I've been trying to keep up with work (somewhat successfully) lately, so I have had less time to blog. I do have some thoughts on the politics of the moment, but I may save them for later. Instead, I'll offer seven quick takes on stuff I find interesting.
1. A friend from high school tweeted this article on a re-working of email by AOL that caught my attention. Email has become a chore because of all the unneeded stuff, and AOL is trying to simplify it for us. You don't have to join AOL to use the service, so I thought I'd share the article here -- it's in beta testing now but may be open to other people soon: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671036/aol-might-just-have-invented-emails-next-ui-paradigm#1
2. Another website I find interesting is Medium. (http://medium.com). The ideas it contains sound interesting if a bit vague, but I like their idea that "quality begets quality." Not sure if it will go anywhere, but I'm hoping it will.
3. This will seem random, but Medium led me today to "The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe" that opened in Berlin in 2005 (New York Times review here http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/arts/design/09holo.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0). This memorial did not exist when I studied in Berlin in 1995, but I remember there being discussions of whether and how to memorialize the Holocaust in Berlin at that time. The problem with at least one existing memorial in Berlin, Neue Wache, or the "Memorial to the Victims of War and Tyranny," was that it tended to conflate the victims with the perpetrators -- in other words, it was impossible to tell from the memorial whether it was a place for mourning the loss of life caused by the Nazis, or the loss of life in general, including those who joined the Nazi party (link to a European site with some history of the museum here: http://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/1424/Neue-Wache). The new memorial is abstract, and its title and information center make clear that the site is a memorial for the victims of the Nazis, but I wonder if the same criticism will eventually be made of the site. I want to experience this new memorial myself someday.
4. 1995 was the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, so there were plenty of events around Berlin during that time discussing the war and its impact on German culture. I attended a few of them as part of an oral history project I had to do for my German language class, and I still remember one of them. It was held at an anti-war museum featuring a huge photo of a man with his jaw destroyed by a bomb or some violent event. I didn't understand a lot of the German that was spoken around me at that time, but I did my best to participate in the event, and we sat in a circle, Kumbaya style, so I couldn't avoid participating a little. Here's a link to the museum where the event was held, I think: (http://www.anti-kriegs-museum.de/english/start1.html). It's a unique memory to me of participating in something historic but also distinctly aimed at peace.
5. Sorry to get lost in memories of Germany -- back to today. The Avengers is on the Blu-ray player today. M. is sleeping beside me. She had a bit of a rough night. It's a great movie, though. I don't think I'll get tired of watching it (or half-watching it while I do other things, more like).
6. OK, so I can't resist a little politics -- as a left-leaning voter, I am disappointed that Gov. Romney seems to have gained momentum in a tight election this year. Still, I told M. the other day, if Pres. Obama represents the status quo, he doesn't deserve to be re-elected. His only argument would then become that the other guy would make things worse. He may win on that argument, but usually, Presidents have to create a compelling argument about the future. Pres. Obama's vision for the future hasn't been clearly articulated, but then neither has Gov. Romney's. Gov. Romney is running as the "generic Republican" choice, not even bothering to explain how his budget plan works.
7. We didn't watch the whole first debate, and only got to see 5 minutes or so of the second debate, so I'm hoping to tune in to the third debate on Monday. Unfortunately, I have a meeting that evening, so I may miss it.
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