A day after the German holiday of
Fronleichnam, I realise that there was no prohibition of dance in this county. Though, the prohibition of dance is a story of misunderstandings. There is a different set of regulation for each county and each day within a county - and there are regulatory differences on whether sports is performed in public, in private, with the aim of commerce or for regenerating the mental health, and whether the whole day or a just a few hours are affected. Actually, there is no English version in Wikipedia - hopefully the
German does. The holiday also involves a Monstranz, e.g. in
Cologne (a really dirty building, right next to Central station - seen it when changing for trains to Bruxelles). Nevertheless, the Germans can denunciate each other - for
dancing.
What else? The eurozone seems to be in a considerable crisis. One of the main contributors is Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel. In fact, her actions seem to suggest that she attributed the crisis to some less well managed member states. That means some member states overspent and thus, increased their government gross debt excessively. According to this account, these countries have to be regulated and brutal spending cuts especially in pensioners, unemployed and public service staff are inevitable (in Merkel's world). Actually,
Spain's government gross debt as a function of GDP is roughly 13 percent points less than Germany's. And one might wonder why Spain has such a hard time refinancing. One answer could be that there is threat of the country being unable to support its struggling banking sector. If that was the case, it would be refinanced by some ESM and in fact be under dictatorship of Merkel. If that is was case, Spain's economy could just close the doors. When Merkel offered benefits for Germans buying cars in an attempt of hindering a recession, no measure of stimulation was an option in her Greek policies. Indeed, Merkel's measures remind the observer on
Brüning's ideas of austerity. The result is (and was) an unemployment rate of some 52% amongst adults younger than 25 (eurostat). In Germany, these measures were followed by most horrible parts of history and should increase caution if not hinder any German politician in doing the like. Well, maybe it is a more systematic crisis accompanied by
half-hearted rescue measures. This would suggest that Merkel's austerity put Europe at risk and topped the bill for the German taxman.
Topping the daily chaos, my laptop is slowly dying. I suspect the CPU cooling device is not working well resulting sudden shut downs. Germany is suffering the
carpet affair (the secret service transported a carpet on behalf of a member of government and did not pay custom). Current projects involve a
trifle. Simply for marking the most
joyful, relaxed and happy event. In contrast to a civilised pageant, streets tend to involve chaos, e.g.
Tehran suffers
the cars of its inhabitants. Side note, cars are Germany's main industry and Merkel claimed the premium for buying a new car was key in hindering a recession. Another side note, driving a car in Germany is a right not a privilege. Recently, a
severe accident occurred. In the ten o'clock news, the moderator said the accident reminded him opening fire into a forest full of tourists and hoping you only hit the trees. In brief words, the driver suffered epilepsy and had an attack before the accident. Also, he used cannabis during the night before. He was sentenced three and a half years for killing four people and severely injruing another three (sounds little, but driving a car was not his fail, just bad luck it went wrong). Bielefeld's university got an
aestehtic centre.
Really?
Seriously? I suppose it's just me and I should increase my asbestos intake (see this
university website featuring research from wikipedia). Bielefeld was also home to two severe events, first a
fire and a week later an
explosion.
