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Mar

9

The German Five-Party system: Time for a change?

Filed Under Germany, Politics | Comments Off

The fantastic German Spiegel Online has an interesting article by Hans Herbert von Arnim, a relatively well known critic of political parties and professor of consitutional law, about the problems the state of Hessen (Hesse) is having voting for a new Minister-President due to the parlament having five parties now, since the East German SED-successor DIE LINKEN have established themselves in the West.

The main point of the argument is that the Minister-President should be elected directly by the voters, instead of a coalition having to be found in parliament, which as Hessen proves can be difficult and possibly end in a coalition that was not the intention of the voters. I wouldn’t shout “Yes, Yes” to this, but it is worth considering as the American Presidential vs. Senate electoral system (though imperfect as demonstrated at the 2000 elections) has it’s advantages and can be adopted to other countries in an updated modern version.

If you can read German, I recommend reading the article. If not, Babelfish might help

Mar

5

“I’m getting bored of Facebook”

Filed Under Networld, Videos | Leave a Comment

I just got sent a link to this delicious Youtube video:

It’s true, sadly. I used to be a great fan of Facebook, but have started using it less and less since the introduction of “applications” and other add-ons. Everytime I log in I will have roughly 6 people who have poked me, 2-3 new friend requests from people I have never met and never want to meet and of course the very annoying 50+ application invites.
Facebook was good, compared to MySpace, because it was easy, simple and not overly demanding on the eye. That’s all changed now and the only remaining decent social network, that has enough people to make it worthwhile, is Xing.

Feb

25

Tottenham win Carling Cup

Filed Under Videos | Leave a Comment

Living in Tottenham was good fun yesterday, seeing as Tottenham Hotspurs won the Carling Cup - beating Chelsea 2-1 and winning the first major cup since 1999. Here is one of the short videos I made:

Feb

25

Chinese Branding Gone Wrong

Filed Under China | Leave a Comment

Check this out:

One of China’s longest established food brands in northern Tianjin city has adopted an English name “Go Believe” which sounds like its famous but bizarre Chinese brand Goubuli, “Dog wouldn’t care it.”

Now that’s one really weird brand! Read the full story at People’s Daily Online.

Feb

24

Abgeordnetenwatch.de

Filed Under Germany, Politics | Leave a Comment

Abgeordnetenwatch.de is a German site that allows people to view collected data from the members of parliament (German: Abgeordnete) and ask question that are in most cases answered quickly. The site is provided by one of Germany’s largest news providers, Spiegel Online.

Apart from the German-English name, the site is a really good idea in my opinion and is something that the UK and other countries should introduce at some point: a independent site that allows checking your MPs track record and asking him questions. Awesome.

Feb

23

Just enjoy

Filed Under Videos | Leave a Comment

Feb

21

McCain “denies” affair

Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments

McCain has denied what could be possibly very threatening for his Presidential campaign: an affair with a lobbyist. However, the affair in question - if it ever happened - was eight years ago. Vicki Iseman, who represents telecommunications companies, was seen a lot with McCain during his first campaign in 2000. However, in all the quotes I can find I can’t find anything that denies a sexual relationship with the lady in question, which is what the original article in the New York Times seemed to suggest. Instead the McCain camp is denying that McCain could have been influenced in his positions and policies by the close relationship with Ms Iseman.

“Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career.”

[[Telegraph & others]]

Feb

21

1,798 RMB

Filed Under China | 4 Comments

The average starting salary for a Chinese college graduate is 1,798 RMB (251USD) per month, according to a report by the Education and Economic Research Institute of Peking University and the Institute for Higher Education.

[[People’s Daily Online]]

Feb

21

2008 Beijing International Literary Festival

Filed Under China | Leave a Comment

Via Danwei I was made aware of this years Beijing International Literary Festival organized by one of my favourite institution in Beijing, the Bookworm. The festival will be starting on March 6th, which sadly means I will miss it. It has some awesome people talking, for example Rob Gifford and James Kygne, who I mentioned in a post two days ago. Check the website for the full programme, it’s worth it if you are in Beijing!

Feb

20

Cool Beijing Video: Electric Six

Filed Under China, Videos | Leave a Comment

This is actually a modern music video I like, which sadly doesn’t happen much anymore. It is filmed completely on the Beijing subway, something that I imagine to be quite hard. The band is Electric Six and the video is directed by Beijing-based Rob Slychuck. Electric Six actually played at Islington Academy yesterday, I wished I would have seen this video yesterday morning

[[Zhongnanhai via Danwei]]

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