Where have all the Mondays gone

Who likes Mondays? Probably no-one, really. Thus, inspired by a tweet of a fellow Monday-victim and two great classics, a songtext.

How to get from Orléans to Paris on a railroad strike day?

Macron is sparring the French rail unions. The latter have engaged in what they call a "perl-strike", two days close-down, three days recovery, till June. With quite interesting side effects in the era of Big Data.

The Easter egg: Le Canard enchaîné – a weekly must read (also for French aliens)

In this Easter post, I'll cherish a light-house of French publications, Le Canard enchaîné.  My occasional French readers will probably know it, but maybe those outside of France have never heard of it. Which would be a pity, as the "palmipède" is a must-read (if you can read French or attempt to).

20/01/2017 – the day we lost a great word: "great"

Things happened one year ago that not a few still can't fathom (personally, I was not overly surprised; but I am a realist). And I'm sure there will be an endless number of articles summarising the year. But for me, the election of a TV clown and orange-billionaire (not to be confused with orange-utans) as 45^th president of the U.S., meant a personal loss. I lost a word, I liked to use: the English word "great".

European Not-Really-A-Union #1: getting my forth social security number

For purely chauvinistic reasons (you don’t want the crappy new EU members benefitting from the high standard in the old EU countries), you need a new social security number when moving from one EU state to another (unless within Scandinavia, even including non-EU member Norway). In some states like Sweden it comes automatically when you register as a citizen. In others like Austria, it comes inevitably (when you’re from other EU countries), but France is of course special. La Grande Nation, it must be a privilege to live here for anyone.

Bundesheimatministerium? Überflüssig wie die Landesheimatministerien

Heimat ist wieder in aller Munde. Nun gibt es auch Forderungen nach einem Bundesheimatministerium, dem Vorbild Bayerns und NRWs folgend, auch von der Heimatministerin der CDU in NRW. Ein Reflektion.

French and German – the sound (and meaning) of two important words

To German ears, French is a beautifully sounding language. Same seems to hold for the English and Italian (although Vanda got more excited when hearing Russian, but she was American…) So, let’s compare two important words.

Liberal denial and diving into another reality

Are you also suffering from liberal denial as I do? When you read this post, you will find out soon enough. But the most important thing first: When you suffer from liberal denial illness, and are eligible to vote: Don’t forget to do it next time! Particularly, if you are a U.S. citizen.