Let us pray…

I found this on the web a couple of days ago
…The Christian soldier has someone he takes with him besides his fellow soldier - Jesus. In time of need, we are taught to turn to Jesus, to let Him lead, guide, and direct our path….

Wait a second – “fellow soldier” – Jesus (?!). I never heard anything about Jesus being a soldier and going to war. Reading blogs of people from the USA some might get the impression that they are very religious people. Very often, they ask for prayers, sent to “their boys” in Iraq. Even George W. Bush prays, of course in front of the camera so that everyone can see him… Sorry, but I call this hypocritically. To go to war is the complete opposite of what Jesus tried to tell us. Read the bible again!

I would understand people who ask Jesus that the war is over, that no on is killed, not even those who are called enemies. That no more bombs are dropped and everyone can just go home. Thats the message Jesus left for us.

Congratulations guestbook spammers!

Dear visitors!

Well, someone who has a lot of time on his hand recently crashed my guestbook. Once again… As a matter of fact, he is a about the only one that signs anyway. While I don’t mind that kind of attention, I can’t allow explicit content in my guestbook. So, dear guestbook spammers, today is the last time the guestbook will be functional.

I encourage people that have to say something to send me emails. As for those who have been wondering about the removed articles: My blog crashed also and I had to delete a few recent articles. I will try to restore them, but eventually they are gone forever.

The ugly face of war

Just a couple of days ago, Kevin Sites, a cameraman working for NBC filmed the shooting of an unarmed wounded man lying in a Fallujah mosque. He is running a weblog at http://www.kevinsites.net and his discussion board is loaded with hate messages, calling him a traitor and terrorist, etc.

I wonder why people who write such messages, who probably live in a cosy home somewhere in the middle of the United States, are complaining and sending hate emails to someone, who is just doing his job. After all there is an ugly face of war, and Mr. Sites is capturing it. These people don’t want to see pictures of American soldiers killing defenceless people. They want the illusion that American soldier are the good people. But hey, wake up, there is no clean war. War will always contain killing, rape and torture.

Pervert this might sound and I hate that I have to admit it, but considering that Iraq is still a war zone, the soldier that shot the wounded men in the mosque has done nothing outstanding. Maybe he was just bored, maybe his best friend was killed the other day and he was seeking revenge. But this is what war is also about. Americans should be shown this “real face of war” with all the ugly side effects, day in and day out.

Why did this war start in the first place? Protect the freedom of the United States? What a freaking joke! What was Mr. Bush afraid of? That Sadam was building weapons of mass destruction. It doesn’t matter if Iraq had such weapons, as long as the United States has a couple of thousands nukes just waiting to be used. Oddly enough, not even a single “weapon of mass destruction” has been found in Iraq yet.

We all should be reminded when we go to a gas station to get some fuel that this is what people in Iraq are still dying for. US soldiers and all the soldiers from other countries in Iraq are there to secure economy interests of western countries and for nothing else.

Sweet home Alabama…

I decided to share one of my travel stories today. It was a weird situation, but when I heard the song "Sweet home Alabama" this morning I just had to think about it and smile. The following happened just a few weeks after September 11 2001. Back then I was on a three month trip, traveling around Australia and Thailand.

…I knew the Airport in Darwin, I had been there twice, but this time it was like hell on earth for me. I was waiting at the check-in counter, when a old men passed by, stopped, turned around, looked at me and said: “Where ever you go, you’re not going to make it”

How would you feel about something like that? I was confused, a bit scared, thought about the possibility to not go on the plane, looked at my right site and realized that three guys from Pakistan where standing beside me. I didn’t knew anything about those people, just that that they had passports from Pakistan, but it increased my fears a lot. I have nothing against people from Pakistan or any other country in the world (including Iraq and Afghanistan), but it was just not the right time to see them checking in for the same flight. To make this situation even worse, I switched on my CD player and the first song to start was “Sweet Home Alabama” (singer died during an airplane crash). But, as I’m typing this, sitting in the youth hostel in Bangkok, you should already know that everything went fine. I don’t believe in fate (but I was relieved when the plane finally landed in Bangkok), I don’t trust in old stupid men, I had a nice chat with the guys from Pakistan and I switched off my CD player.

Finally, I found the time to finish the Mickey-Mouse puzzle I started more then a year ago.

Me, my girlfriend and the gay surfer

About half a year ago I was in Mexico with my former girlfriend. It was a last minute decision and we booked the flight only 16 hours prior to departure. Well, things turned out very well for us and it was a very nice trip and there is this one funny story that I want to share with you.

Our first two stops were Mexico City and Acapulco and from there we took a bus to Puerto Escondido. Puerto Escondido was described as a remote beach-paradise by Lonely Planet. Unfortunately this couldn’t have been any further from the truth… But back to the bus ride. The bus was a mess, we where sitting in the last row, right next to the toilet and air-condition wasn’t working properly. So there was an incredible heat and terrible smell for almost the entire six hour bus ride. Luckily we never had to use the toilet…

I like to talk to foreign travellers and started to talk to the guy next to us, it turned that he was a student from Australia and going to Puerto Escondido to do some surfing. Somewhat two minutes into the conversation he told me that he was gay. I was a bit confused but nonetheless, kept talking to him. A bit later I told my (now ex) girlfriend that the Australian just told me that he was gay. She looked at me in disbelief and started laughing. We did not bother too much about but eventually took actions to make clear that I wasn’t gay at all ;-)

Well, at the end of the trip I said good bye to the Australian guy and left the bus with my girlfriend. We walked up to the taxi and where already putting our backpacks in the trunk when the Australian guy, out of the sudden, started to run towards us. He asked me if he could get my email address as he would be in Europe later this year and it would be great to meet me again. I was somewhat surprised (and so was my girlfriend) but handed him one of my cards, thinking that I would never hear from him again. Well, I was wrong about that, he arrived in Europe two weeks ago and is currently in Amsterdam. And he wants to meet me! Well, he is not going to be in Austria until January...

Oh, by the way, I just recently finished the picture book for Mexico – click here if you are interested!

Size does matter

Currently I get (and instantly delete) about a hundred spam emails each day. Most of them are about how I can enlarge my penis. Size, and especially how to increase it, must be something very important for us men those spammers assume. It’s no surprise in a world where everything needs to be bigger then something else that even the most private part of men must face competition. And why shouldn’t there be a competition? After all, most men tend to like bigger breasts, so it should be just fair for a woman to go for a bigger penis. The problem for woman is that men usually can hide their pride behind layers of cloths. Woman who care about size can only guess the size and usually have to deal with it when it’s all to late.

Durex just recently started a survey to find out what woman consider as "the perfect" size. Something the world sure needs to these days. Maybe they find out that the perfect size is actually below the current "average" of 14,5 centimeters or exceeds the 20 centimeters, which is the maximum woman can choose in this survey.

So, what is going to happen once Durex tells us the perfect size? Will woman put a ruler in their handbag and if they find a interesting target of the opposite sex, measure if he actually meets the international standards of perfect size? And what if he doesn’t?

Questions like the perfect size don’t need to be answered in public. Men and woman should be confident about their bodies and the size of certain body parts. Do we really need to be told what one million people thought about what would be the right size. It's something that should be reserved for a very personal level and should only be a topic between two people who are together.

The 11th Commandment: You shall not take the pill!

This very interesting article was on Yahoo yesterday…

Druggists refuse to give out pill
By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
For a year, Julee L. stopped in a CVS pharmacy near her home in a Fort Worth suburb to get refills of her birth-control pills. Then one day last March, the pharmacist refused to fill Lacey's prescription because she did not believe in birth control…

… The American Pharmacists Association, with 50,000 members, has a policy that says druggists can refuse to fill prescriptions if they object on moral grounds, but they must make arrangements so a patient can still get the pills. Yet some pharmacists have refused to hand the prescription to another druggist to fill….

I’ve never heard of such a case in Europe, it is almost the opposite here, I know woman who where not informed about the side-effects by their doctor and the gynecologist was actually surprised if they opted against the pill for health reasons.

This is just my point of view, but pharmacists who refuses birth control because of moral concerns should find another job. They not only sell pills for birth control, but also medication that can be used for suicide and of course drugs that can cause addiction. Just as unmoral as birth control.

The more interesting question would be: Is to refuse a prescription because of religious concerns just the beginning,? Where does it stop? What if Kmart decides to ban pills from all their stores because of religious concerns. What if there is a law established that forbids using birth control at all?

The truth is, that this doesn’t matter. Because people always have and always will use contraceptives. No matter how hard they would be punished. Just like during the time of prohibition more alcohol was consumed then during the time it was legal to buy liquors.

The 50th anniversary, that isn’t one

I have written 50 articles for this Blog. Well, actually I count 55 today, but in the early days I used articles that I wrote for www.cyberexorcism.com and I don’t count them. Initially this blog was planed as collection of funny stories about problems with software and hardware, but once I started writing, I realized: Why not write a bit more, why not just write about everything that is on my mind. Of course I could write a diary that no one else can read, but thats not my cup of tea, I tried it a few times and it never worked for me. To write a blog is much more challenging.

In 20 years from now I hopefully still have this collection of entries and enjoy reading them. Memories fade out and we get a different point of view, but once we start to write thoughts down, we put them in a fridge and keep them the way they where. Our point of view shifts, but its interesting to look back and compare it with memories from the past.

Warlords on the road

Why do people become maniacs when they are inside a car? Just this morning I was once again astounded by the aggression among fellow drivers. One driver almost smashed in the side of the car because he wanted to prevent me from changing the lane. Something I had to do, because it was the end of my line… Usually, if the road gets narrow and someone has to change lane, it should work like a zipper, but to often people become engaged in competition… Maybe to be at work 10 seconds earlier then me, because that’s about the time they arguably win if they try to cheat on the “zipper-system. But that’s just one of many “war” situations on the road that happen day in and day out.

I try to not bother about it, no honking or stinky finger, no yelling, because after all, its not worth it. Bad mood because of a 50 year old childish men who feels the need to show of at 6:30 am? There are more important things in life than that.

Snow has finally arrived... 

Flower Power :-)

Leaving and to be left behind

It's quiet now, and what it brings is everything... Comes calling back a brilliant night, I'm still awake I looked ahead…

These are the first lines of R.E.M.’s Leaving New York, which is one my favourite song right now. I think that it reflects to my current situation. I was the one who was left behind but I also decided to leave and move on with my life. To be left behind can be painful, but it’s more painful to keep standing, or even worse, lying around where you where left and wondering about why you where left. So I cleared up my mind and decided to keep walking the path of life. To not look back and bother about unanswered questions that I actually never asked.

And it was a good decision. Today I feel free. No hard feelings, nothing that I miss.

Jesus of Nazareth vs Che Guevara

Last weekend, the “Motorcycle Diaries” started in our cinemas. It’s a movie about the young Che Guevara and his adventures while traveling around South America. The tagline to this movie is “Let the world change you... and you can change the world”. Did Che change the world? I would say no. Other people did, like someone who lived two thousand years ago and also travelled around a lot did. His name was Jesus and I thought it would be interesting to compare this two people.

What do these two men have in common? Well, they are icons/heroes to a lot of us. Some have the infamous “Che-face” as a T-shirt, coffee mug, or sticker, others show their admiration for Jesus by having a cross around their neck. Che was a doctor; Jesus was a carpenter and prophet. Both where executed, Jesus nailed to the cross and Che shot with a gun. Both where killed because of for what they stood up for.

A lot of people think of Che as some kind of savior, just like Jesus, but I think these two men couldn’t be any more different. Where Che used force and even killed people to reach his goals Jesus used the power of words. That’s why I think the words of Jesus will stay, and even in two thousand years, people will still think about him and what he said, whereas Che will long be forgotten.

It’s easier to reach your goals when you use force, but only in short terms. Che (and Castro) maybe freed Cuba from a corrupt regime, but if you look at Cuba today, it could not be any further from freedom.

Jesus changed much more, just by using words.

Joey alone in LA

Election is over, time to find a new topic. And there is something I wanted to write about for some time now. Joey - the spin-of TV-show that follows the character of Joey Tribbiani after he left his “Friends” behind and moved from New York to Los Angeles.

I wrote about it after I saw the pilot, so now having seen the first seven episodes I have to admit, it is still funny. Last episode started with a scene between Joey and Gina. They get out of the car in front of his apartment. Joey starts joking about a very dirty car that is in the parkway, covered in dust, fines in the front window that has been there for weeks. He then sees a picture of himself on the seat inside and says something like “at least he is a fan of mine". Well, that’s the moment when Gina asks him if he returned his rental car after his arrival in LA… A typical "Joey" scene like back in the old days in New York.

Simple moments like that make me laugh, its not really new, but hey, it is funny. Michael, the twenty year old nephew of Joey is also very interesting and funny character and ads something fresh. Gina, Joeys sister is not my cup of tee, she can be very annoying at times. Alex, the married neighbor of Joey and a possible love interest shows up every now and then but unfortunately dose not really add anything to this TV-show and would need more screen time. One of the main flaws of Joy is that it is supposed to be a spin of but while they kept certain elements of Joeys character from “Friends”, he seems to have lost his ability, yet need, to seduce woman. Maybe they could not obtain the rights for Joeys most famous line “how are you doing”, it is definitely missing. And where is his addiction for sandwiches?

I will keep on watching, and I hope it does not get cancelled to early. It definitely deserves two seasons at least! Hopefully the introduce new regular characters and different locations (right now they hang out at the apartment most of the time). Maybe a guest appearance of some old Friends Cast members too.

Thank God the election its over!

In a few hours hopefully we are going to know who won the election. I can’t take the press coverage anymore. The American president is the most powerful men in the world… Bla Bla - Not for me! This president is a doll and some very clever people know how to play with it. He is elected for four years, and then they have a fresh face. What is so powerful about that?

Tonight I’m going to meet with a friend and we are going to have a glass of wine and a nice chat together. She was hoping for a Kerry-victory, but we will see about that. I’m looking forward to that glass of wine and the end of the 24/7 press coverage.

Kerry is going to win

I just got a hint who is going to win this election. John F. Kerry! I tried to reach http://www.georgewbush.com/, which was impossible, the access is restricted, but http://www.johnkerry.com/ is still online. I take that as a sign!

Well, who cares, I still hope that all the clever Americans vote for Carrie Bradshaw.

A Selenit lamp, I bought it this week at the Munich gemstone fare. Selenit stands as symbol for happiness, sense of reality and calmness.