Sunday, August 15, 2004

Tupper Hall

"Tupper Hall" - Tupper Halle.

I had a chance to visit Tupper Hall today. It's located on the Endicott College campus in Beverly, MA. What a gorgeous place to go to school! The Fach-Hochschule Juelich in Juelich was not quite the same.

The Hall has a small library with a number of beautiful old books, I am not exactly sure why, but I like to take pictures of old books.





Saturday, August 14, 2004

Hobby

"Hobby" - Hobby, Liebhaberei, Steckenpferd.

President George W. Bush was asked on Larry King Live what he was doing during the 7 minutes after he was told that the country was under attack. Mr. Bush answered: "I was collecting my thoughts." Boy, what a time to pickup a new hobby. - Bill Maher

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Electoral College

"Electoral College" - Wahlmänner-Gremium.

Follow the Kerry-Bush race using the Electoral Vote Predictor 2004, which tracks the electoral vote state by state. In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote by over half a million votes but George Bush won the electoral vote by 5 votes and became president. Thus watching the electoral vote is more important than watching the national polls. The Electoral Vote Predictor is dedicated to tracking the electoral vote by examining the state-by-state polls. As new state polls are released, the maps, spreadsheets, and tables will be updated.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Reform Logjam

"Reform Logjam" - Reformstau.

Germans are, by reputation, averse to change. But once in a while we enjoy a lively debate about why change is necessary and why, nevertheless, change isn't coming. To facilitate discussion, we even coined an expression for stalling-on-much-needed-reforms, "Reformstau", or "reform logjam." More...

Wörter und Unwörter des Jahres.

On a related note, the large media group Axel Springer Verlag (Der Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung) announced they would abandon the "simplified" orthography.

Procrastinate

"Procrastinate" - Aufschieben, zoegern, zaudern.

"Procrastinate now, don’t put it off." - Ellen Degeneres.

Monday, August 09, 2004

Root Canal Treatment

"Root Canal Treatment" - Wurzelbehandlung [Zahnmedizin].

2 hours and 15 minutes in a dentist's chair. Yummy.

Sunday, August 08, 2004

Eggs & Sausage

"Eggs & Sausage" - Eier und Wuerstchen.

Sometimes I go to Stephy's Kitchen, to me, the ultimate American experience, where you sit at the bar, the coffee is thinner than thin, the waitresses have that sparkly nail polish and address you with Hon', the buzz boy (women) has that chain-smoker's raspy voice, the chef wears a baseball cap... and the cheese omelets are out of this world!

Every time I hear it, Tom Waits' song "Eggs & Sausage" reminds me of this piece of Americana:

------

Nighthawks at the diner
of Emma's 49er, there's a rendezvous
of strangers around the coffee urn tonight
all the gypsy hacks, the insomniacs
now the paper's been read
now the waitress said

Eggs and sausage and a side of toast
coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy
chile in a bowl with burgers and fries
what kind of pie?

In a graveyard charade, a late shift masquerade
2 for a quarter, dime for a dance
with Woolworth rhinestone diamond
earrings, and a sideway's glance
and now the register rings
and now the waitress sings

(chorus)

The classified section offered no direction
it's a cold caffeine in a nicotine cloud
now the touch of your fingers
lingers burning in my memory
I've been 86ed from your scheme
I'm in a melodramatic nocturnal scene
I'm a refugee from a disconcerted affair
as the lead pipe morning falls
and the waitress calls

(chorus)

-----

I haven't figured out what he means by "2 for a quarter, dime for a dance" and "the lead pipe morning falls", but nevertheless, I love this song and my occasional lonely breakfast at Stephy's.

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Decisive

"Decisive" - Entscheidend, ausschlaggebend, bestimmend, massgeblich.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the great photographers of the 20th century, has died at the age of 95. The The New York Times and NPR have related stories.

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Abhorrent

"Abhorrent" - verhasst, zuwieder, abscheulich, abstossend.

One could get the impression that Ron Reagan doesn't like George W. Bush: The Case Against George W. Bush.

Yesterday I happened to see Ted Turner on Charlie Rose’s PBS show. He was of the opinion that, thanks to the Bush administration, it will take at least 30 years to repair the damaged US image within the international community, including former close allies.

Today we find out that the new terror alerts that had been declared last Sunday are based on 3 year old information. What is one supposed to do about it?

Friday, July 30, 2004

Synopsis

"Synopsis" - Abriss, Exposé, Inhaltsangabe, Zusammenfassung.

Here are two more reviews of Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11 worth reading: Is It All Just a Dream? and Moores vereinfachte Welt.

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

ECT

"ECT, Electroconvulsive Therapy, Shock Treatment" – EKT, Elektrokrampftherapie, Schocktherapie.

For D. All the best!

Sunday, July 25, 2004

Hike

"Hike" - Wanderung.



I hiked Mount Chocorua with Hui Yeng, Tom, Davor and Max (Davor's dog) today. A great trip and wonderful experience! However, hiking with pros like Tom and Hui Yeng is tough. Their pace and endurance is amazing. The hike is typically scheduled for approximately 6 hours, yet we climbed the mountain in 2 hours and 15 minutes (including photo breaks) and went down in about 1.5 hours. That was FAST, at least for me. Plus, I definitely carried a lot of stuff:

General gear: 

  • Water (2 Liters)
  • Food (Sandwich, Trail Mix, Power Bars, Nuts)
  • Map
  • Rain Clothes
  • Bug Spray
  • Band Aids
  • Advil, Tylenol
  • Matches
  • Knife
  • Cell Phone

Photo Equipment: 

  • SLR Camera
  • 2 Lenses (incl. Hoods)
  • Memory Cards
  • Batteries
  • Cleaning Air Brush and Cloth
  • Small Towel
  • Plastic Bag

Since I am a novice hiker I figured better save than sorry.
But hey, it was worth it:


Friday, July 23, 2004

Hitler’s Pawn

"Hitler’s Pawn" - Hitler's Bauer. Die Schachfigur Gretel Bergmann.

What a story. Highly recommended! More.

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Hiatus

"Hiatus" - Luecke; Unterbrechung; Sendepause.

I just saw Bill Maher on Larry King Live again. It's always very stimulating to hear him and I am glad that his show will resume on July 30th. Although I don't agree with all of his views, he wouldn't want me to anyway, I consider him a beacon for free speech and a voice of reason, at least throughout the last 3 years.

The Now Defunct Iron Curtain

"The Now Defunct Iron Curtain" - Der nicht mehr bestehende eiserne Vorhang.

"The abrupt conflict in Brian Rose's subjects between an older world, sometimes rural and sometimes urban, and the brutal political division imposed on it is not only historically important but, in Rose's hands, a wonderful subject for the camera." His project The Lost Border is a must see. (Through Conscientious.)

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Saccharine, Innocuous Fluff

"Saccharine, Innocuous Fluff" - Zuckersuesses, harmloses Zeug ohne Tiefgang.

The Comcast on-screen program guide can be quite annoying because of its unintuitive UI and its speed, or rather, the lack thereof. Nevertheless, I have to give Comcast credit for being not only positive and in "selling mode" when it comes to their short descriptions in the movie info sections. The other day the synopsis for a schmaltzy teenager romance started with "Saccharine, innocuous fluff...". Hey, at least their honest.

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Polaroid

"Polaroid (camera)" - Polaroid (Kamera), Sofortbild (Kamera).

There is something special about Polaroids. The medium seems to have an immanent charm and enchantment. The square image area and the naturally asymmetric frame add a finishing touch. The colors lend a surreal quality. I have seen many pictures that probably would have been boring if they hadn’t been taken with a Polaroid camera.

Combine Polaroid idiosyncrasies and photographic talent and you end up with art. Here’s a visual diary created by an American currently living in Germany which should illustrate my point. So much to explore...

This one is fake... and obviously not art:
EOS 10D, Lensbaby, Photoshop

Friday, July 16, 2004

Immortality

"Immortality" – Unsterblichkeit.

Since I consider the average life expectancy of about 75 years pretty limiting this may be good news: "Immortality is just around the corner, says technologist Ray Kurzweil. All you need to do to achieve it is hang on until the wonder of life-extending technologies such as self-repairing nanobots and therapeutic-cloning take hold. With any luck, Kurzweil says, it may be just a matter of decades, not centuries, before the human lifespan becomes infinite."
Well, his synthesizers were pretty good… but I certainly don’t want to be a bork. Please try again.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

WBUR vs. KQED

WBUR vs. KQED - East and West of the Mississippi.

By today's standards, the continued emphasis in the United States on call signs for radio stations is something of an anachronism; most other countries have switched to slogans or network IDs for establishing public identities. I certainly was not used to such naming schemes and it took me a while to recognize some of the patterns. Here is a very detailed summary: The Mystique of the Three-Letter Callsigns.

Monday, July 12, 2004

Culmination

"Culmination" – Kulmination, Hoehepunkt, hoechster Stand.

Groove v3.0 is the current culmination of a long journey and of what collaboration software can and should be. I am proud of it. It’s "under the button" since 11:30 p.m. last night. We are officially announcing Groove Virtual Office v3.0 this morning.

Here are the press releases targeting the markets: Fortune 1000 Enterprises, Public Sector, and Small Business; and fourth a technology backgrounder on Folder Synchronization.

German coverage:
Groove Networks veröffentlicht Groove Virtual Office 3.0
Neues Arbeitsgruppen Tool von Groove Networks