people talking about money in terms of millions scare me. i am not pecunious at all and i hardly can imagine i ever will be. dave winer is a nice guy but he is stuck in his world just as i am stuck in mine. he is going to davos as an invited person to represent the future of the economic world, i am not. this might sound envy but it is not meant to be.

although i think that dave winer does relate richness to a mental wealth (and health) and not to one's financial situation and amount of ownership, i remain with a feeling of defeating discomfort.

in my closer circle of friends i can notice a widening gap between people making money and people being paid. there is a distinction, probably it is not a very obvious one. however, sometimes i feel like bribed meeting with the fresh money makers. maybe i am unjust, but i think that their behavior is a first sign of an attitude that creates a mentality of megalomania.

i am not for sale.

finally someone dares to raise his voice against that disgusting assembly of world's self-declared davos elite. i am elitarian, too.

sometimes the net gives me an optimistic feeling of the return of dignity. dignity that was hurt so many times by ignorant marketing suits, ambitious politicians, their sneaky spin doctors, clumsy media planners, sensation-lewd journalists, all those greedy men. more and more often i read about somewhat old-fashioned ideals like not to cheat, not to compel, not to ignore:

jakob nielsen: "if users frequently look for something on your site that you don't have, then it is best to tell them no up front."

cluetrain: "we'd like it if you got what's going on here. that'd be real nice. but it would be a big mistake to think we're holding our breath."

there is hope. but the old system is always trying to catch up.

i took mark to local tv-station tiv and we appeared in the show as two mates similar to southpark's mephesto and kevin. we both were dressed very similarly and i showed the usual web stuff. by purpose, mark was hardly moving and completely ignored in all the talks that were going on; just looking around a little bit. he did very well, it's probably harder to be so minimalistic than having the freedom to talk, laugh and move the way you want to.

when everybody is able to publish content, broadcast movies, sell products then the real avantgardistic act will be to live as a 100% consumer. if everybody is talking, showing and producing i gotta listen, watch and consume. what formerly was rejected as mass consumption by elitarian mass producers will be the new elite, a secret circle of dedicated consumers even avoiding to "produce" any attention.

since october 3, 1999 austria does not have a working government. everything went fine from then on and all the doctors and lawyers, once sleeping in the parliament, suddenly could keep track of their own duties.

today, the final coalition talks between the socialist and the conservative party ended without any serious result (how should they without any serious effort?). the socialists move towards a minority government with independent experts, the others claim not to support such a cabinet.

austrians probably will soon have to go to elections again. the winner will be the populist party, maybe the green party as well. this country has lost already, anyway – probably even a long time ago.

i am not allowed to vote but i pay taxes in austria.

¡NINGUNA SOLIDARIDAD CON BRIAN! it's a hoax, that is: H-O-A-X! sad enough that some people abuse other people's goodwill...

reply from andrew warinner, urban legend zeitgeist editor: "I saw a version of the email in English that was certainly a hoax that sounds identical. Some of the more implausible aspects of this are

• if the boy is in a Buenos Aires hospital, why does he have an email address in Germany?
• Given the email address, the hoax may well be an attempt to flood someone's mailbox.

i did not know about primavista net news magazine... as a regular, but not always happy reader of futurezone i welcome this discovery. i need to know more alternatives on the net.

just in the morning i took the cluetrain manifesto book out of my post box! the weather is right for staying inside a warm, cozy room and reading it.

links from mark who arrived bloody early yesterday morning: os opinion, think secret.