Als eines der letzten europäischen Länder hat die Schweiz ein Gesetz zur Wahlkampffinanzierung erhalten. Dieses wird nun bei den Wahlen im Herbst erstmals wirksam. Ein erster Schritt hin zu mehr Transparenz. Aber bereits jetzt zeichnet sich ab, dass Schlupflöcher ausgenützt werden. Ähnlich wie in den USA versuchen Grossspender über "Vereine" die Finanzflüsse zu Kandidierenden und Parteien zu verschleiern. https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/wahlen-2023/wahlkampf-finanzierung-gefahr-der-kaeuflichkeit-firmen-und-vereine-sponsern-politiker

While cleaning out all my saved spotify stuff I found this year in review 2022 playlist. Maybe you like a few of the songs. I didn't use spotify much last year so It didn't really represent my taste but anyway: https://spotify.link/TstgyGtIfDb

TIL Sharks are older than land vertebrates, older than trees, older even than the rings of Saturn. [source, comments]

The situation of refugees in Armenia is even more pressing this week, as Azerbaijan resumed military attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh, where tens of thousands of Armenians have been holding out despite decades of interethnic violence.

As Russia loses control over the region and other governments feel emboldened to embark on conquests of their own, war is spreading, displacing more people.

Not many people know that Haiti handed Britain its worst military defeat. Historians have successfully erased the British invasion of Haiti from history. Winston Churchill called the battle of Singapore the worst defeat in British history, but that pales in comparison to Haiti.

Dave Chapelle was right: "gay people are minorities until they need to be white again".

TIL that the Dukes of Hazzard had more black actors during it's 7 season run than Friends or Seinfeld. Both of which were notably based in New York City. [source, comments]

Facebook just reminded me that I couldn't go to work on this day 14 years ago because of Dmitri Medwedew. Then president of Russia.

Song of the day 😵⌛: https://spotify.link/0GxwfO4XgDb

TIL In the 1900s, German was the dominant language for science (thanks to Einstein, Planck, Heisenberg and others). It was only until mid 1990s that English firmly established itself as the main language. [source, comments]

TIL that in some parts of Ruhr region (Germany) the ground has sunk by up to 30m (12m in average) due to exzessive mining in the region. The homes of millions of people would be flooded if the pumps were stopped to keep the groundwater level artificially low. These pumps have to pump forever. [source, comments]