2012 in review December 30, 2012

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 200,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 4 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!

Click here to see the complete report.

Who is brain-washing whom? December 23, 2012

I recently met a highly influential person from one developed country‘s national TV. The person was the main producer of this channel, the one who decided and even created programmes watched by millions.

I decided to pick up the chance and asked the man what he actually thought about brainwashing the poor TV watchers. And I got an answer the most unexpected: Not that the producer was confused to admit that, no! He looked at me and ask what I think of people who watch all the stuff?

 He confessed that this is all about money and very little about any politics or brainwashing. He told me: “Look, TV is money. We have to create programmes that people like and watch. We cannot make people watch anything we like. The choice is always on the other side of the screen. If the rating of a programme falls, we quit it, as simple as that.”

I think this was an answer to many modern problems: we make choices that make us suffer, that let us consume stupid stuff. We are so much more powerful by making the right choices! – but how often do we realize that? The idea is not new, but it was refreshing to hear it from someone I believed to be one of the main “brain-washers”.

At the end of the conversation with this producer I dropped a note that I was not watching any TV since 8 years… There was no way he could impress me by his work.

:)axinia