Again and again Opel

So again something to Opel: Because I am a diligent online reader, I stumbled across another thing that was really embarrassing: Here is an article about a new car of Opel, where to want to start a new era: An Opel Insignia "Ecoflex". They sell it as a great step in the field of sustainable driving, as the wagon needs only 5,2 litres. Really a nice car.

Not bad I thought, but the scandalous thing is another: The responsible says that the driving fun should not suffer under the energy saving. What does that mean? This car has 160 PS (!) and they could have chosen a smaller motor with 110 PS for the eco-version of the car, but they didnt(?). Then I have to read that the gasoline-saving advantage of the eco-model is only 0,6 litres per 100 km. WHAT??? Are you kidding me? 

Dont know but perhaps my view is just wrong, but this so called "ecology" car is just a joke and a marketing gag to give the people the feeling that they have done something to save the world. But obviously they did not everything to turn down the consumption and to sell this as the eco-leader in its segment is just schizophrenic green-washing. 

The other schizophrenic thing is that If I would have to pay taxes in Germany I would pay also with my money for the salvation of this bullshit-company, if I want or not. What a shame.

Prominent Alumno

Some of you might know that some days ago, Chrsitian Nerlinger was appointed as the new sports director of the FC Bayern Munich. He was an ex-player of Bayern and was also playing for Dortmund and Glasgow. Many of the so-called experts were surprised to see him already in this position, as he is quite young (end of thirty).

Ok, nothing new you might say, but the stunning thing is that this guy was last year student at the Free University of Bolzano. He was studying at a private business school in Munich and was doing an Erasmus semester here in Alto Adige. Although I was not yet inscribed at that time, I met him once in the university: I was taking a look at the university because I was interested in applying, and then he came out of the library when I was going in.

First, I didnt know who he was, and while I was strolling around in the library, I was thinking... Fuck! You know this guy! But from where? And of course, as an old Bayern-fan I remembered him. Probably many students at that time didnt know who he was, as he was not really a star, but at least he was playing also for the german national team. 

I also heard that there was an interview with him in the student magazine flyer, but unfortunately it was not possible for me to take a look at it. Nevertheless I wrote an email to the responsible of the press office of the university that an ex-student is now one of the most important persons in the biggest club in Germany, and I am curious if they will do something out of it or not... ;-)

Church an extremist organization?

Hehe, now it is getting analytic... If you read the Sueddeutsche Magazin, you might know the section "Die Gewissensfrage" where people can ask a philosophy professor difficult morale questions.  This time someone candidates himself for a position at a University and has to fill in in the application form if he is member of an extremist organization. Now the catholic qestioner asks himself if he should now mention the church or not... Read here the outcome.

And dont forget to also take a look at the comments... it was clear that people react like this. Lol!

Extracurricular activities II

Wow, I was really emotional in my last post. I thought about it a lot. To clearify: Yes, I like it here in Bolzano at our University. And I am happy with my AIESEC committee. It is just that I wished that more students in our University get their asses up or turn their brains on. In this context I want to show a good example:

On thursday there was an event called "Jahrgangsbaumübergabe" in the Wasshof of the University. It was planned since years that every vintage of graduates donates a tree to the University, which finds its place then in this courtyard. During this process, some design students had the idea that they could combine this with something else, namely do something to make this courtyard more beautiful, which was before only a concrete desert. What came out: some yellow, wooden multifunctional furnitures. But take a look at it yourselves: 

As far as I understood nobody gave them an order to do it, they were just pro-active. Thank you, really cool! I also want to thank Andreas and Johannes who made after the event a small guitar-unplugged-concert.

Brenner Pass

Ok... always when I am going by car over the Brenner Pass, the weather is like sh*t. It was till now always raining and/or snowing. Of course also the temperature goes down significantly. Never one sunbeam was detected by me in this part of the Alps. It always makes me a little bit depressive... How can someone live there? Even the mountains there dont look very pretty(See above, photo out of my car). Obviously I need also to take into account that the pass is quite high, 1374 m to be exact. 

Other thoughts which are also coming through my mind when I drive over this highway: How horrible it must have been for past generations to get over this hump to come to Italy. In the middle ages it must have been quite dangerous, regarding the weather and all these castles here around. Also when we come back to the modern times, it is by no means obvious that there is a highway. Some decades ago everybody had to pass all the small villages on the way, as the highway as we know it was opended in 1963. How did they do it during WW1 and WW2? Nowadays it is one of the most important passes in the Alps for any kind of transit.

Eine Lebensgeschichte

Hier habe ich eine etwas andere Lebensgeschichte gefunden. Eine von jemandem, der nicht die ausgetretenen Pfade beschritten hat sondern seinen eigenen Weg gegangen ist. Man kann hier zwei Weisheiten herauslesen: Dass eine Insolvenz kein Weltuntergang und Geld nicht alles im Leben ist...

Man kann sehen, dass für diesen Herrn Geld nie das Wichtigste war. Das spiegelt zum Teil auch meine eigene Meinung wider: Dass das Motiv für erfolgreiche und kreative Unternehmer nicht immer nur der große Reichtum ist. Ausnahmen bestätigen die Regel, siehe die Veranstaltung von Kikero mit dem Titel "Mit der eigenen Firma auf dem Weg zur ersten Million - das musst du tun". 

Um noch weiter klugzuscheissen, glaube ich genausowenig dass es Generalrezepte für eine erfolgreiche Unternehmensgründung gibt. Aber das ist wieder ein anderes Thema :-)

Südtirol ist schön

Some of you might know the marketing campaign of the Province of South Tyrol where they show the most beautiful places and sights of the country. It is known to paint a unrealistic picture: tradition, no pollution, nature and so on. Now a project of some critical minds made the same only the other way round: They use the tools of this campaign and show the other face of Alto Adige, which is also urban, full of concrete and traffic, polluted. Here is the link. 

Perlen des Internet

Hier ein sehr interessanter Link zu der gleichnamigen Rubrik des schweizer Magazins "NZZ Folio". Hier kann man sehr interesaante Internet tools finden, u.a. mein geliebter Doodle. Qualitätsmagazin gibt Qualitätstipps.