Pasadena

Susan went to Pasadena today and has a link to an article about its museums.

That reminds me that we went to Pasadena twice in the five weeks I spent in Hesperia, CA, on a student exchange in 1992. Once, we went to the Huntington Library, Arts Collections, and Bontanical Gardens, the other time I went on a field trip with an art class to visit an art college or university and the Norton Simon Museum. I bought a print of Monet’s Garden at Vétheuil there that is hanging on a wall in our living room now.

Have to look twice

Cool photo, Sheila! I had to look twice before I understood how you did that. Great idea!

Fire!

About an hour and a half ago, André looked out of his window and saw smoke at the end of the street. Fire! Together, we went outside to see what was going on.

The flames were huge! I took a few photos from as close as I could get without being in the way of the fire department. There were several fire engines, lots of firemen and two of those huge ladders. (Babelfish says the English word for Drehleiter is turning conductor, but that doesn’t seem right…)

They unrolled fire hoses all along the street and connected one to a hydrant right in front of our house.

I’m not sure what is burning there; on that end of the street, there are several industrial enterprises. At first it looked like a fairly small, but strong fire; there were high flames, but only in a small area. Now, more than an hour later, there are no more flames, but lots and lots of smoke. We saw some firemen going in with oxygen masks, but it doesn’t seem that there were people in danger because we didn’t see any ambulances.

By now, it is completely dark, and you can’t see anything because of all the smoke and the rain that is pouring down at the moment. The fire department is still busy.

I think we will have a closer look tomorrow to find out what was going on there. Also, the batteries for my camera will be recharged by then; of course, they went out after I took the first few pictures…

Happy Anniversary to Sandra and Garret!

Community and Popularity

There’s an interesting discussion thread over at blivet. (Yes, I know it’s really called “compatibility and popularity”, but there are interesting thoughts about our weblog community, too.)

Hal says:

“I read your and others weblogs because I feel a connection, a kindred spark if you will. I think its the difference between moving into a neighborhood or small town as a committed resident and settling in for the long haul and moving into a dormitory for a semester. […] I feel the same way about the friends I’ve made through blivet. I’ll follow through hosting changes and search engines if necessary to keep a bit of a connection to people. I didn’t get that two way connection from the web in the first seven years I had web pages. This is really the first time I’ve felt like someone might read what I’ve put up…”

Speaking of Harry Potter…

… there’s a whole weblog dedicated to him. via BookNotes.

David Singer says he enjoyed reading the fourth book of the Harry Potter series. Check out his comments on his weblog!

Wireless

It seems Brent‘s new iBook and Airport station have strange effects on some people…

John: “Too busy today to post much. I’m hiding in the bushes outside Brent’s place with a sniffer monitoring his wireless websurfing activity.”

Brent: “I caught John VanDyk, dressed as a huge squirrel, trying to hide under the ivy out front. For John things have gone horribly wrong — I’ve got him locked up in a closet, I’m trying to make him talk. All he’ll give me is his name, rank, and Frontier serial number. So far.”

John: “Aargh, maybe if I make him think I’m nuts he’ll let me go. Get it? Squirrel? Nuts? Either that or I’ll gnaw on his iBook…”

Harry Potter

Diese Woche sind gleich zwei Artikel zum neu erschienen vierten Band von Harry Potter zu lesen:

• Zum Beispiel Harry Potter – Ein Erfolg wider den Zeitgeist Von Susanne Gaschke (auf Seite 1!)
• Schluss mit lustig: Der vierte Harry-Potter-Band ist da Von Susanne Mayer

Und die deutsche Ausgabe erscheint erst Mitte Oktober…

Desert Demonstration Gardens

Hal had this link to The Desert Demonstration Gardens, part of the Las Vegas Valley Water District.

“Sheila, this link is for you until the digital camara comes back from the shop.”

I hope you don’t mind that I had a look at the site, too.

I especially like the virtual tour with lots of nice QTVRs and landscape pictures, like this one:

Desert Demonstration Gardens

Weather in Bonn

Craig, I tried to send you some clouds and rain, and yesterday it looked like it actually worked. It cleared up, didn’t rain at all, and sometimes the sun even peeked through the clouds. But today, we’re back to the usual rain… sorry it didn’t work. I’ll try again!

Gothic cathedrals

Craig found this site with Virtual Tours of Great Gothic Cathedrals.

Of all the cathedrals on the page, I’ve visited Dom St. Peter in Cologne, Germany, Westminster Abbey in London, England, and Notre Dame in Paris, France.

Musing about Manila

Garret:

“this manila/editthispage site serves as a memory storehouse for me; i can’t possibly keep track of all the neat things i find, nor can i keep all the issues i love top of mind. a little search, and *pow* … of course, if you all find value in some of the things i post, that’s good too … (grin) …

i start the day thinking ‘aw, there’s not much to link to. it’s gonna be a dry day’ … and i end up with days like today. too much stuff. but then, it’s a perfect echo of the author … i have too many damned interests and have to parcel out my time …”

I agree very much. I feel like that quite often, for example right now. But today, I’m sure there won’t be many postings because it’s already 10 pm, and I’m tired.

The reason I flipped the page so late today is I wrote a test at the university today. Not too difficult, and just for fun – I mean, as practice for THE FINAL EXAMS which come up next year.

Nice sunflowers in your calendar, Garret, by the way.

Schule am Burggraben

Hauptsächlich für Schulfreunde von mir interessant: An dieser Schule ist Maris gerade! Ich glaube, “ihre” Klasse ist die 2a. Nette Website, finde ich.

Sodaconstructor

I linked to the sodaconstructor before (on March 20), but I happened to find a link to it and thought it was worth a second link. The constructor lets you animate models made of springs and masses.

“warning! sodaconstructor can seriously damage your productivity! it seems that some of you have been playing with sodaconstructor for hours. we regret that soda can accept no liabilty for loss of earnings incurred while building sodaconstructor creatures.”

Nachtrag zum Wetter

Auf Hinterding fand ich folgenden Eintrag von Montag:

“Nun ist es offiziell.
soeben habe ich von höchster stelle erfahren, dass der sommer dieses jahr nicht gesendet wird. stattdessen sehen wir vom 10. juni an bis einschliesslich 12. september eine wiederholung des herbstes von 1987.”

Mir kam der Regen gleich so bekannt vor…

Ich will Sommer!

Look at this! It’s the weatherforecast for Bonn. I don’t believe this is July. Craig, you were lucky to come to Germany in June, when the weather was better. Right now, it feels like it’s March or November. There even was snow in the Southwestern part of Germany and Switzerland. Of course, nobody was prepared for that.

Update: Craig says they are suffering from drought and suggests:

“So, Andrea, yes we would be happy to take a little of that cold and wet off of your hands! Can you take care of the arrangement?”

I’m not sure how to do this, but I’ll see if I can find a manual on the net… Hehe…

Briefmarken aus dem Internet?!

Die Deutsche Post: “Ab nächstem Jahr bietet die Post Internet-Briefmarken an. Statt zum Postschalter zu laufen und Briefmarken zu kaufen, soll man dann Barcodes aus dem Internet runterladen können.” – Vorerst nur für Großkunden… (Gefunden bei und zitiert aus SWR 3-Multimedia.)

Cow Parade

Picowsso

Jeff says these are indeed the cows he saw in San Francisco. Pictures taken from Cow Parade.

Cow Power