Erasmus - Wolverhampton, UK

This is the link to my other, new blog: wolverhampton07.blogspot.com

this and that...

it seems to me that not everyone on this planet does respect Rocky as much as george does for example... just have a look at this video, a new version of the "eye of the tiger"....

HERE you can find a better version of this song accompanied by a few Rocky fights...

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do you know what the main difference between a European and an American car chase is?
First take a look at this video:
Germany

then compare it to the following one from the
US1
US2

I don't understand why the police in American car chases always tries to crash the other car to stop it. They might as well just use on of those things to stop a person from driving on an interstate...
source: http://www.gorin-images.com/blog/index.php?showimage=85
Anyway, I understand that you are not supposed to speed in the US, however, I don't get why such car chases need to be organized once the police has seen the licence plate the challenge to find out who the driver is should not be that hard...

By the way, these videos remind me of my trip to the US once again. As we drove for 5-6 hours every day for two weeks we had the unique opportunity of getting a good impression of roads and road design in the (south-western) US. In my opinion there should be no speed limit in the desert of Nevada where you drive straight ahead for hours overtaking another car from time to time. The only intersting thing you might see are signs saying; "do not stop for hitchhikers. State penitentiary ahead"...

How to upload a word document...

Look at this nice page: GOOGLE

Look at this nice page!

How to upload a word document!

have fun ;()


(you might want to try to do all this from home. you can access the uni-graz server by the terminalserver system: www-ts.uni-graz.at First, follow the steps described on this page. Then choose "Login Terminalserver" from the drop down menu and log in to your uni-graz account...)

Microeconomics...

Here you can find some work I've done for Microeconomics... some parts are copied out of the internet though.

LINK!!

Have fun!

Arnold for President

... well! costitution or not... Arnold might run for presidency after all...

Arnold running for President

Vocab, NYT articles

Here is some vocab from the articles I discussed just before: (explanations out of LDOCE)

to prune - to make something smaller by removing parts that you do not need or want (or cut branches of a tree to make them grow better)
sluggish – moving or reacting more slowly than normal
to feel smug – showing too much satisfaction with your own cleverness or success
What are you so smug about? To be smug about smth.
incremental – increasing, happening gradually over time
Cumbersome – a slow or difficult system, heavy and difficult to move
To shudder at something – to think that something is very bad or unpleasant
the runoff election
rocking on the toes – move up and down on the toes
to be a whirling dervish of ideas –
to whirl - if your head is whirling, or if thoughts are whirling in your head, your mind is full of thoughts and ideas, and you feel very confused or excited
dervish - a member of a Muslim religious group, some of whom dance fast and spin around as part of a religious ceremony
to have a strained relationship – with many problems
"...who may still have harbored ambitions" – to harbor  to hide/hidden Here: to have hidden, untold ambitions
Arson - the crime of deliberately making something burn, especially a buildin
to quell - to end a situation in which people are behaving violently or protesting, especially by using force (Synonym – to put down)
to dither (a ditherer) – to keep being unable to make a final decision on something
to have strong oratory skills – the skill of making powerful speeches

Change is crucial. But what should change and how?!?

New York Times Article "Forget Who'll Win in France, Change Is a Loser.

This article about “Change Being a Loser” points out the American perspective of the European welfare System and its economic and social impact. When reading this article I inevitably recalled an article about unemployment which is ought to be bound to the social system and unwillingness of Europeans to move where the jobs are. Only downsides, which by the way are not at all proven, were presented producing a backward image of Europe. In fact, I believe, it’s not Europe who should take an example at US politics and US economics but, if anyone should look for a role model, it should be the other way round (yes, this is a very chauvinist point of view).
Anyway, to put it in a nutshell this article describes France, French politics and the French people in itself as a nation not willing to change, as a nation rejecting radical change, as a nation were change needs its time to evolve. The article is not at all negative, the image produced is by far more positive than I expected at first. Basically it says that the French are so well off that it is hard to let the people understand that change is necessary to boast the “sluggish”(kriechend) economy.
The most interesting aspect of the article, however, are the comparisons made between France and the US. There is the degree of violence in the suburbs in 2005 which were exceptionally brutal and seemed threatening for European standards. The author of the New York Times compares these riots to similar situations he has observed in the US and states that the level of violence was not that high after all. The same is done with the health care system, the working hours per week and the comfortable life people live in France everyday.
I can only agree with the author’s impression on life in France compared to the situation in the US. Although I’ve only been to the US once, I consider myself capable of judging the general quality of life there compared to France. Therefore I believe strongly that the welfare system, the 35-hour workweek, the state funded pension system, the lunch voucher etc. are essential achievements which should not be given up easily for a little more (uncertain) economic growth.
At this point I feel urged to say that it is not enough to have “one of the best health/educational/pension/… systems,” but that it is crucial to remodel, modernize and adapt these systems as to increase social equitability and collective wealth. In my vision of society the state is supposed to stand for a collective, to stand for every single individual of a nation’s collective. It is supposed to balance out social inequalities produced by the repartition of wealths as it is today. Why should inhabitants of European states be satisfied with what they have? Why shouldn't they improve their life quality even more? Be careful, I said "life quality" not economic wealth!
What is a six-digit income good for in a world undergoing major climatic changes which might affect your life, your children's lives and your friend's lives?