The World Cup is about to begin

Bets are made, teams are built, dates are set... the World Cup in Brazil is about to start...

This Years official Song World Cup

 

And next to the hymne of Santana Dar Um jeito, this is an extraordinary alternative: Todo Mundo from Gaby Amarantos and monobloco.

The Pope is a soccerfan of San Lorenzo

Francisco I.

Yes....yes....yes it is about the Pope again! What can I say? The good must give way to the better!

We have one! The catholic church has a newly baked Pope. He was just baked? Yes he was. He was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and today he was baked Pope by 115 electoral candidates. And he baked himself to be Francis I. or Francisco I. or Francesco I.

The Jesuit is from Argentina, he loves football and prefers to drive with the public transport instead of taking a car, what do we want more?

Is he going to be the pope of the public again? Just as JP II was? Is he going to be a mixture of Ratzinger and Karol Wojtyla? The theological sharpness combined with an immense charismatic approach in addition to a particular humour? Possibly we just have to give him time and freedom for him to settle down and find out how to best steer this big ship.

Benedetto XVI. & Jorge Mario Bergoglio

If you ask my personal opinion, which you possibly do not do, but which I will give anyway, have a very good feeling about him. And I think we can look forward to a enthralling, revolutionary time, accompanied by a good portion of humour.

The popes election, today 16.30.

115 cardinal-electors come together today at 10 am to celebrate the mass "pro eligendo romano pontifice" in the St. Peters Basilica in Rome.

The rock´n roll in the Sistine Chapel starts at 4.30pm. 

The Cardinals met on monday in order to discuss the biggest current problems of the catholic church and discussed about the requirements the next Pope shoul fullfil.

A 2/3 majority is needed until the election can be called final. The previous elections of Benedict XVI took 4 ballots. John Paul the II. election took 8 ballots. Is it today only going to take them 2 ballots?

When Ratzinger got elected in 2005, he was standing out as clear favourite. Is that the case today?

There are some names that every now and then get dropped by the media such as Milans Cardinal Angelo Scola, Peter Turkson from Ghana, Brasilian Odilo Scherer, the Canadian Marc Ouellet or the Archbishop of Vienna cardinal Schoenborn. But there is no constant spot on one of them.

Angelo Scola, Italys dreamcandidate

Cardinal Peter Turkson, Ghana

Cardinal Marc Ouellet

Cardinal Odilo Scherer, Brasil

Cardinal Schoenborn, Austria, Vienna

We did have two European, non italian popes, is the next one going to be an italian again? Or is there the need of a South American or African one, since those countries make a huge amount of the catholic Population. Is it not only just that the next Pope is going to be "one of them"?

"We stay Pope" claim the German newspapers, "Soon a Pope with a generous heart" claims the Italian newspaper Corriere dela Sera. We are Pope. Who is Pope?

The election could last days, weeks or month, but the cardinals agreed that they will want to get through with it as soon as possible so that at the highest feats of the Catholic Church, Easter ,  the seat of the Pontifex will no longer be empty.

It is a pulsating time that is lying infront of us and all that we can do is pray that the holy spirit travels into the hearts and minds of the 115 cardinal electors and that the best possible candidate is elected to lead the 1,2 billion big Catholic community.

The ballots have been printed and cut, the two stoves have been installed, and the chimney has been put in place. Ready to rumble.

Interactiv demonstration of how the election works


The Guardian, BBC, The Telegrapgh,

Simple good ideas

Sometimes there is just a proudness overcoming oneself. Not being proud of yourself but of somebody you know or you admire or simply respect for the great thing they have established.
Today there was such a moment.
I came across with a genius idea a friend together with some friends had. A newsportal where just one topic is published daily and one has the possibility of finding out what each newspaper thinks about this particular topic. The webpage is called pressekompass.net and deserves every right to be celebrated!

Egg or chicken?

It is the old often asked question, who was there first, the chicken or the egg? 

 Who was actually first? Someone must have laid the egg so defenitely the chicken was first, but did the chicken not come out of the egg? It is a fiddly question and I think that the chicken is actually not a chicken but a stork, well it is a chicken now but it was a stork then. So the stork laid the egg, so the real question must be was the egg there before or was it the stork, but no one eats stork eggs so the question is irrelevant and afterall the egg was not produced by the stork it was just brought by it.

Timbuktu

Once in a quizshow. There were an Australian and a priest competing against each other. Their scores were equal, so they had to create a verse about "Timbuktu".
The priest began:

"I was a father, all my life,
had no children, had no wife.
I read the Bible, through and through.
On my way to Timbuktu."

Then the Australian told his version:
"When Tim and I to Brisbane went,
we met three ladies cheap to rent.
They were three and we were two,
so I booked one and Tim booked two!"

Humans are bananas.

Did you know that our DNA is to 50 % consistent with that of a banana?

Home

Where is your home? Where you grew up? Where your family is?

I have one strong continous home which was always there and which marked me tremendously but I have other homes, which I call my home, because I lived there with my family and they grew to an important part to my life. I never called a home my home, where my brothers and parents did not live.

Until some days ago, where for the first time I referred to Buckingham as my home. Is that growing up?

MY homes, and is it not incredible that you can just easily go on googlemaps and actually allocate the houses you are looking for, eventhough you are miles away from them?

Max Raabe has the astonishing gift of taking you back into the 20s. His facial expressions can be of tremendous wittiness as well as of seriousness. Listening to him allows us to travel back in time and get the slightest feeling of how things were back then.

A great musician that must be heard;

Max Raabe & the Palast Orchester

The little Prince

It is one of those books that you can read when you are twelve and read it again when you have grown older, it will satisfy you at both times because the depth is an incredible one.

 “I am looking for friends. What does that mean -- tame?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."

"To establish ties?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world....”

“Goodbye, said the fox. And now here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

 

And the Oscar goes to.....

It was in St. Petersburg 13th of February 2007, the whole airport was covered in snow a black Volga picked me up and brought me to"my babushka" driving through the big alleys, moskovskian Prospect being one of them. Everyone is covered in warm thick jackets, the young ladies would not even think about giving up their elegance just because of some metres of snow. In Other words a high heel is dressing every second female foot.

It was the first time that I set ground on russian territorry, a decision my heart will never regret and it was in this night that I made a first relationship with the OSCAR Nominations.

When you opened the heavy iron door after having inserted a pin you had to open another door with two keys. Running upstairs one could already smell the good old onions - which in no russian meal ever lacks.

My babuschka and her daughter were watching the Oscar and in the moment I entered into the kitchen parts of The life of the others (Das Leben der Anderen) could be seen. My heart started to beat faster, a strange feeling climbed up my throught.

It was a fantastic movie that I had seen 2 days before I left home, together with my mother, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. No words can explain the movie, it is a must, playing during DDR times in East Germany. Directed with so much thought and with consideration of little detail that one could watch it another 3 times in a row and would still find out more things, which were unseen before.

The Sonate about the good human being. This movie deserved an Oscar, that is for sure. And it was in this night, the second one in this new foreign country that I built a relationship with the Oscars. The nomination of this Movie , "my movie", "my german movie" that I climbed up a ladder from the lonelyness in russia to the feeling of security and love at home, which was given by this unique movie and its nomination.

The life of the others

And the Oscar goes to..... Berlusconi..or not?

Can anyone believe that he is 76 years old? Possibly not, no wonder if one takes into consideration the tons of make up he uses or the hours he spends in the toaster (aka solarium). His hair looks fake just as his politics do.

Pierre Luigi Persani is the winner of the elections in Italy. Well at least he, as so far counted does have the most votes but Italy would not be Italy if an election would be as simple and easy going as this.

The good old italian roller coaster is back. The parliament sonsists of two parts a.)The House of representatives and b.)The Senate. It is in the Senate that Persani and his center-left have the majority of the voices of Italys people.

At this point it is essential to mention how terribly low the number of participations in the election was. 75%, the lowest since the foundation of the Repubblica after World war II. 

And it is in the Senate that Berlusconi has the majority. In order of being able to govern properly a majority in both houses is needed.

Deadlock?

What is it with Italy? Why is it sleeping? It is not only the pizza and the pasta and the good lifestyle, the motorinos speeding through the allies, the carabinieri going every morning to the same tabacchi to get his esspresso, there is much more potential in Italy and its inhabitants.

They have the third largest economy in Europe, not to mention the tremendous culture. Why do they not care who rules their country? Why is there not someone young and dynamic trying to become Prime minister? Is the active nationalism the thing that is missing ?

Why is it that there might has to be another election, why can Italy not pull on one string in order to safe their asses and their awesome country?

Enough about corrupt politics and more about the beloved Oscars.......tomorrow the golden pieces  of the Oscar night on http://victoriatrott.blogspot.co.uk/ 

A dio.

The last sunday blessing of Pope Benedict.

"The Lord is calling me to climb the mountain - prayer is not an isolation from the world," he said. 

"I am not abandoning the Church and shall continue to serve it in a manner more adapted to my age and strength," through prayer and meditation, he added. 

Pope Benedict will hold his last public appearance as pope in the square on Wednesday before he retires to a life of seclusion and prayer. 

 Who is going to be the next Pope?

BBC,  The pressure on a 21st century pope, Top priorities for Benedicts successor, The Conclave, runners and riders

The Volkswagen

"The Peoples Car" and its advertising at the beginning.

1934 Hitler asked for a car that would become the peoples car and would drive continously 100 km per hour.

Honest, emotional, overdue. The long expected speech

Germanys Federal Minister Joachim Gauck is calling for "european patriotism".

With his first big speech the Federal Minister shows how important Europe for him is.

Gauck has a persuasive power because he himself is persuaded. "The European Union is complicated because she has to achieve something complicated." His speech is a call to every Eurosceptic within or outside the EU.

"More Europe does not mean German Europe but European Germany."

He campaigned for further joint economic and financial policy and more unification in security, defense and foreign policy. He called for Courage in everyone and he is convinced that even if some Euro rescue programmes failed, the whole european project is not questioned.

What are the fundaments of an european identity?

The sense of community can not be based on the founding myth but on a common canon  of values. "We come together for something. For peace and freedom, democracy and constitutional legacy. For equality, human reights and solidarity" he said on Friday morning infront of 200 listeners in Schloss Bellevue.

It is thanks to Europe that the young generation has the values they have. "The first pocket money you received is in Euro, you study at least two languages in school, your school trips go to Budapest, Madrid, London or Paris. No generation before you ever did have this privilege of being able to say "we are Europe". In fact you experience more Europe than any generation before you" he said.

More information; Der Spiegel , Guardian

Courage for the truth of your state.

"Die Weisse Rose" was called a group of students that started to show resistance against the Nazi regime. They thought it wrong what Hitler and his followers did and printed off flyers stating what  the Nazis really were doing.

They met at night in the cellar of one of the friends, thought about the texts, typed them with wiriting machines and send them to intellectuals within Germany.

On the 18th of February 1943 (70 years ago) there were still some left overs from the 6th flyer, and Sophie and Hans Scholl (Geschwister Scholl) decided to distribute the rest in the LMU, Ludwig-Maximilian-Universitaet in Munich.

They run up the stairs put them infront of the halls. The doors were still locked, since lecture was going on. They run back to one of the entrances when they decided to run to the top part of the University. They through down the flyers when the concierge saw them and turned them over to the Gestapo.

They were condemned to death.

What impresses me is the Courage that stands behind the whole action. You do not just continue living within a regime even though you stronlgy disagree with it. You stand up and you try to do something. I am sure the young students from the weisse Rose were also at times filled with fear, but they knew it was the right thing to do, therefore they did not hesitate.

How much can we learn from this generation. And how simple and small are our problems of today in comparison. How often do we stand up for something or someone? Is the easier way not always to go with the flow?

Sophie Scholl sais Goodbye to Hubert Furtwaengler, Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell, who were about to leavein order to fight at the east front.

Pure Advertisement - Heinneken ads in comparison

Very stereotypical. But it works perfectly. Or rather this is the reason why it works perfectly.

A travel through the history.

Virtual life vs. real life.

The one who tries to safe his own life will loose it.

Is following your interests, being ambigous already trying to safe your life, or is it rather trying to make the best out of your life.

It is a tough question where to draw the line. I believe that the most important thing of everything is to always have all the other human beings that share this world with us and their existence, their feelings, their neccesities, simply themselves in your highest priority.

We are not made to live by ourselves, we are made to share everything we have with others. Our thoughts and feelings as well as our belongings. In the end we are not happy if we keep everything to ourselves. It is the other persons happy ness that makes us happy. Sometimes we unlearn that but it defenitely is a truth that lies in the core of every heart.

Does our environment and the technological advances force that we more and more built our own world with MY i pad, MY i pod, MY apple, memememe everything is personalized and we spend an IMMENSE time with these things - on our own. It is nothing that socially cultivates you. You just have to press a button "I like" you do not even have to say why.

I believe there are many good things in the technological advances and in the ambigousness people create nowadays to get a good degree etc. The important thing, however is,  to never forget the people standing next to you. Because in the end it is them who make a change in our lifes. And it is together with them that we can achieve great, unexpected things.

There is nothing on earth that can compete with friendship and love.

In that sense....(well well well that << is a really horrible german saying)

love, peace and happiness

The Orang Utan

http://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article107923152/Rauchender-Orang-Utan-auf-einsame-Insel-verbannt.html

German cult - die Toten Hosen

They are a legend since almost 20 years, they founded the band in 1984. And they are one of the few of this type of German rock bands who still have millions of followers today.

Illusion.

Is everything an illusion? What is real of that what we see? Do I see things different than others do?
Two people experience the exact same thing on the same time at the same place, when you ask them afterwords to tell you about the event, you will get two different stories.

They may only vary a little, but there also is the possibility, that they differ quite a lot from each other. That is because every human being has a different apperception. But which of the two apperception will be the right one in the end? Who is allowed to judge the rightness of these two subjective apperceptions?

Is everything always about being right or wrong? Or are there just many different views and solutions to one question?

Why does a woman in her 30s start to scream when her husband slowly starts to take off with his chair and flies towards the ceiling? And why does his 7 year old daughter just look at him as if it was the most normal thing.

The longer we life on earth the more our head distinguishes between things that are normal and work and other things that are not normal and simply do not work. We are a product of our world and the society that we live in.

If it has not happened for 30 years it must be something very strange. Why can we not take the openness and phantasy which every child has into our growing older?