisma, she wore a smile that matched Vinny’s and had a similar surfer-rock vibe. She had nice tits too. He had decided within two minutes of meeting her though that fucking her would feel too much like fucking a girl version of Vince and the idea of that creeped him out.

He stomped down the hallway, banging on doors in search of the drummer.

God fucking dammit, where the hell was Tommy?

Surely Doc had given him the ten minute warning. He was probably still in his dressing room jacking off or some shit.

Grumbling to himself, Nikki turned the corner and found the dressing room with Tommy’s name on the door. He lifted his hand to bang on the door and give Tommy a piece of his mind, when a noise stopped him.

A voice. A female voice.

Nikki chuckled. Of course that bastard had a girl in there. Very carefully, he cracked the door open, just enough to see what and who Tommy was doing.

Tommy was lounging on the dressing room couch, making out with a girl straddling him. The girl was wearing jeans and a leather jacket and- Shit!

Oh shit.

Nikki shut the door as quickly and quietly as possible. He grinned wildly. Tommy was making out with Vince’s sister. Vinny’s fucking sister!

Vince had to see this. He was going to fucking lose it when he found out.

Nikki flat out sprinted back to the greenroom where Vince was bitching to Mick about Y/N.

“She is such a pain in the ass. I can’t even believe-”

“Vince!” Nikki practically skidded to a stop in front of him. “Vinny, man, you gotta see this.”

Vince whined, “We’re on in like, five minutes! And I still gotta find Y/N!”

“No, really, you gotta see this.”

“Fine.”

As he followed Nikki back down the halls, Vince continued to complain. “Did you at least find Tommy?”

They turned down the last hallway to where the dressing rooms were, and Nikki shushed him. “Would you quit bitching for a second?”

Ever so slowly, Nikki inched open the door till they could see inside.

Tommy had abandoned his shirt on the couch, and Y/N had lost most of her clothing, with the exception of her leather jacket and underwear. She was seated on the vanity, Tommy standing between her legs, hands on her waist.

Vince lost it within the three seconds he had been peering through the cracked door.

“Y/N, WHAT THE FUCK?” Vince stormed in, leaving a bemused Nikki behind him in the doorway.

���Ever heard of knocking, asshat?” She snapped, pulling her jacket tight around her.

Tommy stood there, wide eyes darting between Y/N and Vince.

Just then, Mick appeared in the doorway. “We’ve got two minutes to- Oh.”

Nikki snickered as Mick took in the scene. Vince looked like he was going to strangle Tommy, who was desperately trying to pull his shirt back on and fix his hair. There was lipstick on his jaw. Based on their faces and Nikki’s giggling, it wasn’t too hard to figure out who the half-naked girl sitting on the vanity was.

“Vinny, this is my boyfriend, Tommy,” Y/N hopped off the vanity and pulled on her jeans.

“Yeah. No kidding.” Vince spat back.

“Sorry, man.” Tommy shrugged. “We were gonna tell you, but never really got around to it.”

“Uh huh.”

By this point, Nikki was full on losing it, on the ground laughing.

“What in the HELL is going on in here?” Doc poked his head in and pointed to his watch. “You all need to be on stage RIGHT NOW.”

Reluctantly, Vince decided not to kill Tommy right then and there. But as he walked past Y/N, he whispered, “You are SUCH a pain in the ass.”

She laughed and followed Mötley Crüe out of Tommy’s dressing room.

“Right back atcha, buddy.”

*_*_*_*_*

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[konigindernachtsblog]

Bring me to life.

Se réveiller fut pour Maximus comme sortir la tête de l’eau après avoir craint la noyade. A ceci près que c’était la noyade dans le vide qu’il avait redouté. Mais le vide n’était jamais venu l’enlacer, pour une raison qu’il ignorait encore. Pourtant, il se souvenait encore clairement de la douleur qu’il avait ressentit dans la poitrine et des larmes de sa mère, face à lui, mais aussi de la voix de sa soeur criant son nom. Puis plus rien. Tout c’était arrêté. Le jeune Riddle avait lentement ouvert les yeux et fut d’abord aveuglé un court instant par une lumière claire. Il distinguait un mur de pierre, une fenêtre en vitrail encadrée de rideaux mais surtout, il aperçu une silhouette féminine vêtue de noir.

« Stay calm, dear, your body needs still to recover, as much as your mind. - Mother, souffla Maximus. Am I in the limbos… - No, love, répondit Mara doucement en venant passer sa main sur le front de son fils. You are in our new home. - What happened… ? »

Mara Riddle sourit tristement en passant tendrement la main dans les cheveux de son fils. Il se réveillait après des semaines de coma. Mina et sa mère avaient eu le temps d’organiser les obsèques de Maximus et leur fuite de Caer Oswin pour un petit Coven de sorcières. Elles n’y étaient pas restées longtemps, à cause d’Erchomai qui menaçait. Mina venait tout juste de fonder son propre Coven en Transylvanie. Elles avaient élu domicile dans un vieux château aux allures de cathédrale gothique et veillaient sur Maximus.

« As the crown was hunting you for your experiences to find and recover your father, I thought that the best alternative we had to save you was to leave Caer Oswin. To do so, I simulated your death. For everybody in the city but us, you are dead and buried near your father. - But if I am here… the tomb is empty, isn’t it ? - I made a glamour with a corpse. As soon as we buried you, we disappeared with Mina for Earth. No one knew, but Minos. - What about our manor… ? - It got emptied and burned by Minos on my orders. »

Cela faisait beaucoup à assimiler d’un coup. Maximus avait fermé les yeux au cimetière de Caer Oswin, la main de sa mère lui transperçant le torse, prête à lui broyer le coeur et il se retrouvait sur terre avec sa mère lui expliquant que tout ceci n’avait été qu’un coup monté dans l’espoir de le sauver des soupçons de la couronne. D’un côté, pourtant, ça ne l’étonnait pas. En peu de temps, lui et sa soeur en avaient beaucoup appris sur l’histoire de leurs parents avant leur naissance et avec cela, tous les stratagèmes et les cachoteries que leur mère avait dû mettre au point pour protéger leur père de sa soif de pouvoir et de ses dérives. Le jeune hybride baissa les yeux et poussa un soupir.

« You didn’t find the strength to kill me, don’t you ? Or was it just mercy ? - In my part of the family, we call it « love », Maximus. - I thought you had this word only for Minos. - Obviously not! Rétorqua Mara avant de baisser les yeux. You deserved better than the life we had in Caer Oswin, Maximus. A life where your only accomplishment would be a wedding and feeling guilty all your life for being watched by the crown on any occasion. You deserve better than running after a dead loved one… - That’s why you saved me then ? A new start. - You need time to process all of that, dear. Your sister will be relieved to hear you’re now awaken. - How is Mina… ? »

Un court silence s’installa dans la chambre où se trouvait la mère et son fils. Maximus ne savait pas pour Mina et Tristan. Ou si, du moins, sûrement s’en doutait-il fortement. Après tout, l’amour que Mina portait à Tristan depuis son jeune âge n’était pas un secret pour lui. Il n’ignorait pas non plus de l’intérêt de Tristan pour Mina, manifesté il n’y avait pas si longtemps. Ce n’était d’ailleurs pas le seul prince à convoiter la jeune Riddle.

« She is… heartbroken. But relieved that we left Caer Oswin, she was incredibly worried about the both of us, Maximus. She is now ruling a small coven, that, I am sure, will grow up quickly. She keeps learning a lot. She waited so long for you to open your eyes… It felt for her as losing her half… »

Maximus sembla d’un coup plus touché par les mots de sa mère, quand elle fit mention de sa soeur et de son possible état psychologique. Il avait été inconscient si longtemps et s’était tant perdu dans sa quête de retrouver leur père dans le vide, qu’il craignait ne plus avoir ce lien avec elle, qui faisait qu’il arrivait à ressentir les mêmes choses que sa soeur. Mina avait toujours réussi à apporter à Maximus un peu de douceur et son cours moment de retour à la raison avant sa « mort » en avait été la preuve.

« Mother… - Yes, dear ? - Do you think I can do it ? - Your father always told you you could do whatever you want and on that, I cannot disagree. You have the abilities to do what you want and to become who you want to be. The only thing I ask you Maximus, is to act with your eyes and your mind fully open. Care about the loved one you still have, use your abilities for the better. Power is attractive but is a vain fulfilment. I can bet your father hasn’t been really happy in his life and on that, I can take a part of the responsibility… - That’s what Minos understood and I didn’t… ? - Nor Minos or I would never wish you the same sad story that he got through to reach his actual level of power and wisdom, love. We all have our suffering, we all learn different things from it. The only thing I can tell you, Maximus, is I wish you could reach the same greatness as your father, without making us pay the price for it as he did. »

Il fallut quelques jours de plus pour que le jeune Riddle retrouve ses forces après avoir frôlé la mort. Mina n’avait pas encore pu le revoir, puisqu’elle avait quitté le Coven pour récupérer de nouvelles recrues. Quand finalement, elle arriva dans l’aile la plus intime de la famille au château et ôta sa capuche avant de voir son frère sur pieds, elle se hâta de le rejoindre et de le serrer dans ses bras. Maximus la rattrapa aussitôt et l’enlaça de ses bras avec force, dissimulant son visage dans ses longs cheveux doux et couleur jais. À cet instant, l’héritier Riddle sembla soulagé et triste à la fois. Il ressentait toujours les émotions de sa soeur. Maximus embrassa la tempe de Mina et s’éloigna légèrement pour prendre doucement son visage dans ses mains. De son pouce, il essuya une larme qui roulait sur sa joue.

« Maximus, souffla-t-elle encore sous l’émotion. - There is no word to describe how much I missed you… and how deeply sorry I am for what I did to you, chuchota Maximus avant de déposer un baiser sur son front. I wasn’t here to protect you when you needed me, I’ve been so blind I am ashamed… »

Il était temps de se reconstruire à l’abris des regards, libérés d’une partie de la culpabilité et d’un petit fardeau. Il restait encore beaucoup à accomplir pour souder ce qu’il restait de la famille, mais l’espoir pouvait renaître. À Caer Oswin, seul Minos Riddle savait. Pour le reste du monde, Maximus Riddle était mort et enterré, le manoir Riddle entier vidé et en cendres. Mara et Mina Riddle avaient disparu du jour au lendemain sans laisser de traces. Le dernier à avoir vu Mina était le Prince Tristan. Le temps passait et Minos Riddle devenait de plus en plus solitaire et son humeur, de plus en plus exécrable. Il perdait patience, avait davantage de mal à cacher sa rage. Il ne trouvait un peu de calme qu’au temple de la Pythie et pourtant, il s’y sentait davantage prisonnier que gardien. Sa mère et sa sœur lui manquaient. Aussi étonnant que ça puisse paraître, on l’avait vu sincèrement regretter son frère Maximus. Avec les années qui passaient, on commençait à entendre des rumeurs comme quoi la veuve et la fille de Vaine Riddle avaient certainement perdu la vie aussi, sûrement de chagrin. Pourtant, Minos Riddle était toujours là. En réalité, il disparaissait plusieurs fois dans l’année, le temps de quelques heures. Il rendait visite à sa mère et les jumeaux, que seul lui savaient encore en vie. Il avait plusieurs fois pensé à quitter son rôle et peut-être Caer Oswin, mais il n’osait pas. À Caer Oswin, il avait encore Lucrezia et Killian. Aussi, il avait promis à la Pythie quand elle n’était encore qu’une enfant, qu’il serait là pour la protéger. Or, s’il y avait bien une qualité que l’on pouvait accorder à Minos Riddle, c’était sa droiture, il ne brisait pas une promesse.

Le Coven de Mina, dans le même temps, prenait de l’ampleur. Miss Riddle était connue chez les sorcières et même respectée. On l’avait appelé « the black maiden », en raison de tous les hommes qu’elle avait gentiment rejeté. On donnait plusieurs raisons à cela. Certains disaient qu’elle dédiait sa vie à Satan et les arts occultes, d’autres, que son coeur était attaché à un amour maudit, certains, que son amant n’était autre que son propre frère. L’héritière Riddle ne prenait pas le temps de répondre aux spéculations. En quelques années, elle avait sauvé des humaines, des nécromanciennes abandonnées, sans le sou, désavouée. Cette petite ville dans les montagnes n’était pas visible par n’importe qui. Comme Gresit, il fallait avoir le désir profond de la trouver pour y parvenir. Mina était un exemple pour ces jeunes disciples, les plus jeunes qui étaient encore des enfants, la comparaient à une princesse. Les adolescentes venaient la consulter et l’admiraient.

« Why didn’t you get married ever ? Demanda une jeune amoureuse. - Sometimes the heart is a heavy burden, avait-elle répondu simplement. »

Miss Riddle n’avait pas changé physiquement, depuis son départ de la cité nécromancienne. Sa voix était toujours aussi douce, comme son regard. Sa beauté n’avait pas faibli non plus. Mais son aura manifestait davantage de sa puissance et imposait davantage, elle se limitait plus par crainte de représailles. Cependant, à l’instar de sa mère, Mara Riddle, à qui elle ressemblait énormément, elle dégageait une certaine mélancolie. Celle que Mara avait elle-même ressentit en revenant à Caer Oswin après le départ de Vaine Riddle. La douleur de l’être aimé qui ne faisait plus partie de notre vie.

« You never told me what happened, dit Maximus. »

L’héritier Riddle était assis sur un fauteuil, près de la grande cheminée où crépitait un feu. La lune était pleine et sa lumière reflétait dans les vitraux violets. Mina était assise sur le fauteuil d’à côté, le regard sur les flammes dansantes qui léchaient le bois, mais l’esprit ailleurs. Maximus entendu sa soeur poussait un soupir alors qu’elle sortait de ses pensées.

« I had a very short « intercourse » with Tristan, while we were trying to help Sin, avoua Mina. - An intercourse ? Demanda-t-il en arquant un sourcil, un peu surpris. Wasn’t he the love you wanted for life ? Your… soulmate ? - I guess I was wrong, souffla-t-elle. At least, nothing was the same when… he started to hunt you on behalf of his mother. How could I trust him ? He is, more than any other Caer Oswin’s citizen, an extension of the Queen’s eyes and hands. And then… »

Maximus pu sentir que la voix de Mina se brisa quand elle voulu poursuivre. Il tendit alors la main pour la poser sur celle de sa soeur, qui se trouvait sur l’accoudoir de son fauteuil. Cette main fine et pâle tremblait légèrement, froide comme de la porcelaine. Finalement les doigts de Mina se resserrèrent sur l’accoudoir alors qu’elle se redressait et qu’elle s’éclaircit la voix.

« You died. I didn’t know you didn’t, at that time. Mother kept it a secret until we left Caer Oswin for good. So, I was mourning the loss of my twin brother, the other half of myself… And Tristan asked me to be the witness of himself, breaking the law, to bring another necromancer back from the Void. He said that he wouldn’t be a good prince if he didn’t reunite this family and that she was a test that was full, so he couldn’t let this soul stay where she was. Now, when I think about it, I should have refused ! I could have been condemned for such an act, at least for complicity ! But I accepted, with one condition, that he wouldn’t enter in the Void ever again. I am sure he broke this promise… He couldn’t spend a day without going there, he was losing himself in it. Anyway… when he did bring back this soul… my heart shattered and I left. At this very moment, I wanted to leave him, it did hurt me deeply to see this family… while I lost so many loved ones… - Mina… - But he insisted, so I stayed… Then, mother and I left Caer Oswin, we took care of you and… we dream walked maybe once or two before I said stop. I left… Because it didn’t bring anything good to us… We couldn’t be together, I couldn’t trust him, I was suffering and it’s not the purpose of love. However, I can’t help myself but hoping that I could be still in his thoughts…When Minos come to visit us, I always hope he could have a word from him for me, but no… never… As if, nothing ever happened. I guess it is better that way… »

[kamalamackerel]

[English version below]⠀ ⠀ Cette année, dans le cadre des 20 ans du Festival de la poésie de Montréal, je serai sur scène à la soirée «De quoi meurt-on à 20 ans?» organisée par @fillesmissiles et @pantheresrouges. Ça sera ma toute première performance en français (si, si, si!), et si j'étais vous, je ne raterais pas ça. Vous voulez savoir qui était Kama à 20 ans?⠀ ⠀ Voilà une photo pour vous donner un aperçu!⠀ ⠀ 28 mai, 9pm, à La Vitrola!⠀ ⠀ ⠀ This year, for the 20 years of Festival de la poésie de Montréal, I will be on stage for the event «De quoi meurt-on à 20 ans?» organized by @fillesmissiles and @pantheresrouges. This will be my very first performance in french (can you believe this?!), and if I were you, I would not miss that! You want to know who was Kama aged 20?⠀ ⠀ Here's a picture for you!⠀ ⠀ May 28, 9pm, La Vitrola!⠀ ⠀ #tbt #poésie #festivaldepoésie #fpm #fpm2019 #20ans #poetry #poetryfestival #mtlpoetryfestival #artist #perfomer #poet #writer #queer #lgbt #gay #trans #femme #transmauritius #transmontreal #lamackerel #kamalamackerel (at La Vitrola) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx0Ionpg9FW/?igshid=duht3gxihgjg

[moemai]

 ★ The -belated- monthly Patreon / Tipeee “what you missed out on / what happened in the last episode” post ! This month was pretty busy, I worked on several things I cannot share publicly (either pro or fanzine related) that I shared on Patreon. But also : 

20 more detailed storyboard pages of my webcomic

2 downloadable comics (FR/ENG)

3 exclusives speedpaint videos

2 patrons rewards

And a lot of early sneak peak of the products I’m working on for Japan Expo !

I made a “masterpost” of sorts below here on who I am, what I published in the past and why I have a Patreon, feel free to pass if you’re not interested, if you are, click below ! ^ w ^ ♥ 

(en français en dessous aussi)

____

For people who are not pledging, remember you can cancel your pledge at any time, even one month is support to me ! But don't feel forced either, I feed on your comments and support of any sort !!

Pour les gens qui ne sont pas patrons, sachez que vous pouvez annuler votre engagement à tout moment, même un mois est un soutien pour moi! Mais ne vous sentez pas forcés non plus, je me nourris de vos commentaires et de soutien de toute sorte !!

 ★ Who am I : Sonia, alias Moemai - August the 5th – Living near Paris 

I am a freelance illustrator / comic artist ! Working as an illustrator for Playbac & Sortilège Editions, Feerik, tones / background assistant for Delcourt et Ankama, I published my first manga Lost Soul in 2010 and worked on many personal comics since then, in self publishing !

I wanted to open a Patron page for my next project in mind : my Webcomic Freckles. It is taking a lot of my time and is ready soon !! I decided to open my Patreon for those who want to support me & my everyday art and have a peek at the process too. It helps me in my everyday life a LOT, but also to print zines and goodies for conventions !

I don't intend to post less on TUMBLR or Deviantart or Facebook, but more exclusive content I wouldn't have shared otherwise. I share previews of ongoing work, exclusives, storyboards, comics, step by steps every weeks and I take requests during my livestreams !

I hope you'll find something you like ! You can pledge and cancel your pledge at any moment. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any question or suggestion.

Thank you so much for your everyday support ♥

★ MY TICTAIL SHOP HERE ★

  ★ Qui suis-je : Sonia, alias Moemai - 5 Aout – Habite près de Paris

Je suis illustratrice / bédéaste freelance ! Illustratrice jeunesse à Playbac et Sortilège Editions, Feerik,assistante trames / décors chez Delcourt et Ankama, j'ai publié mon premier manga Lost Soul en 2010 et produits de nombreux projets personnels depuis, en auto édition !

Je voulais ouvrir une page Patron pour mon prochain projet: mon webcomic Freckles. Il me prend beaucoup de temps et il y a encore du boulot dessus ! C'est comme ça que j'ai décidé d'ouvrir un Patreon pour ceux et celles qui voudraient me soutenir moi et mes projets et en même temps veulent des aperçus du processus. Ca m'aide beaucoup pour la vie au quotidien, mais aussi à imprimer les zines et goodies pour les conventions !

Je ne compte pas poster moins sur TUMBLR ou Deviantart ou Facebook, mais d'avantage de contenus exclusifs que je n'aurais pas partagé en temps normal. Je partage des previews des illustrations et BDs en cours toutes les semaines, des exclusivités, des storyboards, des BDs, pas à pas, je prends des suggestions lors de mes livestreams!

J'espère que vous trouverez quelque chose qui vous parle ! Vous pouvez vous engager et annuler votre engagement à tout moment. N'hésitez à me contacter si vous avez une question ou suggestion bien sûr.

Merci beaucoup pour votre soutien quotidien ♥

★ MY TICTAIL SHOP HERE ★

[youmightfindyourself]

That woman Estelle,'" the note reads, "'is partly the reason why George Sharp and I are separated today.' Dirty crepe-de-Chine wrapper, hotel bar, Wilmington RR, 9:45 a.m. August Monday morning."

Since the note is in my notebook, it presumably has some meaning to me. I study it for a long while. At first I have only the most general notion of what I was doing on an August Monday morning in the bar of the hotel across from the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Wilmington, Delaware (waiting for a train? missing one? 1960? 1961? why Wilmington?), but I do remember being there. The woman in the dirty crepe-de-Chine wrapper had come down from her room for a beer, and the bartender had heard before the reason why George Sharp and she were separated today. "Sure," he said, and went on mopping the floor. "You told me." At the other end of the bar is a girl. She is talking, pointedly, not to the man beside her but to a cat lying in the triangle of sunlight cast through the open door. She is wearing a plaid silk dress from Peck & Peck, and the hem is coming down.

Here is what it is: the girl has been on the Eastern Shore, and now she is going back to the city, leaving the man beside her, and all she can see ahead are the viscous summer sidewalks and the 3 a.m. long-distance calls that will make her lie awake and then sleep drugged through all the steaming mornings left in August (1960? 1961?). Because she must go directly from the train to lunch in New York, she wishes that she had a safety pin for the hem of the plaid silk dress, and she also wishes that she could forget about the hem and the lunch and stay in the cool bar that smells of disinfectant and malt and make friends with the woman in the crepe-de-Chine wrapper. She is afflicted by a little self- pity, and she wants to compare Estelles. That is what that was all about.

Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of it actually happened? Did any of it? Why do I keep a notebook at all? It is easy to deceive oneself on all those scores. The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself. I suppose that it begins or does not begin in the cradle. Although I have felt compelled to write things down since I was five years old, I doubt that my daughter ever will, for she is a singularly blessed and accepting child, delighted with life exactly as life presents itself to her, unafraid to go to sleep and unafraid to wake up. Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentiment of loss.

My first notebook was a Big Five tablet, given to me by my mother with the sensible suggestion that I stop whining and learn to amuse myself by writing down my thoughts. She returned the tablet to me a few years ago; the first entry is an account of a woman who believed herself to be freezing to death in the Arctic night, only to find, when day broke, that she had stumbled onto the Sahara Desert, where she would die of the heat before lunch. I have no idea what turn of a five-year-old's mind could have prompted so insistently "ironic" and exotic a story, but it does reveal a certain predilection for the extreme which has dogged me into adult life; perhaps if I were analytically inclined I would find it a truer story than any I might have told about Donald Johnson's birthday party or the day my cousin Brenda put Kitty Litter in the aquarium.

So the point of my keeping a notebook has never been, nor is it now, to have an accurate factual record of what I have been doing or thinking. That would be a different impulse entirely, an instinct for reality which I sometimes envy but do not possess. At no point have I ever been able successfully to keep a diary; my approach to daily life ranges from the grossly negligent to the merely absent, and on those few occasions when I have tried dutifully to record a day's events, boredom has so overcome me that the results are mysterious at best. What is this business about "shopping, typing piece, dinner with E, depressed"? Shopping for what? Typing what piece? Who is E? Was this "E" depressed, or was I depressed? Who cares?

In fact I have abandoned altogether that kind of pointless entry; instead I tell what some would call lies. "That's simply not true," the members of my family frequently tell me when they come up against my memory of a shared event. "The party was not for you, the spider was not a black widow, it wasn't that way at all." Very likely they are right, for not only have I always had trouble distinguishing between what happened and what merely might have happened, but I remain unconvinced that the distinction, for my purposes, matters. The cracked crab that I recall having for lunch the day my father came home from Detroit in 1945 must certainly be embroidery, worked into the day's pattern to lend verisimilitude; I was ten years old and would not now remember the cracked crab. The day's events did not turn on cracked crab. And yet it is precisely that fictitious crab that makes me see the afternoon all over again, a home movie run all too often, the father bearing gifts, the child weeping, an exercise in family love and guilt. Or that is what it was to me. Similarly, perhaps it never did snow that August in Vermont; perhaps there never were flurries in the night wind, and maybe no one else felt the ground hardening and summer already dead even as we pretended to bask in it, but that was how it felt to me, and it might as well have snowed, could have snowed, did snow.

How it felt to me: that is getting closer to the truth about a notebook. I sometimes delude myself about why I keep a notebook, imagine that some thrifty virtue derives from preserving everything observed. See enough and write it down, I tell myself, and then some morning when the world seems drained of wonder, some day when I am only going through the motions of doing what I am supposed to do, which is write - on that bankrupt morning I will simply open my notebook and there it will all be, a forgotten account with accumulated interest, paid passage back to the world out there: dialogue overheard in hotels and elevators and at the hat-check counter in Pavillon (one middle-aged man shows his hat check to another and says, "That's my old football number"); impressions of Bettina Aptheker and Benjamin Sonnenberg and Teddy ("Mr. Acapulco") Stauffer; careful aperçus about tennis bums and failed fashion models and Greek shipping heiresses, one of whom taught me a significant lesson (a lesson I could have learned from F. Scott Fitzgerald, but perhaps we all must meet the very rich for ourselves) by asking, when I arrived to interview her in her orchid-filled sitting room on the second day of a paralyzing New York blizzard, whether It was snowing outside.

I imagine, in other words, that the notebook is about other people. But of course it is not. I have no real business with what one stranger said to another at the hat-check, counter in Pavillon; in fact I suspect that the line "That's' my old football number" touched not my own imagination at all, but merely some memory of something once read, probably "The Eighty-Yard Run." Nor is my concern with a woman in a dirty crepe-de-Chine wrapper in a Wilmington bar. My stake is always, of course, in the unmentioned girl in the plaid silk dress. Remember what it was to be me: that is always the point.

It is a difficult point to admit. We are brought up in the ethic that others, any others, all others, are by definition more interesting than ourselves; taught to be diffident, just this side of self-effacing. ("You're the least important person in the room and don't forget it," Jessica Mitford's governess would hiss in her ear on the advent of any social occasion; I copied that into my notebook because it is only recently that I have been able to enter a room without hearing some such phrase in my inner ear.) Only the very young and the very old may recount their dreams at breakfast, dwell upon self, interrupt with memories of beach picnics and favorite Liberty lawn dresses and the rainbow trout in a creek near Colorado Springs. The rest of us are expected, rightly, to affect absorption in other people's favorite dresses, other people's trout.

And so we do. But our notebooks give us away, for however dutifully we record what we see around us, the common denominator of all we see is always, transparently, shamelessly, the implacable "I." We are not talking here about the kind of notebook that is patently for public consumption, a structural conceit for binding together a series of graceful pensees; we are talking about something private, about bits of the mind's string too short to use, an indiscriminate and erratic assemblage with meaning only for its maker.

And sometimes even the maker has difficulty with the meaning. There does not seem to be, for example, any point in my knowing for the rest of my life that, during 1964, 720 tons of soot fell on every square mile of New York City, yet there it is in my notebook, labeled "FACT". Nor do I really need to remember that Ambrose Bierce liked to spell Leland Stanford's name "£eland $tanford" or that "smart women almost always wear black in Cuba," a fashion hint without much potential for practical application. And does not the relevance of these notes seem marginal at best?:

In the basement museum of the Inyo County Courthouse in Independence, California, sign pinned to a mandarin coat: "This MANDARIN COAT was often worn by Mrs. Minnie S. Brooks when giving lectures on her TEAPOT COLLECTION."

Redhead getting out of car in front of Beverly Wilshire Hotel, chinchilla stole, Vuitton bags with tags reading:

MRS LOU FOX HOTEL SAHARA VEGAS

Well, perhaps not entirely marginal. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Minnie S. Brooks and her MANDARIN COAT pull me back into my own childhood, for although I never knew Mrs. Brooks and did not visit Inyo County until I was thirty, I grew up in just such a world, in houses cluttered with Indian relics and bits of gold ore and ambergris and the souvenirs my Aunt Mercy Farnsworth brought back from the Orient. It is a long way from that world to Mrs. Lou Fox's world, where we all live now, and is it not just as well to remember that? Might not Mrs. Minnie S. Brooks help me to remember what I am? Might not Mrs. Lou Fox help me to remember what I am not?

But sometimes the point is harder to discern. What exactly did I have in mind when I noted down that it cost the father of someone I know $650 a month to light the place on the Hudson in which he lived before the Crash? What use was I planning to make of this line by Jimmy Hoffa: "I may have my faults, but being wrong ain't one of them"? And although I think it interesting to know where the girls who travel with the Syndicate have their hair done when they find themselves on the West Coast, will I ever make suitable use of it? Might I not be better off just passing it on to John O'Hara? What is a recipe for sauerkraut doing in my notebook? What kind of magpie keeps this notebook? "He was born the night the Titanic went down." That seems a nice enough line, and I even recall who said it, but is it not really a better line in life than it could ever be in fiction?

But of course that is exactly it: not that I should ever use the line, but that I should remember the woman who said it and the afternoon I heard it. We were on her terrace by the sea, and we were finishing the wine left from lunch, trying to get what sun there was, a California winter sun. The woman whose husband was born the night the Titanic went down wanted to rent her house, wanted to go back to her children in Paris. I remember wishing that I could afford the house, which cost $1,000 a month. "Someday you will," she said lazily. "Someday it all comes." There in the sun on her terrace it seemed easy to believe in someday, but later I had a low-grade afternoon hangover and ran over a black snake on the way to the supermarket and was flooded with inexplicable fear when I heard the checkout clerk explaining to the man ahead of me why she was finally divorcing her husband. "He left me no choice," she said over and over as she the punched the register. "He has a little seven-month-old baby by her, he left me no choice." I would like to believe that my dread then was for the human condition, but of course it was for me, because I wanted a baby and did not then have one and because I wanted to own the house that cost $1,000 a month to rent and because I had a hangover.

It all comes back. Perhaps it is difficult to see the value in having one's self back in that kind of mood, but I do see it; I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were. I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be; one of them, a seventeen-year-old, presents little threat, although it would be of some interest to me to know again what it feels like to sit on a river levee drinking vodka-and-orange-juice and listening to Les Paul and Mary Ford and their echoes sing "How High the Moon" on the car radio. (You see I still have the scenes, but I no longer perceive myself among those present, no longer could even improvise the dialogue.) The other one, a twenty-three-year-old, bothers me more. She was always a good deal of trouble, and I suspect she will reappear when I least want to see her, skirts too long, shy to the point of aggravation, always the injured party, full of recriminations and little hurts and stories I do not want to hear again, at once saddening me and angering me with her vulnerability and ignorance, an apparition all the more insistent for being so long banished.

It is a good idea, then, to keep in touch, and I suppose that keeping in touch is what notebooks are all about. And we are all on our own when it comes to keeping those lines open to ourselves: your notebook will never help me, nor mine you. "So what's new in the whiskey business?" What could that possibly mean to you? To me it means a blonde in a Pucci bathing suit sitting with a couple of fat men by the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Another man approaches, and they all regard one another in silence for a while. "So what's new in the whiskey business?" one of the fat men finally says by way of welcome, and the blonde stands up, arches one foot and dips it in the pool looking all the while at the cabana where Baby Pignatari is talking on the telephone. That is all there is to that, except that several years later I saw the blonde coming out of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York with her California complexion and a voluminous mink coat. In the harsh wind that day she looked old and irrevocably tired to me, and even the skins in the mink coat were not worked the way they were doing them that year, not the way she would have wanted them done, and there is the point of the story. For a while after that I did not like to look in the mirror, and my eyes would skim the newspapers and pick out only the deaths, the cancer victims, the premature coronaries, the suicides, and I stopped riding the Lexington Avenue IRT because I noticed for the first time that all the strangers I had seen for years - the man with the seeing-eye dog, the spinster who read the classified pages every day, the fat girl who always got off with me at Grand Central - looked older than they once had.

It all comes back. Even that recipe for sauerkraut: even that brings it back. I was on Fire Island when I first made that sauerkraut, and it was raining, and we drank a lot of bourbon and ate the sauerkraut and went to bed at ten, and I listened to the rain and the Atlantic and felt safe. I made the sauerkraut again last night and it did not make me feel any safer, but that is, as they say, another story.

[rollingstonemag]

Un nouvel article a été publié sur https://www.rollingstone.fr/john-carter-cash-nous-ouvre-les-portes-de-la-cash-cabin-le-studio-de-son-pere/

John Carter Cash nous ouvre les portes de la Cash Cabin, le studio de son père

Sur le nouvel album Forever Words sortie le 6 avril dernier, John Carter Cash a confié les écrits de son père à une variété de chanteurs.

Il est facile de se perdre dans les murs de la Cash Cabin, le studio en bois de style pionnier construit par Johnny Cash et entretenu par son fils, John Carter Cash. Les photos et les artefacts racontent l’histoire non seulement d’une vie musicale, mais aussi d’une famille : il y a un Thon banane de 94 livres, poisson tropical que John Carter a attrapé quand il était petit, un canapé de velours brun de son enfance, un vitrail de la mère de June, Maybelle Carter, sur une porte, et d’innombrables photos instantanées, dont beaucoup ont été prises par l’Homme en Noir en personne. John Carter accumule et stocke des trésors et des souvenirs, y compris, plus récemment, une photo en noir et blanc de Chris Cornell prise lorsque la légende perdue enregistrait la voix de You Never Knew My Mind de la nouvelle compilation, Johnny Cash : Forever Words.

« C’est la dernière photo que j’ai mise ici, » dit John Carter, se promenant dans une petite cabine de voix et montrant la photo de Cornell avec des lunettes de soleil, chantant directement dans le micro. Un deuxième portrait de Cornell est accroché dans un placard, empilé directement au-dessus d’une peinture de Cash lui-même, bloqué dans son regard si singulier. John Carter, grand et imposant, regarde souvent les deux hommes. « Je regarde toujours papa et Chris« , dit-il.

Aux alentours de 1969 : Johnny Cash prend la pose (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Pas un album hommage, mais un prolongement de son œuvre.

You Never Knew My Mind de Cornell n’est que l’un des nombreux moments poignants de Forever Words, une collection de titres produits par John Carter et Steve Berkowitz. John Carter a demandé à Chris Cornell, au compositeur Ruston Kelly et à sa femme Kacey Musgraves, à John Mellencamp, à Elvis Costello, à Brad Paisley, à Jamey Johnson, à Kris Kristofferson et à Willie Nelson, entre autres, ainsi qu’à des membres de la famille Cash, Rosanne Cash et Carlene Carter de composer des chansons autour des poèmes découverts de Johnny Cash. Comme dans You Never Knew My Mind, il semble qu’il y ait une conversation continue entre Cash et les artistes qui se sont connectés avec sa musique à un niveau plus profond – non pas en hommage, mais comme un prolongement de son œuvre.

Cash a construit cette cabane en 1978, à environ 800 mètres de l’endroit où il habitait à l’origine avec June Carter. À l’époque, ce n’était qu’une pièce, et John Carter venait ici pour regarder des films (son préféré était Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein). Depuis, il est devenu un studio d’enregistrement à part entière qui a accueilli tout le monde, de Loretta Lynn à Snoop Dogg, dont beaucoup ont posé leur signature sur la devanture de la cheminée. Chris Cornell est venu ici après avoir pré-enregistré ses chansons dans un studio de fortune installé dans un placard d’une chambre d’hôtel hawaïenne – dont il a envoyé une photo à son ami et producteur John Carter.

« À gauche, il y avait les vêtements de Vicky [la veuve de Cornell] et à droite des chemises de flanelle« , raconte John Carter. « La chanson m’a terrassé, elle m’a mis sur le sol quand je l’ai entendu, émotionnellement, il était dans un très bon mood quand il l’a écrit.«  John Carter s’arrête pour respirer, ce qui finit par couler dans un long et lourd soupir. « Il était dans un endroit génial.« 

Cornell a basé You Never Knew My Mind sur deux chansons de Cash, écrites pendant son divorce avec sa première épouse Vivian en 1967, mais a fini par créer sa propre version en réunissant les deux. S’élevant péniblement à travers des paroles comme « sometimes, you’re a stranger to me« , sa solitude palpable résonne encore plus fort après sa mort prématurée. John Carter préfère ne pas le voir dans ce contexte, cependant.

« [Cornell] avait un tel respect pour mon père et était très humble en s’impliquant dans tout le projet« , dit-il, assis à la console d’enregistrement dans une chemise de travail grise et passant un aperçu de la vidéo qu’il a faite avec Kristofferson, Nelson, Musgraves et Kelly – leurs deux premières chansons, « Forever / I Still Miss Someone » et « To June This Morning« , que John Carter voit comme un travail collectif. La première se termine par une ligne envoûtante, racontée par Kristofferson et mêlée au jeu complexe de Nelson à la guitare : « Les arbres que j’ai plantés sont encore jeunes, les chansons que j’ai chantées seront toujours chantées« .

Johnny Cash a écrit ces textes dans le dernier mois de sa vie, comme un poème d’amour à June Carter après sa mort. Il savait qu’il allait mourir aussi – il était presque aveugle et son corps ne répondait plus. « Dire cela à la fin de sa vie, c’est essentiellement de l’espoir », affirme John Carter. « C’est le fil conducteur à travers tout cela – l’espoir.« 

« À cette date, ma mère était enceinte de huit mois de moi. »

John Carter voit une part de cet espoir dans Musgraves et Kelly, et beaucoup de similitudes entre les nouveaux compositeurs et ses propres parents. « Voici un jeune couple qui vit en parallèle avec mon père et ma mère« , explique John Carter. « Dans ce moment vibrant et excitant où il y a tout cet espoir. » Musgraves décrit leur chanson comme « un simple enregistrement en direct, habillé uniquement de guitare acoustique, de banjo et de nos deux voix fondues ensemble qui encapsulent parfaitement le sentiment.«  Par coïncidence, Kelly avait en fait commencé sa propre version de la chanson alors qu’il n’avait que 16 ans – il a trouvé les paroles dans un livre de souvenirs de fans de Cash, avec une date en bas. « 7 heures du matin, le 4 février 1970« , lit-on.

« John Carter n’avait jamais vu ou lu ce poème auparavant« , dit Kelly. « Quand il l’a vu, il a commencé à le déchirer et a dit : « À cette date, ma mère était enceinte de huit mois de moi. « 

John Carter affirme que le reste de l’album a découlé aussi naturellement : Costello, au piano, a chanté « I’ll Still Love You » spontanément, Jamey Johnson a facilement traversé « Spirit Rider » et Paisley a livré sa version de « Gold All Over the Ground« . [Paisley] a regardé les paroles et a commencé à jouer de la guitare et à chanter, note pour note, juste comme ça« , dit John Carter, qui attribue cette aisance à la connexion innée de Paisley et d’autres artistes avec son père. Ce n’est pas une connexion inhabituelle à avoir.

« Vous pouvez demander à la petite vieille au club 4-H, « Aimez-vous Johnny Cash? «  » dit John Carter. « Et elle va dire, « J’ai tous ses disques.«  Et vous demandez au punk dans la rue à Amsterdam: « Aimez-vous Johnny Cash? Et il a les mêmes disques.« 

Écrit par Marissa R. Moss, traduit par Baptiste Manzinali

[bopinion]

2023 / 46

Aperçu of the Week:

"How do you get revenge for killing a child? By killing other people's children? Certainly not."

(Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan. Both have lost a daughter in the Middle East conflict. And still strive for reconciliation).

Bad News of the Week:

I won't be alive in the year 2100. Maybe my children will. If they have children, they certainly will. And they will look back on their grandparents' generation. And probably curse them. Because they will have us to thank for the world they (have to) live in. It will be in a miserable state. And that is our fault.

My grandparents and parents created the German "economic miracle". Primarily with sweat, coal and steel. An industrialized nation like all developed (if you can call it that way) western countries. The environment was a resource and not a living habitat worth protecting. But these generations didn't know any better. At least not in society as a whole. That no longer applies to people my age. We know better. So we have no excuse for doing nothing.

In 2100, it will be almost 3 degrees warmer than it is today. That is the result of the so-called Emissions Gap Report presented by the UN Environment Program (UNEP). The world will look fundamentally different. Apart from a remnant of continental ice in the Antarctic, there can no longer be any glaciers at these temperatures. Ocean currents will be completely different due to the warming of the upper water layers. Or won't be at all. But with significantly less oxygen, i.e. with fewer sea creatures. Which will then not only be missing from the species balance, but also from the food chain. Etcetera.

The current German government with green participation has suffered a severe setback in its already modest plan to convert the economy to sustainability. This is because the Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that 60 billion from the "Transformation Fund" may not be used for this purpose. Because it is a reallocated budget that was actually intended to deal with the effects of the pandemic. Let's not misunderstand each other: the money is there, not some nebulous air booking in the future. It just unfortunately has the wrong label.

This frustrates me in many ways. Not that I want to question our supreme jurisdiction. But I do want to question the standards by which it is measured. Just as electric cars are given preference over petrol cars when it comes to parking spaces in the city, priority should be given to ecological and sustainable measures in budget planning. Quite simply because it must undoubtedly be the top priority. It is bad enough that the urgently needed reorientation of our society is being held back by laziness, convenience and ignorance. Then please don't add bureaucracy to the mix.

Good News of the Week:

The EU is finally getting serious about prosecuting environmental offenders. In future, serious crimes against the environment will be punishable by heavy prison sentences and fines. Representatives of the governments of the member states and the European Parliament agreed in Brussels on new rules to improve the prosecution of environmental crimes.

This includes a wide range of offenses, from illegal timber trading to violations of chemicals regulations. Environmental crime is one of the world's most profitable organized crime activities and has a considerable impact on the environment and human health, the Council of Member States said in response to the planned new directive.

The proposed penalties are severe. Individuals face up to 10 years in prison, companies at least 5% of their global turnover. Equally worth mentioning: offenders will be obliged to restore the environment to its previous state or provide compensation. A clear victory for the environment. Which ultimately belongs to all of us. Or actually to no one, because it is a greater good.

Personal happy moment of the week:

My work-life balance is currently very uneven. Because I'm extremely busy at work: several problematic and time-consuming projects are stupidly overlapping at the same time. That's why I'm almost exclusively in the office at the moment and not with my family. They are kind enough to understand that daddy and hubby have very little time - and are in a bad mood. Thank you very much for your understanding and patience!

I couldn't care less...

...that Vladimir Putin wants to take part in a virtual G20 summit. Sure, he can't be arrested there either - the International Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant for war crimes against Ukraine. The worst joke, however, is his topic. According to Moscow's announcement, he wants to present "his view of a deeply unstable world situation". Suggestion: resign. That would make the world much more stable in one fell swoop.

As I write this...

...I discover the work of Karl Jenkins. The Welsh composer is responsible for countless contemporary hits in classical music, such as Adiamus and Palladio. I know his music - from advertising and from movies and television. But I never knew that it was one and the same mastermind who created it.

Post Scriptum

Anarchy reigns in Argentina. At least Javier Milei, the winner of Sunday's presidential election, calls himself an "anarcho-capitalist". The people's longing for change was extremely strong. After all, the record of the center-left alliances that have been in power for decades is anything but brilliant: over a third of the population officially falls below the poverty line, inflation recently reached 147% and any innovation is suffocating in an over-regulating state.

Many of Milei's plans sound very radical - at least by European standards: the introduction of the US dollar as the official national currency, the closure of public institutions such as the national broadcaster or the privatization of state-owned companies. However, the political novice has neither a majority in parliament, nor a functioning party apparatus or a solid network in the regions of his country. What he can actually implement is therefore more than questionable. But he is challenging the status quo and at least bringing a breath of fresh air. And that has never done any harm.

[famousgalaxymusic]

For a summary of the dialect of Podhale, see Podhale language For a history of the occupants, see Gorals. The home is warmed by a fireplace, which visitors serve themselves. SOCIETY - Décidément, sur Star Wars, la France a souvent un train d'avance. Professional Order - When filling expert and also scientific positions at the GS-9 level and also above, the guidelines differ a little. Previous assistant Marek Rączka will change Semenchenko. GKS Tychy win the 2016 edition of Polish Cup by defeating 3-0 arch-rival Cracovia Krakow, victor in 2015, in the final played in Nowy Targ. As a community for vendors, Nowy Targ has a huge market square, with a total area of 1.5 ha. Once it offered vendors, as a place for markets, today is the heart of the town, as well as it is surrounded by the historical town houses. They generally recognize a lot concerning your location and might even suggest which side of the bus to sit on to obtain the best views when driving between Nowy Targ and also Vienna! Armis Labs has actually determined eight zero-day vulnerabilities until now, which show the presence as well as potential of the strike vector. No. Employees in Pathways Programs placements are not subject to time-in-grade limitations. Several RFID systems have been made use of in storage facilities or grocery stores. Accéder à un aperçu instantané de ce do not les personnes parlent actuellement. The problem with a federal government shutdown is capitalists will interpret it as an indicator that Republicans are unable to govern, James Pethokoukis claimed. W chłodny wieczór można rozpalić w kominku, który ogrzewa również sypialnie na górze oraz podłogę w łazience.

Power comes only from solar batteries - in restricted amounts in an all-natural means - 12V (at the cottage 220V inverters are readily available, so as a result bill the cell or use a laptop computer is no problem, but do not bring as an example. Insert the complying with code into the HTML of your websites. As this wave started to have youngsters a need expanded amidst their ranks to recreate the Polish Scouting experience, and to take a little bit of the Polish landscape in Western New York. To use these large sources, a binary power cycle for power as well as warm manufacturing is taken into consideration by group of researchers. During fiscal year 2015, Apple received 1,986 U.S. Account Requests as well as offered some data in 82% of these demands. Pupils that successfully finish the program could be qualified for conversion to a permanent task in the civil service. Il va notamment rencontrer le Premier ministre socialiste qui, put gouverner, à su rassembler. Do not believe excessive - simply go for it. We extremely recommend Smolenisko. Nowy Targ is in the heart of the vast basin Orawa - Nowy Targ, regarding 24 kilometres north of Zakopane on the route to Krakow and is at Latitude: 49 ° 28 ′ N, Longitude 20 ° 01 ′ E, Altitude 585 to 680 metres. Please prevent making use of blasphemy or efforts to approximate obscenity with creative spelling, in any kind of language. The company could not pass over the veteran on the basis of the factor provided if OPM does not maintain the demand. MARQUIS will certainly NOT KILL coccidia if they have an outbreak as well as it is dawning in symptom. You could also choose your favorite destinations to receive personal deals. TatrySki Podhale Nowy Targ is minor league associate of: Podhale Nowy Targ. Jeśli zastanawiasz się czy dasz radę, odpowiedź brzmi TAK! The closest airport is Krakow - Balice Airport terminal, 54 miles from the home. Objectif: faire de l'usine sochalienne la plus performante d'Europe d'ici 2021. The Emmy victor's acclaimed show will play a limited interaction this autumn. Furthermore, firms need to offer a sufficient alternative methods of using and also need to provide any kind of additional information regarding the possibility that would certainly be handy to a potential applicant who is incapable to attend the on-campus event. Hmm, un problème est survenu lors de l'accès au serveur. Despite stories to the contrary from resources not attached to the real information, if an individual opts out of area tracking on AccuWeather, no GPS coordinates are collected or passed without additional opt-in consent from the customer. He uncovered if a pup has coccidia outbreak, they will not make use of a vaccination correctly. Your dogs will certainly be SMALL, loosened stamina because of anemia and obtain pneumonia. Their house is wonderfully located and really clean. The huge majority of the demands Apple gets from police come from a firm dealing with behalf of a customer who has asked for help finding a stolen gadget. Celox A, a syringe-like applicator full of granulated Celox gauze, has been made use of by military, injury crews, and also law enforcement for taking care of smaller sized surface wounds (it's now around $20 on Amazon.com ). Vice President Mike Pence guaranteed South Florida Venezuelans that the U.S. would make use of the of its financial and also diplomatic power to finish repression in the South American nation, hinting at even more sanctions to punish the country's leaders. With our negotiating power as well as bargain search modern technology, priceline can help you minimize airline company tickets, economical hotel rooms, vehicle services, trip plans and also cruise ships. If OPM sustains the pass over demand, the company may select one more qualified person from the certificate of eligibles. The United States Navy said on Thursday human remains located by Malaysia were not one of its 10 seafarers missing after a collision between one of its guided-missile destroyers and also a merchant vessel east of Singapore today. It is here that the oldest discovered human bones in Poland. In addition, an unnamed Jewish household is meant to have actually leased a tavern situated in the town hallin the seventeenth century. Na tych zajęciach będą omawiane podstawy Clean & Jerk oraz Snach. Domek w Gronkowie to świetna opcja dla tych, którzy pragną oddalić się nieco od zgiełku turystycznych miejscowości takich jak Zakopane czy BukowinaTatrzańska, będąc jednocześnie w ich pobliżu (5 minut samochodem od Bukowiny i 20 minut od Zakopanego, rzut berem do Słowacji). One official called Bannon a turbulent pressure" that did not intend to comply with any type of set course for making White House decisions. Likewise known as a safety and security freeze, this tool lets you restrict access to your credit score record, which then makes it more difficult for identity thieves to open up brand-new accounts in your name. The company must at the very same time notify, in creating, both OPM and the disabled professional of the factors for its wish to pass over the handicapped professional and also of the veteran's right to reply to OPM within 15 days of the date of the alert. The file having the depositions of witnesses versus one implicated of a criminal offense. Such visits, starting with the Course of 2013, would certainly not be able to non-competitively transform to a term or irreversible placement in the competitive solution of one more agency. Nie udało się dodać więcej załączników, usuń któryś z już dodanych. Spotykane na co dzień, a poprzez wysoką intensywność treningów pozwala nam uświadomić sobie. Tourist organisations rate to call us for information on how to show their information on Nowy Targ Travel as well as Tourist Guide. The company might ultimately noncompetitively transform the specific to a permanent affordable solution placement at any time prior to the term appointment expires when non-competitively transformed to a term visit. Z definicji CrossFit ® to: Ciągle zmieniany trening, wykonywany na wysokiej intensywności z wykorzystaniem ruchów funkcjonalnych. OPM will determine if the request was for a proper as well as adequate reason under its policies, and the adequacy of the evidence presented, taking into consideration any type of added information offered by the professional. Osoby zamieszczające wypowiedzi naruszające prawo lub prawem chronione dobra osób trzecich mogą ponieść z tego tytułu odpowiedzialność karną lub cywilną. Erie will rival a minimum of 100 other communities to land Amazon's 2nd head office, and also the 50,000 tasks that include it. The report will be sent to your email address within 12 hours after your payment has actually been completed. Matt started the I College's Master of Information & Information Science program this semester and also is the very first recipient of the Jack Larson Information forever" Fellowship, which assists MIDS pupils utilizing data science to benefit society. Recent Graduates could be transformed to a long-term position (or, in some limited scenarios, a term visit lasting 1-4 years). The apartment is located about 3 km from the center of Nowy Targ. Ludzi) należało do Polski przed 1938 r. Było to jedenaście wsi orawskich (Lipnica Wielka i Mała, Zubrzyca Górna i Dolna, Jabłonka, Chyżne, Orawka, Bukowina, Podszkle, Harkabuz, Podsamie) i piętnaście wsi spiskich (Niedzica, Łapsze Wyżne i Niżne, Łapszanka, Kacwin, Brzegi, Rzepiska, Jurgów, Czarna Góra, Trybsz, Krempachy, Nowa Biała, Frydman, Falsztyn, Dursztyn). Zerknijcie na naszą stronę, gdzie znajdziecie wywiad z naszym nowym kapitanem Marcinem Koluszem. Redakcja nie ponosi odpowiedzialności za treść komentarzy, zastrzega sobie jednak prawo do nie publikowania ich, zwłaszcza tych, które zawierają wulgaryzmy, epitety powszechnie uznane za obraźliwe, nawołują do zachowań niezgodnych z prawem, obrażają osoby publiczne i prywatne, inne narodowości, rasy, religie itd. The examination was made on March 18, after the 2nd match for the bronze medal against STS Sanok. Will certainly make an initiative to unknown e-mail addresses, phone number, site addresses, social media accounts, and various other similar details. 2 dozen canines from Puerto Rico arrived Wednesday early morning at their short-lived brand-new home at the Humane Culture of Broward Region. Tourism and Entertainment - bachelor researches (3 years), started 2001/02. Moods flare as well as feelings run high during a rally as well as march asking for the elimination of the Confederate sculpture called 'Quiet Sam' on the UNC school in Church Hill. Knees to elbows (KTE; K2E) - przenoszenie kolan do łokci w zwisie na drążku. Lenovo avait prévu de dévoiler le Moto G5 et le Moto G5 Plus au MWC 2017. Vessel MV PODHALE (IMO: 9285134, MMSI: 311831000) is a bulk carrier built in 2005 as well as presently cruising under the flag of Bahamas MV PODHALE has 190m size total as well as beam of light of 28m. This is the 2nd case of doping this period in Poland League: last October GKS Tychy Russian ahead Yuri Kuzin has been suspended for 2 years. Just like the information leak susceptability in Android, this vulnerability lives in the SDP web server responsible for determining various other services utilizing Bluetooth around the device. Najważniejsza na zajęciach CrossFit jest technika wykonywanych ćwiczeń. Calculated mixes (fusion) of preferred genres of songs that have a degree of global recognition with a native or regional songs generally thought about unique. In order to conclude the purchase the town hall had to incur a financial obligation with the Jewish lenders: Aron Mandl, Salomon Goldman and Józef Herz. The beauty of sleepy towns is being eroded by suburban-type buildings, as has additionally occurred at Zakopane. A suggestion will certainly be sent out to the email address you offered. By clicking to run this downloaded and install documents you accept the Microsoft Solution Arrangement and also Privacy Declaration Installment puts on Web Explorer, Firefox, Chrome as well as Safari. Meet agency-specific requirements as specified in the Individual's Contract, and also. My most significant question would certainly be: When might we see it all grabbed?" she asked, using a pink hat for shade as well as leaning on a rake on Kings Method. Wonderful appartment, near the beautiful national park. Turning Factor Therapy Facility and also New Instructions Health Care hosted the Second annual HOPE Rally to kick off healing month. Chief Cataloguer of the National Gallery in Krakow. The Teaching fellowship Program is largely provided by each working with firm. We'll additionally provide transparency over the condition of sent material. As a result of absence of appropriate permission validations, causing this vulnerability does not need any kind of individual communication, authentication or pairing, so the targeted customer is entirely not aware of a recurring strike. Waterfall Street in between Raspberry and Plum is closed at the Norfolk and also Southern Railroad going across. Agencies provide OPM with information regarding their PMF possibilities and also can upload PMF appointment chances for those who are Finalists on the PMF internet site year-round. Orange crosses mark locations where lightning was discovered (over Europe).

The Patio Feast brought in 9 local songs teams to take over the front decks of homes in an old midtown Erie area. Just like gauze plasters made for surface injuries, that's suggested to create a barrier to blood nowy targ circulation, present a large surface area for clotting, and apply pressure to the injury. Polecam Góralską Strawę w Nowym Targu, tuż za miastem, przy wyjeździe na Ludźmierz. Pictures have actually been uploaded of places Irma caused one of the most damages, mostly on the west side of the state. The Tony-winning star will certainly contribute his time to benefit the American Theatre Wing. 6 individuals were taken to the health center Monday after a school bus rammed a vehicle north of Cutler Bay. Nowy Targ along the Dunajec River, located in the valley underneath the Gorce Hills, is the capital of the area. OPM is restricted by law from delegating these features to any company. Well, I think we'll just need to see and wait if Hoover trouble to earn anything from that last declaration. And much of these credential holders have well-paying works. Zajęcia przeznaczone dla osób, które chcą rozpocząć przygodę z regularnym treningiem. Comply with the signs for Chyzne until you are out of Krakow on the roadway number 7 going southern if driving from Krakow. Place helpful for undemanding skiers that do not like crowds on the inclines as well as intend to stay clear of the lines for the lifts. It's been two days because Cyclone Irma made landfall on the Florida coastline, as well as slowly residents are getting the pieces. Our work seeks to progress real accountability as well as civils rights resolve the launch, development, and use high-value information sets.

[konigindernachtsblog]

Silent love.

« Your time is not now, Edda… »

Miss Norling se réveilla en sursaut, se redressant en une seconde, d’un mouvement brusque. Sa respiration était saccadée et son front perlant de sueur. Elle balaya la pièce du regard. L’horloge indiqué quatre heure quinze du matin, dans son appartement de Stockholm. Edda passa sa main sur son visage et tenta de reprendre ses esprits. Encore une fois, la valkyrie avait vécu en cauchemar, à nouveau, la chute du Nord. Son regard se posa sur son bras. Le bras qu’avait empoigné la déesse Freyja pour la jeter dans une brèche et la sauver de l’effondrement de son temple. Ces mots sont les derniers qu’elle avait entendu de la part de la déesse nordique. Il lui semblait qu’elle avait vécu une centaine de vies. Chacune était tragique. Miss Norling maudissait son éternité autant qu’elle la préservait. Odin seul savait quand les portes du Valhalla s’ouvriraient pour elle, mais elle ne les avait encore jamais aperçu. Ses pensées fut interrompue quand on toqua à la porte. Elle enfila une robe de chambre en vitesse pour aller ouvrir. 

« I apologise to disturb you so early in the morning, Miss Norling… - It’s okay Marshall, I was already awake. »

Pour rassurer son interlocuteur, la valkyrie esquissa un léger sourire. Eric Marshall, un nécromancien qui avait été sous les ordres d’Oswald Montgomery, puis s’était retrouvé sous l’égide de Lotte Silverstein avait de finir sous son commandement. Eric était connu dans les manteaux bleus, puisque pendant des années, près de vingt ans pour être précis, il avait été victime d’un amour inconditionnel mais à sens unique porté sur l’aînée d’Adrian Silverstein. Edda s’était retrouvée complice, sans vraiment le vouloir, de la coupure violente mais nécessaire du lien qui unissait le nécromancien à la succube. Cela n’avait pas été facile, miss Norling en avait été témoin. 

Eric répondit au sourire de la capitaine scandinave des manteaux bleus par un sourire similaire, discret mais sincère. La frontière entre professionnel et intime avait toujours été un peu floue, entre Miss Norling et Marshall. Ils coopéraient très bien, mais blaguaient souvent, flirtaient aussi, parfois. C’était toujours léger, mais difficile à ignorer. Cependant, tous les deux semblaient inaccessible. On disait qu’après la fin tragique de l’histoire d’Eric avec Lotte, plus jamais il ne pourrait aimer qui que ce soit. Edda, elle, n’avait plus été vue avec un homme depuis des décennies. Son contrôle et sa carrière dans le crime étaient même basés en partie sur cette solitude. Sans proches, les seules menaces possibles ne pouvaient se tourner que sur sa personne. Mais quand on est nordique, valkyrie de Freyja qui plus est, on ne craint pas la mort, alors cette menace devient complètement absurde et inefficace. 

Pourtant, Edda aimait flirter avec Eric. Elle aimait être avec Eric tout court, même. Eric se prenait rarement au sérieux, même en pleine mission. Il a toujours le mot habile ou la remarque sarcastique qui fait mouche et qui a le don de la faire sourire. Mais quand il est sérieux, il l’est vraiment. Il a quelque chose d’attendrissant, aussi. Miss Norling ne se voilait pas la face, elle savait qu’au fond, elle avait été séduite par Marshall. Elle s’en était rendue compte quand elle s’était prise à apprécier un verre après une opération, juste avec lui. Ou quand il lui souriait et qu’elle avait envie de déposer un baiser sur ses lèvres. Il y avait eu ce moment où, lors de coups de feu, il l’avait plaquée contre le mur et qu’ils s’étaient regardés, silencieux et confus après coup, alors qu’il y avait eu comme une tension dans l’air. Mais il ne s’était jamais rien passé. Edda aussi, était convaincue que Lotte avait détruit Eric et que même sans souvenir de cette histoire, il en gardait des séquelles si lourdes qu’il ne parviendrait pas à tourner la page.

« The operation is a success, however, we couldn’t say it went « smooth », reprit Eric. - Does it mean, in your language, that it was close to the total fiasco ? - We have been attacked. - Everyone is fine ? - Yes. - Wait for me in the lobby, I will be here soon. - Yes, Miss Norling. »

[bopinion]

2024 / 42

Aperçu of the week

“Never again Hiroshima, never again Nagasaki”

(Japanese peace activists from Nihon Hidankyo, who have just won the Nobel Peace Prize for their commitment)

Bad News of the Week

“The state where the fate of the world is decided” is the title of an article in the news magazine Der Spiegel about Pennsylvania. Or rather, about the election campaign there for the next US presidency. Because whoever wins in Pennsylvania is likely to move into the White House. And rarely has this been such a groundbreaking decision as the current one between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. A directional decision that will have an impact far beyond the country, that will actually have global consequences. After all, the USA has such a massive influence on the fate of humanity as a whole.

This destiny can be positive or negative. Either progressive, open, cooperative, humane and optimistic. Or reactionary, nationalistic, isolationist, hostile and pessimistic. I don't want to harp on about the fact that I simply can't understand how a notorious liar, cheat, sexist, racist and idiot can be electable for anyone who still has all their wits about them. And how these voters can be motivated with his dystopian visions of the end of the world and concrete announcements of abuse of power. No, this time I want to get upset about the system that makes it possible for anyone to win the most important election in the world in this way.

Let's look back to 2016, when Donald Trump won against Hillary Clinton. With 304 votes against 227. So seemingly clear. However, in US presidential elections, the votes in the Electoral College are counted. And not the actual votes, the so-called popular vote. Clinton was ahead by almost 2.9 million of those real votes from real voters. Europeans simply cannot understand this. Because it is - exactly! - undemocratic. And in the very country that likes to boast that it is the paradise of ultimate democracy. Excuse me?

It's not just the principle of “the winner takes it all” that is highly questionable. But also the unequal representation of the population. Each federal state sends two senators to Washington. Regardless of how many residents they represent. For example, Wyoming and California have the same number of seats, although the latter has almost 70 times the population. Speaking of electoral districts: have you ever heard of “gerrymandering”? This refers to the creative drawing of constituencies that allows the incumbent or the leading regional party to cement its power. Sample calculation: a party actually only has an approval rating of 45%. By allocating three constituencies accordingly, it can win two (by 20 to 15) by generously giving up the third (5 to 25).

Why no one is interested in changing these deeply undemocratic conditions is simply because both parties benefit from them. Because that is also a problem: the lack of diversity in the party landscape. Because there are simply only two parties worth mentioning, namely Democrats and Republicans. For decades. Which not only leads to a lack of choice and veritable regencies, but also reduces political competition to absurdity. Because it simply doesn't exist if you can't or don't have to win a majority for your political ideas and concepts. Because you simply have it. Or not.

Good News of the Week

When it comes to the enlargement of the European Union in recent times, there has usually been only talk of Ukraine and its membership prospects. And in its wake, Moldova and Georgia have been mentioned from time to time. Yet there are countries that have been knocking on Europe's door for some time. Six countries. Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania are the last countries from the Balkans still missing from the club. Looking at the two ex-Yugoslavian countries Croatia and Slovenia, which are already members, they recognize that membership is a worthwhile goal. And they are really serious about it - with possibly minor exceptions for the former Balkan superpower Serbia. Macedonia has even renamed itself North Macedonia, as Greece (where there is a province of the same name) might otherwise have blocked accession.

All of these countries were invited to talks, the official preparatory phase has long since begun and “rapprochement” has been taking place since 2014. As the candidates are not economic powerhouses - i.e. certainly not future “net contributors” - the focus must be on something else. The European Council speaks of a “geostrategic investment” and of “closing gray areas”. It is therefore no wonder that the candidates are expected to take measures for the rule of law and against corruption. After all, the EU is no longer just an economic single market, but above all a project for openness, understanding and peace.

Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz invited the heads of state and government of the six countries and various representatives of the EU bodies to the summit. The “Berlin Process” was launched by Germany ten years ago to support the Western Balkan states on their path to the European Union. And there are successes to report. For example, a long-standing blockade of the CEFTA free trade agreement between the six states was resolved. An action plan for a common regional market and a new mobility agreement on access to higher education were also signed at the meeting. And Scholz's warm closing words were “I hope that it will not take another ten years for all six states to finally become EU members.”

The momentum that could, if not must, accompany this would be just as good as the actual accessions. Because even more members would make the existing need for reform even more obvious and urgent. Experts are not the only ones who find it inconceivable that the EU could grow to 33 members without changing its structures. This refers not only to individual budget items such as agricultural subsidies, but also to the fundamental organization of the organization. From the size of the EU Parliament and the EU Commission to the principle of unanimity. In your face, Viktor Orbán!

Personal happy moment of the week

My daughter has started the new university semester. And has also taken care of the starters with her student council. My son, on the other hand, is doing what all 16-year-olds should be doing (and what his father missed out on at the time): a dance course. And a cooking course. Humm....

I couldn't care less...

...that Italy is trying to outsource the accommodation of asylum seekers to Albania during the examination phase. We remember what happened to the British government's plans with Rwanda in this regard. And surprise surprise: the first court decision to bring back those deported there has already been made.

It's fine with me...

...that the EU was able to agree on the definition of clear goals that they want to represent at COP29. In mid-November, around 200 countries will come together in Baku, Azerbaijan, to try to actively tackle man-made climate change or prevent at least its worst potentials at the World Climate Conference. Once again, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Appropriate agreements by major decision-makers in the run-up to the conference are crucial to ensuring that decisive progress can actually be made.

As I write this...

...Elon Musk continues to make himself a propagandist for Donald Trump. First the instrumentalization of Twitter, then the bizarre campaign guest appearance at the revival fair in Butler, then the awards for voter registrations and now the million-dollar checks for the mutilated constitutional confession of battleground state voters. If I were a shareholder in one of his companies, I'd demand that the boss at least do his actual job once in a while instead of developing messianic traits. That doesn't make the decision for our next electric car any easier.

Post Scriptum

Ukraine's president was once again on a diplomatic, financial and military mission. This time, Volodymyr Zelensky is promoting his “victory plan”. Which, in view of the setbacks his army is currently suffering against the Russian invaders, looks a bit like an act of desperation. In addition to the usual “Give us more weapons” and “Punish Russia more harshly”, the plan appears to contain two core demands. Firstly, the delivery of long-range weapons with permission to use them on Russian territory. The second is an immediate invitation to join NATO. Neither of these will happen. At least not in a time corridor that would benefit Ukraine.

As far as long-range weapons are concerned, the majority of Germans, for example, are against this, as they fear becoming a party to the war or being seen as such. The entire mood has changed: for a few weeks now, more than 50% of the German population has been fundamentally opposed to the supply of further weapons. The same applies to joining NATO or even the start of official talks in this regard. According to the statute alone, a country that is currently a party to the war cannot be admitted. There is also a need for unanimity, which was already difficult to organize for Sweden and is impossible for Ukraine.

It will therefore remain a war of attrition for the foreseeable future, with Russia slowly gaining the upper hand. The West's support for Ukraine is crumbling, Russia has not been decisively weakened by sanctions, Vladimir Putin is still firmly in the saddle and his resources seem inexhaustible. It is hard to imagine the impact a Trump victory would have on the whole of Eastern Europe.

[bopinion]

2022 / 24

Aperçu of the Week:

"And if you feel that life is a theater, pick a role that you really enjoy."

(William Shakespeare)

Bad News of the Week:

Often the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is considered a historic benchmark of Western democracies. A fundamental aspect of democracies is binding rule of law. And this is exactly what the current British government seems to absurdly misunderstand. Here are two examples from the week ending.

Example 1: The principle of "pacta sunt servanda" ("contracts must be honored"). Actually a matter of course. Except when it comes to the legal relationship between the UK and the European Union. Because now the British government wants to unilaterally terminate the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit Treaty. And in doing so, it overlooks the fact that this protocol does not protect EU interests, but rather safeguards peace on the Irish internal border. I, at least, remember well the civil war, which has been happily dormant since the Good Friday Agreement. But the hollow phrase "taking back control" seems to be more sacred in London than citizens' interests in a second-rate constituent state. Or international treaties from which one profits economically.

Example 2: Right to asylum under the UN Geneva Convention on Refugees. As early as 1951, the basic right to apply for asylum was declared an international human right - with the British signature on the paper. But as we all know, paper is patient. Because Great Britain has brokered a spectacular refugee deal - with Rwanda. What the f***?!? Exactly, with Rwanda, which the British government itself had reprimanded last year for human rights violations - after all, critics are locked up there, presumably tortured, and sometimes "missing" afterwards. And now they want to deny asylum rights to refugees who have fought their way across the English Channel in rubber dinghies, put them on a plane, take them to East Africa and pay Rwanda to "integrate" them there. The talk is of 10,000 people for whom Rwanda has been guaranteed at least 120 million pounds. So the talk is also of 10,000 times breaking the law in Europe and financially supporting a questionable African regime. The first flight, scheduled for last Tuesday, was indeed stopped at the last second by the European Court of Human Rights - but due to a formal error. London and even the British High Court are sticking to the plan, saying the next flights are in the pipeline.

Two fundamental breaches of the law within one week. That's what you would expect from a banana republic. But UK? Once again, one can only shake one's head at the fact that things happen in Europe that were previously hardly thought possible. But the much-quoted concept of the "turn of the times" ultimately means that nothing can be relied on any longer.

P.S.: The British government's decision to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the U.S., where he faces 175 years in prison (and that for betraying secrets, not for sexual assault!), may be correct from a constitutional point of view, but it is still a slap in the face for freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Good News of the Week:

Australia finally recognizes climate necessities. For a long time, Australia was regarded internationally as a laggard when it came to environmental protection. For example, the country produces the most electricity by burning coal and therefore emits the most greenhouse gases per capita worldwide. This never bothered the former conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison - after all, coal exports are a considerable source of income and secure many jobs.

On the other hand, Australia is already suffering from the consequences of human-induced climate change: time and again, there are devastating bushfires, torrential rains, extreme heat waves and destructive floods. The consequences of the irresponsible lifestyle of (not only) Australians can be seen not only on land, but also in the surrounding oceans. Fishing grounds are dying out, marine flora is suffering, shipping traffic is terrorizing marine life, and the destruction of the iconic Great Barrier Reef may be unstoppable.

The Australian people seem to have grasped this. For the clear deselection of coal lobbyist Morrison is attributed primarily to his fatal climate policy. The new Labor government with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is now taking its campaign promises seriously: on Thursday, a significantly tightened climate protection plan was submitted to the United Nations. Among other things, the plan calls for a 43% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 (compared to 2005!). That alone will not save the planet. But this about-face by the biggest emitter so far is a clear signal for a green Australia.

Personal happy moment of the week:

My daughter passed two exams this week. First, the theory test for her driver's license. Secondly, a self-test (albeit not formally binding) for her aspired studies of political science at the university: "Excellent! (...) You have the ideal prerequisites to successfully complete your studies." Dad is proud.

I couldn't care less...

...that there is currently a discussion about temporarily lowering the mandatory minimum temperatures for residential buildings due to expected gas shortages in the coming winter. When the tenants receive their considerably increased heating bills for the past winter, they will get out their Norwegian sweaters all by themselves in order to save money.

As I write this...

...I am looking forward to my birthday party tonight. Although it's actually not mine: an old friend has his birthday on the same day as me. And he throws a big garden party in best summer weather. And I - who normally doesn't care much about his birthday - will benefit from the fact that there will certainly be a toast to my health, too. Happy birthday, Andi!

Post Scriptum:

The EU Commission is in favor of officially designating Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for accession to the European Union. This was stated by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who at the same time called for reforms that would ultimately be necessary for entering the club. For despite all the sympathy, it is the facts that count. For in both countries there are deficits in the rule of law and in the fight against corruption, among other things, and they are still far from meeting the standards of the European Union. But the signal has been set. And that is a good thing. After all, the EU is not just an economic free trade zone, but above all a community of values.

[bopinion]

2022 / 05

Aperçu of the Week:

"What is the sense of NATO? It is to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down."

(Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, first NATO Secretary General 1952-1957)

"German power I fear less today than German inaction."

(Radosław Tomasz Sikorski, Foreign Minister of Poland, 2012)

Bad News of the Week:

5,000 helmets for Ukraine. That's Germany's contribution to date to help a European neighbor fend off an aggressor. I heard on a talk show the other day that this is like seeing a hostage situation in your neighbor's backyard. And then throwing the number of the telephone helpline over the fence. Yet - as is so often the case - this is only logical if you take a closer look at the history books.

Germany has shown a pronounced passivity or defensiveness in military aspects throughout the postwar period. Explicitly (see quote Lord Ismay) at the "request" of the Allies. This is deeply embedded not only in German minds, but also in German laws. Two examples: the Bundeswehr is explicitly a "parliamentary army" that can only be deployed abroad with the majority approval of the legislature. That was, for example, a yes to Afghanistan and a no to Iraq. The same applies to the export of armaments. Yes to NATO members and non-aggressive allies (although this is not always comprehensible, e.g. in the case of Egypt or Saudi Arabia) and no to ...well.... Ukraine.

For decades, this restrained policy did bear fruit. Willy Brandt's policy of rapprochement with the East, for example, was instrumental in ensuring that the Cold War did not become a hot one. But the demands - internationally (see quote from Sikorski - a Pole!) and at home - are growing louder that Germany overcome its passivity in this regard and also take a military stand for its political positions, if that is necessary. And what goal could be more noble than defending democracy? If that works in Mali, why not in Syria?

Let's step back a scrap, let's look at the context. And that context is Europe. Same topic, same tragedy. Leaving aside individual steps - such as the transfer of Danish aircraft to Baltic states that have no air force of their own - what is the European position? Or rather: Does it exist at all?

Let me quote from the last state of the union address by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last September on the subject of security policy: "First, we need to provide stability in our neighborhood. (...) Secondly, the nature of the threats we face is evolving rapidly (...) The third reason is that the European Union is a unique security provider." Excuse me? This speech was given 7 years after the annexation of Crimea!

The self-imposed weakness of Germany as well as Europe has high costs. Perpetual debating, endless negotiations and insubstantial compromises cost time and create missed opportunities. Russia was able to deploy several thousand soldiers within 36 hours during the unrest in Kazakhstan. In that time, no issue even makes it onto the agenda in either Germany or Europe. Is this really the price you have to pay for democracy? My Canadian wife sometimes asks me why "we" do so little. And when I hear myself talking than, I realize: actually, I don't have an answer.

Good News of the Week:

Since the Corona pandemic began, everyone knows about Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. For a while, I too have anxiously watched the numbers on their dashboard develop every morning. Now the researchers have produced a gigantic meta-study of restrictions and their effects - based on 18,000 studies worldwide. Whereby they focused on excess mortality documented therein due to a covid 19 disease. Curiously, the findings coincide with my personal assessment. So whoever still doubts my genius now knows better.

Key findings: No effect at all was measured for closed frontiers, and only a 0.1 percent effect for closed schools. Lockdowns with exit restrictions had an effect of only 0.3 percent, and the restriction of social contacts in the private sphere (for a long time, the rule in this country was "no more than five people from two households") also only 3 percent.

However, there are also measures with a significantly higher impact on infections that have led to severe courses with considerable mortality. Closing restaurants and bars, for example, resulted in a full 15 percent reduction. And the (correct!) wearing of masks - whether at work, on public transportation, or while shopping - brings it to a scant 24 percent!

So: if you want to save lives (maybe even your own), eat at home and shop with a mask. It can be as simple as that. Curfews, closed borders and home schooling, on the other hand, can be dispensed with. A blueprint for a new normality that we all long for? Yes and no. After all, no one wants to abolish gastronomy in the long run. And cultural life with cinema, theater, exhibitions, etcetera was not surveyed, nor was travel.

Nevertheless, the results of the JHU provide orientation. And if the political decision-makers do not adhere to them, it is up to each individual to act accordingly. It doesn't help, we have to get through it. All of us. Preferably together. Unfortunately, another fundamental finding of the pandemic is the lack of solidarity. But if I start with that now, I would have to move this text into the section "Bad News"...

Personal happy moment of the week:

Today we made a nice trip with very good friends. We wanted to go to the mountains and walk into the snow. And found a nice trail that offered us both. In combination with personal conversations, a good exchange about what moves us at the moment and a delicious stop in a typical local inn, it was just a very very nice day.

I couldn't care less...

...that the 2022 Winter Olympics have started in Beijing. It seems wrong in so many ways that, at least for me, it doesn't light an Olympic fire.

As I write this...

...a salsa bolognese is simmering on the stove according to my wife's old family recipe. There's nothing better after spending the day outside in the cold.

Post Scriptum:

Republicans have "censured" two of their members in the House of Representatives. The censure resolution for Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger is the harshest punishment a party can impose in the U.S. - even if it is purely symbolic. The reasoning is hair-raising: Cheney and Kinzinger are the only Republicans on the investigating committee on the storming of the Capitol. And therefor are guilty of "participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse" - a striking description of an attack on a democratic institution. Committed by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. It is inconceivable how the GOP has made itself hostage for years, and without need, to an erratic would-be dictator who spins his own reality. And how so many US Americans continue to blindly follow him.

[bopinion]

2022 / 03

Aperçu of the Week:

"Boys learn through toys, street names, history lessons, and movies that they can become scientists, astronauts, CEOs, or presidents. Girls, on the other hand, are supposed to be beautiful, kind, helpful and sweet. With my flight, I want to show that young women can be brave and ambitious in achieving their dreams."

Zara Rutherford. The 19-year-old Belgian-British pilot became the youngest woman flying solo around the world. She returned last Thursday after 155 days. She wants to be an astronaut.

Bad News of the Week:

Since the pandemic began, there are 163 million more poor people than before (according to Oxfam's Social Inequality Report, Jan. 17, 2022). In other words, people for whom it is not financially possible to make ends meet adequately on their own. With precarious housing conditions and lack of food, clothing, clean water, sanitation and much more. Not to mention the so-called "social participation". Among them are many children who, instead of going to school, have to search for recyclable materials at garbage dumps or slave away in mines. We are talking here about almost 3.4 billion people, i.e. half of humanity! This alone means that six of the seventeen "Sustainable Development Goals" of the United Nations are currently being missed. Shit.

At the same time, the wealth of the ten richest people in the world has doubled in exactly these two years. Less than 0.001 percent of the population owns well over twice as much wealth as the bottom 99.9 percent. So much imbalance can only be called perverse. Especially when you consider the conditions under which, for example, seasonal workers toil in Amazon's fulfillment center to make Jeff Bezos even richer.

According to Adam Smith, "the invisible hand" of the free market always regulates everything for the best. That this apparently applies only to the top earners is socially explosive. Capitalism, as a basic democratic idea, does not work. There is a need for social action here. I'm not talking about redistribution, as the left likes to call for. I'm talking about a "fair share" for the richest. Closing their tax loopholes would easily enable a society that functions in solidarity. Bernie Sanders is right with every one of his tweets. And yet he is a lonely cryer in the wilderness. Nothing will fundamentally change in the foreseeable future. And that is a shame.

Good News of the Week:

This January, Germany took over the presidency of the G7. With its brand new governing coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals. In a challenging time in many respects. On Friday, the federal cabinet held its first closed meeting. The intention is to gain momentum on the issues of the future, especially in the area of multinational cooperation. Let's take a look at two topics.

First: Ukraine. Or rather, the Ukraine crisis in view of the Russian threat. After the flops of the previous week with its inconclusive summits, the foreign policy chick, the Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, set off on her inaugural visit to Moscow to meet her Russian counterpart. It is important to know that Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov is a foreign policy warhorse of the very first order. He has held the post of Russian Foreign Minister for 18 years, and before that he was Russia's permanent representative to the UN and to the UN Security Council for ten years.

So expectations were rather low, especially after all the saber rattling before. The young novice would let herself be outmaneuvered by the veteran professional. But far from it, in the final press conference there were surprisingly mild tones, there was talk of rapprochement and cooperation. Even the resumption of peace talks according to the "Normandy format" (Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany) to revive the Minsk Agreement became tangible: De-escalation and pacification of the war raging in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and a political settlement of the conflict. Very good, so finally movement in a constructive direction.

Second: Climate. Or rather, the creation of an international climate club in order to be able to achieve the common goals (see Paris climate protection goals) more realistically. According to Robert Habeck, the Green Minister for Climate AND the Economy, this would not only involve specific climate protection measures. It also means organizing the global market in a way that benefits those who are committed to the future of the planet. The G7 is to be strongly influenced by Germany with its focus on sustainability issues, he said.

And anyone who remembers Habeck's work as a state minister in Schleswig-Holstein - from 2012 to 2018, he served as deputy prime minister and minister for energy transition, agriculture, the environment and nature - knows that he can not only make euphonious announcements with flowery words, but can also implement his plans in a hands-on and concrete way. Why shouldn't he succeed in this new format as well? After all, one often gets the impression that the beginning is always the hardest part and that there is usually a lack of those who (want to) be the first to go ahead. Very good, so finally movement in a constructive direction.

Personal happy moment of the week:

Last week, SARS-CoV-2 almost got us. My son tested positive with an antigen test at school one day after two friends he had spent time with. Immediately, the whole patchwork family went into self-isolation, even those already boostered. And then we waited 58 hours for the results of his PCR test. While at home we wore masks, ventilated constantly, disinfected touch points, and observed strict movement ranges. My offspring himself stayed cool and enjoyed the time away from school gaming with other classmates in quarantine and room service. His father, on the other hand, became more and more nervous when the positive result came in for one of his friends. Then finally the salvation: Thursday evening came the result from the laboratory - negative. And after five days, we were all "tested free" yesterday at noon in the pharmacy, so we could officially leave the quarantine. So this week my two most positive moments were formally negative ones.

I couldn't care less...

...that Friedrich Merz was elected the new chairman of the CDU, Germany's conservative federal party, at a digital party conference with over 94%. Party members hope he will raise the party's profile. They say he will show clear edges and bring to light what the party stands for, elaborate on its values. I hope not. Because for me, Merz is one of the "old white men" who stand for yesterday rather than tomorrow. Angela Merkel will soon no longer recognize her party. Unfortunately in a negative sense.

As I write this...

...the winter comes by again. Since Friday it is snowing. Not just gray, wet slush. But real, nice, solid, white snow. That's the way it's supposed to be.

Post Scriptum:

Silvio Berlusconi does not want to enter the race for the Italian presidency after all. Two days before the deadline, he withdrew from the race - knowing well that he would probably have had no chance. You can think what you like about Italian electoral behavior. But anyone who has so often and so consistently shown himself to be an incompetent politician, and who has often sought his salvation from legal prosecution in the immunity of an elected representative of the people, must be considered unelectable. He has now probably forestalled a clear rejection in the election. The clear rejection in public opinion remains.

[bopinion]

2021 / 52

Aperçu of the Week:

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

(Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died last week at the age of 90. No doubt: this guy will rest in peace!)

Bad News of the Week:

Bureaucracy. A very German speciality. When making a decision, you don't have to think too hard and weigh up the pros and cons - because there's bound to be a regulation that governs it. Of all nations, the "people of poets and thinkers" hardly use common sense and prefer to fall back on the appropriate form. Example laws, I just took a quick look at category A: "AARKZustAnO" stands for "Order on the assignment of responsibilities for issuing notices of objection and for representing the employer in actions brought by employees of the Federal Foreign Office in matters of travel expenses" and "AAÜGErstV" for "Ordinance on the Reimbursement of Expenses under the Act on the Transfer by the Federal Government of Claims and Entitlements under Supplementary and Special Pension Schemes of the Accession Territory". Any questions?

Ordinances, application regulations, rules, codes of conduct and much more naturally also exist in epic breadth. Which leads to many processes taking half an eternity. Two recent examples: Tesla is already producing the first pre-series vehicles in its new Gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin, yet there are only provisional approvals so far. A final permit has not even been issued for the so-called subsoil preparation. And since 2012, basic planning for a power line from offshore wind farms in the North Sea to industrial areas in the south of Germany has been officially laid down in the Federal Republic of Germany's "Grid Development Plan". After ten years, it is hoped to formally conclude with the first planning step, which merely defines corridors. It is a pity that neither globalization nor global warming will make allowances for lengthy procedures.

The fact that on top of the local, municipal, county, district, state and federal levels there is still the European Union does not make it any easier. An absurd example from this week: due to a slump in bookings due to Corona and the associated travel restrictions, Lufthansa wanted to cancel about 51,000 flight connections for the first quarter of 2022. However, only 33,000 of these will actually be cancelled. The other 18,000 will be operated as "empty flights" without passengers, as otherwise take-off permits would be lost due to lack of use. This is ecological and economic madness.

And when things go fast, they go wrong: on New Year's Eve, the sale of fireworks was banned on short notice in Germany. But not the use of them. As a result, Germans were happy to stand in line for three hours in front of the corresponding sales points behind the Polish border so as not to miss out on this senseless and dangerous fun. The result can be imagined: it was nevertheless and still much too much banged. In addition, environmental pollution, terrorized animals, seriously injured people and completely absurd Twitter threads about "how much individual freedom this pretentious state actually still wants to curtail". I wish you a good night. And now to the weather forecast...

Good News of the Week:

So, sweeping all the bits and pieces together, I at least get Good News from Germany for the environment:

Plastic bags have been banned since yesterday. But only the big, colorful ones at the checkout - not the small bags with handles for vegetables and fruit. But at least they only need about 20 years to decompose - instead of 100 to 500. I'm not even sure if I mean that sarcastically.

By the day before yesterday, three more nuclear power plants had been shut down. However, the last three are still on the grid for another year. And next door in France? Still 80% of the electricity comes from nuclear power. And now it's even to be greenwashed. This is ridiculous, since the assessment of environmental damage cannot be based solely on CO2 emissions.

This year, the ban on so-called chick shredding will also take effect. But male chicks still rarely have a life expectancy of more than one day, so now they are gassed. And the market introduction of technology that can determine the sex of the egg before hatching is still far away.

From now on, mandatory deposits will apply to all plastic bottles and all beverage cans. Previous exceptions, such as fruit juice in a bottle or energy drinks in a can, have been eliminated. I didn't understand that anyway. Nevertheless, there are still exceptions, e.g. for milk drinks. I still don't understand that anyway.

Personal happy moment of the week:

Let's make it short: My wife and I spent New Year's Eve with a 6-hour Zoom marathon with her French-Canadian friends and family. The highlight of all conversations was just that: "My wife and I..." ;-)

I couldn't care less...

...that the Austrian ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz will work for tech investor Peter Thiel in the future. It just fits the picture, as both interpret the boundaries between normal lobbying and covert political influence for personal gain "rather flexibly". So anything but surprising. And probably the first time that a 35-year-old is included in the A list of "elder statesmen".

As I write this...

...I am fighting with reflux again. Doctor Google always has the same suggestions: less stress, less fat, less sugar, less alcohol, less caffeine. But seriously now: what can be done about it?

Post Scriptum:

Every year there is this trend: the song that was #1 on the hit list on your birthday (the very first one) is your personal motto for the coming year. This time I actually checked for the first time - and I'm speechless: it was "Get back" by The Beatles! Not only is that a choice motto for the year after this f*#*+* 2021 (I'm glad to share!). No, since Peter Jackson's documentary of the same name on Disney+, this song has also replaced "Hey Jude" as my current favorite Beatles song. Oh my god, there's prediction for real!