daredevil muffin-y genius

Congratulations! North-Rhine Westphalia has voted; as NRW is the most populous German Federal State, this tends to be seen as a signal for overall German politics. A red-green and now majority coalition headed by two women, Hannelore Kraft und Sylvia Löhrmann will keep leading the State -- on a national level, I doubt it will have any impact on fiscal politics; following the constitutional court's dissolution of the parliament on the Rhine, the ruling parties have vowed to keep a tight budget and are thus "in line".

::

Mother's Day: went well; Mama loved the bouquet I'd brought in my sister's & my name. Unfortunately, when my father brought her back to the clinic after our little trip to the ballot, someone broke into his car and stole the GPS. Sad reminder I should put mine away when leaving the car.

::

Papa was bemoaning that the lemon verbena was growing like weeds and covering the lamps in our garden. I cut off some and am now sipping a tea made from the big bag I took along.

Definitely need some calming tea, still: yesterday at Mikey's birthday party, the usual Barbecue In The Garden celebration, I drank a bottle of Spanish red...and that was before he brought out the bottle of Baileys. Oh, God, my head. /o\

Oh, Süddeutsche. ♥ This is from the first feuilleton page; the same sentiment was on the front-page article about the latest polls in France on their attitudes toward the Germans: Respect and trust, but no passion at all. "They stayed together for the children", one pollster snerked.



For Europe, indeed.

Germany rumoured to be hosting Hosni Mubarak in a clinic in the near future? Angela, how about less behind-the-scenes schemes and more attempts to directly communicate with the people of Egypt? Germany, like all of Europe, is already pretty firmly in too-little-too-late territory, and while this has more than just geopolitical or alliance reasons -- the Member States of the EU are sovereign states; the lack of pre-existing regional strategies is staggering; Germany's track record with revolutions is shaky, and so on -- none of them are very good reasons.

::

Just sent the link to my father. But really, it's not just scientists for whom this is totally Relevant To One's Interests:

The entire sun, revealed

::

Man, I can only nod at every word marina says here with regard to Matt Bomer.

::

If you're interested in German language drifts -- I sure am -- check out this very cool map answering the following question: It's 10:15 in Germany. Do You Know Where Your Isoglosses Are?

As in all other countries, your personal background will also inform the way you speak. Although I myself have set foot in the Ruhrgebiet no more than two dozen times my whole life and although my parents generally speak High German, there are still certain cues in my vocabulary stemming from these small but telling terms that wandered down the rivers and valleys with them when they left their home city for my father's studies. I've been told I'm very hard to place, though, if you aren't the German Henry Higgins, perhaps because I'm not a very auditive learner.

...obwohl, nach kurzem Nachdenken: sagt's mir lieber nicht. ;)

Ein Zitat, das meine Meinung zu Kristina Schröder und ihrer ignorant-besserwisserischen Art gut wiedergibt.

(Warum heisst es eigentlich "wiedergeben", aber "widerspiegeln"? Ja, ich weiss: wider = gegen. Aber der Spiegelungsprozess als optisches Phänomen ist doch an sich schon gegenläufig...)

Translation for the (also) English-speaking world: our Minister for Families, Women, Seniors, and Youth - I kid you not - does not believe in feminism (and let me count the ways).

Home, sick. Following the Presidential election THRILLER from the sofa.

As mentioned elsewhere: Has Horst Koehler, our - now ex - president just done a real-life flounce?

::

What I really want to make is tarte au citron, but I have neither the time nor much love for shortcrust and also don't feel like making it à la crème brûlée because then I can't take it to work to make my team happy and productive. However, I wouldn't mind fluffy sponge cake as a base, or perhaps the slightly odd cousin of muffins and cupcakes: gutting a fluffy muffin and filling it with, well. The filling.

Any ideas, recipes, or warnings?

::

I've already put my blouses in the washing machine downstairs (the one that seems to run longer than Doctor Who in the UK) but, now that tv season has ended, have only two Southland episodes left, which I want to hang onto for a little while longer.

However, I did order a John Hughes collection DVD and still have Sixteen Candles and Some Kind of Wonderful left to watch.

[Poll #1572408]

Mädels, Medion lässt mich gerade kläglich im Stich:

Wisst Ihr, wo ich am besten einen - einfachen! billigen! - DVD-Player ohne Schnickschnack kaufen kann, der verlässlich .avi und andere Video-Formate abspielt und (natürlich) regionenfrei ist?

:)

Und im übrigen - genau so ist es:

Soziale Gerechtigkeit: Die Mittelschicht betrügt sich selbst (Ein Gastkommentar von Ulrike Herrmann)

(Asking for capable yet simple DVD players in Germany, and also linking to an article that states the German middle class are sadly deluding themselves by voting in favour of parties and programmes that favour only the upper class.)

Schlecht ist, dass meine Heizung mich immer noch triezt, indem sie immer um 23 Uhr ausgeht. Gut ist, dass ich dadurch nett mit meinen Nachbarn auf beiden Seiten geplauscht und Erfahrungsberichte ausgetauscht habe, sprich: Unterstützung eingeholt. Irgendwie sind warme Wohnungen doch hoch im Kurs. Ich wusste ja schon immer: Thilo Sarrazin hat am Thema vorbei gepöbelt.

::

Nachdem meine Schwester mich auch schon bezüglich der Schweinegrippenimpfung (schönes deutsches Wort) ganz kirre gemacht hat, habe ich mal ein wenig gegoogelt und diesen gut zusammenfassenden Eintrag gefunden:

Squalen und das Golfkriegssyndrom

Mein (natürlich nur ganz persönliches etc. pp.) Fazit: Aus rationaler Vorsicht - kaum Tests, keine Langzeit-Untersuchungen - diese spezielle Impfung auszusitzen, ist sicher eine valide Entscheidung. Aus Angst vor Golfkriegssyndrom oder Krebs oder AIDS wegen populärer Panikmache sich nicht impfen zu lassen? Ist einfach nur nur paranoid. Thema einer der längeren Konversationen mit meiner Schwester dieses Wochenende war auch die generelle Wissenschafts- & Technikfeindlichkeit der westlichen Welt, speziell Deutschlands und der USA, mit dem traurigen Aspekt der vor allem auf Kinderimpfungen bezogenen Verschwörungstheorien bar jeder Vernunft.

::

Brief summary for the English speakers: Radiator still broken, but bonded with neighbours. Also rolling my eyes at swine-flu vaccine conspiracy theories (but not, mind you, at reasonable doubt, emphasis on the reason part), with a segue into the main topic of a talk with vervealemania about the anti-science and anti-intellectual attitudes so prevalent in Western societies, or at least Germany and the US.

Aber nur für den Fall der Fälle:

Wählen gehen!

:)

Falls noch jemand den Link zum Wahl-O-Mat braucht...

( Translation, for the curious )

ETA: Oh, hey, look there is even an English version of the Vote-O-Mat available!

Presentation in front of three wise men given and received metaphorical pats on the back.

Yesterday, I watched

1. ( Tatort: Verdammt )

& of course,

2. ( the Hessia Election 2008 )

I also bought ( a bottle of Primitivo )

In conclusion, a good Monday.