“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.

As you probably could interpret from the title of this blog post I will write about London (UK). So, I’m living in London for the next couple of months and it’s going to be legendary. Before, however, several things need to be sorted out.

It was a lovely Thursday evening when I first arrived at Gatwick Airport. There was I and my luggage which was no more than it should be. 20 kilograms of clothes, stuff and more stuff. Basically, enough for anybody, anywhere and for however long. After my arrival I went to a good friend of mine who provided accommodation for the time needed to find a place on my own.

Starting to communicate a.k.a. get a SIM card

If you ever look for a flat in London you will need a cell phone and a SIM card. I only needed a SIM since I already posses a phone. Where do you get a SIM? Let’s say T-Mobile. I went to T-Mobile because it seemed quite a good offer I saw on the internet before I went to London. Unfortunately, I was informed that I needed a UK bank account for that. Thrilled and enthusiastic I approached HSBC Bank to open an account. I waited for a couple of minutes and was then served by an employee. Once more I didn’t succeed since I had no address yet because I was staying with my friend. In fact, I did not even know her address.  So I was fucked. It seemed like a vicious cycle.

No SIM without bank account, no bank account without address and no flat without being able to contact people.

I stepped out of HSBC and just opposite there was a Llyods Bank which charges you 6£ a day for unplanned overdrafts with your VISA debit card. I did not know that and don’t mind about it now but you should consider it if you ever think of opening a bank account in the UK. I went to Llyods Bank and for some reason the lady there told me that she couldn’t open my bank account without my employer’s contract. Again, I had no idea what to do. My first day in London almost ended without a result. I nearly couldn’t check anything in my checklist. Despite all the obstacles that were thrown in my way by destiny I didn’t even for one moment consider giving up. I approached another T-Mobile because I really needed a SIM card to be able to communicate. Such a basic need and those cold-blooded, competitive providers tell their potential customers to go away and open a bank account. And those even more cold-blooded banks telling me to go a get papers and a place to live. Anyways, I was again in a T-Mobile store and this time a much friendlier guy told me that I could not get that special offer I saw on the internet because it needs contract. He offered me a pay as you go SIM with internet booster that kind of stuff for a fistful of pounds. I was good to go. Relief spread through my body when I succeeded getting a SIM card. I was keen to continue my quest and open a bank account. I went to another Llyods Bank and a much friendlier woman was able to help me. She could open an account and needed no contract; even my workplace address was good enough. Simply splendid. I now had a SIM, bank account and was ready to seek for flats.

Where are all the Brits?

Gumtree, easyroommate, spareroom were my source websites to help me find a room. Gumtree in particular is fantastic. It’s well-known and hundreds of ads are posted every day. I don’t have much money that’s why I was looking for a cheap room in a flat share or house share. My budget was about 350£ which is not a lot. I’m talking about 350£ per month, not per week. It’s so exciting to look for flats in London. You’re sometimes scared, wondering, feeling awkward or just like a place. Which place you take depends on your budget and your interests. I wanted to be with at least some British people who I can talk to and improve my English. 7.5 million people live in London but I honestly can’t tell where the English people are in London. I’ve been to 6 flats in 6 days, all in different parts of the city and only 2 were not occupied by Uzbekistanis, Italian, French,  Japanese or Indian people. I’m not xenophobic I was just really wondering where the heck the people were that supposedly live in this country. At long last, I found a flat and it’s a great place. Doesn’t cost me much more than expected, it’s close to work and comfortable.

Silent pilgrims in corporate uniform

My first day at work was interesting. Interesting is neutral. Many impressions shape my first day. I was still at my friend’s place and I used to walk over London Bridge for the first couple of days which is quite cool. It starts at about 8 am when you see people in suits heading towards Bank. Thousands from all sides. Fat, skinny, white, black, small, tall, short, good-looking men and women in their suits march towards those huge, lifeless, concrete building owned by banks and insurance companies. So was I.

It’s fascinating that amongst all those people still almost everyone manages to be alone. No matter how stuck the tube is, no matter how close you site besides someone in the bus, people just wouldn’t talk to you. If you ever want to be alone and not disturbed go to Europe’s largest city, you will get more privacy than in any godforsaken village.

That was the first post of many to come. I already have had loads of other adventures but 1000 words is enough for now. Next time I will start an experiment. Talking to people in the tube.

ALERT! It’s the Bible. SPOILER ALERT! Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen the movie yet. SPOILER ALERT!

So, let’s start. I have just seen “The book of Eli”. A film starring Denzel Washington as Eli on his godly journey heading West where he is supposed to find a save place for his King James Bible. But let me provide you with some more background. It’s set in the U.S. in a post-apocalyptic future where people can’t read and the entire world heritage is lost. Except for some people in the West who collect and try to preserve it and re-establish the society with its former knowledge and education. Eli is on his quest from east to the west (I should become a rapper) and he is always carrying the Bible with him. That’s more or less the story. If you want to know the rest of it check out Wikipedia or download the movie from some piracy site if you’re not up to paying money for that movie.

Anyways, what disturbs me about the movie is not only that it lacks a real background story which offers viewers insight to the cause of the catastrophe. It is rather the Bible itself. Why did they choose the Bible? I mean really. I can’t see why that book would be any more important than an encyclopaedia or “Being nice for dummies”. The film is well-made in terms of its martial art scenes and its realistically appearing special effects. Yet it lacks a good story and an objective.

If the world ended up that badly I would rather care about a book which explains basic engineering to build new machines or a book on how to grow plants and food. This is essential and not the Bible. I hope I am not offending any religious people who read my blog. But no one reads it anyways, so what the hell. The bible is the source and cause of many wars that are made nowadays. Of course it helps people to get on with each other and teaches basic rules how people ought to behave. It’s the base upon which laws in the western world are based on but these rules can be taught differently as well. If the world was at such a state as it’s in the movie, I definitely would not start again by teaching rules from the Bible. I would teach rules neutrally and not make the same mistake all over again.

While I’m writing this, a question pops in my mind. What are the right rules? Who decides that? Is there a perfect summary of those rules in some kind of book? Who wrote that and why is that person right? Yes, maybe there would be war again and groups that separate and change the rules as they like. Perhaps new religions or followers of certain rules would be created. Damn. It’s difficult. But I would at least give it a try. Creating a new world without religious bias, a world whose rules are based on common sense and not on stories from the olden days must be at least worth a try. When we cut it down to the bones the rules are more or less the same no matter who writes it and which religion it is.

I shouldn’t really write about religion because that’s usually one of those taboo topics such as politics, racism, American patriotism and the list goes on.

Hi y’all

I have just watched that new film Shutter Island starring Di Caprio. Firstly, don’t worry I’m not going to spoil the entire plot with the end you would have never expected, I mean who comes up with such a script. The guy is called Scorsese and I hope I just spelled that correctly.

Anyways, that movie is remarkable in terms of the tension that is being built throughout the whole film. I literally did not get up once for over two hours. The movie is shocking and lacks truly no thing except maybe for a better audio line, AC3 sucks.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beEm-fgU5sQ

I imagined being in such a creepy place and just couldn’t stop thinking about it. What if I were in such a place completely sane and suddenly everybody says “your nuts”, “you belong here”, “you must stay here”, “you are a danger for society”. Mental illness facilities like that one are absolutely scary and I have no intention of going in there at all. I always imagine people who were lobotomised or drugged so that they are not capable of expressing themselves anymore. Such things just scare the hell out of me. Aren’t feeling everything we got? Everything is linked to our brain and if our brain gets mashed up by hardcore drugs what is it that remains?

A lot of films have been released during the last10 years,  informing the audience that they will be replaced by machines.

Think for example of…

I Robot: Will Smith sees that we trust in something highly intelligent and do not expect anything bad, suddenly it turns against us.

Surrogates: latest film starring Bruce Willis as a  policeman in a world where we all sit at home and have our surrogates out there in the real world.

Here is the trailer of Surrogates, so you are able to see my point a bit more clearly maybe.

Where is that leading? I mean in the real world.

We already experience huge changes which originate from the internet and improvement in science. Machines take over human jobs and leave unemployment in certain niches. On the other hand it also makes companies more profitable as machines work and work and work and will not stop unless you make them to.

What else could happen?

I thought to myself, what if AI (Artificial Intelligence) was successfully implemented? Machines would be quite equal to humans wouldn’t they? What defines us? Is it our logical thinking? Is it our ethics which machines wouldn’t have possibly? Well, I guess that Stalin had no ethics as well and yet he was a human being. A rapid cycle would start and machines would improve themselves rapidly. We – humans – would be useless, machines could live on their own. No need for someone to program them….

Yes, I know…boring.

But I just thought about it…what if…are we that far away of such an achievement in science as AI?

However…see you next time…

Hi y’all

Some of you maybe know the rap and rock band RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, however, they are currently rocking UK charts. This is due to an initiative that was initially started on Facebook. It all started in the year 2005, when the first winner of the UK’s version of “American Idol” or “Germany seeks the next superstar” called X-Factor won the contest and was number one during Christmas Eve. Ever since it has been that way but now, those boring pop ballads really started to suck and it is time for a proper dose of anarchy.

At the moment RATM has sold a few more singles that Joe McElderry who is the winner of this year’s X-Factor. Now RATM is enjoying a revival of their rebellious music. Their single which was released 1992 “Killing in the name of” is on the way to the top of the UK charts.

Even the BBC wanted to interview RATM and have them live on air. It turned out to be a fiasco for BBC’s censorship as they always try to avoid swear words and any other kind of offending language. Like FUCK for example. But everybody knows that RATM is not a band that will be censored easily. Despite the BBC demanding the band not to use any offending language, they did anyway. But just check out the video below!

Here is a short extract from an interview with Beatles star Paul MacCartney about what is going on in the UK music business.

“Everyone expects Joe to do it. If he goes to be Number One then good luck to him. He’s just some kid with a career ahead,” McCartney said. “I’ve got nothing against that, but it would be kind of funny if Rage Against The Machine got it because it would prove a point.”

Speaking of all the stuff we are able to download on the internet. I have another thought I would like
to share with you all.
Nowadays, we are able to download all kinds of music, movies and TV-series from the internet without
a much effort but do we have time to consume all that?
We collect and chase just like our pre-historic ancestors did. Teenies download movies even in high definition
and create a comprehensive collection of movies but most of those teenagers do not have enough time to watch it
all.
Moreover I suspect that it is not only the case with movies and so on but with books, Wikipedia, and learning material
in general as well. In today’s society we have access to almost everything we would like to know. But who is
able to apply that knowledge in practice.
I guess there are not many people who have the capability to consume all they want. There are rather people who do not have sufficient time to learn whatever they wish.

So, what shall we do?

I must say, I do not know. But if you have ever wondered, where it all comes from, check the video below.

Hello my dear reader

I’ve been thinking about quite a lot of things recently. My thoughts were especially cruising around that whole debate about internet downloads and so on and so forth. It seems to be a never-ending discussion. The thing is, people download all kinds of content from the internet and do not feel obliged in any way. We do not care about an artist nor a film director or an actor.

You maybe think: “Why should we?” Celebrities wear bling and drive Bentleys; we should not give a single penny of our little money. Though, there are perhaps cool bands making cool music in a garage in Melbourne or there may be a rapper rhyming like the next 2Pac in a New Yorker underground club.  These artists need to be supported, why wouldn’t you buy their CD?

Let’s say you live somewhere in the middle of Europa, how on earth could you possibly know a band in Melbourne or a rap artist in NY? The answer is simple: Internet. Most musicians I listen to are not superstars and I only came across them while I surfing the net looking for artists making similar kind of music I already listen to. Then I download it.

Two things happen then. Firstly, I decide whether I like the music or not. Secondly, I have the music I want. There is no reason to spend more time looking for an internet shop which sells that CD. Furthermore, there is no need to wait for delivery of that CD. CDs are inconvenient anyways.

A lot of people may not like this attitude but it is what happens on uncountable computers around the world. Bosses of major music labels in particular do not like people like me, who download music freely. They are afraid to lose their job because they realise that their job is useless.

Nowadays, an artist can put his music on his webpage and offer his work as a free download. This has a bunch of effects. On one hand his music will be distributed freely across the internet and on the other hand the artist has taken care of his marketing. No need for the middle-man at the major label company. Exactly, that is why MGM and Universal want to get rid of Rapidshare.com and ThePirateBay because they are platforms which act as a new middle-man with the little difference that they do not take the most part of the artist’s sales.

Then, you probably think, how an artist could earn money by offering his work freely on the internet. That is the point, where all his fans he has on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace come in. If that artist is good and a talent, making good music or whatever, people will come to his concerts, they will buy his t-shirts and other merchandising stuff. That is what fans do; they want to express their admiration for someone. That is exactly the way how artists should earn their salary. Eliminating the unnecessary middle-man and promoting themselves free of charge on the internet.

There is so much more I could say but I’ll save that for another post.

Almost forgot a video. Here we go, with an introduction to fines given in different countries if you download music from the web.

A friend has reminded me to write another blog entry and I am glad that he did so. Because I was so busy lately that I couldn’t catch a break and write something.

But here we are now…and I would very much like to ask something.

Have you ever tried to think about something and could just not come up with it? I do think so. It is just that we do not remember things very well sometimes. Like names of people we only met once or when if we forget to buy milk on the way home.

But then, after a few minutes of thinking what else to write in my post I thought of something completely different. I asked myself, what the difference may be between the words remind, remember, recall and came to the following conclusion.

To remind means that someone or something is bringing something to your mind that you maybe would forget without it.

Example: I’m so glad that my mother reminded to ask my teacher for a reschedule of my math exam.

To remember means that a have to remember something on your own and not by any outside circumstance. Or if you maybe are not able to remember something then you cannot recall it. We maybe remember a lot of things but we by far cannot recall all of them at command.

Example: I just remembered that I haven’t locked the car this morning.

To recall means that you remember of something and tell other about it.

Example: As far as I can recall he was not very polite the last time you have seen him.

Finally, as always a little Youtube related to my post. It’s a song by Jack Johnson in which he sings about a girl and his love.

“Do you remember when we first moved in together…”, so he askes her if she is able to recall her memory.

Or in this video you will hear Audioslave singer Chris Cornell singing that things around him don’t remind him of anything.

This short scene is a very well-known one from the cult film PULP FICTION. Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta want the suitcase of their boss back from those guys. But as it’s a Quentin Tarantino movie it’s very special one and the dialogues are just really crazy sometimes.

“Hamburgers, the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast”

The mention what a quarter-pounder cheese is called in France and he says it’s called a Royal with cheese. The reason is the metric system which has not quarters or inches or anything like that everything is decimalised.

In the U.S. there are pounds as a measure for weight or inch for 2.54 centimetres of the metric system. Today we still use inches to describe the size of screens for example. A 42 inch LCD.

By the way, the word “fuck” is used 271 times in that movie.

Vocabulary:
smart = intelligent
beverage = something to drink