Satellite - Love - Eurovision

How does that go together? Well, easy: A love song called 'Satellite' wins the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. And it was Lena who sang and won for Germany. Nice surprise. As an expatriat living in the UK I heard of Germany's victory several days later and checked out the song. Well, I am surprised that she won. Was it because of her cheaky innocence, the casual freshness and clumsy dancing? Well, whatever the reason, she won! She touched people's minds, which is more important than a perfect voice or perfect artistic performance. Hear the song here.   (Photo: Amazon)

"Power on Earth"

"That ordinary thing [power] is like an illness. After you get used to it you almost prefer life with it, though you know it will take you to the grave. I think it is a terrible vice, and one that isn't so easy to give up." (Leonardo Padura Fuentes.  Havana Black. 1998, 2006 English) (Picture: Amazon.co.uk)

Eurozone Shocker

All members of the European Union violated their own rules: not to exceed debt of 60% of the GDP and 3% deficit. Even Germany cannot put on an innocent face....(source: bbc.co.uk)

"Horror on Earth" (A. Seebold)

"It was that day that I knew I wanted to tell the story of my family. Because horror on Earth is real and it is every day. It is like a flower or like the sun; it cannot be contained." (Alice Seebold. The Lovely Bones. 2002)

Second World War Bombs Still Kill

In Goettingen,in the heartland of Germany, a 500kg bomb from the time of World War II was found during excavation works to build a stadium. The alerted specialists, experienced sappers and combat engineers, evacuated the surrounding area immediately and initiated defuse action. But before they  could actually deactivate the bomb, it exploded. 3 specialists died. Bombs, which where dropped by allied air fighters in the 1940s, are still found quite often. Normally they do not explode unexpectedly, but they become increasingly instable with age. Sadly, despite its official end 65 years ago, WW II has claimed further three casualties. (Adapted from BBC; Photo: Spiegel)

World Famines (1693-2005)

A report dealing with historical famines caught my eye. 2 countries are re-occuring, such being China and Russia, mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries. China lost approximately 32 million people to hunger and Russia approximately 16 million in the course of ca. 100 years to famine only. The reasons for those famines (listed in 'Observations') range from merely natural ones such as drought or floods to political ones such as war and policy failure.

(Source: Survival. Global Politics and Strategy. June-July 2009. Vol. 51 No.3)

Garcia Marquez about Coffee

"Coffee is poison." (Garcia Marquez in Love in the Time of Cholera, 1985)

Cousin performing in Dutch Play 'Titanic'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGP2vzEENfw

Russians and their Tsar

"He was the old Russian yearning for the tsar or a god, for somebody to impose discipline on the nation's ancient anarchy and indolence." (from Among the Russians by Colin Thubron, 1984).