Category Archives: Archive

Imported from andrea.editthispage.com, a Manila site, on Sep 20th, 2005.

February 2 2001

Anti-Bloggies

Have you seen the Anti-Bloggies yet? They’ve got some cool categories, e.g. Smallest Type Blog, Biggest Jerk Blog, Cutest Blogger Couple, Please Turn Off Your Webcam Blog, Most Annoying Incorporation of “Blog” into everyday language (i.e. blogarrhea, bloggerific, bloggety, bloggalicious, etc.), and Sexiest Stortrooper.

Contrary to the original bloggies, you can see the nominees here. I was surprised to find both André’s and my own blog on the nominee list. Unfortunately, you can’t see who has been nominated for which category. I’d really like to know for what category I’m in there…

And read their disclaimer: “Some sites not listed because the content was, in our opinion, atrocious and we don’t care to link them. Got a problem with that? Tough. We pay the hosting fees.” Heh.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Phil’s Digital Den: “It’s official! At 7:20 this morning, Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his hibernation and declared that there will be six more weeks of winter weather!”

He must be right, because it’s been snowing for a few hours here. But it’s above zero (Celsius) outside, so most of the snow is melting right away. But a bit is still lying around here. I wonder what it’s going to be like tomorrow.

Update: The temperature dropped when the sun went down, and now we have two or three centimetres of snow outside. The weather forecast for the next two or three days predicts more snow and rain.

Huh?

A few weeks ago, everybody was talking about Ginger. What could IT be? And now you can pre-order it at Amazon. Also, they provide a place for customers to discuss Dean Kamen’s mysterious new invention. Hello?

star:

Diese Woche in der Zeit

Schwerpunkt Schule: Lebenslang Staatsknecht. “Die Lehrerausbildung soll verbessert werden. Doch das Beamtenrecht behindert die Reform.”

“Ein herbes Urteil über die deutsche Lehrerbildung, die von Lehrerfunktionären und Bildungspolitikern immer noch für die beste der Welt gehalten wird, hat sie doch zwei Phasen. In der ersten wird an der Universität auf wissenschaftlichem Niveau Fachkenntnis vermittelt. Dann folgt der zweite Abschnitt: das Referendariat in einer Schule und die begleitenden Kurse im Lehrerseminar. Der Kandidat gibt Probelektionen und schneidet sein Wissen, so die Idee, praktisch und didaktisch auf den Beruf zu.

Die Realität sieht anders aus. In Wirklichkeit stehen beide Bildungsabschnitte unverbunden nebeneinander. Die Universitäten bestimmen mehr oder weniger eigenständig, wie sie ihre Lehramtsstudiengänge gestalten. In den Lehrerseminaren wird nicht etwa auf vorhandenes Wissen aufgebaut, sondern häufig dasselbe noch einmal gemacht, nur mit anderen Mitteln.”

Online-Zeitungen: Die Letzte könnte die Erste sein. “Das anspruchsvollste Internet-Angebot aller Zeitungen hat die ‘FAZ’, trotz innerer Spannungen.”

faz.com, faz.de und faz.net – nun also gleich drei Internet-Zeitungen mit Nachrichten, Analysen und Kommentaren. Zuerst verbreitete die faz.com eine ins Englische übersetzte Teilausgabe der ‘Zeitung für Deutschland’, nun verständlich für die ganze Welt. Und im Januar gab es gleich eine zweifache Zugabe fürs Publikum: die faz.de als deutsche Auswahl von Printartikeln und die faz.net, in der 30 Redakteure eigene Artikel recherchieren und Material der Nachrichtenagenturen verarbeiten.”

Online:

“Über das sagenhafte Produkt Ginger alias IT wurde an dieser Stelle schon berichtet. Nun hat der Online-Shop Amazon die Konsequenz gezogen und eine Website eingerichtet, auf der man das Produkt blind vorbestellen kann. Die Resonanz ist so gut, dass sich die Amazon-Manager überlegen, öfter solche ‘digitalen Wundertüten’ anzubieten.”

February 1 2001

It’s a good feeling…

Yes, I managed to beat that Schwarz-Christoffel formula. Now I can create my very own conformal mappings of triangles onto half planes. Yay!

And after a day of TeXing and calculating and more TeXing, a great way to relax is surfing one’s favourite weblogs for an hour before going to bed. facehappy:

Good night!

“And Then There Was One”

The news that Pyra is closing down (well, sort of) have caused a lot of discussion on MetaFilter

Und nicht vergessen…

Ab heute ist das Telefonieren während des Autofahrens nur mit Freisprecheinrichtung erlaubt. Eigentlich ist es ein Unding, daß man bisher tatsächlich ungestraft mit 200 über die Autobahn brettern und dabei telefonieren durfte. Jetzt kostet es (nach einer Eingewöhnungsphase, in der nur verwarnt wird) DM 60 – viel zu wenig!

Es ist mir schon mehr als einmal passiert, daß ich vor Schreck beinahe vom Rad gefallen bin, weil ein telefonierender Autofahrer mich glatt übersehen hat und überfahren wollte… aber zur Verteidigung der Telefonierer muß ich sagen, daß mir das noch öfter passiert ist, ohne daß der Autofahrer telefonierte.

Außerdem darf man jetzt nicht mehr blinken, wenn man in einen Kreisverkehr fährt. Aber wer hat das bisher schon gemacht?

Alle Änderungen sind nachzulesen beim Spiegel: Das ändert sich zum 1. Februar.

First annual Weblog Awards

The winners of the 2001 bloggies have been announced. Congratulations to Disturbing Search Requests on winning in the categories best topical weblog, most humorous weblog, and best manila-powered weblog!

/usr/bin/girl was chosen as the best weblog overall (and the best blogger-powered weblog). Congratulations!

January 31 2001

Conserving energy

Garret, Al and Dave Rogers talk about conserving energy. Remeber the ecological footprint calculator Craig pointed to? He calculated his footprint to be 75% of the average American. I calculated my to be one third of what the average American uses! And still my footprint is one and a half times the amount of the ‘average’ footprint that would allow each man on earth his or her fair share.

Although this is a small sample (I bet the Curmudgeon would not trust my statistics ), I see a tendency here. (Don’t get me wrong, Craig, I’m not saying you’re wasting engergy. On the contrary, there must be people in America who use the 25% you don’t use.)

My point is, it is easier to conserve energy in Europe, or at least in Germany. My impression is that Americans give a damn about how much energy their huge fridges and other household appliances use, while fridges in Europe have to fulfil certain standards and get ‘grades’ for their energy consumption. Houses in California are not insulated although it would help to keep out the heat in summer and the cold in winter. American cars use way too much gas, and everybody is driving big cars. Public transport is virtually non-existent outside the largest cities. People use planes for distances that I would cover by train.

So I think it would be a good idea to think about ways to conserve energy and about renewable energy sources – instead of sacrificing National Parks for being able to keep oil cheap.

Okay, and now go and calculate your ecological footprint and prove me wrong!

Last week in Den Haag… (Okay, it actually was last year.)

Pictures!

And once again Susan shares wonderful photos with us. This time it’s the Aloe blooming at the Arboretum.

Groundhog day

Nicht vergessen: Übermorgen ist Murmeltiertag! Der Spiegel schreibt dazu: …und wir sind schuld!

“… aus der Länge des Schattens, den Phil werfen wird, lässt sich … genau berechnen [wie lange es noch bis zum Frühlingsbeginn dauert]. Wobei in diesem Fall weniger mehr ist: Ein starker Schatten deutet auf einen langen Winter hin; ein völliges Fehlen eines Schattens kündigt den baldigen Frühling an.

Da liegt die Frage nahe, woher die Amerikaner diesen Schatten haben: Wer nun glaubt, auf etwas derart Beknacktes könnten nun wirklich nur Amerikaner kommen, der irrt. Denn das Städtchen Punxsutawney leitet seine nun schon mehr als 200-Jährige Tradition des ‘Groundhog-Days’ aus europäischen Traditionen ab. Und zwar nicht aus irgendwelchen, nein: ‘Die römischen Legionen brachten diese Tradition auf ihrem Vormarsch nach Norden zu den Teutonen, oder Deutschen.’ Wir sind Schuld!”

This year, you can watch the Groundhog Day ceremony live on the web for the first time! There’s going to be a webcast at Phil’s Digital Den!

Here is Groundhog.org, the official site of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. And of course, Punxsutawney Phil has got his own web site, too.

The German magazine Der Spiegel (see the quote above) claims that the tradition dates back 2000 years. The Romans supposedly brought it to the Teutons, or Germans.

Quark, again!

kaesekuchen klein: Since Helena asked for it (on January 30, 2001), here is a recipe for Cheese cake with Quark! It’s called Käsekuchen in German, but since it doesn’t contain cheese (Käse), Quarkkuchen would be more appropriate. Anyway, here goes!

By the way, Helena bought Quark in Canada, and she thinks it’s called plain soft cheese, not curd cheese.

January 30 2001

Mathematik- und Physikzeitschriften online – Math and Physics Online Resources

  • Math Net – Internet Information Services for Mathematicians. Including Sigma, Searchable Index for German MAthematical resources.
  • Mathematik: Elektronische Zeitschriften. Teil der virtuellen Bibliothek der Uni Basel.
  • Lehrstuhl für Mathematik an der Uni Aachen: Zeitschriften der mathematischen Bibliothek. Linksammlung.
  • Das Nachschlagewerk überhaupt, nicht nur für Mathe und Physik: Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog. “60 Mio. Bücher und Zeitschriften in Bibliotheks- und Buchhandelskatalogen weltweit.”
  • Springer LINK “is divided according to field into the so-called Online Libraries of life sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, computer science, mathematics, medicine, physics & astronomy, engineering, environmental sciences, law, and economics.”

    Searchable link database with info about availability online and in print. Abstracts are availabe, but online access to articles is restricted to subscribers. However, if you have access to a library, you can look articles up here and read them there.

Und für die Schule: MatheAss, das altbekannte und bewährte Programm.

Geburtstag

It’s Tina VanDyk’s birthday! Happy Birthday!

From the strange dreams department

Last night I dreamt that André and I went to visit Frauke and Scott in Lüllau. There was snow outside, and I stood in the snow barefoot. And my feet didn’t even get cold…

By the way, Frauke and Scott, I’ve discovered that my cousin and her fiancé live very close to you, in Wörme. I’ve never been there, but saw Wörme on a map recently and found it was only a few kilometres from Lüllau! Die Welt ist ein Dorf…

Gute Besserung!

Get well soon, Al!

Und Du natürlich auch, Jörg!!!

Aktuelle Literaturszene?

Unter dieser Kategorie führt meome Weblogs, wer hätte das gedacht. Jedenfalls gibt es hier eine Liste mit deutschsprachigen Blogs. Der Autor bat darum, den Link weiterzuverbreiten und ggf. Feedback zu senden. Und ich bin spät dran, denn der Schockwellenreiter hatte den Link schon vor ein paar Tagen. Und andere auch.

Das einzige, was mich bei meome stört ist, daß alle Links ein neues Fenster aufgehen lassen, in dem oben ein meome-Frame ist, der quasi als ‘Überschrift’ für die eigentliche Site dient. Aber dank Seans Tip muß das nun auch nicht mehr sein.

In der Liste bin ich auch zum wiederholten Mal auf blackandwhiteandblue gestoßen, eines der wenigen wirklich ‘literarischen’ Weblogs, das aber eher ein Online-Journal ist. Aber egal, schön ist es.

Heimkino

Last weekend, André and I rented two DVDs: Jakob the Liar (1999) and Kundun (1997). Both were really good films.

Jakob the Liar is about a Jewish ghetto in a Polish town in 1944. I still cannot make up my mind if the film is funny or sad.

It’s actually both, and that is why my feelings are so mixed. People are just trying to survive until the Russians come and free them from the German Nazis, and their lives are incredibly hard. Yet, they still try to see the funny side in life, tell jokes etc. And it has both a happy and a sad ending…

Kundun tells the story of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Born in 1935, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama at age two. He is schooled by monks from the age of four until the Chinese invade Tibet in 1950. Although he tries everything to save the Tibetans and remain with them, he has no choice but to emigrate to India in 1959, where he still lives.

The film follows his life from early childhood to the day he has to leave Tibet.

Some Dalai Lama links:

  • The Government of Tibet in Exile: His Holyness, the Dalai Lama. Biography, books, statements…
  • www.DalaiLama.com: “This Internet site is dedicated to creating awareness of the life and work of His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet and has been created under the auspicies of the Office of Tibet and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.”
  • Salon.com – People: The Dalai Lama.
  • Mother Jones: The Dalai Lama. On China, hatred, and optimism. A conversation with Robert Thurman.
  • The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
  • Another site with lots of information: His Holyness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. (“The material on these pages has been prepared from the official brochures, newsletters and press kit of the Trust for the Visit, with additional material compiled by Ven. Sönam Chökyi, the Trust publicity officer for Dunedin, as well as other sources.”)

Whoops!

Missed another day… by ten minutes.

January 27 2001

Meow! – Miau!

Hal’s conversation with a cat at 3 a.m.. Too funny!

Quark reactions

Wow, I hadn’t expected such enthusiasm for Quark! facehappy:

However, Jeff, I can assure you that Quarkspeise is something different than Teletubbie Custard!

John, did you try Buttermilch, Dickmilch or Kefir while in Germany? Ah, the great things one can make from milk…

Belated thanks for the wishes upon my weblog’s first birthday to Steven Vore of Mumble Daily, whom I just found in my referrers. Nice to meet you!

Alles Quark!

Since Helena mentioned that she was dying to know what Quark – curd cheese – is, I dug up some info on Quark.

Basically, Quark is the earliest stage in making cheese. You take milk and add a certain kind of bacteria (I think it’s called rennet in English) that makes the milk curd. When you take out some of the water, you get Quark.

It tasted similar to cottage cheese, but it is smooth, not lumpy. Quark is thicker and dryer than joghurt and only slightly sour.

The best website I have found about milk products is Cheese.com. They have a page that explains what Quark is and how it is made.

I also found a recipe for Quark, in case you want to try to make some yourself. (I have never tried this!)

If you want to try Quark, maybe you can get it in a good cheese shop. Or a shop with German or Austrian food? Quark is called ‘Topfen’ in Austria, by the way. And I found this page on how to find Quark in Canada and the USA.

QuarkspeiseYou can use Quark, like we did last night, to make a dessert: I opened a glass of cherries that my mom had canned, added the cherry juice to the Quark to make it more creamy and then added the cherries. Done! This is called Quarkspeise, and I like it a lot! Of course it also works with other fruit, or you can just add a bit of sugar and vanilla.

In my family, we also eat Quark on bread. As you may know, most people in Germany eat bread or rolls for breakfast. I like to put quark and some kind of jam or marmelade on it, e.g. strawberry jam. Yummy!

Quark is also great on baked potatoes. Just mix some herbs in the Quark and put it on the potato. (In Germany, you can buy pre-made Kräuterquark, herb curd cheese.)

And you can also use Quark to bake Quarkkuchen or cheese cake. These are my favourite uses for Quark, but I guess you can do a lot of other things with it as well.

Oh, and one more thing: You can say ‘Quark’ instead of ‘Quatsch’ – ‘Nonsense’ in German as well.