8.10.2009 by Traveler.

You may have noticed, I have a thing for heroes of various kinds and colours. Therefor, I dedicate this entry to the memory of Dominik Brunner. If you do not know the name, look him up. He died for the values he upheld. He was a decent, upright citizen, nothing more, nothing less.

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26.9.2009 by Traveler.

Although this time it’s rather tongue-in-cheek and taken from Inglorious Basterds, one of the best movies of the last 5 years and the best I’ve seen and most fun since The Return of the King.

PROPAGANDA!

And the whole plot is so weird and the alternate history created so bizarre, it’s almost Dieselpunk on acid.

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26.8.2009 by Traveler.

Edward “Ted” Kennedy, February 22, 1932 - August 25, 2009.

The Lion has left the Senate.

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30.7.2009 by Traveler.

111 years ago today, Otto von Bismarck died. A controversial, reactionary but very influential and effective politician.

Otto von Bismarck *April 1st,  1815 in Schönhausen; † July 30th  1898 in Friedrichsruh near Hamburg

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26.7.2009 by Traveler.

The last British soldier who fought in the Great War has passed on. Let us remember.

Let us not repeat history.

And also, let me take this opportunity to remeber the last soldier of the German Army who died:

Dr. Erich Kästner, who was born on March 10, 1900, died on January 1, 2008, he joined the army in 1918. Us Germans do not remember our veterans, I do.

So this one is to all our veterans and forgotten heroes, they died just like our friends in France, Britain and Russia did, they deserve to be remembered.

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17.7.2009 by Traveler.

Just another footnote in the great, often not so great and most often downright dirty history of mankind: The United States of Greater Austria.

If it had not been for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, this now unfortunately very fictional country would have risen like a Phoenix from the carcass of the rotting Habsburg Monarchy of Austria Hungary.

Here’s a map (please click the map for the article):

I wonder what Europe would look like today if Archduke Franz Ferdinand had become Emperor, we might still have an Austrian and a German Emperor right now… On the other hand, I would propably not be friends with Princess Stephanie Viktoria of Prussia, which I am now…

Oh yes… The strange flows of the time stream and where its currents carry us…

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8.7.2009 by Traveler.

A friend of mine recently pointed an article on the Spiegel website out to me which concerned some rather sad and weird legal concerns hailing from the colonial era.
The whole article is just one click away. A very strange story in deed.
It is so sad when you look back now: We Germans did some vile things in Africa, so did the British, French, Belgians, Italians, Arabs… And the Americans did it to the Amerindians and the list goes on… It almost seems like that colonialism brings out the worst in a people… Anyway: The article had some rather interesting images accompanying it, they are pure propaganda, but still, for a steampunk with a uniform fetish and a leaning towards militarism, some are quite interesting:

 and than there’s this splendid carricature, which sums it up quite nicely:

 (the captions translates somewhat like this (the native speaks): May I introduce the old idols to the new idols)

And there were also (of course) propaganda images done by the British (and “Zulu” is one big propaganda movie, anyway):

 As a steampunk at least, you can sort of wonder what the world would have been like if we actually had acted in a civilized way in or colonies and not made a mess of it that left Africa in particular but other parts of the world as well (South America, parts of Australasia) in a sorry state and some issues will take a long time to resolve which are rooted in this period.

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6.7.2009 by Traveler.

Well… I guess this post could develop into some sort of a rant, so I better start with what I consider seriously good news:

The German Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr, finally has a medal of valor again. The official statement on the Bundeswehr Homepage is as such:

Bundeskanzlerin Dr. Angela Merkel und Verteidigungsminister Dr. Franz Josef Jung haben vier deutsche Soldaten mit den ersten Ehrenkreuzen der Bundeswehr für Tapferkeit ausgezeichnet. Bei der feierlichen Verleihung im Bundeskanzleramt war auch der Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr, General Wolfgang Schneiderhan, zugegen.

Hauptfeldwebel Jan Berges, Hauptfeldwebel Alexander Dietzen und Hauptfeldwebel Henry Lukacs sowie Oberfeldwebel Markus Geist haben während ihres Afghanistaneinsatzes weit über das normale Maß von Tapferkeit hinaus auch unter Einsatz von Leib und Leben gehandelt.

Am 20. Oktober 2008 war ein deutsches Einsatzfahrzeug während einer Patrouille südwestlich von Kunduz Ziel eines Selbstmordattentäters. Bei dem Anschlag sind zwei deutsche Soldaten gefallen, zwei weitere wurde verwundet. Fünf afghanische Kinder wurden durch die Explosion getötet, ein weiteres verletzt.

Die vier Soldaten handelten geistesgegenwärtig und reaktionsschnell und verlegten zum etwa 500 Meter entfernten Anschlagsort. Dort versuchten sie, trotz des brennenden Fahrzeugs und explodierender Munition, die Betroffenen – Kameraden und afghanische Zivilisten – zu retten. Auch weitere Munitionsdetonationen hinderten die vier Soldaten nicht, ihre Bemühungen fortzusetzen. Ihr Verhalten war damit ein Beweis außergewöhnlicher Kameradschaft und Tapferkeit.

Das Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr für Tapferkeit wurde vom Bundesverteidigungsminister gestiftet und nach Genehmigung der Neufassung des Erlasses durch den Bundespräsidenten am 10. Oktober 2008 eingeführt. Es ist seitdem die höchste Stufe des Ehrenkreuzes der Bundeswehr und gibt der Einsatzarmee Bundeswehr die Möglichkeit, besonders tapfere Taten ihrer Soldaten im In- und Ausland zu würdigen.

And here is the image of the Ehrenkreuz für Tapferkeit:

And this is what Minister of Defense Jung said:

Heute ist ein wichtiger Tag für die Bundeswehr und für unser Land. Zum ersten Mal seit ihrer Gründung ist das Ehrenkreuz für Tapferkeit vier Soldaten der Bundeswehr verliehen worden. Ich danke Ihnen, Frau Bundeskanzlerin, dass Sie diese Auszeichnung persönlich vorgenommen haben. Sie setzen damit ein besonders wichtiges Zeichen für unsere Soldatinnen und Soldaten - in den Auslandseinsätzen, aber auch hier in unserer Heimat.

Ebenso bin ich dem Bundespräsidenten dankbar, dass er meiner Anregung gefolgt ist und diese Tapferkeitsauszeichnung für die Angehörigen der Bundeswehr genehmigt hat. Soldaten und Staat sind durch gegenseitige Treue miteinander verbunden. Dabei ist es die soldatische Grundpflicht „… der Bundesrepublik treu zu dienen und das Recht und Freiheit des Deutschen Volkes tapfer zu verteidigen.“ Das ist es, was unsere Soldatinnen und Soldaten geloben oder schwören.

Herr Hauptfeldwebel Berges, Herr Hauptfeldwebel Dietzen, Herr Hauptfeldwebel Lukács und Herr Oberfeldwebel Geist!

Sie alle haben Ihre soldatische Pflicht weit über das normale Maß hinaus erfüllt. Daher ist es wichtig und richtig, dass auch der Staat seinen Teil des Treueversprechens sichtbar einlöst.

Die heutige Auszeichnung ist eine besondere staatliche Anerkennung für das soldatische Dienen. Sie erfolgt im Namen aller Bürgerinnen und Bürger unseres Staates, für deren Sicherheit Sie sich unter großen Gefahren eingesetzt haben. Sie, meine Herren, sind durch Ihren Einsatz für Recht und Freiheit zum Vorbild für Ihre Kameradinnen und Kameraden geworden. Ich danke Ihnen für Ihre selbstlose und tapfere Tat und wünsche alles Gute und Gottes Segen.

And now for the rant and no apologies:

It is about time we Germans get rid of our almost genetic guilt complex about what we did two generations ago and start welcoming our armed forces back into society. They are doing a great jo, after all. We have had more than 50 years of peace now in Central Europe and Germany is highly regarded by the rest of the world. We are no longer the bad guys! I really have to concentrate not using explicit language here…

So, this new medal is a definite step into the right direction, however, it is far from being enough:

My dear “Master of Being Sorry for our History forever Magna cum Laude” friends out there, please take a  look at our nice French neighbours (and I have to sa, I have not encountered a single idiot French person so far…) and see what they do:

Miltary Parades

Monuments for War Heroes

A Legion of Honor

and the list goes on.

So, what I would really like to see here in Germany:

A military parade on the Tag der Deutschen Einheit and a public, very visible and central monument for all of our servicemen who lost their lives during while performing their mission. No matter if they fell on the battlefield or died due to accident.

Those are some of my thoughts and I am not afraid to voice them.

Oh and BTW: If anyone just might be pointing an accusing finger at me and call me a Nazi for not hating our armed forces: I think I was invited to more Pessach Dinners than any of you.

Have a nice day!

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25.6.2009 by Traveler.

You could also say that finally the gears and cogs (all not particularily well oiled) of the world wide financial sytem got going.
In this case: Germany and Iceland at last found some kind of deal, which meant that

finally startded transfering money back from its frozen accounts to the German customers. This morning I saw that the money I had invested had returned.

So, what to do with it now:

1.  Most of it will be reinvested, I have thought about putting some into the Tagesgeld Konto offered by the Berliner Sparkasse, but this is just a thought.
2. I think I will get myself a nice, new shiny MacBook

And one final thing to keep it norse and steampunk:

Here’s a most marvelous image done by Adam Bray. Please visit his website.

Steampunk Thor

(click for larger image)

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16.6.2009 by Traveler.

Just one thing that came into my mind regarding the whole steampunk/dieselpunk/cyberpunk thing:

Some timeframes concerning the historical backgrounds of the corresponding punk settings:

Approximately 1870s - 1920s:

The Steampunk Aera

After all, it was the high time of Victorian and Edwardian Times, it was the lifetime of Verne and Wells and this is where we Steampunks draw our ideas and aesthetics from.

Approximately 1910s - 1950s:

The Dieselpunk Aera

(also: The Pulp Aera), yes there is an overlap.
The start of the pulp fiction area, the Golden Age of Science Fiction and also the time of both World Wars. Diesel and petrol replaced steam and technology moved on (what a blunt, unsophisticated summary).

Approximately late 1970s - ongoing:

The Cyberpunk Aera

with many things described in Neuromancer already existing in reality (the internet) or emerging.
I am not going into detail, we live in this area now, so why should I bother describe it? Just look around you!

Also: The original Punk movement also started in the 1970s.

So, we have a Punk-Gap of some 20 years, where there is no specific technology-related subculture.
My personal unverified ad-hoc theorie is the following:

The gap-space is the time of the space race. There was no need for a specific technology relatedsubculture in this time, because weird, arcane, cutting-edge technology was all the rage and everybody was really interested in the New Frontier of Outer Space.

Interestingly, cyber-culture has not penetrated all levels of society yet, as the space race focused the interest of every strata in society of the participating nations and power blocks. Well, within a generation at the latest, cyberculture will be everyday culture and Cyberpunk will be Mainstream Punk, what a weird thought in deed.

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