Archive for February, 2009
My Dedicated Followers
I’m sure there is a lesson to be learned. Not sure which, though.
links for 2009-02-20
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Regeringen har besluttet at imødekomme virksomhedernes ønske om længere frister for betaling af A-skat og AM-bidrag samt afregningen af moms for virksomheder med måneden og kvartalet som afregningsperiode. Det har konsekvenser for, hvordan virksomhederne skal forholde sig med A-skatten og momsen i de næste 6 måneder.
More From the Foghometer
Between you and me, I’ll admit that DR’s Tage Baumann has been one of my favourites for a long time. He knows a bit about how defence policy and international organisations work and here he discusses Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s chances of becoming the next Secretary General of NATO.
links for 2009-02-19
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The intent of the project is to investigate the sources and consequences of constitutional choices. Towards this end, the investigators are collecting data on the formal characteristics of written constitutions, both current and historical, for most independent states since 1789. The data will ultimately be available in its entirety to the public.
links for 2009-02-18
Footnotes
Historian/journalist Dorthe Chakravarty has a post about footnotes. Executive summary:
1. Kill your darlings and don’t put side-stories in the footnotes.
2. If the story is good enough, it will eventually make for an essay or an article.
I can see the merits of the Harvard system of referencing even if having parentheses in the middle of the text can be pretty annoying too.
links for 2009-02-17
The Foghometer
Generally, political scientists are not in the prediction business, but as the Dansk Politik blog has started the Foghometer (as I prefer to call it), here is the link.
And as a commenter noted: If Fogh resigns in favour of Løkke, Denmark will have had a string of three Prime Minister Rasmussens – Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Back in 1993, I found it slightly hilarious that Poul (Schlüter) was followed by Poul (Nyrup Rasmussen). And then we shouldn’t forget the 2x Hans Hansen (Hans Hedtoft Hansen and Hans Christian Svane Hansen) heading the Danish government, even if Hedtoft had ditched Hansen by then.
What Is a Name…?
Germany has a new Trade and Industry Minister and quite a noble one at that: Karl-Theodor Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg.
Or to be more precise: Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. A name which may or may not make Angela Dorothea Merkel envious.
Anyway, some prankster thought that one, two, … ten first names weren’t enough and added a Wilhelm to the collection.
But how about the SPD’s candidate for the chancellorship, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Well, here somebody in the SPD decided that Walter was overdoing it and simply renamed the Foreign Minister Frank Steinmeier. Where was the problem? Frankfurter Allgemeine gives us alternative explanations – the … er … other German state once had a leader named Walter (well, so did the FRG), there could be associations to the Walther handguns. Etc, etc.
It is probably a good thing that Herr Steinmeier isn’t Danish as the name holds slightly comic connotations here: Case #1, Case #2. Still, rebranding politicians is a potentially dangerous business and carries the risk of ridicule. Just ask Mogens Lykketoft who mysteriously lost not only his trademark Lev Trotsky-goatee but also his glasses during the 2005 election campaign.
Oh, and the Freiherr is cool about being called Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, by the way.
Sjap
A grey, snowy day with temperatures just a bit above the freezing-point.