HERLOFF says ...

The Power of Google

I love Google.

I admire Google.

Google seems to do everything right.

Their business strategy rocks. They understood the potential of free internet apps long before anyone else dared to seriously venture into that field. Google earth is a fantastic service, Gmail rocks, and I'm not sure I go back to living without Google image search. Not to mention GoogleTalk, Google calendar, Google desktop, analytics, groups, video, Goggle Picasa, docs and spreadsheets. And Blogger. And just for the record, there is a whole shit load of other new and exiting stuff coming to you in the near future from the Google playground.

Therefore, I felt both fascinated and frustrated, when I saw the video below on one of my favorite lunchtime reads: The Presentation Zen Blog. I like conspiracy theories. They are such fun. And this one actually did make me think a little.

PS. If I had the time to present all my ideas like this ... whoah! BTW, you can watch a high-res version of the video on the Master Plan site.

B-people

I've just received the first e-mail newsletter from an organisation that I joined about a month ago. It's called the B-Society, and it aims at claiming equal rights for those of us who are not A-people. Who do not wake up at 6am feeling sharp and ready for intellectual gymnastics.

Sounds like a joke? Well, it isn't, not entirely. It is scientifically proven beyond any doubt that people are born different when it comes to our natural day/night rhythm.And A-people are, in fact, a minority. Danish sleep researchers say some 15 percent of people like the morning, 25 percent don't. The rest, they fall somewhere in the middle.

Occasionally, I get a little fed up with having to convince people that the fact that I do not enjoy getting up at 5am (to run or swim or something), does not per se signify that I'm unable to "pull myself together".

I am no less dutyful, no less sharp, no less self-motivating than A-people. I'm just not born for early rising. And I work better and more efficiently later during the day and evening. It's biology, you people. Why is that so very difficult to understand?

Society is made for A-people. Institutions like schools or colleges are made for A-people. And when society's rythm somehow becomes merged with that old protestant work ethic, A-people somehow seem to end up feeling morally superior to B-people, perceiving the inability to function very early in the morning as pure laziness.

I like that someone is finally working seriously to banish that misconception!

ONE seat, thank you!

Twice a year, the European Parliament moves. From Brussels/Belgium to Strasbourg/France - and back again. The fact that the Parliament does not have a single seat costs 200 million Euro a year!

It is insane, stupid and costly, and therefore, I have signed this. If you are a citizen of the European Union, I suggest you do the same.

A few facts:

• The European Parliament is the only assembly in the world not having a sole seat. The European Parliament now spreads over nine main buildings in three cities in three founder member states of the former European Community: Luxembourg, France and Belgium.
• All 732 MEPs have offices in Strasbourg and Brussels. Secretariat staff has offices in Luxembourg or Brussels and shares a smaller number of offices in Strasbourg.
• At the moment, Luxembourg holds 20% of the total surface area of European Parliament buildings and 2000 offices. Brussels holds 50% total surface area of European Parliament buildings and 3000 offices, whilst Strasbourg holds 30% total surface area of European Parliament buildings and 2200 offices.
• The cost of geographical dispersion is estimated to be 15% of EPs budget (but only 0,13% of the total EU budget). The main part of this sum is the costs of having 12 plenary sessions for 60 days a year in Strasbourg: 13% total budget of the EP.
• A study by Prof S. Hix (London School of Economics shows that: one quarter of MEPs regularly fail to turn up for votes throughout the entire week-long plenary session.
• The worst attendees are the Italian, Portuguese, and Irish MEPs. The most regular attendees are the Dutch, Greek and French MEPs. (EV 6-12 April 2000)
• The new building has cost 457 million Euro.
• Before Enlargement, 3000 people traveled to Brussels to Strasbourg from Brussels (a distance of 300 miles) for a week every month- with 10 new member states and over 100 new MEPs, this number has increased dramatically.  We are waiting on response from the Commission on questions detailing the exact number and cost.
• Before enlargement, the work time loss over these travels is estimated to be over 1 million Euro. On the contrary, when meetings are held in Brussels, only 170 people travel in from Luxembourg.
• 60 days costs of gas, water and electricity (GWE) for the building in Strasbourg is only 70% for the yearly costs for GWE of the Brussels building. 
• The lack of a single seat costs over €200 million a year. If the EP did its work in only one place- it would save the €200 million.

We wantssss it!

I don't know why I didn't spot this long ago. The resemblance is striking! And it sort of explains the scarf.

Now I can keep my mind preoccupied with a whole new list of important questions:

1. Who has the ring now? The Israelis? Hamas?
2. Did the Jewish lobby in Hollywood have a say when Gollum/Smeagol was created?
3. Sudenly Sharon looks like something else too. Orks come to mind. Or maybe one of the battle trolls of Mordor?
4. And who are the Fellowship of the Ring? The UN? The US? The EU? Norway??

16,5 hours of GWB

As Ian picked up in a short mention on the news, George W. Bush just made a stop in Denmark on his way to the G8 summit in Scotland. The media described it as a very "informal visit", meaning that there was no official political agenda involved.

Mr. Bush arrived yesterday night at 9.30 PM at Copenhagen Airport. And as a side note I have to say, that no matter what you think of the American President ... you just gotta love Air force One! That plane is simply beautiful!

Naturally, Copenhagen has been paralyzed by the almost surreal security installments involved in his brief visit. 20.000 policemen has been assigned to the task. Helicopters galore. Secret Service. You name it. On my way home from work today I saw the remnants of some of the demonstrations that were held as protests against Bush. And I wondered for a few seconds why so many men participating in the demos were listening to music on their ear plugs instead of listening to the speakers. He-he.

Naturally, the demonstrations were located as far from Mr. Bush's routes as they could possibly get. In a pole conducted earlier this week, I might add, only 17% of the population here supported the visit. Regardless of the fact that our Prime Minister looked like a stupid, grinning schoolboy in love for the entire duration of the visit.

Anyway. In Hollowoodesque fashion, Mr. Bush and entourage landed and flew in US Marine helicopters to the summer residence of the Danish royal family. Here, he enjoyed a brief chat with them and went to bed. Today was Mr. Bush's 59th birthday. And the absurdities escalated.

So, without further ado: Here's a few snapshots from GWB's birthday.

 

 

 

First, our Prime Minister in Love served a cake shaped like a cowboy. Then our queen served him a more .. hmmm .. royal version, when seemed to take the poor man by surprise. Then he sat down between The Queen and The Crown Prince, who are both well educated and trained in the fine art of conversation. Even with heads of state with whom they disagree in every way. However, as the picture seem to suggest, Mr. Bush was too much of a mouthful for them. He looks thoroughly bored, and they seem to have given up having a decent conversation with the man. So they just talk to each other instead. After which George ran back to Air Force One and flew away.

End of story. After 16,5 hours with GWB, Copenhagen is back to normal.

The lunatics have taken over the asylum

Cultural and political discourses shift. Gaining (more or less direct) control over public discourse has always been at the foundation of political struggles, but in recent years, this goal has become a primary agenda, rather than an unconscious side-effect to those seeking power and influence. Controlling discourse ultimately means controlling what a majority will feel is inevitable. Is right. Is "natural". When everything that is publicly uttered about something, in any media, is dominated by a certain view, opposition becomes almost impossible.

In this day and age, this means that, for instance, the idea of the free  MARKET has become so embedded in our minds that any criticism or belief that this system should be regulated, is doomed from the outset. Express your doubts that the market forces let loose will be able to uphold a type of society in which we all can thrive and grow, and you have disqualified yourself as utterly and hopelessly naive! Leftist romanticism, they'll yell!

Spin doctors, communications experts, PR snakes and psychologists (turned rotten) have all thrown their skills at the feet of the power holders. They have targeted public discourse itself, and they have managed to create a Monolith. A truism. A truth that is impossible to breach or criticize without setting yourself up. As naive. As a liberal, leftist idiot with your head buried in books. As someone ignorant to the "real ways of the world". As if this system is a force of nature (or God) and not a global system created and reproduced by mortal humans. As if it was a physical constant discovered by Newton rather than a system developed by Friedman.

What I miss is a space in discourse for the intellect. The living, independent intellect. Not the old left/right dichotomy. But a space in which thought is a force rather than a threat. Where people can disagree with the current state of things and dare use their lives to invent alternative ideas - without being excommunicated by the dominating discourse - as traitors, naive, leftist, judgmental, godless, heretic, threatening enemies of the current order.

Well ... maybe I shouldn't whine. At least, we don't have a Patriot Act to worry about in Denmark. Not yet, that is. Here, counter-discursive arguments will only lead to ridicule ... not jail.

Suggested reading: Fearless Speech by Michel Foucault

... a series of lectures given by Foucault on "Parrhesia", the Greek notion of fearless speech. This "Parrhesia" decribes the speech of someone who has the moral qualities to speak the truth, even if it defies convention or arouses danger.