utemia

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

You misunderstood me.. I was not saying that we should be able to do whatever we wanted, anywhere we wanted to do it without any consequences. If a place has different norms or standards of what acceptable behaviour is like, it is alright to act within those new norms, even if you are from a place that has different ones. That's the fun of traveling and experiencing a new culture. Living with the consequences, the good and bad, goes without saying of course. But it is not an excuse fo

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

I think I tried to go onto the legal theory that not knowing something is a punishable offense is not a defense and it won't protect you. That is the reason why it is naive to assume that you can do whatever you want just because your country is powerful and/or you have a lot of money. But germany usually doesn't attract such crowds.. I think the exchange students here find it pretty wild that they can drink a beer without a problem in a park or down by the riverside in summer, that goi

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote]Many people feel the rules don't apply since they aren't a citizen of that country, plain and simple. [/quote] That is incredibly naive and arrogant, and luckily I haven't really experienced people like that because I avoid holiday spots that attract such a crowd at all costs. A prime european example for that is Mallorca.. and especially Germans are known to behave as worse as they can, together with the British. Rowdy and rude, arrogant and just obnoxious.

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

It really depends on the neighbor.. I did it because everybody else did it sounds a bit like peer pressure, but it is just how things are. I wanted to highlight that she wasn't sticking out like those kids in Mexico because her partying behaviour wasn't anything special or extra wild in comparison to what is the norm here. The appeal of going abroad is to learn new things, experience a different world and culture and of course you take part of what the rest do. I wouldn't really

Dracula - What was the last book you read? in Books JoeUser Forums

I was in the hospital recently for 3 days and had decided to take a good book along as reading is a really great way to pass time - and I chose Dracula. I hadn't actually read the book even though I had to read literature journals about the role of woman in the victorian society, the function of the monster, sexuality and eroticism in gothic novels, and about vampires as a gothic creation that stood for the monster that was allowed to do everythings that wasn't in the prude victorian society.

Reply to I Knit Myself A Pipe Holster in Blogging JoeUser Forums

yep, it is great to pass time. But while I was in the hospital, I read Bram Stoker's Dracula. That is one cool book, and even though I already knew the story very well it was sitll full of suspense. It is a healthy cure for all that twilight lovy dovy vampire schmooze that is so popular right now - to mix up the two you could knit while watching the 1992 movie with Gary Oldman as Count Dracula but if you were eating chocolates at the same time you would be acting like a girl lol

Reply to Some Basic Logical Problems with the United Nations in International JoeUser Forums

I meant the modern state of Isreal that was founded after the war in 1948. And while Germany existed officially in its 1937 borders after the war it had been de facto not the case. The borders were effectively moved with the Potsdam agreement between Stalin and the western allies - and with the formation of the occupation zones. After the war was over, many german nationals were expelled (eg from Slovakia, Poland..) and those refugees have ever since demanded the repatriation of those

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote]It goes along with the growing trend in the States to feel that your entitled to something for just existing.[/quote] What exactly do you think do the people in the US think they are entitled to? Because that statement would sound sort of weird without context of this thread, and I am curious. I haven't really seen US exchange students in Freiburg acting so recklessly that they would be noticable. From what I read, Amanda Knox didn't party more than anyone I know did, tha

Reply to Some Basic Logical Problems with the United Nations in International JoeUser Forums

[quote]The UN were set up to preserve the pre-Cold War situation, not the Cold War situation. The Cold War was an anomaly (even though it took up most of the time). When the Cold War ended, the UN's job was to make everything as it was before the Cold War.[/quote] That is just not possible. One can not turn time backwards to make everything as it was before. People change, nations change, problems change - the world is changing (quite a banal, but apt summary, really). It might have been a gr

Reply to Some Basic Logical Problems with the United Nations in International JoeUser Forums

The UN security council is anachronistic in the sense that it represents a post WW2 and coldwar world which no longer exists in that form. The world is not organized into NATO, Warshaw Pact and block free any more. It has changed - and the UN failed to adapt to the new challenges. The new problems and challenges are not mainly a looming WW3 between the US+allies and the USSR+allies anymore. Humanitarian aid, human rights, economical problems related to globalization, migration,

Reply to Some Basic Logical Problems with the United Nations in International Stardock Forums

[quote]I like the security council. They are the five (main) victors of World War II. That's why they have the power. Other countries voluntarily joined the organisation in which those five have the special powers. That legitimises their power. I have no problem with that.[/quote] To quote the movie "The fellowship of the ring" The world is changing .. I think it is no longer acceptable to make global politics according to the post WW2 and post cold war political situation - b

Reply to Some Basic Logical Problems with the United Nations in International Stardock Forums

I also think that the security council is very questionable.. five countries that can veto all resolutions and proposals on a whim, more or less. It is not justifiable with anything these days as it had only been used in political powerplayes so far. I think the UN is more or less useless in its current form - for me the dutch UN soldiers in Srbrenica watching the massace of thousands are a very good example for that. They were there to keep the peace and we all saw how much good that did.</p

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Yep, Italy is a great place to visit. It's a bit chaotic, but nobody seems to mind. For example, many bus stops in Rome don't have a schedule written down there because the bus would never be on time anyway. I think you would really enjoy it and have a good time. I wouldn't really worry about breaking laws there eithr, totally agree with Nitro on that. PS My aunt used to be a nun in Rome and I visited her there a couple of times - it's one of the most amazing cities I know.

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

The US media landscape used to be very diverse, but in recent years it has shrunk down to half a dozen media empires that controll most. I once saw the figures and owners, but I couldn't cite it to you just now. And you do not have license fee funded public broadcast companies that people are watching. There is PBS, but most don't watch that. The cable news networks like FOX and CNN and CBS and all the rest have to make a profit with their broadcasts, and are dependant on those who pay fees f

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Chuck, most people in Germany like America. Sure, there might be critical opinions, but the US is mostly just seen as the land of freedom and opportunity. You will rarely find people who are openly hostile towards americans just because they are americans. And germany is a really cool place in some areas, llike Berlin, Colone during carneval, carneval in general in the rhine region, we have coo coo clocks (lol) and great saussages like Wiener (note: Wien = Vienna, so the word actually just me

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

I don't understand how you do not acknowledge that it is problematic when the head of government privately (or not so privately) controlls 90% of TV media broadcasts, including the state television. Do you really believe it is possible to seperate the private business man from the politician in that special case? I don't think Berlusconi is a tyrant or anything remotely like it, but he is a scoundrel. Italy is a democracy with the most stable unstable government in Europe,

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote]To eliminate undue influence, yes. But influence by the owner is not "undue". It's completely legitimate and it's not censorship if the owner of a corporation decides what the corporation should publish, just like it's not censorship when I decide not to blog on some subject.[/quote] good summary http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/korruptionitalien100.html

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

[quote]It really isn't. But it has that reputation because Italians are more open about it and non-Italians are more willing to accept that Italy is corrupt than that their own countries are not perfect.[/quote] I seem to recall Naples the problem they have with garbage disposal (which is controlled by the mafia) last summer and the year before that. Then there was a story that the mafia sunk ships with toxic waste off the coast of Italy (don't know if that was true or not in the end)

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

While I agree that a privately owned media empire is a symptom of free press, it becomes a little blurry if that owner is head of state at the same time. I always thought that freedom of the press was supposed to eliminate undue influence of the government and most importantly censorship and guarantee that a writer can write what he truly thinks, be it critical or not. I would contest that the media that is owned by B. is independant and free of censorship. And Berlusconi owns the mai

Reply to NO! IT'S A GIRL! in Home & Family JoeUser Forums

Well, it was one great opportunity to play a prank on grandma, you gotta admit that lol

Reply to Foxy Knoxy found Guilty in Current Events JoeUser Forums

The thing about Berlusconi is that he controls the media in Italy because the main tv broadcaster and newspapers belong to him. In effect, there is no free press because the writers won't be critical and piss off their boss - or if they do, they get fired. Freedom of the press is protected as a constitutional right and one mark of a free democratic nation. And even if everything you alleged about Obama were true, he does not own and control the major media outlets in the US. The US media hs i

Reply to South Africa, here we come! in Football JoeUser Forums

The whole world is excited about the worldcup - except maybe the white spot on the football map that is north america. That is roughly a few hundred million fans all together. I seem to recall that about one billion people watched the worldcup on TV in 2006. Even if that does not mean one billion fans, it is still a pretty big number. The superbowl is even reported here in the news, and I was really happy back a few years ago when the Packers had won it (in Iowa, most everybody loved

Reply to Embedding a YouTube Video in WinCustomize Talk JoeUser Forums

[e digicons]:beer:[/e]

Reply to Embedding a YouTube Video in WinCustomize Talk JoeUser Forums

I just found this thread, thank you very much for explaining it so well in Reply #2 - baby steps were what I needed.

The place that sends you mad in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Everyone who has ever had to fight with government bureaucracy or any form of bureaucracy and thought that they were going mad will sympathize. This clip is from the movie "The twelve tasks of Asterix" in which he and Obelix have to complete said task. The first two minutes are a bit odd, but it picks up rather quickly after that. Enjoy <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GI5kwSap9Ug&hl=de_