Lange kein Update gemacht, doch hier kommen die neuen Ergebnisse. In der Jury: Johannes Häßner und Jörg Haverkamp.

From panelist Karen Schneider:

"Sometimes place does matter." When considering a single global catalog for all libraries, there can be too much of a disconnect between records users are looking at and where physical items actually are. Catalogs should feel freer to include imperfect data though in union catalogs. The ideal catalog is a hybrid of local and national.

"Shoot the doma." How can we make any assertions about what is better or worse in catalog design until we develop evidence-based practices? We need to operate based on evidence and research rather than opinion and tradition.

"Libraries should be helping design the systems they use." It would be great to have a technical expert on every library staff.

We have to get comfortable with collecting metadata on our patron's use practices to improve our services. Patrons already share their information voluntarily (example: Librarything). Are we harvesting this data?

We assume patrons want to interact with librarians. What if they would prefer to engage with one another? Would fiction readers rather get recommendations from librarians or from fellow fiction readers?

From panelist Steven Abrams:

Have you ever gone into a store to shop for a dress and had the sales person direct you to their electronic inventory on a computer and then had the sales rep walk away leaving you to the computer and your own confusion? There's probably a reason you haven't!

Is your library catalog full text searchable by Google? If not, use the newest Google api to do so!

What about putting an automatic Meebo interface prompt on failed searches to interact with users and help them find out what they want.

Data mining patron behavior and use would allow us to better serve patrons. Why do libraries promote best sellers, for instance, rather than the most frequently checked out at their branch location? Librarians suffer from an innumeracy problem.

We have to know what things cost. Should you ILL with costs of $30 for an item that only costs $5 to buy on Amazon?

From panelist Karen Coyle:

Only 3 % of library users start their search in an OPAC. This means the LAST place our patrons are looking for information is in the catalog.

We are too rule bound. Example: Karen posted on a cataloger discussion board and asked "Why don't we use title case?" Expert catalogers could only guess. This is not a good enough reason to do something.

Against one big catalog. Data can be different and still exchanged. A single catalog solution prevents experimentation and shuts out small players. Example: One library builds their catalog on Wordpress.

Coyle looks forward to a future where library management software is separate from the OPAC user interface.

Final thought "We need to learn to trust our users."

From panelist Joe Janes:

OPACs are like roach motels: easy to get into from the library homepage, impossible to get back out of.

If Google provides us with services like embedded bus schedules in Google maps, then what place does reference have in libraries? Will libraries be more service oriented in the future rather than information centered?

Full text searching would be great, but we still need some metadata. Example: fiction books would benefit from genre and character tagging.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My thoughts at the moment:

I sense two veins of thought that were going on in the debate. Abrams' example about not going to Nordstroms and being turned over to an inventory catalog to find your dress and Janes' example about Google wanting to digitize all the books and become the single information source lead me to think that the future of libraries is in service. That is, libraries will exist not to store information, but to teach people how to access information. Just because Google invents a service that lets users see bus schedules inside Google maps, that doesn't mean that people know that service exists. I, for one, did not know about this feature until Janes mentioned it. Therefore, libraries are still relevant if librarians stay early information adopters and can lead their patrons to sources like the Google bus scheduler when they come in.

The second vein of thought actually contradicts the first one in part. This thought says, like Schenider and Abrams say, that libraries should become more savvy and involved in the creation of information resources and NOT be passive users. Schneider would like to see people with software development experience on every library staff. Can libraries afford to do this? Are there enough qualified librarians to do this? If Google becomes THE information provider, would it be a waste of time to do so much in-house catalog development? On the other hand, if libraries do not become more assertive about their catalogs, then they remain consumers at the mercy of large and sometimes out-of-touch vendors.

Regardless, I am very glad that Karen Schneider brought up the point about libraries needing to become more evidence-based. I work in a medical library and the idea of evidence-based thinking is at the heart of helping our nursing students do research. We really should be able to practice ourselves what we are preaching to others.

What do you think? Did any of the ideas brought up by the panelists here strike a nerve with you?

Ich verneinte und er entschuldigte sich höflichst für die Störung.

Nachtrag: Das hätte ich jetzt eigentlich twittern müssen aber dafür bin ich noch zu Jung und Unbekannt.

gabriel_

Realmente posteo esta fotito porque no importa si firman el blog o no, o no importa la vida (diría un EMO), sino que lo que importa es la cerveza.

saludos

I never fully stated the implied second part of yesterday's topic, as to the value proposition of Leica gear.  Now that Leica-branded lenses are affixed to nearly every product coming out of Panasonic/Matsushita, the brand name has gotten significantly more awareness, and as a result, there's ever more scrutiny as to the true nature of Leica's involvement with the Panasonic joint venture.

You have to remember that Leica had a long-standing relationship with Minolta dating back to the 1970s, when several Minolta lens designs were sold with Leica R mounts (stories I've read say that the lenses were shipped to Germany for final inspection and testing, resulting in a high rejection rate and products sold worthy of the Leica banner).  Leica also have had several on-going relationships with the other German titans of optics, Zeiss (who supplied the design and expertise on the original 15mm reflex lens) and Schneider (ditto for several retrofocus wides, including the two perspective-control lenses and several 21mm wides for both M and R).  Personally, I believe that the Leica brandng on Panasonic (and rebadged Panasonics) is useful, but not necessarily to the same standards as Leicas of the past -- I doubt that each optical assembly is shipped to Germany for final testing, but similarly, I believe Leica must send some engineers to Japan to oversee design and quality control.

There's simply not enough of a market to support a massive automated assembly line.  And conversely, such an assembly line would be out of place for the quality associated with Leica.  So they're stuck with the reputation of high prices, because they don't have the market to spread costs over, and high quality, because they can lavish time into optical design, tight tolerances, and quality control.  The point is that as a complete lens line, you can generally choose from any and not have to worry too much about casting an inconsistent fingerprint on your photographic work, which is where Leica is unique.  The other ethos I find fascinating is how Leica optimize many of their lenses for use wide-open, where other brands may equal the performance stopped down a bit.  This jives nicely with how my brain tends to picture things -- although that may be a consequence of wearing glasses for the last twenty-five years, the idea of selective focus.  If photography is about sharing the way we perceive the world, we tend to gravitate to tools that facilitate that conversion. The pieces are clicking into place.  Ironically, I wonder if the availability of Nikkor glass hasn't facilitated a laziness in my approach to photography:  hey, get another lens for that, they're pretty cheap; instead of:  let's find a way to frame this right -- get closer, or find a different angle.

Mike

Es war Trienstag Abend, als Peters Hut gerade auf Peters Kopf schwingen wollte, als Peter sich ploetzlich, wohl aber sehr bewusst, dazu entschied, ihn heute nicht mitzunehmen. Also legte er ihn - zusammen mit seinem Struemelkern - auf den kleinen Tisch gleich neben seiner Wohnungstuer. Der Hut war nicht sehr erfreut ueber dieses Geschehen, aber auch nicht wirklich verwundert. Denn das war nicht das erste mal, dass Peter ihn nicht mitnahm. Es war nur der Struemelkern, der im ein Dorn im Auge war.

Die Uhr musste gerade vier oder fuenf geschlagen haben - Peter war sich nicht ganz sicher, denn er hat, ganz in Gedanken, das Leuten nicht mitgezaehlt. Aber das war ihm in diesem Augenblick auch nicht so wichtig. schliesslich hatte er nun, genau wie man ihm empfohlen hatte, seine Uhr um 7 Minuten vorgestellt. Peter war fest davon ueberzeugt, dass dies sein erster Schritt in die Zukunft war...

Die Spannung steigt. Komm bald wieder spielen! Mit Peter, Hut und mir.

I.A. Taschi Laschi's geheimer Meeresrettich

2008’s been a really busy year for you so far, with Mobilee going from strength to strength and now your album, Beyond The Valley, out this month. How do you find time to run the label, DJ, produce, and still sleep?! Sleep?! Who said anything about sleep?! Haha.

How long did Beyond The Valley take to put together? Had you pretty much been working on it since the last single in 2007?
Paul Brtschitsch started working on this album in 2007 and worked about half of the day everyday until it was complete.

You’ve co-produced with Paul Brtschitsch, who you teamed up with on your last release, Loop De Mer, last summer. Was working on that release the pointer to having him on board for the album?
You really seem to have nailed your ‘sound’ on the album itself. The work with Paul was very helpful for me and very intense and creative. We work absolutely great together, we found it out after Loop de Mer, so I asked him to produce the album with me. It wouldn’t of happened with someone else .

Is it really important to you to have someone on board that understands you musically? You must have felt some pressure when making the album with the quality of Mobilee’s back catalogue.
Of course! I’m always a team player and I need input and critical inspiration. Its always helpful to accept the help of other people and to learn from them I learned a lot from Paul, he helped me to use my ears in the right way and to understand music from a certain point.

Obviously, the album will be out on your label. It’s really had a pretty incredible few years since you formed it in 2005. Was it always the intention to start your own label, to give you more control over your music?
Not really, in the beginning the idea was to use my name in helping young unknown artists to release their music and to give my professional advice. But of course it’s great to have your own platform to release your own music and loving the freedom that gives to you.

As a label, it’s always seemed to have a talent for uncovering new producers, like Sebo, Pan-Pot and GummiHz, all of whose output is nearly all on Mobilee. How do choose new music?
In the beginning they sent me demos. At the moment it’s quiet heavy because I’m travelling and don’t have so much time anymore. But it’s important never to lose the attention to music and keep your ears wide open… always!

It must be like a small family really… Of course it is. That’s what separates us from the other labels. We see each other everyday…eat together, laugh together, party together. Behind this music making machine is a big mobilee heart.

You also started Leena, Mobilee’s sub-label in March last year. Was this a chance to pursue a wider range of music that wouldn’t necessarily make it onto a Mobilee release?
I designed it as the side-label of mobilee to house guest appearances from respected producers and friends of mobilee. Leena gives mobilee the freedom to work together with friends from the scene and with artists it has long respected, with no regard for sound, style or musical boundaries.

You’re probably known as much in your hometown of Berlin for your radio show, Dance Under The Blue Moon, which you’ve done every week on Fritz FM since 2000. Is that really important to you, as a means of finding and playing new music?
My radio show is quite important to me. I try to focus more on the value of the music and because every track has a story, I respond back to the listeners with my feelings and feedback. These days, I have the feeling that people are losing perspective of music. My goal is to give the perspective back.

It may be a surprise for people in the UK, who may think that you mix records on your show, to find that you simply play music and talk. Is that an effort to focus more on the music on there rather than associating it with Anja Schneider, the club DJ?
I try to separate “Anja Schneider the DJ” and “Anja Schneider the radio host.” Talking about music on my show is something I enjoy doing just because. It is almost a temporary escape out of the everyday, “Anja Schneider the DJ “ identity. It gives me a chance to do two different jobs that I love.

You’ve lived in the city since 1994. What changes have you seen since you first moved there? Why did you choose Berlin? It must have really changed in the last few years? Everyone seems to live there now!
Tresor was actually my reason to make the move to Berlin in the middle of the nineties. Berlin has always been going through developing changes; always in action and never sleeps. Music wise, everything is possible in this city! Due to the largely progressing development in Berlin, we have a lot of club changes, closings and re-openings all the time. We have had a very big underground scene since the nineties and it`s still there and even I haven`t been to all these fantastic "underground" places so far. Everything is possible here. I do, perhaps it is even something to brag about or be proud of. Although creativity does not only come from Berlin. I have heard the greatest music from Detroit, Argentina, London…etc.. Mobilee even prides itself of its talented Greek artists. Good music doesn’t always come from Berlin; it comes to Berlin as well!

Do you feel it’s in a way the centre of electronic music in your country, even Europe? There seems to be so much creativity coming from it.

What music did you listen to when you were growing up? Who inspired you to get into electronic music?
The classic 80s: Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk and David Bowie. These artists were the bases of my musical career.

Who really inspires you at the moment? My mobilee artists. I think we inspire each other.

How do you see 2008 being musically? There definitely seems to have been a shift in the minimal scene in the last year or so to more groovy, musical direction, and Mobilee seems to have been almost showing the way to that last year…
The typical low-key, mingle through the crowd and sip on bubbly minimal is defiantly shifting towards a more groovy beat. I can feel that the melodies coming back and that we can see a little light out of the darkness… maybe it`s the summer.

On top of everything else, you’re resident at the legendary Watergate club, as well as having a Mobilee showcase at Weekend. You must feel very privileged…
Haha thanks! No, actually, we stopped doing parties at Watergate for more than three years now and with the start of the label we’re making mobilee parties now residentially at the Weekend Club.

What’s your favourite place to play at the moment? Or are there just too many answers? Oh, the choices. Naturally I love playing in Berlin. It gives me still the chance to party with my friends while playing. And of course I absolutely love playing at Fabric. Seeing my music vibrate through the floor from people’s feet all the way up to their hearts and ears sends chills up my spine.

You’re touring Beyond The Valley around Europe for the next few months. How are you looking forward to that? It’ll take up a lot of your time…
Although at times very exhausting, I fucking love touring. Always something new and exciting. The one downfall about touring is dates are always in stone and I have very little time for my friends back home. When I am in Berlin I am just working and then I am back on tour. Part of me looks forward to the end where I can just kick up my feet and relax with my crew again.

Last year Mobilee put on one of the most talked-about parties off-Sonar around the rooftop pool of a hotel. Will you be returning in June?
You bet! Only this time in collaboration with Rekids (Radioslave) and Friday in collaboration with Mothership (Claude Van Stroke).

Do you think that running a label is now easier do you think for people to do than when things were vinyl only? Or harder as you’re trying to release on different formats?
It’s much more difficult now because there is much more music on the market and it’s hard to set a profile with your label.

Similarly, many say that vinyl may have had its day, simply, as much as anything else, down to expense/convenience. Would you agree?
It’s still supported very well in Germany, with the Vinyl Alliance. I’m still playing vinyl because I’m running a record label and still producing it. Of course for travelling and certain reasons it’s easier to play with a computer. For me it will be never an option because I love the sound of vinyl and always need a cover to remind myself.

What does the rest of 2008 hold for you?
Hmm other than touring and promoting my new album, ohhh just, Sonar Festival, Sonne Mond Stern Festival, umpteen open airs, mobilee showcases, the Love Parade and finally a long awaited vacation in November!

If you had to give it all up tomorrow, how would you like to be remembered?
As Anja Schneider from Beyond the Valley.

Beyond The Valley is out now. Mobilee will be showcasing off-Sonar on Friday 20th of June.

www.mobilee-records.de
www.anjaschneider.com

Of course for more interviews, features, reviews and more - check out the site:
www.4clubbers.net

The Uptown District has some of the best shopping, dining, and art in the city. Join us this Thursday as we head to the 26 Doors Shopping Center for our Happy Hour at Adelante boutique. Complimentary food and drinks will be served while DJ Troy Raw spins on the turntables. Also, Rae Cosmetics will introduce their summer products that guests will have a chance to try out.

Date: Thursday, June 19th
Time: 6:00PM – 8:00PM
Location: Adelante Boutique , 1206 W. 38th Street, in the 26 Doors Shopping Center

Also happening tonight is Shady Grove Unplugged, the restaurant's Thursday night free music series. This is its fifteenth season! Tonight is BOB SCHNEIDER, a local fave. Kissinger opens.

Show starts at 8pm. Drink specials are $2 Zeigenbocks and $3 pints of Bud Light. Pro tip: put a KGSR sticker on your car for KGSR CD Singles.

Luckily for music-loving shoppers, you can hit Adelante for some clothes and apps, then head to Shady Grove for music and dinner! It's a lovely Austin evening.

Ingolf Lück, welcher wohl nach "Wochenshow" nie wieder witzig war, sitzt an seinem Tisch. Als Moderator scheinbar. Ihm gegenüber die *hust* "Creme de la creme" der deutschen Comedy. Mirja Boes, Mike "Ich war noch nie witzig" Krüger, Guido "Eine schlechte Show nach der anderen" Kanz und ein paar mehr oder weniger, wahrscheinlich nur unter Kölner Karnevalsfreaks bekannte, Witzigtuer. Horror. Ein flacher Witz nach dem anderen. Klischee nach Klischee. Polen. Schweden. Sogar Deutschland. Es scheint so, als wenn die sonst nur nach Drehbüchern und vorgeschrieben Texten arbeitenden Comedians, einfach völlig überfordert sind mit dem spontanen Witzigsein. Ach. Oliver Welke (Genau. Der Sportmoderator der irgendwann mit Comedy angefangen hat und irgendwie noch nicht begriffen hat, dass das einfach nicht sein Ding ist.) gibt es sogar zu und spricht davon, dass ihm im Nachhinein Witze einfallen und er sich dann darüber ärgert. Aha. Toll. Dann bleib doch einfach zu Hause. Bleibt doch einfach alle zu Hause.

Hier mal eine Liste der beteiligten "Comedians" (Ja. Wir stellen die jetzt alle an den Pranger.):

Ingolf Lück, Oliver Welke, Guido Cantz, Gabi Decker, Kim Fischer, Dr. Eckhart von Hirschhausen, Johann König, Matze Knop, Mike Krüger, Janine Kunze, Hans Werner Olm, Ingo Oschmann, Martin Schneider, Bernd Stelter

Das sind nicht alle? Ähm. Ja und? Störts einen, dass wir die Deppenfraktion nicht vollständig da haben? Ich glaube nicht. Einige von denen sind vieleicht alleine ab und zu mal ganz witzig, aber wenn sie spontan Witze reißen müssen, dann kacken *sorry* sie mal so richtig ab.

Das schlimme daran ist, dass diese Sendung von unseren Gebühren (Okay. Von den meisten von uns.) bezahlt wird. Irgendwie traurig. 40 Minuten lang schmeißt das ZDF die Moneten raus. Was denken die sich dabei? Das findet wirklich kein Mensch witzig. Keiner. Selbst die anwesenden Zuschauer haben nach ungefähr 30 Minuten keinen Bock mehr so zu tun, als ob die Z-Promis witzig wären.

Dann tue ich mir lieber Waldis EM Club an. Sicher auch nicht die Spitze der Unterhaltung. Aber keine gezwungene Komik. Ab und zu ein paar Experten. Waldi. Oli Pocher in seinen Paraderollen als Oli Kahn, Mark van Bommel oder Lukas Podolski. Damit kann man sich wenigstens etwas beschallen lassen.

Was ich vorschlage? Kann man sich beim ZDF beschweren? Sollen die doch die Scheiße am besten aus dem Programm schmeißen und dann lieber noch 40 Minuten bei Kerner, Klopp und Meier am See bleiben. Die Konstellation hat alleine mehr Witz, als alle "Nachgetreten"-Sendungen zusammen.

Naja. Heute Abend wünscht "Wir lieben Fußball" euch gute Unterhaltung bei Waldis EM Club und ohne "Nachgetreten".

Diese Kritik wurde euch präsentiert von Dein Fußball T-Shirt

Gestern hab ich noch geklagt, dass alles blöd ist und der Arzt mir keine Hoffnungen gemacht hat, heute beim Chirurgen hat sich das bestätigt und ich bin jetzt mal krankgeschrieben - mindestens bis zum Wochenende nicht aus dem Haus... Klasse! Das wäre ja alles noch erträglich, wenn doch endlich mal der Tag käme, an dem ich mich nicht über die CDU ärgern muss. Egal obs die Kanzlerin ist oder irgendwelche Hinterbänkler, die sich profilieren wollen. Es reicht doch langsam... und dann stoß ich auf Carls Weblog, der erneut die geistigen Ergüsse der CDU darstellt.

Da kritisiert man Anne Will, die Sendung sei linke Propagandaplattform. Ich weiß nicht wo Herr Pflüger die letzten Monate war. Schon zu Christiansens Zeiten war die Sendung immer sehr rechtslastig besetzt. Auf einen Linken wie Oskar Lafontaine, Gregor Gysi oder Volker Schneider kamen immer gleich 2-3 Konsorten wie der zum speien anregende Sinn oder Westerwelle. Links war das allemal nicht. Anne Will macht das besser, aber auch dort kann man jeden Sonntag den Restalkohol auskotzen. Pünktlich vorm Schlafen gehen noch mal ARD eingeschaltet und sich das Wochenende im Wahrsten Sinne des Wortes nochmal durch den Kopf gehen lassen.

“Die Sendung Anne Will zeichnet sich immer mehr durch Un- und Halbwahrheiten und bewusste Verzerrung von Sachverhalten aus.”

“Das muss sich kein Bürger und kein Politiker bieten lassen”, schimpft der CDU-Mann. Er prüfe derzeit rechtliche Schritte.

So wird Pflüger zitiert. Weiß der Geier was diesen Mann reitet. Wenn ich mir die letzten Talkrunden anschaue (unabhängig ob Will, Plasberg oder sonst wer), muss ich feststellen, dass es Politiker der FDP und der Union nicht einmal hinbekommen jemanden ausreden zu lassen. DAS muss sich kein Bürger gefallen lassen. Wenn ich in der Fußgängerzone gefragt werden würde, was ich mir nicht mehr gefallen lassen möchte, dann würde ich nicht Anne Will nennen, sondern das, das, das und noch ganz Vieles mehr...

Was treibt ihn, gerade als Mitglied des RBB-Rundfunkrats, öffentlich Frau Will weg- und Herrn Plasberg hinzuwünschen? Zu den Aufgaben des Rundfunkrats gehören derlei Vorschläge nicht. Da ist es kein Wunder, wenn sich Herr Pflüger nun die eine oder andere unangenehme Frage stellen lassen muss. Zum Beispiel diese: Wünscht er sich solche Verhältnisse?

Bildquelle: Serienjunkies.de

Aber nach solchen Dingen steht diesem P'litaffen nicht der Sinn. Das würde ja auch dem Sinn der Schule zuwiderlaufen, aus jungen Menschen lauter gleichartige Würstchen für die Abfütterung der industriellen Anlagen zu produzieren. Nein, dieses tapfere Schneiderlein ist der Meinung, dass die Schüler am Morgen nach den Spielen der BRD-Balltreter auf der kommenden EURO-Meisterschaft (ja, es geht dabei nur um Euronen und um sonst nichts) keine Klassenarbeiten schreiben sollen:

Kultusminister Siegfried Schneider sagte am Montag im Bayerischen Rundfunk: "Ich schreibe nicht vor, wann die Klassenarbeiten sind, aber ich appelliere an unsere Lehrkräfte, dass sie darauf Rücksicht nehmen." Viele Kinder wollten die Fußballspiele anschauen und kämen dann erst spät ins Bett. Zumindest am Morgen nach deutschen Spielen sollten die Lehrer auf Tests verzichten [...]

Der unsägliche Videotext des BRD-Staatsfernsehens ARD hat hierzu einen noch anderen Ton gefunden. Um 20:30 Uhr stand auf der Seite 160 die folgende Meldung (diese Texte sind nirgends im Internet archiviert, so dass ich nicht auf etwas Dauerhaftes verlinken kann):

Keine Schulprüfung nach EM-Spiel?

Während der Fußball-Europameisterschaft
sollen am Tag nach Spielen mit deutsch-
er Beteiligung keine Klassenarbeiten
geschrieben werden. Dazu rief Bayerns
Kultusminister Schneider alle Lehrer im
Rundfunksender Bayern3 auf.

Schneider liegt damit auf einer Linie
mit der Bildungsgewerkschaft GEW. Man
könne bei einem Spektakel mit solch
einem Festcharakter nicht erwarten,
dass die Kinder früh ins Bett gingen,
sagte Bayerns GEW-Vorsitzende Angelika
Neubäcker. Das letzte Wort in der Ange-
legenheit sprechen aber natürlich die
Schulen selber.

Da ist man doch richtig erleichtert, dass den Schülern so erleichtert wird, am "Festcharakter" dieses künstlichen und kommerziell überaus wertvollen Marken- und Nationaltaumel teilzuhaben. Vor allem, wenn dies völlig unverbindlich ist, weil die Schulen selbst das letzte Wort sprechen sollen. Schöner Populismus, den ihr da fabriziert in GEW und CSU!

Aber dennoch, es ist gewiss ein Schritt in die richtige Richtung. Ich finde, die Schulen sollten zusätzlich noch zur Erhöhung des Dressurerfolges kleine Flägchen austeilen, damit die Beschulungsfälle nach jedem Zwischen- und Endsieg der deutschen Recken und ihrer Pharmaberater in festlicher Stimmung das rechte Tüchlein schwenken können. Besonders empfehlenswert ist hier die Verwendung der inoffiziellen Flagge des Vierten Deutschen Reiches. Leider ist diese Fahne nicht in ausreichender Menge bei den Schulen verfügbar. Zum Glück kann man ein solches Fähnchen mit Leichtigkeit selbst herstellen, um es in den Wind zu hängen. Einfach das folgende Bild speichern (mit einem Klick gibt es das auch noch in besserer Auflösung)...

...und damit zum nächsten Laden gehen, der T-Shirts und andere Stoffe bedruckt. Und da die Fahne auf ein weißes Stück Bettlaken oder etwas ähnliches ausdrucken lassen. So kann man in "festlicher" Stimmung gut gelaunt seiner Freude über ein völlig unwichtiges Ereignis wie den Verlauf einer der größten kommerziellen Veranstaltungen der Welt angemessenen Ausdruck verleihen.

The point I made in the commentary was as the U.S. economy suffers from continually rising costs and consumers are worried about their homes, the U.S. high tech companies strike me as particularly out of touch. Do consumers really care if Microsoft buys Yahoo when they are worried about making the mortgage payment. And although I didn't attend Walt Mossberg's All Things Digital conference, the news reports and video footage I viewed was mostly about yes, Microsoft becoming a media company, phones of all shapes sizes and networks and a world divorced (in my opinion) from economic and social reality.

So, I was happy to sit for a morning listening to presentations on data centers, power usage and ways companies can cut their electrical consumption ranging from simple steps to fully instrumented projects. APC, which was acquired in 2006 by Paris-based Schneider Electric, is what I define as a real company. Real companies help you evaluate how your company runs and then tries to sell you some stuff to make your business run more efficiently. There is not a lot of mystery in real companies. No one is trying to figure out how they will ever earn revenues. You don't have to come up with some mythical ROI formula to justify the investment.

Say your company spends $250K a year in powering, heating and cooling your IT data center. Changing the rack structure, altering the cool air flow and fidgeting with the temperature might cut that in half. You might have to spend $250k to get that savings. Good idea? Bad idea? Depends on how long you will be at your site, how much you believe in the promises of cloud, hosted computing and are you willing to trade off ongoing service costs for capital investment. Like, I said, no magic just good old fashioned number crunching.

Let's hear it for the real companies.

As Congress continues to badger oil companies, placing the blame of high gas prices squarely on the executives' shoulders while ignoring their own liability, the trucking industry saw the demise of Jevic Transportation. Jevic, based in Delanco, New Jersey, announced on May 19th it was parking its trucks and shutting its doors due to increased diesel fuel costs, economic downturn and increasing insurance rates.Founded in 1981 and employing 1,230 truck drivers, the company has filed for Chapter 11.

While the trucking industry is seeing record numbers of small trucking companies collapse under the increasing cost of diesel fuel, larger carriers are resorting to "drastic" measures to cut costs. Crete Carrier and its reefer division, Shaffer Trucking, (located in Lincoln, Nebraska) recently banned pets from their trucks in order to reduce idling.The average truck burns a gallon of diesel fuel per hour when idling and, according to the new policy, a driver with a pet idles 4% more than those without. This means, of course, many drivers have lost the trusted, furry companion who provides friendship and security to the trucker who often spends weeks away from home. Many drivers have left Crete/Shaffer instead of abandoning their pet, while others have either found new homes for them and, in one extreme case overheard at the Wilmer, Texas Shaffer terminal, a driver with no family had to have his dog put to sleep in order to keep his job in the tight driver market.It is a "blame Fred the basset hound" solution that does nothing but create animosity and stress to a workforce (the American trucker) already overloaded with rules and regulations that go beyond what would be expected from the average office worker.Imagine the outrage if the climate controlled air conditioning system housing the dispatch office was turned off during each lunch break and at the end of the workday. Full article here

Schneider National Inc. expects the change to save the company nearly 3.8 million gallons of diesel fuel a year. It also will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 40,000 tons, according to the Green Bay-based company. From the Star Tribune

This is all the buzz on WLW's America's Trucking Network with Bubba Bo tonight. Also, Con-way Truckload reduced the maximum speed for their trucks form 70 mph to 65 mph.

Non è la prima volta che un artista resta affascinato dalla morte, che in fondo altro non è se non un momento particolare, l'ultimo della vita. Moltissimi pittori, musicisti, scultori per secoli hanno cercato di raccontarlo, dunque non mi sorprende l'interesse dell'artista tedesco
[...]
Se riuscirà a trasmettere il rispetto per il morente, allora non sarà solo un'operazione commerciale, o banalmente scioccante, o tragicamente autopromozionale per l'artista stesso. E' essenziale che si rispetti appieno la volontà della persona che accetta di mostrarsi nei suoi ultimi momenti, della sua dignità e anche dei suoi bisogni biologici.
(Amedeo Bianco, presidente della Federazione nazionale Ordini medici chirurghi e odontoiatri)

Alla fine della sua vita un essere umano non dovrebbe essere abbassato a mero oggetto da osservare. La morte è la fase finale della vita umana e non andrebbe messa in mostra pubblicamente come strumento con finalità artistiche o di altro genere. (Wolfgang Börnsen, portavoce per la Cultura del gruppo parlamentare del partito di Angela Merkel, e Günter Krings, deputato della Cdu)

Impossibile dare un giudizio dal punto di vista etico lo trovo riprovevole, ma l'etica non c'entra niente con l'arte, e questo vale da Caravaggio a Schneider. (Vittorio Sgarbi)

Questi i pareri eccellenti.
I commenti degli utenti, del pubblico, esprimono tutti indignazione.
Io lascio le considerazioni artistiche a chi di dovere, ma non mi sento di condividere l'indignazione, e neppure di lanciare anatemi moralistici.
Però rifletterei sul fatto che per millenni, fino alla generazione prima della mia, le persone nascevano e morivano in casa, con parenti e vicini intorno, accudite.
E la morte era così davvero percepita come appartenente alla vita.
Ora la morte è stata spogliata di ogni partecipazione, si muore in ospedale, circondati da camici e strumenti, qualche volta un famigliare.
Non vediamo più la "morte buona", ma solo quella che entra nelle nostre case senza appartenerci, che ci viene illustrata con film, telefilm, telegiornali e Dylan Dog, e che ci viene raccontata perché provocata, perché violenta, perché in qualche modo innaturale.
Della morte, svuotata della vita, rimane l'immagine orrifica, nulla più.
Ma se il nostro immaginario viene rimpinzato con violente morti da TG e con salme eccellenti (Wojtyla), quando non putrefatte (Padre Pio), quanto può farci male la morte, serena, naturale, inserita in un'opera d'arte?

“Everything will be done in consultation with the relatives, and the public will watch the death in an appropriately private atmosphere.”

How on earth can you achieve a private atmosphere in a public art gallery? Is that the artisic bit? Because I certainly don't see anything else in what he's doing that qualifies as art.

I'll give it a miss -- as a visitor to the "exhibition" and, more to the point, a participant.

Quando vi o filme dessa campanha "Infable" me senti na obrigação publicar aqui para mostrar que quem disse que são só os criativos das agências de propaganda que tem um EGO enorme, pode estar bem enganado.
Afinal quem que trabalha no planejamento de agências de propaganda nunca gaguejou para explicar o que faz? Ainda quando quer se mostrar para uma muy buena chica?

[Brief do Lombo]

The Dame;

Joan Crawford.

Perhaps most readily remembered for her feud with Bette Davis which came to a head in 1962 with her being blown off the screen in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? and maybe forever tainted by the damning portrait painted by a bitter daughter in Mommie Dearest, the career that Joan Crawford enjoyed for over 30 years beginning at the dawn of the sound era seems to have been generally forgotten. She was an Academy Award winning actress with numerous acclaimed films under her belt, she worked with major directors and major performers. In Mildred Pierce she gave one of the more iconic performances of the golden era, and a decade later in Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar, she took the lead as the westen was turned on its head, with strong women in the central roles. One of the greatest of the greatest age, she has insured that she'll never be forgotten.

The Dude;

Paul Schneider.

Entering into the acting profession at the age of 24 (making him a late comer by todays standards) in the films of David Gordon Green, George Washington and more notably as the lead alongside Zooey Deschanel in All the Real Girls, Paul Schneider has in a just a few short years established himself as one of the more accomplished supporting actors in the movies today. In 2005 he took a side role in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown and with his quirky small town simplicity, literally stole the show from the leads. Then in 2007 he had what could be termed a breakthrough year, with polar opposite roles. Firstly appearing as the villainous Dick Liddil in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, a supporting role that he filled with both sinful sleaze and unabashed charm in equal degree, and an almost entirely opposite turn as a quiet, loving brother trying his best to cope with an awkward situation in Lars and the Real Girl. He's a wonderfully subtle, assured and diverse actor whose career is certainly heading for great heights.

The Director;

Sydney Pollack.

I would venture to say that Sydney Pollack's finest accomplishments have come in front of the camera rather than behind it. Always taking small roles in movies, he has on more than one occasion, ended up being the finest member of the cast, perhaps most notably in his tiny role in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. However none of these on screen accomplishments can take away from the fact that Pollack is an Academy Award winning director and producer. It was his Robert Redford-Meryl Streep epic Out of Africa that brought him this acclaim, but from where I am sitting his finest work comes in smaller, more character driven movies, where the performers, not the wondrous grandeur take centre stage. As the tagline to his 1969 Jane Fonda vehicle  They Shoot Horses, Don't They? declared, "People are the ultimate spectacle" and rarely is that more in evidence than in Sydney Pollack's films.

The Picture;

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)

Though most widely remembered for the grandiosity of the final sequence, Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a film that is at heart one of his most intimate and human films. Driven at full force by a wonderful performance from Richard Dreyfuss, who won the Oscar for 1977's The Goodbye Girl, but should probably have picked up the award for this film. It is a performance both comic and dramatic, filled with the wondrous curiousity of an overgrown child yet at the same time shot through with a certain darkness in its examination of a mans obsession and subsequent neglect of his family. It is that performance around which this film is built; there are brief moments of alien spectacle propping it up throughout, making sure that we remember that we are truly not alone in this one, all mysterious, all beautiful to behold but ambiguous in intent, and it all builds to a wondrous crescendo, that magnificently glorious finale in which all is revealed, truly epic spectacle, human curiousity and those 5 beautiful notes.