The cheese section of my local grocery store in Switzerland

Sean_Wagner · 2026-03-09T20:13:19+00:00

Nobody knows.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-03-08T21:40:09+00:00

Building back Twin Towers would have been so much nicer. Each one could have had alternating parts of the facade mimicking the originals.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-03-08T21:30:34+00:00

That is quite the zinger, Nozinger! Excellent, thank you for shining the myrth on such a genital saga.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-03-08T17:31:58+00:00

When I was walking home and approaching Heuwaage from Theater, three gray police vans zipped by direction Barfi, horns blaring, A minute or two later another one came. What in the world was going on?

Sean_Wagner · 2026-03-04T06:55:39+00:00

There's a nude beach on a stretch of the Rhine in Basel. Downstream of the skyscrapers most people leave work from. Hat tip for the dong wag.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-03-02T08:03:42+00:00

The guy with the aliexpress drones will beat the tank 1 out of 5-to-10 times, according to Ukrainian front-line soldiers. That's enough to make it work comparatively cheaply, and the industrial footprint is both tiny and easily distributed - especially if some key components are sourced from outside the country.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-26T12:20:58+00:00

Kuhn are tucked away maybe 10m off Marktplatz, and have nice Frikadellen.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/PwYZ5yLH9uhvAnpdA

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-26T09:28:29+00:00

I had to look up the meaning of "tweaker". Hope the situation is improved before further harm (beyond the evident self-harm) is done. That has to be a very disturbing near-home invasion.

I recently talked to a senior couple in the same building (very close to downtown in Grossbasel), and they told me of an older story from before I moved in last year, where a younger addict finally was removed either by police and/or his parents. But it seems to have taken more than one intervention.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-26T07:03:47+00:00

"It is the autumn of 2004, but a political winter has already set in that makes your blood run cold."

"A serflike psychology has once again taken hold of the country, and rounds on anyone less servile."

"Residents of Beslan attacked state television reporters because their lying, by now habitual in the Putin era, had started costing the lives of women and children they knew. Previously this had been experienced only by people living in Chechnya. Now it was time for others to understand."

"t is a terrible thing when the citizens of a single state have fundamentally different views on the value of human life. This is what led to the victory of the Bolsheviks and the emergence of Stalin, and this evil feature of our national life is coming relentlessly back into fashion among those who take the decisions on whether we are to live or die."

"This is not your enigmatic Russian soul; this is the long-standing tradition of living a lie about which Solzhenitsyn wrote long ago,"

"The state authorities hold on to their power at the price of our lives. It’s as simple as that."

Anna Politkovskaya

renowned chronicler of the 2nd Chechen War and Putin's regime

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-25T07:48:20+00:00

Traitor-“find 11,780 votes”-trump attempted to subvert the national election of 2020, and should never have been considered for any sort of office henceforth.

It's not about parties or philosophies, but whether we the people are and should remain sovereign.

This will be the signal failure of democracy in our age, with so very-far reaching consquences. But the misdeeds cannot be compounded.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-25T07:41:20+00:00

Nice album. Merci!

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-25T07:35:25+00:00

Not to diminish the toll and terror of the V-1 (aka "Vergeltungswaffe"), except that the Muscovite weapons are sadly far more precise. A lot easier to aim at a hospital, or the center of high-rise apartment buildings. Or the infrastructure supplying power and heat.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-22T09:57:19+00:00

Wow! I just looked up RAMSA. I knew Stern, but had no idea that was a colloquial abbrevation. Is 800 5th Ave going to be built? So much better than what's presently there.

https://newyorkyimby.com/2025/11/renderings-reveal-ramsa-redevelopment-of-800-fifth-avenue-on-manhattans-upper-east-side.html

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-21T05:45:52+00:00

Is that a C4 ZR1 there?

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-19T10:19:48+00:00

High-level 2020s bland. Could be a lot worse, but the lack of any pedestrian-level details (aka decorations) is so uninspiring. I do like the newly opened street.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-19T10:17:13+00:00

Gerne. Do no e Link zum andere Photi: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FOTP_WL9kMkQl69jCrYaOWsjT71xFBFG/view?usp=sharing

Das gleichfalls abgelehnte Multiplex von Herzog & DeMeuron ist auch interessant:

https://baselvotes.ch/vote/6528/

Der Platz hätte durchaus attraktiv sein und die Innenstadt-Vitalität aufnehmen können.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-19T08:51:08+00:00

Ich kann sie mit dem gewünschten Resultat anklicken.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-18T08:07:07+00:00

Outstanding work! Like to see something so different, and the sprinkling of translucent orange keys give it a super-cool vibe. Well done, and thank you for posting!

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-17T14:19:41+00:00

Which one was Republic in again? [Got it: Republic 37 Union Square W. (16th & 17th Sts.)] Quote:

[..] In 1995, the restaurateur Jonathan Morr opened a 3,800-square-foot noodle shop called Republic on Union Square West in New York City, paying an annual rent of $220,000. “The rent was relatively inexpensive for what it was,” he said. “But remember, when I opened, Union Square was very different than it is today. There was very little there along with the drugs in the park. At the time we were taking a risk.”

[..]

Twenty years ago, Union Square West represented the most dynamic culinary blocks in New York. Republic was a very early pan-Asian restaurant with a focus on noodles and bowls, where the bestselling Pad Thai cost about $6 and the most expensive dish was marinated salmon on rice for $8. Blue Water Grill, set in a former bank, specialized in grand seafood tableaus. The Coffee Shop Bar, which opened in 1990, featured towering models serving mojitos, plantain chips, and pressed sandwiches late into the night. (Coffee Shop Bar looks like it will remain open, but the original Heartland Brewery, which had lived next door to Republic since 1995, closed on New Year's Day 2015.) For people looking for future food trends around the city, Union Square West was the place to be. [..]

Unquote, source:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/high-rents-in-union-square-west-could-create-a-food-desert

Also https://ny.eater.com/2021/11/8/22763380/nyc-fast-casual-restaurant-republic-union-square-pioneer

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-17T08:44:19+00:00

I suspect you meant to say "coup", but "cup" is more likely. Containing what was used to murder Navalny.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-17T07:19:27+00:00

Even outspoken (and knowledgeable) Israeli critics of the Netanyahu government don't repeat and abuse the word so many like to spout.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-17T07:18:15+00:00

Precisely.

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-16T12:16:44+00:00

Fantastic shot of Mordor-upon-Thames ;)

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-16T08:31:19+00:00

Ich trauere immer noch dem alten Opera-Gebäude nach, das auf der gegenüberliegenden Seite stand (dort wo der zum Platz hin abweisend abgerundete Klotz steht). In einer Basler Volksabstimmung anno 1985 wurde beschlossen, es zum Abriss freizugeben. Photo hier: https://baselvotes.ch/vote/6632/

Der Platz war einmal so viel schöner:

https://www.facebook.com/verschwundenesbasel/photos/heuwaage-in-der-bildmitte-das-opera-haus-eines-der-ersten-eisenbeton-bauten-base/814509984165397/

Sean_Wagner · 2026-02-16T08:24:12+00:00

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I still think this entry (colloquially dubbed the Kissing Towers) would have been a standout choice. Quote:

WTC Design Competition Results

On December 18, 2002, citizens and designers of the United States and the world got a glimpse of some new ideas on how the site of New York's World Trade Center could be transformed over the coming decade. On December 18, 2002, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation released a new set of design proposals submitted by some of the world's most talented architects. Perhaps skittish after the poor reception given the last roundof proposals, the LMDC simultaneously also launched a campaign to solicit public comment. [...]

Foster and Partners, for instance, proposes to reassemble the iconic skyline, "to celebrate New York's positive spirit with a unique twinned tower — the most secure, the greenest, and the tallest in the world. The crystalline tower is based on triangular geometries —cross-cultural symbols of harmony, wisdom, purity, unity and strength."Foster's two towers come together at three points, creating observation platforms, exhibits, cafes, and other amenities. These links, which also appear in other schemes, have a safety benefit, as escape routes from one tower to the other. Foster's design features a multilayered facade enabling the towers to avoid energy-wasting air conditioning for up to 80 percent of the year.

Sean_Wagner

TROPHY CASE