Want to be an astronaut?

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut, and I’m still interested in all things concerning space-flight. Here’s there Space Flight Questions and Answers of the NASA. They also have a page with an overview of all the FAQ pages.

Link via Netdyslexia.

LinkBack

Yay, the LinkBack program is back up! Thanks, Jeremy!

All the treasures gone…

Ack! What do I read on today’s Scripting News? They turned off Eric Weisstein’s World of Mathematics???

“It is with the deepest regret that we must inform you that because of a copyright lawsuit filed by CRC Press against Eric Weisstein and others, we have been forced to remove our MathWorld web site from public view as of October 23, 2000. We are very hopeful that at some point in the future it will be possible to restore this valuable web resource to full public view. […]

And we would like to apologize to the researchers and students who rely on this site for their work and learning…”

Oh no! This was the most valuable resource for mathematics on the web (as far as I know)! I used it very often. At least, his Treasure Troves (Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Music) are still available.

Details about Mathworld are here.

Shanghai Noon

Peter Rukavina was so kind to send me the URL to a review of the film at Steve.Rukavina.Net. Thanks!

Space Cowboys

Der Schockwellenreiter sagt, seine Frau und er wollen sich den Film übermorgen ansehen. Außerdem hat er Links zu Kritiken in der Telepolis (Man on the Moon) und im Spiegel (Eastwoods große Sause). Danke!

Außerdem hat er dezent darauf hingewiesen, daß es im Rollberg-Department Kino ganz, ganz viel über Kinofilme zu lesen gibt.

Going to the movies?

Has anyone seen Space Cowboys? I just read a review in Die Zeit (German weekly newspaper), which was very positive. I think I want to see the film. Can you recommend it?

Oh, and while we’re talking about films: What about Shang-High Noon? Should André and I watch it?

I wonder why this film is called ‘Shanghai Noon’ in the US, but ‘Shang-High Noon’ in Germany?

Where is the ISS?

The NASA has a Station Locator that tracks the ISS. Updated once per minute.

And in case you were wondering, the MIR has a home page, too.

Links via Die Zeit.

Auch Astronauten müssen putzen

Die Zeit: Keime im Weltall, von Ulf von Rauchhaupt.

“Raumschiffe, das wissen wir seit Enterprise, blitzen vor Sauberkeit. Bei Captain Kirk und Mister Spock sah es jedenfalls immer aus, als sei gerade erst die Putzfrau da gewesen. Kein Krümel fand sich auf den blinkenden Konsolen, selbst Scottys Maschinenraum spiegelte wie im Werbespot für Sanitärreiniger. Das Meister-Proper-Image kündete von der Verwirklichung eines alten Menschheitstraums: Im Weltraum, so schien es, entflieht der Mensch nicht nur der Schwerkraft, sondern auch all jenem Dreck und Staub, der in irdischen Wohngemeinschaften regelmäßig Streit hervorruft.”

Mehr Info über die ISS gibt es im Space-Forum, einem Projekt der Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt und der Rheinischen Post.

Strangers

The new referer page just sent me over to Midtownstation, where my weblog is listed in the “Get lost” section of the links list. – So is this a compliment or an insult? (At least there is also a “Get really lost” section, so I guess it’s not the worst I could have gotten…)

I wonder how he found my blog…

Languages

This is a useful site: Foreign languages for travelers. They have 74 languages, and you can learn the basic vocabulary you might need if you travel to foreign countries. And it has real audio files of the words/phrases so you know how to pronounce them.

Link via /usr/bin/girl.

Presidential Election in the USA

Finally, Craig reveals his best-kept secret: “Okay, I’m going public with what must be obvious. I am voting for Al Gore.”

Who would have guessed?!

Yesterday, Craig apologized to his international readers for posting so much election stuff. That’s fine with me! I think the outcome of the election is important for other countries as well as for the US themselves. They’re not some barely-known, unimportant little foreign country, after all.

Tad Williams

Diesmal sogar auf deutsch! Auf Schreibsalon.de gibt es einen Bericht über Tad Williams Lesung in Köln. Interessant finde ich, daß er dort scheinbar ganz andere Stories zum besten gegeben haben als hier in Bonn. Ich kann mich aber dem Schreiber anschließen: Eine ‘Lesung’ mit Tad Williams ist ein Erlebnis!

New Manila Feature

Now Manila sites have referer stats – or is is referrer stats? Whatever. Mine are here.

Evening Update

Whoops, only German postings so far today…

I feel like I’m getting a cold, so I will go to bed early and try not to get ill. See you all tomorrow!

Das Rote Band

Martin: “Liest eigentlich noch jemand Das Rote Band? […] Ich kann auch damit aufhören, wenns niemand interessiert ;) ”

Doch, doch! Klar liest noch jemand! Und wehe, Du läßt uns jetzt in der Mitte hängen!

Oh, und viel Erfolg im neuen Job und mit Will work for new PC!

Werde ich verfolgt?

ronsens am 29. Oktober 2000:

“Andrea hat nun auch den Weg hierher gefunden, die (wie ich natürlich strategisch vorausgeplant hatte) Lego-Links gewürdigt und vermisst eine Vorstellungsseite.”

Soso, strategisch vorausgeplant, hm?
Die Vorstellungsseite vermisse ich immer noch… aber immerhin ist sie schon angekündigt!

Ach ja, und wenn Du Dein (ihr euer?) Weblog bei Weblogs.Com anmeldet, können wir immer sehen, wann es Neues auf ronsens gibt!

My Weblog

has finally gotten a real index! I thougt it was time to get rid of the list of story links on the left (which grew longer and longer) and put them on their own page. While I was at it, I tried to categorize my stories and sorted them by language: Take a look at the index!

And while I was busy with this stuff, I also made a few changes to my style sheet. Let me know if you’ve got problems with my font size.

Endlich habe ich es mal geschafft, einen Index für meine Site zu erstellen. Langsam habe ich nämlich selbst den Überblick verloren, was für Berichte, Fotos etc. sich angesammelt haben, also habe ich mal gründlich aufgeräumt. die Liste mit den Story-Links, die bisher links unter den ‘Local Links’ zu finden war, hat jetzt eine eigene Seite bekommen, und bei der Gelegenheit habe ich sie gleich in Kategorien einsortiert und nach Sprachen getrennt: Hier ist der Index!

Und wo ich schon am Basteln war, habe ich auch noch ein paar Änderungen an meinem Stylesheet vorgenommen. Laßt es mich wissen, wenn ihr z.B. Probleme mit der Schriftgröße habt.

Halloween

Yes, I know, Halloween was yesterday. But I just got an interesting comment from David Singer (owner of Defenestration Corner):

“It sure looked as though the marketeers in Germany are interested in pushing Halloween; I did see a couple of Halloween-themed street ads in Stuttgart (mostly from candy companies, if I recall correctly). As a comparision, I didn’t see any Halloween advertising on October trips to England five years ago; now, there’s quite a lot […], and there was a significant push for trick-or-treat candy in the supermarkets I visited.”

Yes, I think you’re right about Germany, David. My impression is that marketeers in Germany will copy almost anything from the US. I heard that Mother’s Day was invented by US florists – we have had that for quite a long while now. I think Valentine’s Day was next, which is not as commercial yet as it is in the US. And now it’s Halloween.

I wonder what will be next. Thanksgiving? It’s still unheard of in Germany, I think. Or am I wrong? Scott, have you heard of any Germans celebrating Thanksgiving?

André just told me what Thanksgiving is all about. (I thought it was basically the same as the German Erntedankfest, the harvest festival.) So okay, it is an American thing. The question is, do the German marketeers know, and do they care about the reason? I mean, wouldn’t they try to market it in Germany if it makes money?

Good old Europe

Mira has more thoughs about changes in Europe.

Expo 2000

Yesterday was the last day of the World Exposition in Hanover, Germany. Since June 1, about 18 million people visited the Expo, less than half of the 40 million expected visitors. I wonder how and why they expected 40 million to come, but I know the Expo would have been much too crowded if there really had been that many visitors. When André and I went to the Expo for the first time, in June, it was much less crowded than on my second visit in September.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ.com): Praise for Expo As Gates Close For Last Time.

Yet another interesting article about weblogs

Guardian Unlimited: It’s as easy as falling off a weblog, by Chris Alden.

“The Guardian’s own blogger Chris Alden recommends his surefire method for introducing a novice to the net. […]

I believe there is one unmarketed, relatively unknown type of site that, executed right, will help to introduce the newcomer to the internet and keep them coming back. It is called a weblog.”

Link via Schockwellenreiter – who posted the link almost a month ago. Whoops!

November

So it’s November. It’s getting dark at 5 p.m., it’s raining, and it’s still pretty windy here in Bonn.

I don’t like fall. Not really. I guess I should think about moving to California or the Caribbean or something…

Oh yeah, I didn’t mention Halloween at all yesterday. That’s because we don’t have any trick-or-treaters here – or so I thought. Scott says there were quite a few over where he (or his wife’s brother) lives. Maybe it will become more common over the next years.

So I hope you all had a scary day yesterday!