Month: October 2004

Carrie Bradshaw for president!

It is time to elect a new president in the United States and I have the perfect candidate! Carrie Bradshaw. She is the right person to lead the United States into a bright new future. She would clean up the prudish mess created by the early pilgrims a few hundres years ago. Shoes and fashion items would replace weaopons as the main income for the American industry. All her speeches would start with “I can’t help but wonder… and for the first time, people would listen to what the president has to say.

As minister of forreign afairs I would recommend Samantha Jones. All the foreign leaders would be easily seduced by her, and “Make love, not war” would become a literal policy. Then we have Miranda Hobbes, she would be perfect for the departement of Justice, cause you know, she is a tough lawer. Charlotte York would be responsible for Art, the White House defenitly needs a bit more color.
So on the 2nd of November 2004 go out there, skip Bush an Kerry, look for an empty space on your voting card and write “Carrie Bradshaw is my girl”

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is coming up and I received a Halloween card yesterday, for the first time of my life! Usually I try to avoid this special day, as it was introduced to our culture a few years ago to increase sales for sweeties and scary costumes. But there is nothing wrong with sending out greetings to all my American readers and of course, the rest of the world.

Have a great time celebrating!

A different point of view

Hello World!

I started to read a book yesterday. It is called “A People´s History of the United States: 1492 – Present” by Howard Zinn. A very interesting book, which shows a different side of America and its history. I just read the first chapter about Christopher Columbus and the early years in the new world. I was shocked to find out that the entire indigenous population was whipped out in the early days of “America”, more then three million people, in the greedy search for gold. I still have more then 700 pages and I wonder how I will think about American history when I finished the book.

But, to make this clear, I will never judge anyone because of the history of their nation. I live in Austria and to a lot of people the first thing that comes up when they hear that I’m from Austria is Nazis and Hitler. I know that this is the past of my country and it shall never be forgotten, but everyone deserves to get a fresh start without prejudices.

To be blond, or not…

I took a break from blogging the past few days to spend some time with a friend in Germany, but now I’m back!

When it comes to hair color, statistic tells us that most men prefer blonde woman. Innocent and yet wild, some would say. I have to admit that I also prefer blond woman, but also natural red ones. About four years ago I had my hair bleached before I went to a trip to Florida. A lot of people I met thought that it was my natural hair color, a few times I was asked if I was Eminem and one time, out of the blue, a woman even kissed me on the cheek and said “I can’t help myself, I love blondes”. It was a very funny experience.

But do woman also prefer men with blond hairs? I did a test, some might remember that I posted a link to my hotornot profile a while ago. My first picture was a new picture from Venice, with my natural dark hair. It started out good, but my rating went down to a disappointing 1,3 (out of 10). I replaced that picture with a four year old picture from Florida. And Bingo, a 8,4 rating for the first week and currently around 7,0. ). I even received a few “Meet me” invitations, something I also wouldn’t get with my “dark hair” picture.

So, after the crowd has spoken, I decided that I will bleach my hair again. I’m going on a two week holiday at the end of November and I will go to the hairdresser and change my look once again shortly before my departure.

Underneath your clothes…

Until this morning I thought that I would never want to hear the song “Underneath your clothes”, by Shakira, again. But you know what? I heard it this morning and did not switch the channel like the weeks before. Actually it felt like the sun was shining upon me. I think differently about the song now. Actually its a great song with great memories. It is one of those “first kiss” songs. And what is wrong about a good song and good memories? Life is full of beautiful moments and sometimes we try hard to forget about them. But should we?

If you remember a very beautiful moment in your life, try to keep this memory, even if the person you shared it with turns away. And when there is a cold and rainy day, try and find that memory, nothing else. And smile, cause the world is in your hands.

Is a breast more dangerous to a child then a bullet?

In Austria and Germany it is common to see images of nudity on TV. The biggest newspaper in Austria, the “Neue Kronen Zeitung” has nude picture every day. I think The European society is relaxed about nudity, its no big deal to see breast in a commercials or a nude woman on TV. And why should anyone be offended? After all we are all born naked!

Things are a bit difference in the land of the free, the United States. It seems like nudity is something Americans are not used too, its dirty. It’s no big deal to kill someone around 2:pm on TV, but to see a breast for a few seconds during the Superbowl is a national tragedy.

The article below is eight months old, and when I first read it, I thought it was a joke, but it is very serious…

My Son Deserves an Honest Apology!

Posted Feb. 2, 2004 at www.insightmag.com

By Paul M. Rodriguez

I was ashamed for being a football fan — and of encouraging my 8-year old son to be one — halfway through the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVIII.Beyond the hype of “good” football and cool ads, the degradation from smut-filled dancing and foul-mouthed lyrics during the so-called show between halves was made worse by the breast exposure of Janet Jackson during a song about getting a woman naked before the tune was done.My son, an avid football fan, was so embarrassed at the dirty dancing and songs that he asked us to change channels until “the nasty stuff” was over — like women’s dresses being ripped off exposing “their underwear.”Despite such filthy displays of “artistic expression,” not even he could have been prepared for Jackson’s breast to be displayed on national television during a “family evening show” that the Super Bowl is supposed to be.”Why did she do that?” he asked his mother and me. “He shouldn’t have pulled her clothes off, right?” he asked me about Justin Timberlake’s white-trash antics.I’m sure that just as the embarrassment and shock exploded in our living room so too the national blush and, hopefully, outrage exploded in millions of homes at such vulgar displays of classlessness.Whether one believes that MTV — the group that put on the halftime show — knew about the undressing of women and the breast-baring of Jackson or whether the NFL and CBS knew about it makes no difference. The artists knew about it and, despite Timberlake’s pseudo apology, we think he and Jackson knew what they were doing. Why else would Jackson be wearing a stripper’s stock ‘n trade over her nipple?Whatever the NFL and CBS were thinking about what the halftime show was to represent, it certainly did not represent the high rollers who attended the football game, and it certainly didn’t represent the large numbers of middle-class adults and families with children who were watching the spectacle.It’s one thing to have such dirty dancing, crotch-grabbing and foul-mouthed lyrics on pay-per-view TV and/or cable-TV stations such as MTV in the post-“family hour” times. It’s certainly quite another to put such trash on knowing that children would be watching.Whether any laws were broken — and we’re hoping there were so fines can be imposed — is not enough for this father. I want an apology from all involved sent to my 8-year old son. An apology that states clearly that adults were wrong in what they did to him. And a promise that they never will do that again. Never!It’s about time that the common denominator that further dumbs down America is rejected. And if it cannot be stemmed from leaders in the entertainment world, the National Football League that prides itself on wholesome family fare, and from families that won’t stop buying services and goods from purveyors of inappropriate materials for our young people, then regulators and Congress need to get involved.We’re all for free speech and abhor the idea of censors. But we do expect that during the so-called family hours of “public” television — yes, it’s public airwaves folks — that my home will not be inundated with garbage that my young son 1) does not need to be exposed to and, 2) I do not want him exposed to.It’s bad enough now that during the morning shows and evening newscasts that my son is exposed to stories about sexual this and sexual that à la the Kobe Bryant debacle. In turn, my son asks me what one of his favorite basketball players is in trouble for with that woman. It’s bad enough that murder and mayhem are the daily feed that permeates local newscasts and we’re forced to turn off the television at breakfast and dinner because of the inappropriate stories being broadcast.But damn it, to be coldcocked like we were — along with millions of others — during halftime of the NFL’s biggest game of the year is too much. No amount of excuses and no amount of apologies ever will be enough because responsible adults should have known such a show was wrong.That said: My son deserves an apology. And every boy and girl who saw the broadcast deserves an apology, too.

I would be interrested in some feedback regarding the article above! So the question is: Is a breast more dangerous then a bullet?

Without a trace?

Google is currently the number 1 search engine on this planet. 80 % are using it and I’m among them. I recently also found out that you can actually become a fortune-teller and scare people with Google.

At work we had a trainee for about three months and I knew very little about her, not much beyond her basics, her phone number, her private Email address and that we where into the same movies. She had a kind of a fancy email-id and I typed it into Google. And to my surprise I found some very interesting details. She not only used that unique pseudonym for her email address, but also in various discussion boards. And guess what – Google searches all the discussion boards and even stores them on their own servers, which means that, if the original source (website) gets deleted, it still can be read with a little help from Google.

For example, this young lady was posting in an online forum about a painful breakup half a year ago. All postings are deleted after three weeks, but I was able to read the full article, six months later! In another forum she was posting about her problems with cellulites (actually, I know she has taken care of that ;-)), again, long gone at the original source, but still viewable by Google users like me! I found more then a dozen entries, sometimes revealing very personal information.

The next time I met her, I showed her all the search results about her. She was completely shocked. Actually she blushed when she discovered the cellulites entry ;-). But the point is that she made very personal information about herself viewable to everyone who simply knew her email-address. My advice to her was to either stop writing about personal stuff she does not want everyone to know or use different identities in every discussion forum she posts. That way its almost impossible to search Google for certain pseudonyms. To use a search engine like Google or Yahoo is something everyone can do! It’s easy and takes about 5 seconds.

Bottom line: She was a bit mad at me for searching Google, so now she is seeking revenge. And she already found 700 entries at Google about me…

But I am sure I never posted anything about my problems with Cellulites!

Be a part of if

I use Amazon a couple of times a month, I have a Geocities Account, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, hotornot.com and of course Blogger, I’m member in a few discussion-forums and since about 20 hours I’m proud member of Ebay.

Yeah – I joined eBay! To friends this might come as a surprise, as I’m someone who is using the Internet very extensively. But until yesterday I wasn’t part of that fast growing community that buys and sells everything, from pure garbage to cars and planes, 24 hours a day. My first eBay experience goes back about six months or so. It was my duty to buy a wedding present, an “olive tree sponsorship”, for about 40 euros (about half the normal price). Sponsorship means that the owner receives about 20 % of the yearly harvest of an olive-tree, at least two liters or so. A very neat idea by the way if you are looking for a present ;-)! It was a very intense fight the last 4 minutes or so to actually win the bid, but I made the deal.

Now I have my very own account! I haven’t used it yet, but I doubt it will take long before I find something interesting to spend my worthy money on. After all, Christmas is coming up in about two months.

Ebay-User out there be aware, Gio is in the house and the fight – or should I say bid is on!

Power to the people

Germany, the big neighbor to Austria, is going trough some tough times these days, economically speaking. Germany, or “Kingdom in debts“ as I like to call it, used to be an economic wonder for half a century, raising from the ashes after World War II. But right now its bad news for the Germans, day in day out. Virtually all the big companies want to cut back costs or relocate their factories to Eastern Europe or Asia and thousands of people fear to loose their jobs. Not that Austria, my home country, is doing well, it’s a general problem among western countries right now, but it seems to me that Germany is facing the toughest problems.

Just recently, Opel, owned by General Motors and one of the major car manufactures in Germany announced that it wants to cut back thousands of jobs in their factory in Bochum. Workers have been on strike for a couple of days now to fight for their jobs and a lot of people are supporting these workers. But what if not the workers would go on strike, but all the Germans would refuse to buy cars manufactured by Opel if they cut back those jobs? Germany is a huge market, and I doubt that Opel can afford to loose this key market. Consumers don’t realize that they are the one in charge. If you don’t buy a certain product, the producers will have to rethink the strategy, or disappear….

But to be honest, I think the problem is greed in everyone of us. We want to pay as little for as much quality as possible. If everyone is willing to pay a certain price for a certain product, let’s say a car that is manufactured in Germany, no company will have to cut back jobs or move to another country.