The Off Topic Topic

[Syt]

Why wouldn't the FDP want to pick the leader?

I'm not sure how this screwed the left if the right-wing parties had a majority.

The right-wing parties have a majority, yes, but the AfD is shunned by the other parties. For some context, the Thuringian party leader Höcke, fond of evoking political language form a bygone age, has quotes such as:

"We Germans - and I don't talk about the patriots assembled here today - we Germans, our people, are the only people in the world who planted a Memorial of Shame in the heart of their capital." (about the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, 2017)

"The so called immigration policy is nothing but a multicultural revolution ordered from above, is nothing but the abolishment of the German people." (2019)

"I want that Magdeburg and Germany not only have a thousand year past. I want that they have a thousand year future, and I know you want it, too." (2015)

"We have to rediscover our masculinity. Because only when we rediscover our masculinity we become manful. And only when we become manful we become well-fortified. And we must become well-fortifies, dear friends." (2015)

From his book:

"A few little corrections and reforms won't be sufficient, but the German intransigence (difficult to translate Unbedingtheit) will guarantee that we will handle the matter thorougly and fundamentally. When the turning point comes, we Germans don't make half measures; the garbage dumps of modernity will be removed."

"Before their Americanization, the Whites and the Blacks comprised of highly differentiated peoples with their own identities. Now they have been dissolved in a mass. We Europeans should avoid this descent and preserve our peoples."

"Even though we might lose a few parts of the people who are too weak or unwilling to withstand the advancing africanisation, orientalisation, and islamisation."

Etc.

A court recently decided that it is not libel to call him a nazi.

[Tamas]

Has anyone else after a day of travel ever been really fucking amazed at what they've just done?
Like... This morning I was here on a map.
Then I was here on a map.
And I still got to just the right point.
TECHNOLOGY

All the time.

Waking up in the morning in England, driving/Ubering on the M25 to Heathrow, then by the afternoon I am rolling down the streets of my home village in rural Hungary.

[Syt]

So the newly elected Minister President of Thuringia has resigned (see above post), and they're heading to new elections.

[Sheilbh]

Good. More firewalls/breakwaters falling - and as Jeremy Cliffe put it in his New Statesman argument there's less and less of a clear line between centre right and far right across Europe.

[Syt]

I mean it sounds like the AfD planned to get the FDP to nominate a candidate just so they could vote for him. I guess it was just a ploy to screw the Left.

Do you think the FDP was in on it or were they just duped?

The million dollar question - neither answer makes the FDP look good. The federal head of the FDP was considering to ask for a vote of confidence in him in the wake of this.

[Admiral Yi]

Based on those election results I'd say the only way to be sure is to nuke Thuringia from orbit.

[Iormlund]

Put a topical antiseptic on the abrasions so they don't get infected.

A mate of mine spent 3 weeks in ICU and almost lost an arm because he didn't do this after a minor fall. He was in top shape, too. He's a 33 year old who plays sports competitively.

It's sobering to realize that for most of human history a simple cut could spell death for anyone.

[HVC]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/crossbow-killed-man-neighbor-pitbull-dog-attack

I shouldn't laugh but...

[Admiral Yi]

UKs Prince Harry speaks at JP Morgan event in Miami -royal source
1:48 PM ET 2/7/20 | Reuters
UK's Prince Harry speaks at JP Morgan event in Miami -royal source

LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan attended an event organised by American bank JP Morgan in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, a royal source said, one of the couple's first engagements since stepping down from royal duties.

The source said Harry, Queen Elizabeth's grandson, spoke at the event although he was not believed to have given a keynote address. It was not known whether he was paid.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

JP Morgan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The couple's attendance at the event comes a month after they announced they would be stepping down from royal duties and spending more time in North America.

Under an agreement reached with senior members of the royal family which comes into effect in the Spring, they will no longer be receiving UK public funds. (Reporting by Michael Holden, writing by James Davey; editing by Stephen Addison)

Harry begins his new professional opportunities.  Ugh.

[Syt]

The Thuringia drama continues. The FDP minister president elect hasn't resigned yet. The parties are waffling about whether or not to have new elections. The minister president elect has pledged his salary to tthe organization "Victims of Stalinism" - sounds good? Well, the organization has a personnel overlap with the AfD, and two of the organizations chairmen had to resign over far right utterances.

Meanwhile, parties have blamed the former minister president of using nefarious tactics and gambling for power. However, while his party failed to gain a majority, 70% of voters say he's doing a good job, with only AfD and FDP having a negative opinion of him.

[Savonarola]

The Ruth Funk Museum of Textile arts have an exhibition called Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence.  Ubuhle is the Zulu/Xhosa word for beauty; and beadwork is one way for women make a living, hence the "Independence."  The works were made by a collective of South African women (mostly Xhosa; but they did have one token Zulu in the group).  Most of the work is a panel of maybe 1 m high by 1.5 m like this:



Funky Bull by Bongiswa Ntobela; the cow is a symbol/unit of wealth in much of sub-Saharan Africa.  This specific pattern on a bull is called Nguni and is the symbol of the cattle of the Zulu king. 

The most amazing was done by the entire collective, African Crucifixion:



The left symbolizes the evils in the world (storms, tree of woe and the like) and the right the good (clear skies, tree of life and so on.)
The entire work is about 6 m by 12 m.  The beads are tiny, maybe 2 mm and are sewn onto a canvas:



It's simply incredible, especially since even a panel like Funky Bull can take up to 10 months of work.

Four of the five members of the collective died of AIDs; so they had some AIDs awareness brochures and mint flavored condoms .

[Savonarola]

The beads are made from glass and come from the Czech Republic.  They're so reflective, and their size and shape create interference in the reflected light with one another.  Our brains are masters of signal processing, so we don't see the interference, to us it simply looks luminous; but to my iPhone camera it looked like it was shimmering (that is changing in in brightness) and that's how it was displayed on the screen.  So, (if the shutter speed of an iPhone is quick enough,) if I took the picture at different times I would have a different picture even though I took it from the same spot.  I thought it was a neat effect.

[jimmy olsen]

That sounds neat. 

[The Brain]

Cool.

[The Minsky Moment]

Harry begins his new professional opportunities.  Ugh.

Could be worse.  Hard to see what the good outcome could be from all this.