strange

i just flicked through the boring german version of facebook (studivz...) and checked out old school mates. and on one someone asked what happened with some others and me. the guy who asked this, is from brasil and had been on an exchange to germany around 11 years ago. made me smile that he still remembered some of the names. and it reminded me that times have bloody changed. there was another incident earlier this evening when a mate from germany told me that he met some lads from my old school in a pub. one of those lads was going to oxford and my mate said that he would know someone in the uk. saying this, it turned out they were my old class mates... and they knew what i am doing here. gossip travels faster than light.

For Queen and Country...

There is this one ad on TV, you probably have seen it if you are watching British television. A guy is punching something into a computer and talking about his job. that he could have taken up a job with a big IT company and earned a lot of money. but that he enrolled for the royal navy, because its so challenging and he comes around. then he crawls around a computer, looking for a fault and says "well, you know, but sometimes we also just switch the on-off button like the normal geeks." and then you see a big submarine at full speed in the water.
Every time i see this ad i think to myself, what the f*** is he doing?!?! "well, we just launched a nuclear missile because we suddenly lost power in our computer-driven firing system. sorry lads..." Trust the royal navy, for queen and country.

what i am doing? well, its pretty fast told: first i did stats, then i did reading, and now im doing the writing. in between there are a numbers of other things. the list would be long. today i wrote on bits and pieces. so will i tomorrow. at the end, which is around end of feb for the moment, there should be 6 papers/articles á 20 pages and a few new bits for chapters. but be reassured, in my insaneness i invented a strategy so its capable.... in 2 weeks or so, there will be a week off from uni, but its already occupied with other things.
bla bla bla. before going into detail, i guess 3 on the job would have plenty to do. and i feel ashamed

i had this in an earlier post but decided not to publish it then. anyhow, you have to add "i listened to bbc suffolk" beforehand...

but how should i have got to know otherwise that the suffolk regiment returned to bury st. edmunds the other day?!? i saw them, not because of them but because of bury st. edmunds. went there. was the third time and still has some attraction. those blokes were children. sorry for that. they really are, both blokes and children. i think it must be strange for them to come straight from being under fire into their mum's arms (or their girls). but no one forced them to do so in the first place. its free choice, doing service. even tho the service may entail the loss of life. i went to radio 4s "any questions" the other day on campus. i actually asked a question but it wasnt picked. however, there was one about the rather inappropriate treatment of british soldiers. barracks are run down, payment low, and utmost, no recognition. sure. i think it was gordon the other day who said that every soldier should wear uniform while off duty to show proudness. well, why? there was a "vote" by the moderator at radio 4, asking the audience who thinks that british soldiers are treated bad. around 95% raised their hands, scary. i was sitting there and couldnt really believe it. i thought, this is university, people should have a critical mind. people should think about whether war really is the continuation of politics with other means or not. another reason, there are much more people out there doing their service to society. public service employees. nurses. academics. volunteers. recognition? treatment?
what was the figure i had in an earlier post? 500,000,000,000 US Dollars are spent by the US government for military purposes, in official accounts. intermit it for one year only and climate change could be impeded, starvation held, poverty fought, education topped up, and there would be still enough left. i know its a silly calculation and the usual argumentation. if if if. but why not trying it? you always can invade later on... ok. i stop here.