Monthly Archives: September 2018

Tables, tables, tables

Tables Generator lets you create tables for LaTeX or HTML documents

“Entering tables in LaTeX documents can be burdensome because of the necessary formatting directives. For this purpose we created this online generator which (hopefully) will allow you to generate LaTeX code you can just copy & paste into your document’s source. Our editor is close to WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Got) principle, i.e. the table displayed in the editor should resemble the final table.
[…]
Creating tables in HTML seems to be somewhat easier than in LaTeX, the syntax is simpler but more verbose. There are countless tools available which allow you to create tables in HTML format, nevertheless if you just need a quick and simple tool you may use the generator on our site. It supports features like cells merging, text align and some simple styling.”

I found this site the other day while trying to typset a table for a math test in LaTeX in which I needed merged cells across several rows and columns. Worked like a charm!

Spring forward, fall back – not any longer, at least in the EU

Deutsche Welle: EU to stop changing the clocks in 2019. “The EU is doing away with the twice-yearly clock changes and has given member states until April to decide if they will remain on summer or winter time. But there are fears Europe is heading for time-zone chaos.”

“European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc on Friday announced that the EU will stop the twice-yearly changing of clocks across the continent in October 2019.
[…]
[She] said EU member states would have until April 2019 to decide whether they would permanently remain on summer or winter time.

Bulc said she was counting on member states and the European Parliament to keep pace with the Commission’s “ambitious” schedule. She also noted the need to find consensus among the member states in order to avoid confusing time jumps.

The plan also raises the prospect of neighboring countries ending up an hour apart.

“In order to maintain a harmonised approach we are encouraging consultations at national levels to ensure a coordinated approach of all member states,” Bulc said.”

For a world-wide view on time zones and by how much noon on the clock differs from the actual time the sun reaches its highest point in the sky, see this map (PNG) by Stefano Maggiolo from The poor man’s math blog.

Link via MetaFilter.

Urlaub gucken

WDR: Wunderschön: Kleinwalsertal – Öko-Urlaub in Österreich. Sendung vom 16.09.2018, Dauer 01:28:31 Std., in der Mediathek verfügbar bis 15.09.2019.

“Es ist ein kleines, überschaubares Tal, in dem Nachhaltigkeit gepflegt wird; es liegt in Österreich, ist aber nur von Deutschland aus erreichbar: das Kleinwalsertal. Tamina Kallert taucht ein in die hochalpine Bergkulisse und trifft Menschen, die etwas für ihre Heimat tun – und für die Natur, in der sie leben.”

André und ich waren im Sommer 2015 für eine Woche im Kleinwalsertal und haben viele der gezeigten Hütten besucht und Berge erwandert. Wirklich wunderschön!

“Supreme Court nominees should be held to a higher standard.”

The Washington Post: California professor, writer of confidential Brett Kavanaugh letter, speaks out about her allegation of sexual assault.

“Earlier this summer, Christine Blasey Ford wrote a confidential letter to a senior Democratic lawmaker alleging that Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than three decades ago, when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. Since Wednesday, she has watched as that bare-bones version of her story became public without her name or her consent, drawing a blanket denial from Kavanaugh and roiling a nomination that just days ago seemed all but certain to succeed.

Now, Ford has decided that if her story is going to be told, she wants to be the one to tell it.
[…]
[Her husband] said he expects that some people, upon hearing his wife’s account, will believe that Kavanaugh’s high school behavior has no bearing upon his fitness for the nation’s high court. He disagrees.

“I think you look to judges to be the arbiters of right and wrong,“ Russell Ford said. “If they don’t have a moral code of their own to determine right from wrong, then that’s a problem. So I think it’s relevant. Supreme Court nominees should be held to a higher standard.”

Link via MetaFilter.

“Ein folgenreicher Bestseller aus der Nazizeit”

Die Zeit: Warum Hitler bis heute die Erziehung von Kindern beeinflusst. “Für eine Generation aus Mitläufern forderten die Nazis von Müttern, die Bedürfnisse ihrer Kinder zu ignorieren. An den zerrütteten Beziehungen leiden noch die Enkel.” Eine Analyse von Anne Kratzer.

”

1934 veröffentlichte die Ärztin Johanna Haarer ihren Ratgeber Die deutsche Mutter und ihr erstes Kind. Das Buch verkaufte sich 1,2 Millionen Mal und wurde zur NS-Zeit eine Grundlage für die Erziehung in Kindergärten und Heimen sowie für die Reichsmütterschulungen.

In ihrem Werk empfiehlt Haarer Müttern, ihre Kinder möglichst bindungsarm aufwachsen zu lassen. Weine das Kind, solle man es schreien lassen. Übermäßige Zärtlichkeiten seien in jedem Fall zu vermeiden.

Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler fürchten, dass dies bei betroffenen Kindern zu einer Bindungsstörung geführt hat, die diese seitdem von Generation zu Generation weitergeben. Randomisiert-kontrollierte Studien, die den Einfluss von Haarers Erziehungsphilosophie untersuchen, gibt es jedoch nicht.
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