James Bond in Venice

Posted on 2012-01-15 by Andreas Moser

Next weekend, 20-22 January 2012, I will visit Venice for the first time.

A good person to ask for travel advice is my old mate James Bond.

He has already been to this beautiful city three times, the first time in 1963 in “From Russia with Love“. James Bond and Soviet spy Tatiana Romanova leave the Orient Express between Zagreb and Venice, hijack a truck, drive to a dock and embark on a speedboat with destination Venice, not without having to fight off a squadron of boats manned by the criminal organisation SPECTRE:

(I know, some of these old clips are dreadful to watch now. But the last clip from “Casino Royale” will compensate you for the ordeal.)

James Bond returned to Venice in 1979 for “Moonraker“. Bond went to Venice to investigate a laboratory used to manufacture biological weapons, and to team up with astronaut and CIA agent Dr Holly Goodhead. Inevitably, Bond is chased around the canals in his gondola:

(Yes, I also find the hovercraft gondola silly.)

The last time that James Bond was in Venice was in “Casino Royale” (2006), in my opinion one of the best James Bond films of all times.

Here is the scene in which James Bond and Vesper Lynd come to Venice in their yacht:

But he should not have taken Ms Lynd with him. Because Bond later finds out that she stole the money that he had won at the poker tournament in Montenegro. The following clip (unfortunately without dialogue) shows part of the finale in which Bond pursues Ms Lynd and her  co-conspirators. They end up in a building under renovation which is being kept from sinking by inflatable supports. In the gunfight, the supports are punctured and the building eventually sinks.

Don’t worry, Venice. I will try not to destroy any of your buildings during my stay.

Posted in Cinema, Italy, Travel | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

More Pestering Questions from the Philippines

Posted on 2012-01-09 by Andreas Moser

Despite being on sabbatical from working as a lawyer, I sometimes volunteer to give advice about German law. Some people think that they can approach a lawyer and are entitled to an answer to their questions. They are wrong.

One year ago, I wrote about a greedy child from the Philippines who wanted to sue and garnish his father’s ass off and even wanted to receive part of the estate before the father had even died. He had already annoyed me, not only because of the content and the wording of his questions, but because of having reminded me 3 or 4 times that I should please reply to his  questions soon – without him paying for it of course.

I think he is back:

“Moser,Which  has  the  priority in  Maintenance  Obligations ?  Is  it the  child  or  the new  wife?I  read  about  this  new Alimony Law  of  2008  that  said that the  child maintenance  support has  priority over  the  divorced  wife  and  even the new  wife.  The  maintenance claim  is  against  the  pension income of  the  father.  The maintenance  title  is  a  foreign  judgment  but  declared  enforceable in germany. It  seems there is  a  table  of  how  much  is  distrainable.

Has  the  new  Alimony  Law of  2008  affected  this  table ? Does  this  table  has  to  be  followed  or  applied  strictly  or  are  there  exceptions  to the  rule  because  of  the  emergence  of  the new Alimony  Law ?Does  this  include  foreign  maintenance  judgment where  the  amount  was  already  fixed ?

Now  my  question is:  who  gets  the  precedence  in  the  maintenance payment  or  entitlement  first,  is  it  the  child  or  the  wife ?  Please  elaborate  why  the  wife  or  child  or  why  not.

I  understand  the  father  is  entitled  to his  living  expenses  of  some  Euro 930. The  father’s  pension  is  some Euro 1,500,00. the  child’s maintenance  was  set  at some Euro 300,00.  The  father is saying  that  he  has  remarried and  claiming  support  for  a  new  wife.

There is  this  table  that  I don’t understand,  there is  a  column  “0”,  does  this mean  no dependents ?  In  this  case,  the  child  is  the  only  dependent  other  than  the  new  wife.  Where  does  the  child  belong  in this  table  and  how much  is  he  entitled  ?  If  you can  explain this,  would  be  grateful.

http://www.adf-inkasso.de/inkasso/pfaendungstabelle.htm

Thanks  in advance  for  your help.

Ben

I refused to answer the question because I thought it resembled the “greedy child” case too closely.

I received this response:

Moser,You  replied  but  you said:  you  cannot help” !  Give  me  a  REASON  why  you cannot  help with  my  question.  Are you  just  being  polite  or  just  unreasonable  and  stubborn ?

Now, here’s some free advice: If you want a service from a professional, calling him “unreasonable and stubborn” won’t help.

But this guy still did not stop pestering me:

Moser,For  God’s  sakes,  you  did  NOT  answer  my  question!  What  is  your  problem ?  Why  do  you  refuse  to  answer  this  question ?I  do  not  want  to  call  you  a  LIAR  but  if  you  can  show  proof  that  indeed  you have  answered  this  question  on  “Maintenanance payments  PRECEDENCE ” –  then,  YOU  WIN !!

Surprise announcement: I don’t need to prove anything, I don’t need to do anything, I don’t have any obligations towards you, just because you e-mail me. You e-mailing me does not establish a contractual relationship, as we lawyers would say.

Can you believe it? This guy still did not give up. I just received the 4th e-mail today:

Moser,You  have  not  my  first  question !   You  have  not  answered  either  the  2nd   and   3rd  follow-up !  WHY ?  At  least  give  me  a  REASON !

I hope he will find this blog, and his answer in it.

Posted in Family Law, German Law, Law | Tagged , , | 30 Comments

Living the Life of a Pensioner

Posted on 2012-01-07 by Andreas Moser

I am only 36, a student and an avid traveller, but I seem to live the life of a pensioner already:

  • I like to go for walks.
  • I can often be found in the park, reading a book.
  • I don’t buy new clothes because the ones I have are still good enough.
  • I smoke cigars.
  • I don’t like places with loud music and many people.
  • The thought of sitting at home, next to the fireplace, and again with a book does not scare me.
  • It makes me sad to see how young people waste their lives.
  • I have some grey hair.
  • I have given up on following technological developments.
  • I am calm and wise.

Doe this mean that I grew old too soon or that I was lucky enough to leapfrog the mid-life part of sitting in an office for 30 years? Why should I wait until I am 65 to do the things I enjoy?

Two generations (and a previous one in the sarcophagus): My father and me in Caesarea, Israel.

Posted in Life | Tagged | 13 Comments

Bird Flu is not that Bad

Posted on 2012-01-04 by Andreas Moser

From time to time, usually when nothing else of interest happens, the news remind us of bird flu (avian flu, H5N1) again. See The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and The Washington Post for examples from the past few days only. It is a constant scare in the papers, on radio, on TV and parents are telling their children not to play with the birds.

But let me put things into perspective:

  • Since 2003, fewer than 600 people have been infected with bird flu, of which 335 people died.
  • That is 37 deaths per year worldwide, which is less than any other known cause of death. (In 2010, in the USA alone, 29 people died from lightning so even that figure is bound to be higher worldwide than the deaths caused by bird flu.)

Looking at the number of people (7 billion) and the number of birds in the world (unknown but huge, based on my own observations), these numbers are extremely low. In addition, while I generally refuse to blame the victims, some people might have almost called for being infected. This is from a New York Times article about the transmissibility of bird flu:

There have also been some anomalous cases, including a group of diners in Vietnam who apparently were infected by raw duck blood pudding, and the handlers of fighting cocks who were stricken after sucking blood and mucus out of their birds’ beaks.

There is another reason why I have a hard time feeling sorry for the few people that are killed by bird flu:

  • Worldwide, 50 billion chickens are killed every year.
  • And that’s only chickens. Humans also kill ducks, turkeys, geese, swans and any other type of bird that they can lay their hands on.

Now people will ask “Don’t you see the difference between birds and humans?” Yes, I do see the difference:

  • Birds don’t kill humans on purpose.

    Next time you eat, count the lives lost.

I cannot discern any moral justification for killing animals on such a grand scale. Yes, animals are different from people. But being different does not mean that they are worth less. A bird, a horse, an ant, a whale and your dog have a life too. Some of them have a partner, many of them have children.

Some proponents of mankind’s right to kill animals argue that animals can’t talk, don’t have emotions, don’t have the same kind of sophisticated lives as we do. But we don’t really know that for sure, and we can’t, despite all of the science that we have at our disposal, because this scientific approach will always be guided by how we as humans think. We just cannot imagine, feel or understand what it’s like to be a cat or a worm. Heck, we men can’t even understand what makes women tick the way they do.

For those who like to stress the difference between humans and animals, I would like to point out one difference that I concede: We as humans can pause in our actions, reflect about the ethics of our behaviour and change it.

(Disclaimer: I may change my opinion about bird flu once I will contract it myself.)

Posted in Food, Philosophy | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Why North Korea is Mourning

Posted on 2012-01-02 by Andreas Moser

The world wondered why North Koreans were weeping, crying, sobbing and mourning the late dictator Kim Jong Il‘s death on 17 December 2011. After all, he had oppressed and starved them for 17 years.

See for yourself how North Koreans were crying their eyes out:

(It’s really hard to watch all 3 minutes of it, isn’t it?)

With the help of a very elaborate psychological and scientific process, I have been able to learn what North Koreans really thought:

“It was so embarrassing to lose 0-7 to Portugal in the last World Cup.”

“The whole world will ridicule us for this show.”

“The Arab countries have a real spring. We don’t even have spring rolls.”

“Oh no, not another chubby Kim. How will we be able to tell them apart in history class?”

(On a different note: Watching the above video, it seems that the days after Kim Jong Il’s death in December 2011 would have been the perfect window of opportunity for South Korea to liberate North Korea. It looks as if all the North’s soldiers were so overwhelmed by grief that they could not have put up an organised defence. A missed opportunity.)

Posted in North Korea, Politics | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

2012 Warning

Posted on 2012-01-01 by Andreas Moser

Do you remember the film “2012” by Roland Emmerich? It is (another) disaster film about the end of the world, which has allegedly been predicted for 21 December 2012 by the Maya Calendar.

In the film, the earth’s core heats up, volcanoes erupt, millions die in earthquakes, floods consume whole countries, glaciers melt, tsunamis kill almost everybody who is still alive. All countries and continents are affected and destroyed, except for a small part of Africa. It is complete annihilation, an orgy of disasters, explosions and death.

And how did the British Board of Film Classification rate this film? The BBFC warns: “Contains sustained moderate threat and one use of strong language.”

“Moderate threat”? The earth is destroyed and 7 billion people die.

One just has to love British understatement! I wish the people at the BBFC were responsible for the terrorism threat warnings.

Posted in Cinema, Language, Terrorism, UK | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

First New Year’s Resolution for 2012 already broken

Posted on 2012-01-01 by Andreas Moser

It’s 1 January 2012 and already New Year’s resolutions are being broken.

This year’s first culprit is Japan.

"But I can still give up smoking in 2012."

After the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima, I am sure many people in Japan included “no more earthquakes” in their lists of resolutions for 2012.

Yet, this morning they had an earthquake again.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

New Year’s Resolutions for 2012

Posted on 2011-12-30 by Andreas Moser

It’s this time of the year again: people are making resolutions about what to do in 2012: eat less, exercise more, quit smoking, learn a new language, find a girlfriend/boyfriend, become a millionaire.

My resolutions for 2012? None. Absolutely nothing.

That’s not because I think that I and my life are perfect already. They are not, and they probably never will be.

But if there is something that I want to change or improve, I don’t see why I have to wait for the arbitrarily set date of 31 December or 1 January. When I want to change something, I will do it right away. As I did in 2011:

  • In March I read “Into the Wild” which inspired me to go on outdoor adventures again. Already in June I walked across England, all the way from the East to the West coast.
  • I wanted to prioritize my studies, so I reduced my work to part-time.
  • For my birthday in July, I went to the Channel Islands for more hiking and discovered paradise.
  • As I became tired of life in London after two years there, I quit my job, terminated my lease and spontaneously moved to Malta.

For none of these things did I say “I’ll do that next year” or “I need to plan it more before I can do it.” I just did them. And I am happy that I did.

Why should I have waited with this until next year?

Whether it’s resolutions, long-term plans or to-do lists, it’s all just procrastination. If there is something in your life that you want to change, the time is now.

  • If you want to quit smoking, throw away all the cigarettes in your house now. Don’t buy new ones. It’s easy. (If you have cigars, you can give them to me.)
  • If you want to learn a new language, start today. No, you don’t need to wait until a course starts or the books arrive. For almost any language, you will find the first few lessons online.
  • If you want to exercise more, you don’t need to register with a gym. Put on your running shoes and go for a run now. If you don’t have running shoes, go for a long and fast walk. If you can’t go outside, do push-ups at home.
  • If you want to quit your job, write the resignation letter today and e-mail it to your employer. (In some jurisdictions, a signed resignation letter may be required in addition to that.)
  • If you want to end a relationship, tell your boyfriend/girlfriend that you never want to see them again. (But get your stuff back first.)
  • If you want to visit me in Malta, buy the ticket. (Maybe after asking me when I will be available.)
  • If you want to visit any other country, buy the ticket.
  • If you want to become more intellectual, buy or borrow a good book today and start reading it tonight. (Ask me for recommendations.) If you can’t get access to books that quickly, start with my blog.
  • If you want to give more to the poor, go out and help a homeless person today.
  • If you want to be more creative, start drawing, painting or taking photographs.
  • If you want to live healthier, buy or pick fruits.
  • If you want to become more adventurous, pack your sleeping bag and spend a night in the forest. (I might even join you.)
  • Do not under any circumstances use words like “tomorrow”, “later” or “one day”.
Posted in Life | Tagged , | 33 Comments

Where is Malta?

Posted on 2011-12-30 by Andreas Moser

After receiving the 25th e-mail from a friend that included the question “Where is Malta, actually?”, I decided to devote a blog post to this recurring question. I cannot do so however, without voicing my despair about people’s lack of geographical knowledge. After all, Malta is a member state of the European Union, so it’s not as if I moved to Guadalcanal or Onotoa. (I had also attempted to describe Malta’s location in my first blog post about moving to Malta.)

So, here is the map of Europe. Malta is within the red circle towards the bottom, in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily (Italy) and Libya (North Africa). Yes, it’s quite small.

For those who don’t know where Europe is, there is a map of the world in the bottom right corner.

And why is Malta part of Europe instead of Africa?

That’s easy. A British law of 1801 (“Malta Act”, 41 Geo 3, c103) settles this question: “… the said island of Malta and dependencies thereof shall be deemed taken, and construed to be part of Europe for all purposes, and as to all matters and things whatever; any law or laws, usage or custom, or Act or Acts …”

Posted in Europe, Malta, Travel | Tagged | 21 Comments

If you forgot to go to Church

Posted on 2011-12-29 by Andreas Moser

Oh. Christmas just passed and I completely forgot to go to church.

If you committed the same omission, God allows you to make up for it by watching this church video:

(From Borat.)

Living in a predominantly Catholic country (like Malta), I feel more compelled to mock Christianity. I wonder how this urge will play out when I move to Saudi Arabia or Iran.

Posted in Cinema, Religion, USA | Tagged , | 4 Comments