Monthly Archives: November 2015

Altbundeskanzler Helmut Schmidt gestorben

Die Zeit: Former German Chancellor: Helmut Schmidt has passed away.
“Die Zeit is mourning its publisher: Helmut Schmidt passed away today in Hamburg. The former German chancellor was 96 years old.”
Altbundeskanzler: Helmut Schmidt ist tot.
“Die Zeit trauert um ihren Herausgeber: Helmut Schmidt ist heute in Hamburg gestorben. Der Altbundeskanzler wurde 96 Jahre alt.”

New York Times: Helmut Schmidt, Assertive West German Chancellor, Dies at 96.

“Helmut Schmidt, the former West German chancellor who marshaled personal dynamism, managerial brilliance and often acid-tongued impatience to push his country into an assertive international role as the Cold War dragged on into the 1970s, died on Tuesday at his home in Hamburg. He was 96.”

Spiegel online: Altkanzler: Helmut Schmidt ist tot.

“Der frühere Bundeskanzler Helmut Schmidt ist nach Angaben seines Arztes Heiner Greten am Dienstag gegen 14.30 Uhr im Alter von 96 Jahren in seiner Heimatstadt Hamburg gestorben. Sein Gesundheitszustand hatte sich in den vergangenen Tagen deutlich verschlechtert. Er starb in seinem privaten Haus in Hamburg-Langenhorn.”

Fotostrecke: Sein Leben in Bildern.

Huffinton Post (Deutschland): Helmut Schmidt ist tot: Warum der Altkanzler Millionen Deutsche bewegte.

Und einer zum Schmunzeln:
Der Postillon: Helmut Schmidt hat endgültig mit dem Rauchen aufgehört.

Schildkröte

Since the weather was still unusually balmy and sunny for November André and I went for another long walk yesterday, Sunday. We went to the Wagbachniederung, which is a protected area not far from us. It is known for attracting birds, especially migratory birds, as the area is very boggy and has large areas of water and reeds.

Auf der Seite von Norbert Kühnberger kann man nachschauen, welche Vögel in den letzten Wochen (bis Jahren) dort gesichtet wurden.

We took our binoculars and saw a lot of the species that we expected, for example around twenty Great egrets (Silberreiher), which are not usually found in Germany. Of course we also saw the much more common Grey heron (Graureiher) and hundreds of cormorants (Kormorane).

I was most surprised though when we saw this animal:

See it right in the middle of my horrible cellphone photo? It’s a turtle!

Unfortunately it was too far away to make out any details, so identification is difficult. It might be a European pond turtle (europäische Sumpfschildkröte), but it’s quite large in that case. Another possibility is that it is a Blanding’s turtle (Amerikanische Sumpfschildkröte) that has escaped from captivity. I guess we’ll have to take a proper camera with a good tele lens the next time we go there…

Fall Walk

Yesterday André and I went for a nice long walk around our village to enjoy the balmy 20°C (68°F) weather and stopped by two small lakes nearby. Besides the usual mallards (Stockenten) and coots (Blässhühner) we saw two Egyptian geese (Nilgänse) on the first lake, but they were too far away to photograph. I’ve seen them there before, though. The Egyptian goose is an invasive species that has established self-sustaining populations all over Germany.

This is the second lake:

On this one, there were four grown white swans and one adolescent one which looked quite young for the season and was following another swan, presumably its mother.

Serial Podcast case is being reopened

Remember the Serial Podcast? I wrote about it here and here, and it has been discussed at length at MetaFilter:

The last episode aired on December 18, 2014, and the last post on the homepage of the podcast dates back to October 15, 2015: Waranowitz! He speaks!.

Another podcast about the case is Undisclosed, which has aired 14 episodes plus addendums since April of 2015. I haven’t listened to them yet, but will at least check it out in the next few days.

Now Adnan Syed’s case is being reopened: Judge grants motion to reopen ‘Serial’ case for Adnan Syed

The reopening of the case and more is being discussed in this MetaFilter thread: This American Death.

Adventure of a Lifetime – at 80

MetaFilter: Adventure of a Lifetime (at age 80)

Dale Sanders paddled the Mississippi from source to sea in 80 days, turning 80 years old during the trip and making him the oldest person to have accomplished this journey.

Dale Sanders has a weblog and YouTube channel.

You can watch eleven weekly updates on Vimeo: Adventureitus Productions’s Videos, or use these individual links: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11. The one for week 12 is still missing.