Barbara Ehrenreich in the NYTimes: Their George and Ours:

“But it is the final sentence of the declaration that deserves the closest study: ‘And for the support of this Declaration . . . we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.’ Today, those who believe that the war on terror requires the sacrifice of our liberties like to argue that ‘the Constitution is not a suicide pact.’ In a sense, however, the Declaration of Independence was precisely that.”

I wanted to have a barbecue today and make some burgers in the backyard for a few friends. It didn’t come to pass unfortunately due to the shitty weather we have been having here for the past 2 weeks. Rain, rain, and more rain. Sometimes it clears up for 5, 10 minutes but then it starts again. I looked at the forecast yesterday before making my final decision as to whether or not i should go through with it. The online weather forecast showed three little dark clouds with animated lightning and raindrops. So I decided against it. Naturally the weather outside is wonderful with the sun shining. We’ll see how long that lasts though.

Spice it up!:

“The Currywurst: It’s a favorite pick at the office cafeteria and considered Germany’s answer to the otherwise American and Turkish dominated fast-food landscape. “

Sonic Youth on KCRW found via Metafilter. It’s a nice set so far. I’m 10 minutes into it. rawk.

Imbissdeutsch für Fortgeschrittene: Vergessen Sie “der die das”. Es gibt nur “den”.

Advanced Imbiss German: listen and repeat.

Last night M and I went to the laundromat to do what most people do in laundromats and there was this slightly crazy guy Ingo who was entertaining us with his stories of traveling around, being thrown out of places and generally getting in and out of trouble. He was pretty interesting but there were some moments as he was going way out there into interstellar overdrive that M and I gave each other the raised-eyebrow look. When our clothes were dry and we were making our way towards the door he gave us a passport photo of himself as some sort of remembrance. It is now on the fridge.

I don’t think I’ve even mentioned yet that the European Soccer Championship is going on right now in Portugal. Unfortunately, Germany, has already been eliminated. I’m not a big fan but the game between England and Portugal was pretty good. Last night as we were walking home from the laundromat we could tell somebody scored because we suddenly heard cheers and screaming coming out of the different houses all simultaneously. It was pretty cool.

BBC NEWS | Business | German stores run out of change because I have it all. Ever since the Euro has been introduced my pockets are full of coins. I get them back as change all the time but as soon as I get home I put them into my Sparschwein and there they stay.

The New York Times > Technology > AOL Engineer Sold 92 Million Names to Spammer, U.S. Says: I think it is time to bring back being drawn and quartered as a reasonable punishment. But just for spammers.

Ooooh, I hates spammers.

3 things:

AprilMayJune is on hold for now. We have no bass player on account of our previous one losing her shit, to put it mildly. It’s always the bass players that are teetering closest to edge. Hmmm. We had to cancel some big contest in hamburg and some other lucrative gigs because of our situation. The Lamest Ever!!! Oh well, that’s Rock and Roll.

Good news Flash, good news! I will be getting my own radio show here at the local Uni. It will either be a 1 or 2 hour program either once or twice a month starting either at 7pm or 9pm. I can definitely tell you that it will be in English on friday evening when no one is listening. No one that is until they feel my rock and roll machine blasting them through their radio. More definitive plans coming soon. As of now the show has no name. I’m taking suggestions. email me. nate (“a” with the circle around it) chillmost.com. Entries should not directly allude to my nationality or cuddliness. I’m not scared of anti-Americanism, I just think that something like “The American Show” is teh suxx0r. I anxiously await all 1 one your entries.

I’ve started redesigning this site about 6 times. It needs to be done from scratch. I need to go through the archives and sort out some formatting issues that came up when Blogger decided to go messin’ around. I’m getting close to something. I’m going to hire an armed thug to hold a gun to my head so I will be forced to get the shit done.

M and I had quite a crazy weekend. It was Stadtfest here in Lüneburg last weekend and it got a little out of control. I would report specifics but they are kinda patchy. Let’s just say our Friday started alright and involved lots of drinking, pubs, bars, a Schwulenkneipe, 3 last calls, Irish musicians, ex-convicts, Harleys, harmonicas, 19th century firearms, forbidden Nazi daggers and a sliced finger (mine). It all ended at around 5pm on Saturday evening. Whoa.

Think about it like this: This won’t hurt much from Terry Jones of Monty Python fame.

The March 6 memo, prepared for Mr Rumsfeld explained that what may look like torture is not really torture at all. It states that: if someone “knows that severe pain will result from his actions, if causing such harm is not his objective, he lacks the requisite specific intent even though the defendant did not act in good faith”.

What this means in understandable English is that if a parent, in his anxiety to know where his son goes after choir practice, does something that will cause severe pain to his son, it is only “torture” if the causing of that severe pain is his objective. If his objective is something else – such as finding out where his son goes after choir practice – then it is not torture.

Mr Rumsfeld’s memo goes on: “a defendant” (by which he means a concerned parent) “is guilty of torture only if he acts with the express purpose of inflicting severe pain or suffering on a person within his control”.

Couldn’t be clearer. If your intention is to extract information, you cannot be accused of torture.

Glad this was made clear after I moved out of my parents house. Look out Cari and Ben.