Two interesting articles from this week’s Economist:
The promise of the blockchain: The trust machine. “The technology behind bitcoin could transform how the economy works”.
Blockchains: The great chain of being sure about things. “The technology behind bitcoin lets people who do not know or trust each other build a dependable ledger. This has implications far beyond the cryptocurrency”.
MetaFilter user the man of twists and turns has collected 79 (!) links to articles about the refugee crisis in his post ‘you’re ‘fugees now’ from lots of different sources in different countries.
I’ve only started reading them, and working through all the material will probably take days. Still – recommended!
Some articles are in German or are available online in both English and German:
Die Zeit:
Refugees: Welcome! And Now What? “How many refugees are coming, what they are doing with Europe – and what we are doing with them.
Von Jochen Bittner, Andrea Böhm, Marc Brost, Peter Dausend, Bastian Hosan, Martin Klingst, Matthias Krupa, Jörg Lau, Elisabeth Niejahr, Gero von Randow, Mark Schieritz, Özlem Topçu, Bernd Ulrich und Heinrich Wefing.
Flüchtlinge: Willkommen! Und jetzt? “Wie viele Flüchtlinge auf dem Weg sind, was sie mit Europa machen – und wir mit ihnen.” Von Jochen Bittner, Andrea Böhm, Marc Brost, Peter Dausend, Bastian Hosan, Martin Klingst, Matthias Krupa, Jörg Lau, Elisabeth Niejahr, Gero von Randow, Mark Schieritz, Özlem Topçu, Bernd Ulrich und Heinrich Wefing.
Vision: Our Values, Our Life. “What hopes do young refugees bring with them and what expectations do they have of the German people? Here are six responses.” Von Anant Agarwala, Rudi Novotny, Jeannette Otto und Leonie Seifert.
Flüchtlinge: Was sind eure Werte? “Welche Vorstellungen junge Flüchtlinge nach Deutschland mitbringen. Sechs [Antworten]”. Von Anant Agarwala, Rudi Novotny, Jeannette Otto und Leonie Seifert.
Boston Globe:
The Big Picture: Perilous Crossings.
” “They just keep coming,“ I thought as I stood on the northern shore of Lesbos in Greece. Raft after raft landed up and down the coast of this enchanted island. It was surreal. This set the tone for the next two weeks, following the route of refugees and migrants looking for a better life. I was moved to tears watching a young boy gather as much bread as he could carry at an aid station, and I was truly inspired by the men who dived into the sea when their engine quit, pushing and pulling their raft to the rocky shoreline near Skala Sykamnias. At times they walked for miles in unbearable heat, not necessarily knowing where they were but knowing it was better than the world they fled.–By Boston Globe photographer Craig F. Walker”.
A few days ago André and I took advantage of the sunny fall weather and spent two days hiking the Rodalber Felsenwanderweg (offizielle Homepage auf Deutsch, Flyer mit Karte), which is a 45km (28mi) loop path around the small town of Rodalben in the Palatinate Forest, about 100km (60mi) from where we live.
Despite being not very far from the town, most of the path is actually a very narrow footpath through the forest, and it passes about 130 sandstone formations that are at least 15m long and 3m tall, but can be as big as 500m long and 18m tall. Many of them reminded me of the sandstone we’ve seen on our trips to the Southwest of the USA, but instead of being in a desert, these are in the middle of a large forested area with many rocks covered by trees, bushes and smaller plants like moss.
We were very lucky with the weather on the first day (Monday 26 October), which was very sunny. On the second day the sun didn’t manage to break through the fog which rose in the morning, so our hike took on a more mysterious air. The following photos were all taken on the first day.
The Bruderfelsen (brother’s rock) is Rodalben’s landmark, with a legend of two brothers who fought over one woman to go with it.
Detail of a sandstone formation:
There were many, many different mushrooms growing from the ground or tree stumps. Here’s a fly agaric (Fliegenpilz):
Fall colors:
Food Lab: The Make Your Own Just-Add-Hot-Water Instant Noodles (and Make Your Coworkers Jealous)
Don’t miss the recipe links at the bottom:
Link via Ask MeFi.
Yum!
Tuesday, June 23rd, around 5:30pm: supernumerary rainbow (Regenbogen mit Interferenzbögen):
Thursday, June 25th, around 6:30am: sun dog (Nebensonne). I saw another one just before sunset that day, but didn’t take a photo because I didn’t have my camera with me.
Sunday, June 28th, just before 4:00pm: complete 22°-halo, pale sun dogs on both sides, plus an almost complete parhelic circle (22°-Halo, Nebensonnen, Horizontalbogen. Why didn’t I bring my camera? I captured part of the display with my phone, though…
Here’s the upper part of the 22° halo:
And here’s part of the 22° halo again on the upper right, plus part of the parhelic circle on the left:
(I hid the sun behind a street light.)
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