Sketchlist

We're heading back to the US soon and these days we're slowly packing up our things. Part of the process includes putting up the few items that are worth selling (printer, guitar, etc) on various Craigslist type websites and listserves. So far we've had a few responses, but somehow the combination of poor grammar, use of all capital letters, fondness for cashier's checks, and requests for overseas shipping seem to indicate that these are less than scrupulous characters. Here are some samples:

i m glad to hear from u,i m a student in UK and i will really appreciate if u can made the transaction with me....so kindly give me all necessary info like your full name to be on the check,your postal address your,postal code,your mobile phone number for easier communications to send the cheque i have with me .......it will cover your payment and shipping.........nice to hear from u again.

thanks
john


HELLO, AM JUST CHECKING ON THE ITEMS ON THE CRAIGSLIST AND FORTUNATELY
I CAME ACROSS YOUR ADVERT AND I AM SATISFIED BY THE DESCRIPTION OF THE
ITEM...
I WILL LIKE TO KNOW THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE ITEM WHETHER GOOD OR BAD..
PLEASE WHEN REPLYING MY MAIL ATTACH RECENT PICTURE OF THE ITEM SO I CAN SEE
IF AVAILABLE... ALSO LET ME KNOW YOUR BUSINESS TERMS AND CONDITION...
I WILL BE HOPING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON


Hello,
I am very much excited to hear back from you.I lived in the UK.The guitar is meant for my daughter studying abroad.I will take it at your price.I want to know the method of payment you will like,but i prefer paying you with a certified check.The payment will include the shipping funds.Let me know if you accept the offer by sending me the necessary information to get the payment across to you.
My regards,
Emmanuel

(After responding to 'Emmanuel' with a polite message indicating our preference for face-to-face interactions, cash, etc. we got this back:)

why will you worry about the shipping.I should be saying that.!! I have a reputable shipping compnay that handles my consignment neatly without blemish.So let me worry about that.You just have to worry on how you get the payment on time by giving me the information i requested from you.Thank you for your concern.
Emmanuel

Swede shot

I don't really know what hockey is, but this is pretty funny. Also, here's a picture of an ice hockey team from 1921, taken from wikipedia:

Happy bday Baron

A few days ago it was Georges-Eugène ("Baron") Haussmann's 200th birthday (he's dead now). Haussmann's the guy who completely redesigned Paris back in the 1860s with the wide streets and boulevards that define the city today, in general solidifying the idea that the planning of a city could have a significant political and social effect on its citizens. Dropping Haussmann's name was a popular thing to do back in college, I guess partly since you could say things like 'Haussmannisation'. He was also a big part of the great city planning course that I took as a senior. Ananya Roy was the instructor, one of the best professors I had in my 4.5 years at Berkeley (also didn't hurt her appeal among some of us that she came out of the Castells school of thought).



For an account of Haussmann's influence among contemporary city planning check out this great article.

Out of gas

I was listening to NPR the other day as usual the topic was the struggle for economic recovery and in particular Obama's recent budget proposal. In this segment they were focusing on criticisms of the proposal and I figured I might learn something about the complicated economic forces at play. But one after another all we got from the Republican skeptics were empty metaphors and (literally) shit jokes. I could only remember a couple:

Senator Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) provided this technical breakdown of the Obama budget proposal on a morning news show:

It is as if you were flying an airplane and the gas light came on and it said 'you have 15 minutes of gas left' and the pilot said 'we're not going to worry about that, we're going to fly for another two hours.' Well, the plane crashes and our country will crash and we'll pass on to our kids a country that's not affordable,"

Meanwhile Governor Haley Barbour (R-Mississippi) delivered the weekly Republican address last Saturday and had this to say:

While families are cutting back, President Obama has proposed a massive government spending spree. It reminds me of how one of our old senators used to joke about the federal budget. He said it was like a newborn baby: insatiable appetite at one end and total irresponsibility at the other.

Ok I do think that last one is pretty catchy, but do either of these comments really qualify as economic analysis? It's also fun to think about variations on the themes, e.g. what if you were driving a car and the light says you have 15 minutes of gas but you still drive on? You run out of gas and have to walk to the nearest garage and then all the way back with a gallon of gas - still pretty annoying!

Still here

Hello readers,
It's been a while but now I'm back! I could sense the frustration out there among all of you with your Google Readers set to notify you of my next posting.

A lot has happened in the >6 months since I last wrote anything on this. I guess the biggest deal in terms of global paradigm shifts is that the USA finally did something right. It was a good time to be in Berlin during those days following the election, they really love Obama here and I could feel like I was a part of all that (I voted absentee).


I also got some new glasses.

I went back home for the holidays, stopped off on the east coast for a few days and then LA for a couple weeks. While back in the states I experienced some of the expected (reverse) culture shock. I couldn't find an address in New York since I forgot about that even and odd on the opposite sides of the road thing. When I overheard English being spoken on public transportation (they have that in NY) my first instinct was always that these were some American tourists and I wonder what they're doing here?

I took a bus down from NYC to DC and on the way down overheard a conversation that particularly brought me home though. I'm not saying that Americans are necessarily any less educated than the Europeans but they do say some funny things. Sitting next to me was a couple (A and B) and they were talking about the weather, since it was kind of cold:

A: So how do they measure the wind chill factor anyway?
(this is a good question actually, I also wanted to know)
B: Yeah good question. But I mean, how do they even measure *temperature*?
(um, I think I know this one)
A: I don't know. Well, I know how they measure *Fahrenheit* temperature, but not sure how they measure Celsius.
(eh?)
B: Whatever, no one uses Celsius. It's only for dorky scientists like you.

Ich habe keinen Bock

Last night Germany played Turkey in the semifinal game for the Euro 2008 football/soccer tournament (think World Cup but just for Europe). This game was important for Berlin because lots of Turkish people live here, especially in our part of town and neighboring districts. All week people have been waving flags out their windows, balconies, cars, storefronts, etc. The respective displays of patriotism have been pretty well represented on both sides, and I even saw a flag that was Germany on one side and Turkey on the other - very multikulti but confusing when the sun is shining from behind.





Of course I don't really care who wins the Euro 2008 European Cup (the US once again did not make it in) but it's fun to pretend to watch, and at least drink a beer in the warm evenings with everyone else. We watched this game at a very crowded beer-garden style bar in Kreuzberg by the Spree. The crowd turned out to be mostly pro-Germany and I guess I was kind of hoping for a Turkey upset.

Turkey scored first in something like the 20th minute and Germany soon evened things at 1-1 with a goal from the dyed-blonde Schweinsteiger (which I'm pretty sure means 'pig rider' although it doesn't seem to phase anyone here). Then in the second half each team scored another goal on what seemed to be mistakes by the goalkeepers. It looked like the game was heading to overtime (I went to buy another drink) but in the last minute of regular time the guy from the advertisements in the U-bahn scored a goal and won the game. It was all very exciting.



Actually one of the best parts of the game for me was when the TV signal cut out and sent the whole crowd into an uproar. I guess the folks in Austria (where the game was being played) lost power and blamed it on the weather. It was hard to get too excited when the goals were scored but it was easy to see why that was amusing.

Another good thing about watching German soccer is that the coach is kind of a hipster.

So anyway, Germany is in the finals and they place Russia/Spain (decided in a couple hours) on Sunday in the EURO 2008 championship match. I can't wait!

Re the title of this entry: I'm told it's funny if you speak German and Turkish.

words of wisdom

I just got back to Berlin after a couple weeks in Paris and then Stockholm. It was mostly work-related conference travel, but I did get to explore the cities a bit. I'll try to write something interesting and maybe put up some pictures at some point (at least from Paris, the camera broke before I got to Stockholm), but for now I will just say that I heard this song in a Stockholm bar/club.



I've been humming it to myself ever since.