The Pignite Tumbles
It. Could. Be. Any. Day.
And we’re kicking things off with my brand-new, badass shoes. Orange!
Think About Your Future
Quote by Peter Thiel at today’s PandoMonthly interview:
The education system is an alternative to thinking about what you want to do with your future.
Be Inventive If You Lack Resources
Mike over on ‘Rottin’ In Denmark’ has a great post on Germany’s economic drivers:
Germany’s success, all they have to do is torch their farmland, dismantle their oil pumps, overpay their workers and start complaining. Maybe Europe has a future after all.
Double-Oh
What people do when they sit around and wait for the new Bond movie to hit the theaters.
All 193* instances of someone saying “Double Oh” from all 23 James Bond films.
What I am curious about is if they only counted the times when 007 is mentioned or if they include the references to Bond’s colleagues 006… which I believe is mentioned at least a few times.
Google Has Been Evil Since January
Escaped me during Davos.
Google closed down Kaffee Klatsch, the best coffee shop in all of Switzerland for a two day-long party during the World Economic Forum.
Which just goes to prove, I suppose, that the World Economic Forum really does give you advance notification of important corporate developments.
The German Language Can Be Hard
And can create some awkward situations:
Helft den armen Vögeln.
= Help the poor birds.
Helft den Armen vögeln.
= Help poor people with sex.
Home Opener
Last year Brandon and I went up to Safeco Field to watch the Mariners loose in their home opener. Last year we still had a show called ‘Einmaleins Live’, which up unto this day, still has one of my favorite intros. Last year we talked about downtown Olympia development. Last year the Mariners sucked.
This is two thousand and twelve. This is not last year.
Largest Skyscrapers In The World
What an incredible website: Skyscraper drawings from all the important, iconic and beautiful skyscrapers from around the world. And by ‘all’ I mean over 40,000 of them… the internet is amazing!
Make Up Time With MUJI
Yeah, so for all of you who were hating on MUJI for allegedly selling out to Walmart, which turned out to not be true, here is your chance to make up: LEGO and MUJI teamed up to bring you a 3D paper and LEGO set. So good…
Mike, In His Own Words, A
“Sometimes when you can’t find what you need it’s just because you haven’t made it yet.”
While I am waiting for the download of the epub book to finish up I am stewing on those words.
‘Was Gesagt Werden Muss’ by Günter Grass – English Translation
A poem and blunt call by Günter Grass. The original was posted April 4th in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Why have I kept silent, silent for too long
over what is openly played out
in war games at the end of which we
the survivors are at best footnotes.
It’s that claim of a right to first strike
against those who under a loudmouth’s thumb
are pushed into organized cheering—
a strike to snuff out the Iranian people
on suspicion that under his influence
an atom bomb’s being built.
But why do I forbid myself
to name that other land in which
for years—although kept secret—
a usable nuclear capability has grown
beyond all control, because
no scrutiny is allowed.
The universal silence around this fact,
under which my own silence lay,
I feel now as a heavy lie,
a strong constraint, which to dismiss
courts forceful punishment:
the verdict of “Antisemitism” is well known.
But now, when my own country,
guilty of primal and unequalled crimes
for which time and again it must be tasked—
once again, in pure commerce,
though with quick lips we declare it
reparations, wants to send
Israel yet another submarine—
one whose speciality is to deliver
warheads capable of ending all life
where the existence of even one
nuclear weapon remains unproven,
but where suspicion serves for proof—
now I say what must be said.
But why was I silent for so long?
Because I thought my origin,
marked with an ineradicable stain,
forbade mention of this fact
as definite truth about Israel, a country
to which I am and will remain attached.
Why is it only now I say,
in old age, with my last drop of ink,
that Israel’s nuclear power endangers
an already fragile world peace?
Because what by tomorrow might be
too late, must be spoken now,
and because we—as Germans, already
burdened enough—could become
enablers of a crime, foreseeable and therefore
not to be eradicated
with any of the usual excuses.
And admittedly: I’m silent no more
because I’ve had it with the West’s hypocrisy
—and one can hope that many others too
may free themselves from silence,
challenge the instigator of known danger
to abstain from violence,
and at the same time demand
a permanent and unrestrained control
of Israel’s atomic power
and Iranian nuclear plants
by an international authority
accepted by both governments.
Only thus can one give help
to Israelis and Palestinians—still more,
all the peoples, neighbour-enemies
living in this region occupied by madness
—and finally, to ourselves as well.
By: Günter Grass
The translation is by Michael Keefer and Nica Mintz and seems to be the best one around so far.
There has been much noise about Grass’ statement/poem for obvious reasons. If a nobel prize winning author makes bold statements the world in general takes note. He is also someone who had been around during WWII and has had a past that he has not fully disclosed and made note of this in several occasions and in some of his books as well. But, which makes this statement all the harder and bolder is the fact that he is German, and Germans with their obvious past have played a very one-sided role in regards to Israeli affairs.
And now Germans are selling Israel submarines.
PS: Usually I don’t take the full content of the source website, but in this case I wanted to make sure I can preserve the full translation of the poem.
Bourdain Kicks Off This New Season Tonight
Anthony Bourdain on his show No Reservation:
“It’s essentially the same story every week of a guy going somewhere, eating stuff and coming back.”
And that’s why we love it!
No we just need a couple new seasons on Netflix, please!
Beginnings
Ze Frank relaunches his popular show ‘A Show’ with a powerful ‘Invocation‘.
May every Monday morning start like this!
Changed Easter Breakfast Plans
The new Donna Hay magazine shipped this week. And although it’s the Autumn Edition (the magazine is produced in Australia!) it completely changed our Easter Breakfast plans. It’s that delicious. Amazing egg recipes are in it.
Donna Hay magazine is also the first magazine I pulled the trigger on a subscription. One year, six issues for $19 seems like a great price. Not just because the magazine is gorgeous, filled with tons of great recipes and beautiful food porn, but also because the paper version of the magazine has always been hard to come by and much more expensive, since it’s always been an import.
Dig in.
Great Advertising
Decor8 posted a Instagram pic of a great ad at Hannover HBf for Ritter Sport, arguably one of the best chocolate bars in Germany.
Yum!
Sink That Ship
Remember that ghost ship from Japan off of the coast of Canada? Yeah, the Coast Guard sank it. Badass.