Do you wash your car?

You will probably answer "yes, once in a while" or something alike - and even if you just take it to the nearest gas station and put it in automatic car wash, you still spend time, money and energy in keeping your car neat, clean and ready-to-use.

Why don't you do the same with your computer?

Updating virus signatures, checking for updates, de-installing unused software, tidying up your harddisk... of course, it is time consuming, but the more time you spend in front of your PC, the more you have to put an effort in keeping it up-to-date and tidy. If you aren't lucky enough to have an IT department at your hands who do the job for you, you'll have to do it yourself - just as you spend time and energy cleaning your car (and hey, don't tell me "I can't do it, I'm not into IT" - most probably, you aren't a mechanic, either!), you have to spend time and energy maintaining an operable personal computer.

So, stop complaining, and take it into your own hands.... it's easy, and you will be delighted how good a nice, tidy PC feels at your fingertips.

Dear Spanish Church: shut up!

"Por que no te callas" asked King Juan Carlos, and the same question goes to the Spanish bishops - why don't you shut up?

If there's one thing that we all seemed to have learned not only from recent and more oriental events, but also from our own history is that church and politics don't mix well - or, more precisely, whenever they do it ends in disaster. Now, I understand that the fear of losing power drives the Spanish bishops into condemning Zapatero, but hey!, swallow it, it's not your job to intervene in the political life of the state.

Otherwise, we could just as well go back to the middle ages, couldn't we?!

Home of Kalefuzum and Muzufelak

And in case you are wondering, it's an obscure zen-like far-eastern body exercise.... oh, or, that colourful deep sea fish? The meaning of life? A person from a fairy tale? What The Bride mutters before Bill hits her?....

.... whatever it is: here it is at home, baby.

So schmeckt der Winter

Ok, in 2 Monaten kräht kein Hahn mehr nach Frau Dr. Winter (FPÖ), die im grazer Wahlkampf derart ausfallend über den Religionsgründer des islamischen Glaubens hergefallen ist. Viel schockierender als diese maßlose Dummheit (deren Folgen hoffentlich nicht allzu schlimm sein werden - vermutlich sind die Betroffenen vernünftiger als Frau Winter) ist, mit welcher Selbstverständlichkeit das blaubraune Klüngel sich diese Aussagen aneignet, wiederholt und rechtfertigt.

Eine Diskussion über die Vermischung unserer Alltagskulturen ist sicher angebracht - unter der Voraussetzung, diese als gegeben zu akzeptieren, und im gegenseitigen Respekt und mit Rücksicht auf die Bedürfnisse aller damit umzugehen. Interkultureller Dialog passiert nicht mehr in Projekten, Konferenzen, politischen Treffen, in Vereinen und zwischen Interessensgruppen. Interkultureller Dialog passiert vor unserer Haustür, und wir lernen besser, damit umzugehen und ihn zu meistern; denn in einer Welt, die immer kleiner wird und immer weiter zusammenwächst wird dieser Dialog zum Überlebenskriterium für das Individuum.

Insofern besteht ja vielleicht noch Hoffnung für das dritte Lager - in ein paar Jahrzehnten hat es sich entweder wegevolutioniert, oder dazugelernt. Ich tendiere ja zu ersterer Möglichkeit...

2008

a:fter all, nobody expected a kind of Spanish Inquisition. It's just another night, between two other days, who happen to be the 31st of December and the 1st of January.
Nevertheless, lots of special feelings came up that night, waltz, champagne and a sense of doing things completely different in the oncoming 12 months (366 days). Something that should not only apply to me, but even more to people who are "in power" - which leads me to the latest thoughts on politics:

• Shouldn't be the smartest / most intelligent / most experienced people be leading our country? Why is "Mr. Average" so afraid of intelligence among politicans then, and prefers to vote for someone who, let's say, finished secondary school instead of someone who's a professor at a large university?
• The dilemma of politicians: To rise to a position of power, you have to serve, obey and work in the party's structure for years. In these years, you learn to shut up, follow, accept, and crawl. How can you expect that all of a sudden, you are able to speak, lead, decide and stand straight? Parties educate their members to be servants, and thus we are led by people who were trained to be servants. Not so surprising any more that our country is led the way it is.... yes?