Gerhard Schröder (current German Chancellor) recently decided to dissolve parliament and call for new elections in the fall, essentially putting his own position at risk. Unlike in the U.S., a call for elections can be made at any time with the necessary approval from various governmental bodies. In fact, Germany has only held a scheduled election ( Read more... )

the sound of church bells at 9:30 and the sound of hundreds of people torn from bed, stumbling to the window, their limbs still heavy with the weight of sleep, slamming the window shut and cursing Christianity

there's this lexbian film thing going on right now. i'm impressed that a city of only 200,000 has enough interest to make such an event lucrative. anyway, last night i saw this movie goldfish memory which was pretty good. it was an irish film, irreverent and cute and with a lot of different relationship configurations and sexualities, but sort of ( Read more... )

I just purchased a really cool backpack for future backpacking trips and as an additional piece of luggage. Hooray! I feel guilty for getting such joy out of being a consumer, but I have been wanting a backpack for so long and it makes me really happy to finally have one. It even matches my hiking boots, but that is pure coincidence. Normally I go ( Read more... )

I told myself I wasn't going to take any more of these quizzes, but then I couldn't resist this one.

You scored as The Magic Earring Ken Dyke.
You're tough, mysterious and extremely butch. But you love who you are and often consider it a compliment when someone thinks you're a male.

The Magic Earring Ken Dyke
60%
The Stud
60%
The Femme Fatale
50%
( Read more... )

Two economists from the World Economic Forum recently conducted a study on the status of the gender gap in 58 countries. The report is an interesting read and can be found here. And because it is always important to be familiar with the source of the information, here is the Wikipedia article on the World Economic Forum.

a greasy kitchen on the west side of freiburg. a straight couple prepares lunch. the woman, blonde, model-thin, wearing a soft pink, faux velvet hoodie with tight, medium blue jeans, perfectly applied, pastel-toned makeup, pastel pink, spike heels, high voice tinged with a hint of a whine, bulgarian. the man, tall, muscular, slight beer paunch, ( Read more... )

ten bucks to anyone who can tell me why the freiburgers are setting off a huge fireworks display right now. most creative guess might also get a prize.

and now i am confused because my high speed connection is now magically working again. i am hoping it has something to do with the email i sent to the computer guy. okay, i am just going to hope that it keeps working and that this isn't a fluke. oh to be so much more computer savvy than i am.

my fucking internet is not working and i am pissed, because we now have a week of "vacation" and i know the problem is not going to be fixed until after this week. i'm back to fucking super expensive dial-up. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why can't things just work like they are supposed to? that means, don't take my reticence personally. i ( Read more... )