Louis-Ferdinand Céline
This picture was taken as one can see in Lahore, Pakistan, around April 2006. As Pakistan is regularly among the most corrupt countries in the world (in the 2007 Corruption Perception Index CPI it ranked 138 amon 179 countries), I think they should have more of those Directorates. Maybe it would help 
I will start a series from funny and remarkable signs from all around the world. Interesting motives which attracted my attention. Enjoy!
The Start of my series will be a picture which my uncle Avus took recently in Baja California (check out the location) and take notice of the bullet holes. The rest is obvious….. However this sign was not the only one .. All along the road these beautifications could be noticed.
Check out Bob Dylan on XM Radio. Real original sound and nice recommendations from the master of rock music.
Watch a advertisement starring Bob Dylan and Cadillac
2000 people in 10 cities around the world without pants! The activist group IMPROV EVERYWHERE creates happenings under the motto: “We cause scenes”. Somehow weird, but surely F-U-N 
For me – another reason to love The Apple!
Last night at Madison Square Garden in New York the spirit and sensation about heavy weight fighting died. Past and long ago are the electrifying times of Lennox Lewis or even Muhammed Ali.
Wladimir Klitschko, alias Dr. Steelhammer, achieved a rather boring victory after points over Sultan Ibragimov. For those who still believe in real, and risk-taking (and not only point-fighting), warriors of the ring I can only recommend the K1 Fight Club. And concerning Mr. Klitschko, he should stop boxing like Barbie and quickly watch out for a new opponent, in order to save his honor and launch an urgently necessary attempt to reanimate heavy weight boxing!
LONGEST-SERVING LEADER: Fidel Castro was the world’s third longest-serving head of state, after the Queen of Britain and the King of Thailand. He was its longest-serving government leader when illness forced him to hand over power to his brother in July 2006.
LONGEST SPEECH: Castro’s holds the Guinness Book of Records title for the longest speech ever delivered at the United Nations: 4 hours and 29 minutes, on Sept. 29, 1960. His longest speech on record in Cuba was 7 hours and 10 minutes in 1986 at the III Communist Party Congress in Havana.
ASSASSINATION PLOTS: Castro claims he survived 634 attempts on his life, mainly masterminded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. They involved poison pills, a toxic cigar, exploding mollusks, a chemically tainted diving suit and powder to make his beard fall out so as to undermine his popularity.
OUTLASTED NINE US PRESIDENTS: Despite CIA plots, a US-backed exile invasion at the Bay of Pigs and four and a half decades of economic sanctions, Castro outlasted nine US presidents, from Eisenhower to Clinton, and faced increased hostility under George W. Bush, who tightened enforcement of financial sanctions and a travel ban.
LAST CIGAR PUFF: Castro, once a cigar-chomping guerrilla fighter, gave up cigars in 1985. Years later he summed up the harm of smoking tobacco by saying: “The best thing you can do with this box of cigars is to give them to your enemy.”
FAMILY: Castro has at least eight children. His eldest son Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, the spitting image of his father and known as Fidelito, is a Soviet-trained nuclear scientist. Daughter Alina Fernandez, the result of an affair with a Havana socialite when he was underground in the 1950s, escaped from Cuba disguised as a tourist in 1993 and is a vocal critic of Castro on her Miami radio program. Castro has five sons with his second wife Dalia Soto. Their names all begin with A. The youngest, Antonio, is the national baseball team’s doctor.
As it has just been reported Fidel Castro steps down as Cubas Maximo Lider. Hard to believe! I have been in Cuba twice in the mid 90′ and myself seen the Commandante speak in front of thousands of Cubans. Granma the newspaper of the Cuban government printed a open letter by Fidel Castro saying that he will step down and no longer seek or accept a post as party leader.
“A mis entrañables compatriotas, que me hicieron el inmenso honor de elegirme en días recientes como miembro del Parlamento, en cuyo seno se deben adoptar acuerdos importantes para el destino de nuestra Revolución, les comunico que no aspiraré ni aceptaré – repito- no aspiraré ni aceptaré, el cargo de Presidente del Consejo de Estado y Comandante en Jefe.”
I was lucky to be present on the JULY 13, 1997. On this day Che Guvara was bought back to Cuba, i.a the “remains” of Che. The event was celebrated by 1000 of Cubans and Fidel alike. On this day I had the chance to see Fidel speak in front of big masses and rallying them. I was attending the ceremony together with my host family of these days. Fidel started speaking and I wanted to listen to his speech for a while. We however were invited for a barbecue at some friends. The Cubans told me that I can still watch him speak on Television later. I wondered if he still might speak. They assured me that he would. As I later found out he spoke for another 7h. When we had already eaten all out steaks and finished the barbecue Castro had just finished the part about the end of the Soviet Union. It was a interesting experience to see this figure alive and in front of masses. I however felt bizarre as I knew about killings and executions which had taken place in Cuba and were still not too uncommon.
However to my mind Fidel was not too heavily (maybe really not openly) criticized in Cuba and the US$ was still a common way to pay and a accepted denomination. I remember my host saying, let him be sooner or later he will die and we Cubans will also not bow to the Americans.
I have attached two very different videos from youtube. One which obviously reports from an anti American perspectiv (a al jazeera video of todays news) and another of one of his speeches.
This recent article features a story about the recently introduced public transport for woman only in Mexico City. As the sheer number of articles of the same kind quickly shows (around 6,2 mio. in a simple google query) the topic is very sensitive and highly discussed.
“There are good men in Mexico, but they’re not the ones on public transport,” said Mariana Vasquez, 30, who waited to board a bus recently on her way to a job interview at a law firm. “They try to touch you. They don’t give you a seat. Where are the gentlemen?”
This reminds me of traveling buses all over the world , not only Mexico but also Japan and India as well as some African countries suffer from harassment in public transport. I have seen special woman only compartments in Singapore as well as in Japan (mostly in subways) and especially in D.F it is a good idea to introduce this kind of service. So if you are male and you are the next time in D.F check the bus before you are stepping into it .. you could find yourself surrounded by woman
Amy Winehouse won 5 Grammys yesterday but could not attend the ceremony. She was denied entry to the US due to the alleged use of drugs during the last weeks (month), right now she is apparently attending a rehab center in GB.
Despite her constant breakdowns she enjoys constant applause for this years album and hopefully for more to come. The biggest surprise for me however was the the Grammy winner Herbie Hancock for his new album “River: The Joni Letters” which is a tribute to Joni Mitchel. This one I will get as soon as I can
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