Greater things close to a politicians heart

To end the exodus of their best researchers after Nazis gained power in Germany, the council of the german industry sent Privy Councilor Max Planck to Hitler. The explosive stupidity of his answer already anticipated the destruction that soon followed: “Well, what does it matter if Germany doesn’t have any leading physicists for a generation or so. Greater things are… (more…)

Hebrew letters

Almost a year ago I began to learn Hebrew.  Among the various challenges that a semitic language provides for someone only familiar with German/English/Russian, I initially found it very hard to read hebrew texts. But I than put more effort in learning to read, and at home with the text books from the school and with the help of the… (more…)

The James Bond Lecture Series

Despite my utmost reluctance to those notorious “xxx rules for a successful life/project/date” list that one can find on many blogs, I always wanted to summarize the reasons why I still consider the James Bond 007 movies quite an intelligent piece of philosophy (or shall I better call it “lesson for life” ?) Although the Bond movies are mainly viewed… (more…)

A 40 years long dead end road: Iranian Woman after the ’79 Islamic Revolution

They were dreaming of freedom and individual fulfilment, but they soon found themself hidden under a Tschador or Hijab, and helplessly kept hostage in a regime of personal violence and political oppression.  40 years ago, at the decline of the Shah monarchy, the woman of Iran were fighting as their male comrades for democratic and liberal reforms.But hardly anybody had… (more…)

To be continued soon: J.D.Salingers amazing stories

This was really a great news what J.D.Salingers son Matt revealed a couple of days ago: that a whole treasure of yet unpublished texts by his late father Jerome D. Salinger has now been evaluated and awaiting its release to the reading audience. I can not say how impatient I am from now on, to have the first post-mortem new… (more…)

Tyrannocide – A Pledge

When one thinks about the event that happened 40 years ago today, it might be a good occasion to reconsider tyrannicide, i.e. the right to assassinate a tyrannical dictator. On February 1st, 1979, Ajatollah Khomeini entered an airplane in Paris, where he lived in political asylum, and returned after 15 years to Tehran. Iran was suffering from political vacuum after… (more…)

Affirmative Action: Being torn between heart and reason

My reasoning brain tells me that affirmative action is something against nature. Because if nature would have allowed affirmative action, than the gazelle would have never developed into such a fast running and beautiful animal (intended to escape the predators), but evolution would have stalled at the stage of slow and lethargic goats. Instead, survival of the goats would have… (more…)

Big Data Analysis shows: Male vs. Female Disballance in Arts

Just for fun, and because the time between the years (i.e. 25th of December till 6th of January) generates silly ideas, I tried my first big data analysis today. I was inspired by the frequent notion of woman curating arts exhibitions. Was it just my selective perception, or is there something real behind ? I used a public German website… (more…)

Gorges and Tides

I know that what I am going to tell you now could fundamentally damage the picture that you have of me. I hope you will forgive me this unrequested confession. But I have to tell this to someone, who might view it from some distance, and who knows me only as a pen friend using e-mails. And I also think… (more…)

Prague revisited

Well, Prague, this beautiful bohemian capital that stretches along the river Vlatva (Moldau), was perhaps always a place were time had a less defined and mechanical meaning, but was always a subject of being easily to manipulate. In the novels of Gustav Meyerink, Franz Kafka, Karol Capek or E.E.Kish time was more like a veil being blown around by the… (more…)

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