Apparently, Facebook used one of my articles in their case against StudiVZ. Fascinating. Have to follow-this up, right now I am in Berlin organizing my transfer back from Cambridge to the best city on earth.

René was so kind to make me aware of a recent Techcrunch-Article reporting rumours of a law-suit against StudiVZ. To illustrate the similarity between StudiVZ and Facebook, the Techcrunch author used a picture from an earlier article I wrote. No harm done, but a link would have been a nice gesture…

Days are getting crazy before the deadline, another night without sleep is behind me. But it’s been productive, finished the chapter on financial cooperation in Asia and discovered who is the master mind behind all the things that I write about in my Thesis (G8 and Local currency bond markets): the former prime-minister of Thailand, Thaksin. Going to get in touch with the German Embassy in Thailand today to see if there have been extensive contacts between Thailand and Germany during the G8 presidency. Anyway, back to no sleeping, my friend Stefan is currently is enjoying himself in Vietnam and probably when he goes to bed I get up and when I go to bed, he gets up. And on no sleeping, Telekom put Paul Potts, winner of “Britain’s Got Talent in 2007″ into their new TV-spot. I really like it the spot, it gives me goose bumps everytime I hear it. Paul Potts was working at a mobile phone shop before he auditioned for the TV. Enjoy.

This video gets me going when I sit on my desk night and day working on the final stages of my dissertation. It’s about the United for Change Meetings that took place all across the States last weekend. Obama enthusiasts get together with other Democrats, Republicans and Independents and they discuss the American Elections.

The magic is that the discussions in these meetings are completele spontaneous. They cannot be planned by the central campaign office, they can maybe provide them with background material, such as the DVD mentioned in the film.

ut there are no professional spin doctors who can slam down the arguments, it’s really up to the people to inform themselves and have a meaningful debate.

But most importantly, it gives neighbours the incentive to meet again. When I lived in the US, I noticed how little contact the neighbours had among each other, even next door neighbours. Sure enough, the neighbourhood knew each others names, but discussions about politics did not take place.

If people came to meetings and learn the value of a neighbourhood community again, this will be more powerful than any ad campaign or email message. The message that it’s cool to be an Obamaniack will spread virally faster than any other political message.