The Satirical Retrospective 2023
Newspaper(!) report on April 7: 15 kilometers of traffic jam before the Gotthard. Why is this actually a news item? For those who were there, it has no news value; for those who weren't there, it's not relevant. And it's too late for traffic jam enthusiasts who still wanted to drive in. So what?
April 8. Hobby ethymology in a report in the Tagi about Severin Schwan's time on the Credit Suisse Board of Directors. He didn't have an easy time there: "With his terms from the pharmaceutical industry such as meaningfulness, social value or transparency, he hardly stood a chance." Who will let the Duden know so they can adapt it? "Meaningfulness: term from the pharmaceutical industry". Great.
A "travel designer" offers vacations for the rich, and that sounds like this: "For example, surprises on site: a helicopter flight up a mountain where a great picnic awaits." "The needs of the children are paramount... If the teenage son wants to go to the gym, it has to be well equipped." On no-gos: "It drives me crazy when the turndown service knocks on the door just as you're getting ready for dinner." Yes, that must be traumatic, right? and what on earth is a turndown service, please?
Riddle headline in the Sunday newspaper of July 2: "If you know your way around Denmark, you can win a stay in Goms." Why not Denmark? Or questions about Goms? Logic where?
The omnipotence fantasy of the Human Brain Project has failed. Andreas Herz, Professor of Computational Neuroscience at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, says: "Compared to physics, however, neuroscience is still way behind where it was in 1920... We are still walking in the dark with flashlights, exploring around individual questions." So next time you see a course in brain-friendly leadership, why not book something else - unless you need to lead a group of brains.
An ice swimmer (respect for her effort) has turned her passion into a business model and now lets managers splash around in ice water, arguing that swimming together in cold mountain lakes gives teams a state of exception that welds them together. Apart from the fact that " welding together" is perhaps not the right word given the temperatures: the assumption that a state of exception can simply be transferred to everyday life is proven to be nonsense. "Exception" says it all, you don't even need the ethymologist from before...
Trump can't be left out when it comes to folly and nonsense: his supporters get a Trump flag for free - if they transfer at least 50 dollars to his campaign beforehand...I could also try: "I'll support you for free if you transfer at least two thousand francs to me". Unbelievable. Whenever you think there should be limits...
And another older gentleman (admittedly not quite in the same category): Reinhard Sprenger says in an interview (Tagi of May 11) that managers do not have the duty to be authentic and justifies this as follows: "Imagine you were to tell the truth and nothing but the truth for a day. That would be a battlefield of ruthlessness." So if that's his definition of authenticity, maybe it's time to make way with dignity or interview others. There is also a lot of interesting stuff outside Jurassic Park.
If anything, I'd rather listen to Biden's speech in the Oval Office, even if the YouTube film is brutally interrupted in the middle by a commercial break in which a trainer shouts at me without warning: "don't use bullet points in your presentation!!!"
There will probably be no shortage of absurdities. On that note: stay cheerful in the new year.
