On arriving in the U.S. after a long absence

Posted on January 27, 2013 by
European Train

European Train

It’s amazing what we get used to and don’t notice anymore or ever. Being so happy to see my friends, who came and picked me up from the airport, I didn’t notice anything special until the next day.

First: buses. They were SO dirty! Now, I hadn’t particularly taken notice of the muddy Tri-Met buses before I left, but when I got back I certainly did. Having taken a bus a few times, I can testify that Tri-Met drivers are polite, helpful and humorous! As are most bus drivers I’ve met anywhere in the world, unless the end of the shift is nearing.

You know where you find dirty public transportation in Europe? Yep, the former Communist countries. It wasn’t quite so bad in Prague this time, but it has been more than 20 years since they “got their freedom” back, as they say. Having given this phrase some deep thought, I now interpret it as “got our pride” back.

I’ve been on a few buses in Europe, mainly tour buses which are sparkling clean. But then, those buses are privately owned and must compete with other privately owned tour bus companies. The train tracks between Prague and Munich apparently were not in service, so we took a Deutsche Bahn bus back. They had smartly-uniformed stewardesses to look after us. Way cool!

Scary note: Czechs younger than age 30 don’t refer to the past, especially their freedom. They are also no longer interested in practicing their English. This seems to be true everywhere in Europe. Older people (60+)  still love to speak what English they remember (quite a bit actually) any chance the get.

Second: radio. Almost all of my favority talk radio shows are gone – moved or maybe deleted from schedules. The big guys are still there, but the up and comers seem to be missing. I do remember some signs of nervousness among the hosts at the beginning of the year, then almost tearful expressions of gratitude to their new or returning sponsors.

I suspect the behind-the-scenes battles have been fierce. I had noticed many, many govt-sponsored ads before I left and smelled a rat. What the govt gives, the govt can take away. I was hoping the stations and networks weren’t getting to dependent on the ads. They were so stupid – addressing listeners as if they were children; and carrying subtle messages that govt programs were the solutions to ALL problems.

Third: news. News? What news? Whether newspaper, radio, TV or Internet – real news is getting harder and harder to find. Oh, sure, you can get sports news and endless sports “commentary,” you can get celebrity news; health and lifestyle news, but what’s actually going on in the world that can or will affect your life? Scarcely a word. You have to go to the website of a real newspaper to get anything at all.

So, there you go. My final rant. Any further posts will be political and/or financial.

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Algeria, Al Quaeda and BP

Posted on January 20, 2013 by

Algerian gendarms escort freed Norwegian hostage Oddvar Birkedal. (Reuters)

Algeria is a tough bugger. Eminently worthy of our respect. In TV clips, the rescued hostages had many positve comments about the Algerian army. The Algerian Army did what armies are supposed to do: protect people and property.

It’s going to stop those terrorists sooner rather than later. France, even with a leftist Prime Minister, seems to have grown a pair, too. It’s amazing how courageous we can be when our physical and economic lives are at stake.

This isn’t a game for these two countries. Energy is key to their existence.

Notice how the countries pleading with terrorists to be nice to protect the hostages? How much good did it do? The terrorists do seem more interested in killing people than in achieving their religious or political goals, whatever they may be. They are probably losing their cachet – no longer such tough guys, no longer able to strike fear into the hearts of their adversaries.

A couple more of those smackdowns by North African countries will probably cause Al Quaeda to seek quieter locations. It’s hard… and costly… to train, drug and brainwash terrorists.

And what’s up with BP? Are they always in the wrong place at the wrong time? Is someone going to discover that security wasn’t that good at the plant? It seems BP just can’t catch a break. Bet the first lawsuits will go into the court hoppers at 8:00 a.m. Monday morning.

Finally, the plant was an example of how commerce and production makes for peaceful coexistence among many different nationalities and races. It’s only when governments get into the mix that wars start. And what’s happening in Mali? Just looked in on the news about that poor country. It’s too complicated. It gave me a headache.

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What does the news from Algeria remind you of?

Posted on January 19, 2013 by

First, some preliminary comments – for Hillary-haters: you can’t blame this on her, she’s been out of commission for weeks. Benghazi belongs to the entire Obama administration anyway.

We’re troubled by the situation in Algeria. It looks as if Algeria is a good guy with government officials, or their military at any event, refusing to heed the words of the US and most of Europe saying, “Don’t get tough with these terrorists, listen to us, the experts.”

Do these pix jog your memory? We’ll call them Pictures A, B and C:

Night time in the desert.

Daytime in the desert

See the likeness?

Hints:

Location: Australia or Algeria?
Date: 1981 or 2013?
Refinery: Oil or Gas?

Whoever guesses right gets a free copy of my next book.

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Sobering thoughts for a cold day

Posted on January 13, 2013 by

Aaron Swartz, 26, a brilliant young man who was in on the ground floor of making the Internet useful for the rest of us, was found dead yesterday. The police “are now investigating whether he hanged himself, law enforcement sources said.”

Watch this video recorded in May this year and decide for yourself.

Keep up with this story. It is far more important than most people realize. Here’s another take on it from the Huffington Post. Headline: “Were The Charges Against Internet Activist Aaron Swartz Too Severe?”

The WSJ has important details: “The organization [that Massachusetts prosecutors said he had 'stolen' articles from] said it had told prosecutors that it wasn’t interested in pursuing charges against Mr. Swartz.”

Here’s the headscratcher from the same WSJ article that makes me wonder: “He was hanging from a bedroom window [WTF????] with a belt around his neck, said a law-enforcement official familiar with the matter. There was no suicide note, the person said.”

I keep thinking of Andrew Breitbart. Articles on his death repeatedly mentioned his heart problems, just as the articles on Aaron Swartz keep mentioning his depression.

Back in the 1970s, when Important People became terrified of “dangerous” rock stars, who proceeded to die “tragically” for several years, the articles on their deaths repeatedly mentioned their use of drugs and alcohol. Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin come to mind.

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Last few days in Zofingen, Switzerland and getting out of the country

Posted on January 5, 2013 by

My final days in Zofingen went by quickly, as I struggled to get all the stuff I had accumulated into my carry-on suitcase and the briefcase. I had already mailed one more package to myself. Had to, I forgot to put my Victorinox bread knife into an earlier box. Briefly, I toyed with the idea of putting it in my carry-on, but dropped it when visions of being held in detention by TSA danced through my head.

TRAVEL BARGAIN TIP: My room at the hotel was an attic room. I’ve learned that those are the least expensive, especially in hotels with no elevators. The stairs are killa! You can usually prevail upon the manager to carry your bags up to your room, especially if you are staying several days. Attic rooms have interesting ceiling and room shapes, and the windows open onto my favorite views – roof tops on neighboring buildings.

IMG_1445

Other end of back alley by Hotel zum Raben

Other end of back alley by Hotel zum Raben

Since my stay at the hotel was between Christmas and New Year’s, the restaurant and what guests there were had to fend for themselves for breakfast. That’s way better than it sounds. There was a nice little breakfast room with Italian coffee maker, a refrigerator stocked with orange juice and milk, butter and jam, and plates and utensils, and a huge wall-mounted TV which had a dozen channels. All we had to do was bring breakfast breads. The manager showed me how to operate the coffee machine and showed me the contents of the fridge.

Of course, getting to the right gate at the Zurich airport was stressful! This has become a pattern, though this time it was the Swiss Police, not the TSA, that caused the delay. Fortunately, I had hours to wait before boarding. The police passport control noted that my passport hadn’t been stamped properly.

“So?” was my thought, “that’s your problem not mine.” But it turned out it was my problem. They called a higher-ranking officer, who was very sweet. They all laughed when I said, “Are you going to keep me here? I’ve already applied for a residence permit.” To make a long, bureaucratic (EU) story short, it appears I had misunderstood rules relating to the Schengen Area – the EU plus Switzerland. You can only stay in that entire area for three months unless you have a special visa or go to the UK or other non-Schengen area country to break up your stay abroad.

My stay had been nearly four months, or 20 days beyond the three month limit, as the ZuPo (Zurich Police) explained to me as kindly as he possible could, while putting Miranda Warnings under my nose! Being in the Czech Republic and Italy didn’t count. Grrr. I wrote an explanation of my misunderstanding. Not sure what the consequences will be.

I’ll keep you posted. Also, though I’ve been back in Oregon for a little more than a week, I’m still tired, probably because of all the stuff I had to do when I got here.

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The Reincarnated Cat – a holiday story

Posted on December 27, 2012 by

The Reincarnated Cat

My friends and I have a lot in common. We are total rationalists, multi-lingual world travelers. He (P) is a still-youthful retired government engineer. She (E) is a former admin for a big multi-national Swiss trading company.

They, like most native Swiss, live modestly. In their neighborhood near the outskirts of Zurich, there is a big working farm; as well as the home of one of the richest (he invented a useful building product) Swiss men in the country; and . . .my friends.

All this by way of showing you we are not in la-la land.

The usual position of my friends’ cats.

However, they do have a warm place in their hearts for their cat, who like most cats, adopted them. It was many years ago, and the three got along comfortably. The cat had her favorite spots in the house, her well-understood signals, and a fairly regular schedule.

Both E and P gazed fondly at her, called her “Buesi,” and recognized her when she indicated, sometimes quite forcefully, “I’m hungry,” “I want to go out,” “I want to come back in.”

When P was ill for a few days, she stayed by his side, purring comfortingly. She chased other cats, plus birds, of course, away from the yard.

She’d climb all over E, who petted her and laughed.

The last time I went to see them just before Christmas, I looked at the cat sitting in her usual spot on P’s leg and said, “Hey, you don’t look like you did last time!”

P said with quiet excitement, “That’s because she’s not the cat you know.” Then E & P started talking at the same time.

The story that emerged was the black-and-white Buesi had begun to refuse food and she was moving more and more slowly. A young, light-ginger cat had started to hang around, but Buesi didn’t let her get too close.

Finally, E decided to take Buesi to the vet. Maybe their cat needed vitamins or cold medicine. “I’ll give her some tests tonight and call you in the morning,” he said.

In the morning, the news was bad – really bad. Buesi was full of a very aggressive stomach cancer. The vet said it was hopeless and E & P sadly agreed to let him put her to sleep.

As they drove back to their home, they wondered how they would be able to handle the empty house.

But waiting for them at the back door, just where Buesi used to wait to signal she was ready to come in was the ginger cat! With trepidation (who knows how a strange cat would react to them and their house?), P let her in.

Confidently, she walked over to the food dish and calmly looked up at P, just the way Buesi used to do! He stared as she looked back at him and waited for him to follow her. Then, she walked to the kitchen where the cat food was always kept.

After a delicate bite of cat food and a sip of water, Ginger Buesi walked over to the sofa where P always sits, and waited for him to come into the living room and sit down.

To say my friends were astonished doesn’t begin to describe their reaction. They related how the new cat walked upstairs to the bedrooms and office, then went downstairs to the basement where the laundry equipment and furnace are – just as Buesi used to do.

Now, THEY did not speculate, but I, having lived in California for a few years and down a road from a commune after that, immediately said, “Buesi is reincarnated!”

They did not accept that notion, but they did wonder if Buesi had known her end-time was near. Had she gone outside to give advice to the young ginger cat?

Did she saay, “Here’s what they like, here’s when they feed you, here’s how you remind them when they forget.

“Your duties are to patrol the perimeter. There are never any bad guys here, but you never know, and you have to be ready to protect your humans.”

We’ll never know, of course, but today there is a kind generous Swiss couple whose sadness lasted just a few hours before a new cat (mind-reader? reincarnation? coincidence?) came and brought joy into their lives again.

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Translation in three parts

Posted on December 26, 2012 by

It is important to recall
that in language grammar is all.

Just a little homemade poem that came to me as I struggled to translate some brief, light-hearted end-of-year news items in the local paper.

I. One story was so hard I finally gave up – and I really wanted to know what it said.

Christoph Moergeli, SVP

It featured a leader in one of the Swiss political parties that seems, like our fire departments and the entire state of California, to require nearly movie-star good looks in their membership.

One problem: my 25 year-old dictionary didn’t have some of the words, like “Mobbing-Opfer.” Yes, Opfer is victim, but what is Mobbing? I think we would say, “ganged-up on him.”

So, now with that term they have captured my interest.

Other words stimulating my curiosity: someone at the University of Zurich writes a “massively critical report” on this guy, Christoph Moergeli, who denounces it as “full of errors and slanderous.”

Also, there’s something about criminal proceedings because of injury to the bureau’s secrecy requirements. And, “suspicion.” It appears that the report may have been given to a national Swiss newspaper.

All this on a eight-inch story, and I didn’t get half of it!

Second problem: once you know all, or most, of the words, you still don’t know what the item means.

II. The next story had too many hard, long words to waste time over, but the subject matter will be a familiar one to students of “Mish” and me and a few other hard-headed reality-based observers of the economy.

I only tell you about it because I love the abbreviation for the agency involved. In English it’s “the Parliamentary Investigation Commission.”

The investigation was of huge losses in Zurich’s  cantonal pension fund, which covers 107,000 retired people. Hello? Sound familiar?

Passionate questions asked were, “How was it possible for the former chief of the fund to work there for 10 years pouring more than CHF 100 million into the sand and taking in CHF 1.7 million for himself without being discovered or hindered?”

Oh yes, the German abbreviation for the investigating committee? PUK!

III. Here’s one story I did get, with minimal recourse to the dictionary. The canton of Zurich appointed the first Commissioner for Men in Switzerland. Admittedly “Maenner” was not in the dictionary, but it seems pretty obvious, right?

So, anyway, no sooner does he get appointed, than critics bring up the uncomfortable facts about his earlier (published?) opinions. He wanted to “rethink’ the themes and definitions of hard pornography used in the schools.

Oops! In three weeks he was the first Ex-Commissioner for Men in Switzerland.

Well, that’s all the news I can enjoy for today. Happy Holidays!

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Worst day ever that turned out well

Posted on December 25, 2012 by

Last Saturday was the most stressful and hectic day I’ve experienced since I got to Europe. It was cleaning and moving out day. Three groups were coming through the apartment from 7:00 am until noon. Everything depended on split-second timing.

The furniture people were supposed to come at 7 am. I was worried because the business owner didn’t seem too organized. He was quite late for our first appointment, when he wanted to take a look at what items he and his crew were going to take.

His business is a Brockenhaus – used furniture and clothes and whatever – perfect for disorganized people. It’s called the Brocki for short, with a long “o” as in “broke.” It’s on two floors and there is very little order anywhere. Not very Swiss. But there is another one (different owners) in Zofingen that looks even worse!

So, yes. They were late! I yelled at him on the phone and said he should get over ASAP!!! Then, I started picking up chairs, the small table, and a large number of odds and ends.

About the time I got almost everything out, the cleaning crew arrived – four minutes early. They were cheerful and efficient and moved the rug and dining table/desk and camp cot out for me. The wonderful owner came with them and I paid her before we both had to leave.

The Brocki guys finally came. They were in and out in 15 minutes.

Next, I had to go to the post office, market and hotel while the cleaners were working. I wanted to ask at the hotel about Internet access and luggage. I suspected there was no elevator and at that excellent price, the room would be just under the roof. Right on both counts.

When I got to the hotel abour 10:30 am, the woman in charge said, “It’s a good thing you came now. We’re closing the restaurant and hote tonight at 5:00 pm. I’ll give you a key that will get you into the hotel and your room. I’ll show them to you now. Oh, and I’m taking off 8 Swiss franks per day, because we’re not serving breakfast either.”

Breathing a prayer of thanks and a sigh of relief, I asked if I could bring my luggage so someone to take it to my room. “Oh, sure,” she said. “Just take them across the alley way here and someone will bring it all upstairs for you.”

She showed me the breakfast room: automatic coffee maker and fridge full of butter patties, jelly packets, yogurt and orange juice. The only thing I’d need to get was bread!

With one last thing to mail, on this very stressful Saturday, I stopped at the post office to pick up another box. It was about 11:15 when I went in and noticed the info on the door – closing at noon, plus closing at noon on Monday, they only available day to mail the pkg back to Oregon. So, more luck there!

One place where I’d given up entirely was my long-awaited package from Italy. It had taken a complaint to American Express to get any action from them at all. As I walked toward the apartment, I noticed a guy with a package.

“That wouldn’t happen to be from Italy, would it?” I joked, in my execrable German. Confused, he looked down and tried to pronounce . . . “McIntyre!!!” Yep, it was my package! Half an hour later, I had no keys to the letter box and my name tag had been removed. He would have had to have sent the package back to Italy.

I went back to the train station and hopped on the train to Baden to see my friends for the last time on this trip.  When I got to the town where I had to change trains, I walked to the correct platform and sat down to wait.

There was a train already there, but there was plenty of time for it to start to its destination before my train pulled up. But. Guess what? It WAS my train! I didn’t catch on until it started out on the exact minute “my” train was supposed to leave. No worries though. The next train came by in half an hour.

After that we all had a wonderful time. I got back to the hotel quite late, but after I had staggered upstairs (from tiredness!), I found all my luggage there. I collapsed into the warm, comfortable bed and didn’t wake up for seven hours.

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Perpectives in time

Posted on December 24, 2012 by

On my way back to my apartment a week or so ago, I noticed something I’d never seen before.

A small metal plaque hung inconspiculously on the gate of a completely fenced private home, just steps from the little bridge that crossed over the creek separating the huge apartment complex from the private homes.

Before I tell you what the little sign said I want to remind you about what it must be like to live in a very old, historic place and country. You see reminders everywhere.

A big, old-fashioned former home here, now probably a four-family apartment, proudly displays its date of construction – 1903 – with this century’s 2003. Wow. More than one hundred years old.

Hotel Raben sign – I just now noticed the Magen David!

The hotel where I am staying until it’s time to head for the airport has a guest-packet in each of its seven rooms. The title, “Hotel Raben, Tradition seit (since) 1358.”

And who can forget the signing by the Three Forest Cantons in 1291 on the Rutli Meadow of the Ewige Bund, Eternal Union, written in Latin. The cantons y were Uri, Nidwalden and Schwyz.

A nearby town just celebrated, with big festivities and concerts, the 750th year of its founding.

Farther east, St. Gallen, just concluded its founding by the Irish monk, St. Gallus, which probably meant something like “The Gaul,”  or the “Guy from Gaul,” in 612!!!

That was in the Dark Ages, 1400 years ago. The remnants of the Roman Empire were nearly forgotten, languages were drifting away from Latin, except for the Church and minor rulers who developed all over what was becoming Europe.

Though we don’t learn much about those times, many Europeans do, because for them, history didn’t stop. It only stopped for academia.

Professors and universities had to wait a several hundred more years before societies had accumulated enough wealth to allow teachers to start teaching  again without having to produce their own food and shelter.

The monks and clerics were the keepers of the flame of knowledge until then. Many convents and monasteries produced their own food, clothing, shelter and medicine in those days.

These religious institutions were often founded and protected by the upper classes, i.e., warriors and kings and minor nobility. Peasants helped with the heavy work. Since nobody (that I know of) had watches and time tables, life was probably pretty calm, except when plagues or kings and their armies went abroad looking for victims.

That reminds me of my favorite Hagar the Horrible cartoon. Hagar is loafing around looking bored. He gets a bright idea. “Hey! I haven’t seen old King Harald for a long time. I think I’ll go and invade England!”

You are still wondering about the plaque on the gate? Here is what it said:

In 1231

On this spot

Nothing happened

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More Swiss humor and politics, too

Posted on December 20, 2012 by

Taking a walk today, I saw this darling little Santa practicing his entry into one of the apartments in my complex.

Santa Practicing His Entry

Santa Practicing His Entry

Better than a witch flying into a phone pole!

Better than a witch flying into a phone pole!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s ZT ((Zofinger Tagblatt) has a hilarious and multi-layered Christmas-themed cartoon. Wish I could show it to you.

“Sensational discovery: The three Kings were SWISS!!!”

Three Swiss ski team members are leading a camel toward Bethlehem as they address a grumpy St. Joseph in front of the stable, with a calendar page on a nail reading “January 6.”

“Congratulations on the Birthday!!!” they chorus.

“It was on the 24th of December. You are 13 days too late!!!” Joseph grumbles.

The paper had a great editorial column by a representative of the Swiss pro-free market political party the SVP, with the unlikely sounding English name of Swiss People’s Party.

As the name indicates, they started out with a fairly strong populist platform.

Now that they are the biggest party in the country, with about 5-6 others contending for the remaining  seats in the national government.

They now stress the benefits of free market economics, competition, and antipathy toward the EU (European Union.) This appeals to their supporters who are mainly farmers and small business people.

He said he loves Europe, but the EU disgusts him. Then he gave some examples to show why. First, there are 34,000 regulations and 25,000 lobbyists in Brussels. Probably no one knows how many Eurocrats (EU bureaucrats, especially the regulation writers!) there are in Brussels.

Then he gives two examples of the EU’s ridiculous regulations. The amount of curvature a cucumber may have! The length of a condom!

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