Serendipita

Optical Illusions

A couple of days ago, I found this link on one of the weblogs I read: Akiyoshi’s illusion pages. Amazing.

Diese Woche in der Zeit

Reform: Rentner der Titanic. “Deutschlands Sozialsystem ist ruiniert. Ein Reformvorschlag” von Wolfgang Uchatius.

Computer: Der Schulspaßmacher. “Alan Kay hat lauter Dinge erfunden, die das Leben mit dem Computer einfach machen. Gleichzeitig will er Kindern das Denken beibringen.” Von Annette Lessmöllmann.

Bildung: Allround-Experten fürs Soziale. “Deutsche Kindergärtnerinnen sind schlecht ausgebildet und werden miserabel bezahlt.” Von Jeannette Otto.

Kinderzimmer: Wir müssen leider draußen bleiben. “Für viele Eltern sind Kinderzimmer rätselhafte Zonen. Vier Expeditionen in jugendliche Freiräume.” Aufgezeichnet von Mia Eidlhuber.

Eigenheim: Home, sweet home. “Sunset Ridge ist eine Siedlung im texanischen Nirgendwo. In mobilen Eigenheimen versuchen sich Menschen zu erden, die vom ständigen Umziehen und Reisen ermüdet sind. Ihre Freiheit tauschen sie ein gegen penible Vorschriften. Und entwickeln dabei skurrile Eigenheiten.” Von Claudia Steinberg.

Fauna: Fiepsend auf Beutefang. “Südlich von Adelaide, im türkisblauen Indischen Ozean, liegt Kangaroo Island. Auf Australiens Insel der Tiere bestimmen Wombats, Goannas und Koalas das Tempo. Sogar, wann es Zeit ist, zu schlafen.” Von Julica Jungehülsing.

Gefragt: Die Made war Zeuge. “Mark Benecke untersucht Larven auf Leichen.” Ein Interview mit Mark Benecke, der mir vor eineinhalb Jahren auf der langen Museumsnacht schon einmal über den Weg gelaufen ist.

Ungewollt versteckt

If you are looking for Papa Scott, try this temporary address.

Update: I can reach his site via papascott.de again.

Link via Garret.

Busy

Five weeks and tomorrow to go until the Christmas holidays. I have enough work for several more weeks until then. Except for last weekend (Sunday was André’s birthday) I haven’t had any free time for a while. But I hope that we will be able to go and watch the new Harry Potter film next week – in English, of course.

Speaking of movies: A German film has been dubbed and is being shown in English-speaking countries (maybe just the USA?) at the moment. The English title is The Shoe of Manitu. The film was a huge success in German cinemas, but André and I rented the DVD and were very disappointed. The main characters – and the main jokes as well, it seems – are taken from a TV show which also is very popular. Unfortunately, the whole film doesn’t make any sense if you don’t know the TV show. André and I don’t own a TV set, so we never watched the show. I wonder if the effect is the same with the US audience…

Beauty

While I hardly get to see the sunset these days (I sometimes see the sun rise while on the train to school, though), others post beautiful photos: Garret has two sunset shots from Santa Fe, while Jeff posted a San Francisco sunset.

Geburtstag Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear André, spicy noodles to you!

Museums

The Coudal Museum of Online Museums (MoOM) offers “links [...] to online collections and exhibits covering a vast array of interests and obsessions”.

Lego

At the MoOM, I found a link to the Lego Instruction Library at Brickshelf.com.

For more Lego craziness, check out the international Lego users group network (LUGNET).

Physics

PhysicsLessons.com is, in their own words, a “comprehensive online resource for Physics and Physical science teachers and students”. They offer instructions for easy experiments as well as some “online experiments”. The latter can also be found at ExploreScience.com.