The economic hardships following the collapse of the corona pandemic continue to hit Big Tech really hard. Latest news is that Spotify is laying off 17% of its staff to cut costs. Let’s crunch some numbers … From June to September of this year, Spotify: Let me get this straight. Despite a 260 million EURContinue reading “BCD 04.12.2023”
Author Archives: fogBlogger
Talkin’ shit …
I have a confession to make … For years now, I’ve been throwing organic waste in with the normal trash, a crime minimally punishable here in Germany by a stern and very long-winded lecture from the neighbours. Befitting the times, my excuse is simple: I blame Big Government. The waste, of course, is dog poop,Continue reading “Talkin’ shit …”
Discounting bulk and the conundrum of Croatian commerce
For reasons of matrimony, I’ve spent a good deal of time over the past three years in Croatia. (In other words, dividing my time between Not-Bielefeld and Not-Yugoslavia.) Can’t say that I’m much wiser about the Croatian language over that stretch though: But, if you can believe it, I’m even more confused over the CroatianContinue reading “Discounting bulk and the conundrum of Croatian commerce”
Official obfuscation
Beamtendeutsch (officialese or bureaucratese) is undoubtedly a recurring nightmare in most languages that is designed to obscure the meaning of even the simplest of things. (As perhaps befits the general concept, there is no agreed upon definition of officialese beyond this such that the distinction from the highly similar legalese is unclear. My impression, however,Continue reading “Official obfuscation”
Private wealth care
Like many other countries in the world, Germany has a two-tiered health-care system: statutory (public) insurance as the default for everyone and private insurance for those who can otherwise afford it. And like the same, respective systems the world over, the premiums are income-based: your actual income for the statutory insurance and your health statusContinue reading “Private wealth care”
BCD 26.10.2023
I know, I know. I’m riffing on the same rant again, but as long as there are little old ladies, drive-through coffee shops, the United States, and lawyers, these blog pieces will unfortunately keep coming. Sigh … Hard on the heels of the latest McDonald’s coffee tragedy, comes another, similar story of unnecessary pain andContinue reading “BCD 26.10.2023”
Paperwork to officially make you sick
Getting sick as an employee of the University of Not-Bielefeld used to be pretty straightforward. You simply selected your ailment, disease, or injury of choice; found a doctor to put you on sick leave if it all it lasted for three or more workdays; and then handed your sick note in to the head officeContinue reading “Paperwork to officially make you sick”
BCD 11.09.2023
In haphazardly scouring the internet for some royalty-free (read: cheap; still not making any money off this blog like WordPress keeps telling me I can) pictures of the chaos involving with boarding an airplane for an upcoming entry, I came across this one associated with an article entitled “Passengers boarding airplanes: we’re doing it wrong”:Continue reading “BCD 11.09.2023”
Big blue boneheads
Another little administrative tidbit from today. I’m sure they meant well. I just wish that they also thought well while doing it sometimes … Apparently the university here in Not-Bielefeld has recently mandated that all new teaching staff have to take a one-hour, online “welcome workshop” within their first two months. Among other topics designedContinue reading “Big blue boneheads”
BCD 11.06.2023
Perhaps one of the few segments of the workforce that has as little grounding in reality as admin is marketing. Unfortunately, however, reality too often plays into their weirdly warped worldview. (Or is shaped by it.) Case in point is the latest invention of some too clever marketing-type that I saw the other day: limited-editionContinue reading “BCD 11.06.2023”
The Blog About Fog 