It is a place where consumerism reaches an orgasm. Tens of thousands of people walk through this enormous street each day. Dozens of things people like, want or even need are sold every time you blink. We, human beings, it seems have found an extraordinarily convenient way to reward ourselves. If we are good at something or if we achieved one of our goals regardless of type or place. It could be work, family of simply something we are proud of ourselves. If we achieve something like that, we need to be rewarded. Unless a person who we respect or is superior to us does that we feel dissatisfaction. We have the need to be rewarded by our social environment with money, goods or words. Otherwise, we will find a way to take care of that ourselves.

In the olden days when media and subsequently advertising was not as ubiquitous and as manipulative people would just be dissatisfied and helpless to find a way around. (I guess, since I never lived in the olden days).  Fortunately, the US introduced consumerism and a throw-away way of life after World War II. They pushed the economy and laid the foundations for today’s world. This, however, opened a way of self-reward for those people who did not receive it by others. Nowadays, it is simple. If, for instance, you do not get what you want at work today you have a solution. If you do not get the praise for your contribution at work by receiving a bonus, promotion or round of applause then you can go and buy satisfaction.

Numerous locations conveniently accessible for all of us who feel the need to buy them satisfaction are available, especially in Oxford Street. Hugo Boss, HMV, H&M, Apple, Swarovski, Ted Baker, Ray Ban, GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, Sony, UGG, and many, many, many more offer you rewards someone else missed to give you. Every price range available, all credit cards accepted, open during the whole week.

Anyhow, Oxford Street is the perfect place for that and still I do resist buying things which I have no use for. Some sort of realisation that I do not need it and just want to buy it for a reason other than actual use.

I honestly admit that I also have bought things in my life I didn’t need just because I wanted it so badly but did not need it at all effectively. But now, at a not too mature age, I thankfully have already understood that there is no real point in all that. It will not solve any problem. It is only short-term happiness and satisfaction. Solutions must be found elsewhere.

People should fight for the appreciation of their work. It is one thing to boast but it is another to make people appreciate what you have achieved and speak about it proudly. This might prove to be difficult but it is the only right and genuine way to feel better in the long run. So, you would only need to go to Oxford Street if you truly needed something.

This is not one of those London experience entries. Nonetheless, London inspired me for this blog entry. Ever since I arrived in this metropolis I had difficulties with getting informed about what is happening around the world. I feel very unsettled by the fact that newspapers are just rubbish here. How do people get informed about things? It took a friend of mine several weeks until she found out that a huge oil spill was threatening marine life in the Gulf of Mexico. Even more bizarre is that she was told by her parents in Switzerland via Skype.

Metro News, The Evening Standard and many other newspapers inform the general public about recent affairs of celebrities and spread rumours which do not bear any important nor useful information. It’s very stupid, basically. People are being dumbed down. They take what they get and think it is important and other events of much higher relevance are being neglected by the majority. The problem is not that people don’t care. It is rather the fact that newspapers publish pointless stuff on the front page which everybody will read since it appears to be significant. Small, little pieces of news won’t be read because they seem unimportant. Media corporations encourage the process of dumbing down because they need to attract people’s attention and won’t be funded unless they write about celebs, scandals, excesses and so on. That is absolutely sad. We just get news and have to deal with it and if we would like some quality news we have to look for it. Shitty news will be brought to us by most newspapers, TV and radio voluntarily!

In comparison to Switzerland I feel much less informed about current affairs than here. There are possibly a couple of explanations but the foremost reason is certainly the system of direct democracy. People in Switzerland get to vote every quarter of the year and can oppose basically all major decisions of the parliament. Thus, people inform themselves what is happening and parties are highly active when it comes what they promote. Topics affecting small villages are being discussed just as well as changes in the constitution. All that is not the case in the UK as far as I can conclude from my observations and chats with people.

It has a resemblance of zombies wandering around having no idea what decisions are made behind their backs though it all happens right in front of their eyes.

FURTHERMORE and ON THE OTHER HAND

We are being manipulated by powerful corporations which virtually own the news. Many people are aware of that and just don’t give a flip. (Flip here means fuck) I have friends who are really into alternative news which sometimes make more sense but most aren’t.

No matter how much we want to understand what is really happening around the world we cannot possibly process every bit of information. That is maybe why we grab only the headline news. But as I said not all of us are able to dedicate as much time to find out what really happens in the world. So, we just decide to ignore it or more precisely to just take note of it but do neither believe nor spread it because we know it is just the “official” version of what happened. As long as we do not stop to think on our own it is good. And I think my posts are getting longer and longer and I know your time is limited which is why I’ll just stop here.

Thousands of companies are found every day. Each one of them is driven by an idea. An idea which is supposed to make people’s life easier or make things more useful and efficient. There are not many companies which survive economic struggles or other difficulties and still remain as successful. Numerous start-ups fail after a short period of time and others resist a lot of problems and build up quite nicely. But when it comes to a recession as it did in 2008 even the most successful entrepreneurs face a challenge. This is the moment when well-run companies are separated from those, which could survive in a flourishing economy but do not possess the ability to overcome a serious crisis. Mostly it’s because of a lack of liquidity or structurally. That’s the kind of problems what only surface during a hard time. It is comparable to evolution. When we think about the catchphrase “Survival of the fittest”, which means that only the ones who are best adapted to their environment will remain in existence. The matter is identical to companies. If a business cannot adjust the way it’s been run in, it cannot survive. And a recession is no more than big challenge, which only the fittest businesses can master. If you are not prepared for that scenario, you will be gone by the end of the recession. And a whole bunch of companies is gone now.

Once a company is successful it probably has well-known products. Examples are Apple iPods, Coca-Cola, Dyson and many more. I want to focus on Apple for a moment. Do you really know what an iPod is? It’s a thing that plays the music from iTunes and stuff, right? Apple succeeds in making its product names synonymous to the original device. A lot of people don’t know the difference between an iPod and a MP3-Player. And no matter how long they try to find out the difference, they don’t come up with something. And the reason is that there is no difference. iPods are one specific branded product of MP3-Players, no more, no less. But some would even say they bought and iPod kind of thing when it’s in fact just an MP3-Player. The same is now happening to smart-phones. Ever since Apple has introduced their iPhone it more and more becomes a synonym for a smart-phone. People even asked me what kind of iPhone I have there, when I only had another touch screen mobile phone. Apple does a great job there and every company that accomplishes what Apple has accomplished with their brand can be extremely proud of itself. It takes a lot to make your product name a synonym to the product itself. Think about others who could not achieve this so far. No one talks about Vaios, Pavillions, ThinkPads. It’s either you have a MacBook or something else.

Another example is Google. To google has became synonym to doing an internet search. It’s even noted in certain dictionaries. All you need is Google; it’s as if Google was the internet. There are lots of products which people only know the product name and can’t remember what the actual product is.

There is even a Wikipedia article about generised products. Which contains the following list:

* Aspirin, originally a trademark of Bayer AG
* Butterscotch, originally a trademark of Parkinsons
* Escalator, originally a trademark of Otis Elevator Company[4][5][6]
* Heroin, originally a trademark of Bayer
* Kerosene, originally a trademark of Abraham Gesner
* Phillips-head screw, named after Henry F. Phillips
* Pogo for the toy Pogo stick[6][7]
* Thermos, originally a trademark of Thermos GmbH
* Tipp-Ex, originally a trademark of German manufacturers Tipp-Ex GmbH & Co. KG
* Yo-yo, originally a trademark of Duncan Yo-Yo Company
* Zipper, originally a trademark of B.F. Goodrich[6][8]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark

And here is another article about the same topic:

http://inventors.about.com/b/2006/01/29/when-a-brand-name-becomes-generic-genericized-trademarks.htm

Chapter I

It was a beautiful Saturday night out with friends. I, as always, enjoyed myself and was happy about the weekend, new people I meet and much more. But one thing ended my happiness abruptly. My two, good friends who visited me and whom I went out with were robbed. It was not a dramatic, life-threatening robbery in a dark alley of London but in the Cloakroom of the place we were at. Quite tragic, phones, wallet and keys were gone. And for me personally, my nice, little, black notebook was also in there and therefore gone. My precious notes which are worthless for anyone else since they only contain private thoughts, ideas and observations of mine which I sometimes share with people either on my blog or in real life. I was upset. Of course my friends also had every reason to be upset but I was too. It is not the financial loss that it would cause to buy a replacement, it is rather the content that was uniquely formulated when I experienced moments in my life in which I felt that I had to write them down because it would be worth remembering them later in my life. I loved the idea of using a notebook since I arrived in London. Pages I could fill with everything I like preserved for my future self. I imagined myself twenty years later reading my notes and remembering all the things I experienced from weird people I met to beautiful moments on a bench watching the sun set and the leaves fall from the trees marking the end of summer. All that was gone with my book. The chances to find it or that someone would care were nearly zero. The person who stole my friend’s bag probably did not aim to violate my privacy and yet it is an uncanny feeling that somebody else might be reading all the things I wrote. It was mainly for the memories that were gone which made me feel down. It must be like a photographer whose film was not put in correctly while he took pictures. Or, more probably, these days the memory card would be faulty by the moment you try to look at hundreds of pictures you took on your computer. You might remember it but it is still gone and gone forever. Only memories in everybody’s head are left.

Chapter II

Monday morning, London Central, thousands of people marching to work just like me. Still the bitter taste of loss but slightly better since I bought a new nice, little, black notebook. I was at work and received an email from somebody saying that he found my notebook on a window sledge in Covent Garden. A sudden and overwhelming feeling of elation filled my entire body. It was Karma, the universe helped me. Good people are so rare. I try to be one of those. I give things I find back even if there is an effort involved when doing so. It is mainly because I hope that in case I lose something, somebody will make an effort to give it back to me. And so it happened when I received that mail. Karma is real. I believe in that certain balance in the universe which evens out every deed regardless if good or bad. I just cannot believe how lucky I am. I have my notebook and notes which I should look after much better from now on.

Epilogue

One way or another, I will keep on writing in my blog and in my notebook. My notebook, however, has had its first travel through the streets of London and found its way back to me.

The end

It’s sad sometimes how young people in the western world, especially in the richer countries, let themselves go and live their live with a “fuck it all” or “I don’t care” attitude. I always attempt to encourage young people to learn and educate themselves. Everybody should use his abilities for the best and try to make the world a better place. Of course I am not suggesting becoming an ambassador or anything like a saint. What I am trying to get to is that by making the best out of yourself, you will make the world a better place automatically. You don’t need to do voluntary work if you don’t want to and you don’t need to join Green Peace. The only thing that matters to me is that you should live up to your abilities and the huge amount of options you are given today. People let’s say in Switzerland (yes, I live in Switzerland) can enjoy some of the best education in the entire world for a more reasonable price than anywhere else in the world. But what do people do in Switzerland, young bright minds start rising up against schools and just care for less important things than their future. Education is future. Without education there will not be any progress. Not all young people think that way of course. Nonetheless, the fact that many do is freaking me out. In other countries such as the former Yugoslavian countries the entire society seems somewhat numb. There is no future because there is no real educational system and subsequently many people lack a perspective. Young people can’t find work and waste their lives. Even if you were intelligent, you couldn’t find an employer. You would only go away to another country and start a new life. It’s tragic that it doesn’t matter a damn thing if you have master’s degree or nothing but you secondary school to show in your CV because there is no job for either of you that matches your qualification.

Education is the key and gladly in most western countries it is a matter of highest importance. You may be complaining about your school or university but that is just peanuts compared to the problems other societies are facing. While you complain that a letter has arrived with your name misspelled, people in other countries try to acquire new books and a classroom which is equipped at least with some usable furniture. Furthermore, no company is looking for people with skills. The reason is, that such companies neither can afford nor have the money to implement ideas of innovative people. What would be the point in employing such a person? The system is a vicious cycle. Young people do not get sufficient education and have no motivation since there is no perspective for them even though they may hold a master’s degree in a scientific discipline. Trust me this is not a situation you want to be in. I assume you live somewhere in Western Europe or the U.S., where education belongs to the foundation of a functional society.

If you are intelligent and/or willing to learn take the opportunity and get yourself to the next level. Achieve something. Be a maker. And always think of people who would wish to have the chance you have. Do not just take it all for granted since it’s absolutely not.

I think like like-minded people, that’s why I like them.

As funny as this sentence sounds which came up in my mind a few weeks back, it bears an important meaning to our everyday lives. I kept thinking about it and the more I thought about it the more I realised that it is very true.

We are surrounded by many people, at work, school, home and elsewhere. We also have friends. What kind of friends do we have? What are they like? Are they like you? Well, in my case I made a little discovery. When you think about your closest friends you either see that they are very like-minded or that they’re not. For me, my best friends are very different on all kinds of things. Nonetheless, we have certain stuff in common which connects us. You probably think now, what’s the point of the sentence at the beginning then or what’s the point at all? I am just getting closer to it. Think about a moment in your life when you were totally new in an environment. For example you entered a new study programme or started a new job. Loads of unknown people are in a room as you enter. As a new part of this community you will have to find your place. What is the first thing you do? I would say you check all people out and motion towards those who appear to be like you. Or probably people that are the way you would like to be.

At first you only expected to be accepted in the group as a part of them. Once you joined a group of people that have seemingly the same interests and opinions as you do successfully, you will start to make new friends. As time passes by you will get to know each other better and better. This will prove if  you were right or wrong at first glance. You will automatically stay with those people who share interests in order to establish a conversation. Someone may be just like you and shares your views or the person may be totally different. Normally, you would stick to those that are like you. Because you can talk to those people and get to know them. Even though it might be only small talk. Usually, you won’t stay with people that are totally different. Because no conversation, jokes or anything of that sort would develop from ordinary small talk. Later you will see that even someone who has tons of things in common with you will have different views on some things at some point. That’s completely normal. As you get to know people better you will see their flaws, background and realise you are not the same. That’s when friends start to broaden your mind and you start to discuss, argue and have fun. Those are moments when a friendship start to grow between people. We can’t have the exact same views on everything. We are different and those differences will surface sooner or later. Everything else would be very creepy and I would try to find out if he or she is a spy, stalker, illuminati or from outer space.

No matter how you meet someone, most of us will probably not even remember how they met some of their best friends, it is important that at first we were very alike. Then it turned out that those people we later call friends, have other opinions too. But still, they are our friends. Every friendship starts with a shared interest, style, opinion at a place where you meet for a reason. And yes, that’s basically everywhere. So, friends can be made everywhere and true friends will overcome even the biggest disputes about interests, styles and opinions.

1. Always write them down

That’s it basically. Nothing else is required. All you should need to do is remember it from the time it pops in your mind until the time you put in your notebook. Which brings me to a sub-point  or let’s just say:

2. Always have a notebook with you

Any idea, however important it might be, should find some space in your notebook. The sheer concretization of an idea in words involves not just loose thought to run around your mind but puts them in real words which you can follow up later on.

3. Work with your idea

You now have a notebook with ideas, thoughts, sketches and many other things you think about saved and preserved for the future. From now on, you can add, extend and question what you think at another point and develop it.

Usually, when you have an idea two things can happen.

a)      You forget it, which happens in most cases. Remembering it afterwards can prove to be highly difficult and a pain.

b)      You look it up in your notebook, which should make point a) obsolete since you’re reading this post.

I hope that this post pointed out the obvious and you know just as much as you did before.

Today was different. Tube services did not work obviously. It was shocking when I found out that Leyton station was closed entirely and most of the Central Line was not operating. Newspapers have warned citizens of the capital to be ready to face difficulties but no one really expected that it all would be sort of paralysed. For some people it seemed that bad for some it didn’t. The Evening Standard reported that the strike did not affect people as bad as predicted. Still, it took me double the usual time to get to work.

A good thing though is that all zombie commuters who just get on the tube, go to work, have lunch, work more, go home and watch telly were woken up of their trance. People had to start thinking about how to get to work. New streets were discovered as people attempted to arrive at work on time. It’s so easy to take everything for granted. When you look at it from that perspective it’s pretty good that there was a strike. People were thrown out of their routine which is good sometimes. Take the bike, boat or try even walking for a change. It’s not as you have to walk a marathon but a bit of walking won’t hurt.

On the other hand, people pay for a service and do not get it. Strikes are as far as I know mostly based upon either not accepting or not being able to understand a matter. Just like in France where people currently strike as well.

It is completely understandable that machines replace parts of our everyday’s life because it is more convenient. So, Oyster refill, renew, purchase machines replace people who sometimes sit around all day. Not all but many. Some won’t accept it. Especially, when you are affected yourself. You could even promise that they would be redeployed and trained to fulfil another function. This could for example be an implementation of 24/7 tube service during weekends. Loads of people would be needed for that and many would appreciate it enormously. You probably still will refuse to accept that you can be replaced by a machine and therefore protest.

Often people protest because the age of retirement is being raised. In France 60 will be replaced by 62 and that again in a couple of years will be updated to an even higher age. This is simply due to the fact that people are getting older. A government cannot pay their citizens if they life 10 years longer than 50 years ago. (Completely invented numbers which actually could be true but I was too lazy to look them up.)

Tomorrow, however, the strike will continue and I will enjoy it. I find new ways to work and since my boss told me that it is not bad if I came in later as a result of the strike I really don’t mind. People wake up! There are other things to worry about than arriving to work on time when over 7 million others have the same problem too. It will be tolerated; it is not your laziness. You should view it from an observers point rather than from a victim’s point of view. It is an opportunity you should seize and the best excuse to come late for work since you have all newspapers of London to prove it.

I grew up in a small village. Now, this village still is a small village and has slightly more than 3000 inhabitants. A lot of things have changed in the world and so many things have changed for me. While the village has also changed a bit, some people there haven’t. I mean young people who are supposedly modern and open for the world. But, sadly that is not the reality. I saw young people I went to school with a few days back and they did not seem to be grown-ups at all. They were the same childish, narrow-minded people they were 5 years ago. Why is that? In the meantime, I have worked with many different people, seen many different countries and learned things about many cultures in the world. I claim to be a grown-up now, who is open-minded. I am not the only one who has seen various parts of the world, many have but I’m interested in that small portion of the village which has not. Why are they the way they are? No matter if they are 20 or 30 years old. I’m not offending people’s intelligence or education here, it’s something entirely different. I’m wondering about it, nothing offending, right?

To get back to the narrow-minded part I have expressed above. Of course you can’t take it as a rule that young pupils are narrow-minded or anything. But quite a few are which is usual and not bad. I mean, first you get to know yourself. Afterwards you start becoming a part of a community. And there is quite a chance that you will spend your time with people with the same background and interests. What I want so say is, we don’t like anything that’s different, and at least this is the case at first. By the time we turn twenty or so, however, we should have let that barrier behind us and be open for all kinds of things and all sorts of people.

But what makes some people dropping this barrier? When you are little you ask why people look differently than you, no matter what ethnic group you belong to. Later you ask why other people’s names sound so strange and even later you ask why they say things that are not congruent to the view you were taught. I learned to accept views from others. I am not judging people by anything but what they do. I try to be free of prejudgements as good as I can. People I know very well are prejudiced and never stop to be. I’m not a saint, but I try to do my best.

After I gave this quite some thought I came to the following conclusion. People that stay at one place for their entire life cannot be anything else but judgemental. I am apologizing if someone feels offended since there are exceptions to everything. Still, referring to those I talked about at the beginning who are people who went to school in a village, they learned their profession in the same village and work at the exact same village for the rest of their days. Well, I can’t see how this could turn out any differently than to be narrow-minded to some degree.

On the other hand I know people who travelled the world and are very open-minded. But it doesn’t matter if you travel the entire world or just go for holidays in the South regularly. It seems to be highly recommendable to visit other countries and discover cultures in order to broaden your view on things. Observe and respect other traditions and bear in mind that people in a foreign country value them just as you do yours. Numerous women and men with who I had the pleasure to talk with about topics like racism, tolerance and such were not disrespectful but understood problems and conflicts very good. Thanks to those people’s time they spent with people who do not live in the village (the village becomes more and more a metaphor (and yes, I really should become a rapper)) they see why people act differently. Thus, it enables those open-minded people to find resolutions.

No one is born open-minded or narrow-minded. It’s how society shapes us and more importantly how much of a risk we dare to take and visit regions beyond the village. Once the border is crossed a new world of beautiful variety offered in an ocean of cultures and peoples are ready to be explored. A journey that enriches mind and soul can be taken by all of us; the question is only if we want to.

…see…no reason to be afraid

“Climate change will affect you.”

“Global warming is all faked.”

“IPCC are just a bunch of liars.”

“Glaciers will melt and cause major natural catastrophes.”

That is stuff you can read around the World Wide Web. Personally, I can’t tell who is lying or who is right. Probably both are partially right and wrong. Since I’m not an expert on that subject I do not claim to have a correct answer to questions and problems but I have some thought I would love to share.

One thing I have experienced in the past few years is that older people and by old I mean all people above the age of forty years (No offence!) are saying that they have never seen weather like this. Back when they were young it never rained that much, it was never that hot, storms were never that extreme and so forth. That’s what I hear from people everywhere in Europe. No matter if they are 40, 50 or 60 years old. Weather as it appears nowadays is completely new even to them. Judged by those opinions there is definitely something changing. Moreover, something is changing in a very alarming way. I will leave you to judge whether this is significant or not.

Secondly, a whole lot of people with high reputation all around the world are saying that global warming is a serious issue. Well, I’m not sure how much influence governments, companies and the illuminati have but I dare to doubt that so many scientists would give up their principles to a fake research results about global warming.

Furthermore, there is a highly important question. Is it caused by humans? Well, no matter if it is or not. Would not everybody and our own planet earth benefit if we stopped consuming and using so much oil and other fossil fuels? In my opinion, people should try to become more independent and switch to greener technologies not just for sake of our global climate but also for the sake of our own countries and their independence from others. Let me back up a bit and get to the point if it was caused by humans or not. Ever since the era of industrialisation mankind’s demands have risen enormously. We need more food, cars, water. Basically, we need more of everything. Therefore, it is my belief that all carbon dioxide, plastic and other waste must affect our climate. It would be naive to say it’s not. It’s basic physics, we cause a billion kilograms of CO₂ and the result we get is the so-called greenhouse effect. Others may beg to differ here and say that we are heading towards an ice age or that the world has always had its ups and downs. Still, if the change is natural, it may still be pushed by humans and that’s a problem which needs to be taken care of.

And here I am again, not knowing if it is all real or not. Not knowing if we can stop or avert it. Not knowing if all that green energy hype is helping. Maybe it is just a money-making, evil world that uses their citizens and makes them believe they have to buy so-called green products to save their environment. Companies always do that. On the other hand, I can look at it from the perspective of an engineer and say that R&D departments will achieve advancements in all kinds of fields only to make us a less wasteful world. This will push the envelope in science; companies will invest and thus create new jobs. That is all for good. And for all I know progress in that direction is good. What can I say, I’m not a pessimist.