I campaign for a cap on the production of powerpoint. There’s just too much of it in our lives, like air conditioned draughts on planes, LCD screens in Italian railway stations, CO2 in cities, balsamico on soups, rucola in sandwiches. It’s a dangerous form of pollution. It may be necessary but sometimes it’s bordering on overdose. And: it is bad for your brain.

In German board rooms there’s a lot of iPadding, in meetings in London or Frankfurt some clients take notes on their tablets (wonder how they do). Paperless meetings are on every corporate agenda.

So you can imagine my happyness the other day when a colleague in research came in the meeting room with his laptop, switched it on and then switched off the projector and started to do its presentation using a blackboard. Not an electronic one: a black one. And he used chalk.

I must say that I remember every concept he explained. He resorted to the use of his laptop only for showing a video at the end. Maybe there are some receptors in my 1960s-produced brain who are particularly sensible to blackboard and go in overdrive (like supercar) when the chalk handwriting arabesque start forming on a black and rough surface. And when those characters are crafted by mathematicians, with a self-contained and rounded writing, bingo…the well-being factor of seing maths on a blackboard without an Econometrics exam approaching release all my memorization endorphines.

I wonder what happened to the APP party, the anti-power point party that our friend Paolo the other day recalled in one of our e-mail conversations. They should campaign at the Nespresso coffeemachines in any corporation. They would find acolytes galore.

Back to the company, I must say that here limits apply. There is always a limit to the number of slides. Regulations – we’re in Germany, remember! – for contributions in Committee discussions say that your slides should be in American English (pity – I prefer British), maximum 5 slides. And this is already a big achievement. Still there are ways to get around regulations (also in Germany, yesss). There always BackUp Slides, and god knows how many of those (small) presentations are prepared!

On my first day of school I got punished. I was talking too much and the teacher sent me “behind the blackboard”. I advocate the same punishment now for those committing powerpoint abuse. Catholic-style: re-customize a 90-slide presentation 17 times without any help by assistants, on your iPad (screen keyboard only) between 19.45 and 8.30.

We love the Astor Film Lounge. Can’t wait to spend an evening with aperitivo and movie…We love the 1950s architecture!! Quelle bombonnière!!

Berlin!!! Two weeks…and we will be there!! Can’t wait to take in the Berliner Luft and the Berlinale atmosphere…

Since December 6th, 72,133 readers answered.

Source: The Economist

Fabulous video (from Pino) with Tom Hanks philosophying on Germany, Berlin and Eisenhüttenstadt…and Autobahn!

Well done…since 2 months I see this stupid campaign “don’t be a maybe” at my Stadtbahn stop. Now an Unknown Artist, blogged on FB by Street Art Hamburg  did this fabulous détournement. Thanks Pino for sharing!!

This is Berlin. Better a Polish cigarette than these tired tricks, innovative among Mad Men fifty years ago.

I don’t know…to me what Merkel says makes a lot of sense. Is it so hard to understand that in its selfish dreams Germany also needs demand and growth in the Rest of Europe in order to be able to power ahead with its exports, and not a weaker Europe? And that a growth fuelled by printing banknotes or bailing out ships threading water by writing white cheques would be a catastrophe, especially for the weakest economies?

Budget discipline means collecting taxes from those who should pay them, spending on the right projects with have something similar to a ROI and not idiot infrastructure like the Ponte sullo Stretto or decorative kerbs in Spain, supporting the right kind of welfare: the one that enables workers in declining industries to acquire new skills, not nepotist public (or private) low productivity sector jobs. And the unions’ objective should be to negotiate good terms without putting the country on its knees on one side and becoming themselves a protected kast on the other side?

But everybody knows that the nations’ daddies are those who promise gifts, play football and masquerade as Santa. And good moms are those who enforce math homework, room cleaning and spinach eating. There are still gender stereotypes in Europe, and women are the ones which make things work in 80% of cases. More balanced roles would be preferable, but the math exams are tomorrow, the vitamine count is low, kids are panicking and distracted, so someone’s got to keep the pieces together. You’ll get the ice cream, but first eat your greens.

More on Davos here.

Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 25 January 2012– Europe needs to move forward with structural political reforms if it is to resolve its sovereign debt crisis and put to rest doubts about its unity and viability, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an address to participants in the opening plenary session of the World Economic Forum’s 42nd Annual Meeting. At the core of the crisis are weaknesses in the competitiveness of many European countries, she remarked, noting that deficits have accrued over the years. “There is a clear lack of political structures and underpinnings to make this work,” Merkel acknowledged. “We are not going to become faint of heart. But we will not be able to wave a magic wand to address this. Yet at some point in time we have to do something about these weaknesses.” Concluded the German leader: “The question is: Do we dare to have more ‘Europe’? In the year 2012, yes, we do dare.”

In her speech, Merkel called for structural reforms that would allow for genuine labour mobility in Europe so that people can move to where jobs are and be able to take their pension rights and insurance with them. She said that, while Germany strongly supports the single European currency, it is not prepared to make any guarantees. “It is not that we don’t wish to show solidarity and have binding commitments. But what we don’t want is to promise something that we can’t fulfil.” Merkel added that she would like to see the G20 pursue the agenda for growth and employment set out by Mexico, the chair this year. G20 countries will also need to work on financial market regulation and securing free trade against increasing signs of protectionism, she said.

Prior to Merkel’s speech, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the President of the Swiss Confederation and Federal Councillor of the Federal Department of Finance of the Swiss Confederation, welcomed participants. She stressed that countries have to address the long-term challenges of chronic fiscal imbalances and climate change. “Both of these issues will affect future generations,” Widmer-Schlumpf declared. “We must not burden the young with the problems that we have created.”

With record participation of over 2,600 leaders from government, academia, business and civil society, the theme of this year’s Annual Meeting is The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models. “We have a vision gap in the world,” Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said in his opening remarks. “My wish is threefold – that we build by searching for constructive new solutions and models, that we bond by looking for long-term vision, and that we bind by creating the necessary underpinning framework of shared values.”

Source: WEF, CNN and FT

The cheeky video is nice…and I really hope that Berlin can boost its employment rate. For sure the quality of life for young people studying or starting their career is higher than all other European’s cities. But job opportunities are still scarce, as Berlin is probably the German city which exports less among other Länder. Still it imports a lot of travellers, art lovers, fashion professionals thanks to the fashion week and Bread and Butter, music producers, movie professionals…this is always a good start. Then, the “boring jobs” in finance, legal, accounting, will follow.

All bookstores in our street show biographies, history tomes and magazines covering the hot topic of 2012: Frederick the Great, aka “Der alte Fritz”, born in 1712.

I don’t exclude to delve more in the story of the great man, especially after having listened a few years ago to a beautiful radio broadcast by one of the most entertaining Italian historians, Alessandro Barbero. You can find all episodes on Radio 2.

Barbero tells us about his aggressive warfare impetus, his 16 wars, 13 won and 3 lost, his love for the arts and his friendship with Voltaire and Bach. But even more about the loneliness of Frederick, triggered with the events of Küstrin.

Source: Der Spiegel

Every morning I check the Bund quotes. I’m always long, never short…