Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated

The school year is finally coming to an end!  I can guarantee that the exhausted instructors are far happier about this than the exhausted students. Still, as I start to emerge from the black hole of school to look around at the world, all I see is TRUMP/HILLARY/BREXIT panic-mongering and media madness, and I'm tempted to dive right back into the black hole.

Anyway, as proof of life, here is a hilarious ad that I got from a friend of a friend. Let's have some fun with stereotypes and sport rivalries, shall we?

Greece Demands €297 Billion in WWII Reparations From Germany

Good luck with that.

History in Photos: The Fall of the Berlin Wall 25 Years Ago

A picture is worth a thousand words.  25 years already have gone by?!

World Cup 2014: Germany Wins It All!

Die Mannschaft beat Argentina 1-0 and the Germans are now the Weltmeister.  I was also amused by the various sartorial antics of the fans, not to mention this comment on the president of the hilariously corrupt FIFA and his companions:

Angela Merkel at the World Cup with a venal, authoritarian leader. And Vladimir Putin is there too. pic.twitter.com/otQ2nskfG5
— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) July 13, 2014

Since this IS 2014 and no event is complete without a selfie or two, here you go. The selfie game is strong with this one.

AHA! pic.twitter.com/iK5hbfm7Hr
— Lukas-Podolski.com (@Podolski10) July 13, 2014

Selfie 2…:-) pic.twitter.com/RJh7RnXXUw
— Lukas-Podolski.com (@Podolski10) July 13, 2014

Congratulations to the Germans!

UPDATE: The Onion comments hilariously.

World Cup 2014: Brazil Was Die Mannschaft-ed 7-1

You don't have to like soccer to appreciate the historic moment in sports history.  You don't even have to like sports to appreciate the epic quality of the German victory.  The match happened yesterday, but it's taken this long for the results to sink in.  At the time, all that my buddies and I felt was shock and disbelief ... and we were cheering for Germany!  Even the great Beckenbauer tweeted, "What was that? Hard to believe."

Was war das? Kaum zu glauben #BRAGER
— Franz Beckenbauer (@beckenbauer) July 8, 2014

I thought the match was going to be a tough fight that Brazil would barely win in the end given the absence of injured Neymar.  I wasn't expecting a brutal 7-1 beatdown that looked as if the Brazilians were a Little League team going up against the New York Yankees.  As the demoralized Brazilians completely collapsed in appalling fashion, the rampant Germans scored 5 times in the first half hour, and there are no words for this:

UPDATE: I had linked to a Vine of the first 5 goals, but that's been taken down since this post went online.  As a consolation prize, let me give you another Vine.  The French sports publication L'Equipe just made this Vine of a LEGO version of the poor Brazilian goalie. Aw, just look at his expressions:

The sports commentary in the aftermath of the match has been wild.  How do you describe such an epic performance?  It's World Cup history being made in front of you.  My crew and I ended up feeling bad for the Brazilians being destroyed on their own turf even as we marveled at the impeccable Germans.  You almost wanted a mercy rule to kick in and put Brazil out of its misery.  How the mighty have fallen indeed.  

The game summed up in a picture. pic.twitter.com/VWRouf1sHo

— World Cup 2014 (@PostWorldCup) July 8, 2014

Up in the ESPN booth, former German team captain Michael Ballack was over the moon, and who could blame him?  (Lookin' goooooood there, Mike!)

Updated. Michael Ballack. #BRAvsGER pic.twitter.com/Lh3ZhKRzfo
— Alexi Lalas (@AlexiLalas) July 8, 2014

The Netherlands take on Argentina today for the other spot in the final.  I like the Dutch very much, but I think a Germany-Argentina final would be just brilliant ... especially if (when?) the Germans crush the Argentines into dust.

Oh, and the German team is being classy in victory.  Good for them.

A German Commander Reports on the Allied Invasion of Normandy

Here's something I hadn't come across before!  Take a look at a piece of Field Marshal Karl R. Gerd von Rundstedt's report:

I--Four facts which must be emphasized:
(1) The enemy's complete mastery in the air.
(2) The skillful and large-scale employment of enemy parachute and airborne troops,
(3) The flexible and well-directed support of the land troops by ships' artillery of strong English naval units ranging from battleship to gunboat.
(4) The rehearsal of the enemy invasion units for their task; most precise knowledge of the coast, of its obstacles and defense establishments, swift building up of superiority in numbers and material on the bridgehead after just a few days.

A Matter of Perspective

Landmarks from different angles!

Meet Count Anton-Wolfgang von Faber-Castell

He presides over a German pencil empire that's been going strong since 1761.

History in Photos: WWI German Pilots

The Kaiser's boys enjoy a drink while they can.

Quote of the Day: Remembering WWI

Apparently a kerfuffle has arisen over how to commemorate "the Great War."  The Germans and the Brits are not quite seeing eye to eye.  As food for thought, I give you a thought by a British history professor at Oxford:

“I understand Germany’s position. There is no virtue in offending Germany. But if we are going to honest to the history of this war from a British perspective, then it can’t all be about waste and futility. A lot of people fought and died thinking it was worthwhile. We need to respect what those motivations were. It’s not about being triumphalist, or even necessarily celebratory. It is about acknowledging that when the war ended there was a victory. The allies thought it was pretty important and would have been pretty disastrous if they had lost it.”

World War I in Photos: the Walter Koessler Project

Here's a fantastic and very personal photo project:

As I was getting ready to leave home after Thanksgiving, almost two years ago, my mom said she had something to show me. She pulled out a big black photo album from under our coffee table, casually laid it out in front of me, and blindsided me with the most meaningful, wonderful project I have ever undertaken.This is my great-grandfather Walter Koessler’s photo album from when he was an officer throughout all four years of World War One.

... My family has also saved a box of about a hundred more stereographs that show WWI in 3D. I’ve since found that my grandma saved hundreds of the original negatives from both the album and the stereographs, and they’re practically pristine. It’s a formidable, and frankly somewhat intimidating collection. Nearly a hundred years later, it seems almost impossible that these things have been kept in such great condition, and I’m so grateful my family has let me take charge of it.

Finally, I think I’m prepared to start the process of scanning and sharing them here. I hope you’ll find it as fascinating as I do.

Just as noteworthy: great-granddad Walter was a German officer, so we get a rare personal glimpse at the other side in its daily life. Do take a look for yourself at http://wwiphotos.tumblr.com/

Flooding in Central Europe

Photos of the terrible weather and its effects.  #13 especially caught my eye.

What Is the One Overriding Thing You Associate With the German Autobahn?

Now combine that with a bunch of nanny-politicians.

Germany's Newest Political Party

... is Euroskeptic.  People are falling out of love with the European project?

"Europe's Biggest Problem Child"

Yet another public slapfest from the harmonious utopia known as Euroland.  By the way, the insult sounds way better in the original German: "Frankreich – Europas größtes Sorgenkind."

Forgotten History: the Philanthropist and the Queen

Interesting stuff here:

She is regarded as the ancient world’s equivalent to the Mona Lisa and this weekend the 3,400–year old bust of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti will be the centrepiece of a grand exhibition in Berlin’s Neues Museum, celebrating her discovery by German archaeologists exactly a century ago.

The delicately featured and priceless bust of the wife of the ancient Egyptian Sun King Akhenaten has been one of the highlights of Berlin’s museum collection since it was first put on display in the city in 1923.

It was unearthed by the famous German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, at Amarna in 1912. He became a household name in Germany but few know the story of the wealthy Jewish patron and philanthropist who not only funded the excavation work that led to the bust’s discovery but also donated Nefertiti and scores of other ancient Egyptian artefacts he owned to Berlin’s museums. Organisers of the centenary celebrations are hoping to change that.

Yes, please meet James Simon, who was written out of the history books after the rise of the Nazis in 1933.

Oktoberfest 2012

Foreign policy headaches driving you to drink?  Good thing it's Oktoberfest, then.  The Atlantic has a cool collection of photos.  I especially like the girl wearing pretzels on her head and the guy who wreathed his hat with hops.  That's the spirit!  The gingerbread love poems are kind of cute too.  Ich liebe Dich, gentle reader!

Reconstructing the Stasi Files

Recovering East German history that is literally in tatters.

What Fresh Hell Is This: Protesters At German and British Embassies in Sudan

Embassy-Storming Week has now gone viral.  The German embassy is reportedly on fire while the UK Foreign Office says protesters gathered in front of the British embassy there.  You know, it doesn't need to be said, does it, that by making a dangerous world more dangerous you imperil not only Americans but everybody else who shares the same values.  (Including, of course, the native liberal reformers in those troubled nations.)

Nerd Journal: This May Never Happen Again, But for Now ...

SWEET, SWEET VINDICATION.  A few days ago, I was talking with a Nerd Lord about the eurozone.  He had been a huge proponent of the UK joining the euro, and I had been - as you all know - a big skeptic of the entire eurozone project from its inception and an opponent of the UK yoking itself to the euro.  I got used to people mocking my position.  But then ... Somewhere in the course of the conversation the august Nerd Lord talked about fed-up Finland wanting to dump the euro, the increasing frustration of Germans, the utter fecklessness of the Greeks, and then:

Was it an accident that last night was a blue moon?  Two events that are ever so exceedingly rare!  We're not going to get another blue moon for years.  I might not be acknowledged to be ultimately right in an unpopular position for years either.  But that's OK.

Addendum: Be sure to be gracious and humble in situations like this!  Don't indulge your initial impulse to pump your fist in the air, shriek "YES!" and take a victory lap around the building.  Smile a little sadly and say something like "I wish I weren't right and that we didn't have this horrible mess on our hands.  Oh, it's terrible, isn't it?"  The fact that you are now serving humble pie doesn't mean you should fling it in the other person's face, right?