Pity

Although I have lived in Austria for over 30 years and am now an Austrian citizen, I was born and raised in Michigan in the USA. The beautiful peninsulas surround by the Great Lakes where I grew up rarely make the news in Austria, so sat up and listened when I heard that the FBI …

Pointless Products

In a recent post I mentioned that some 20.000 new beverages and processed food products hit grocery store shelves every year. Following up on that post, an incredible 75% of these products fail in their first year. Given that Food Product Development is now a master’s program at universities around the world – Australia, United …

Attack of the killer Giant Hogweed

If you didn’t already have enough to worry about with COVID-19, the impending election in the USA, global warming, and whatever local issues might be troubling you in your corner of the world, allow me to give you something else to fret about: Giant Hogweed. Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is a member of the carrot …

Knocking down the walls

Today marks 30 years of German Reunification, and next week classes start again at the Karl-Franzens-Universität. One seminar I will be taking sounds very promising – The Desire for Walls After 1989. The course description : Thirty years ago the wall between East and West Germany fell. For many people, 1989 was also seen as …

Wonky Vegetables

I like shopping at the farmer’s market. It is a short bike ride from my house. The quality is excellent, and I enjoy bantering with the local produce growers working the stands. Buying what is in season and grown locally is also an easy way to contribute to the local economy and help the planet. …

Cookies that taste like other cookies

I recently commented on Simon Reynold’s excellent book Retromania and how it aptly explains current stagnation in music, the visual arts, and fashion. Retromania, also affects consumer behavior in the grocery store. Particularly in times of upheaval and uncertainty people turn to processed comfort foods popular in earlier decades. For example grocery stores in the …

Are human ignorance and egoism boundless?

I really try to keep my faith in humanity and stay optimistic that we will somehow overcome our present problems. Today, thanks to this article in the NYT about flights that go nowhere and are sold out, I have a hard time maintaining a positive attitude.As a writer I am normally not at a loss …

Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1933-2020

No pithy comments or smart ass remarks today - too busy reflecting on the passing or RBG.

Austrian Tree Culture

We are all so proud in Austria that Donald Trump has praised us for our excellent forestry management skills. If you missed the interview with Fox News, Mr. Trump explained that as a “forest nation” we live in “forest cities.” Also, although we have “more explosive trees” than in California we don’t have forest fires …

Inappropriate English

Although English only has around 370 million speakers who consider it their first language, 900 million additional people speak it as a second tongue. This makes English both the most widely spoken and most widely abused language on the planet. As anglicisms and half-anglicisms continue to encroach on other languages, odd and often humorous, linguistic …