on diet...

in case someone of you has wondered why there is not much -> nothing new here..

the solution is: i'm on diet :))
obviously not as you would understand this normally (I like eating and don't believe in rumbling stomachs ;)
rather than fasting, I'm merrily feasting but at the same time cutting down on my cyber-time to give my poor eyes a rest. and in fact there are so many nice things to be done here. just today i went figure skating on a lake nearby, in the sun... very nice and for a change i didnt even break anything :) also music is back in my live, havent been singing so much in the whole year as i do now with the support of my family.. (nearly amounts to the size of a choir, so it's great fun) so, in total, i'm virtually gone, catching up with the good things in life. hope you're doing the same!
cheers!
:)

Breathe in...

... is the album of Lucie Silvas I really got hooked on. To recommend if you search for something calming.

at night

through my eyes

strange things happening

I seriously doubt now that some people have the mental capability to grow up...
On my way home at night I met two at least 40 year old men, ringing random people's bells and running away... I just remained absolutely amazed.

a note on pronunciation

Here is some pronunciation stuff i found when cleaning up old emails... have fun :P

Ràtion never rhymes with nàtion.
Say prefèr, but préferable,
Còmfortable and végetable.
B must not be heard in doubt,
Debt and dumb both leave it out.

In the words psychòlogy,
Psy'chic and psychatry,
You must never sound the p.
Psychatrists you call the man
Who cures your complex, if he can,
In àrchitect, ch is k,
in arch it is the other way.

Please remember to say iron,
So that it will rhyme with lion.
A'dvertisers àdvertise,
Advèrtisments will put you wise.
Time, when work is done, is léisure,
Fill it up with useful pléasure.

Accidéntal, àccident,
Sound the g in ignorant.
Rélative, but a relàtion,
Then say crea'ture, but créàtion.

Say the 'a' in gas quite short,
Bought, remember rhymes with short,
Drought must always rhyme with out,
In dau'ghter leave the 'g h' out.

Room must always rhyme with boom,
When you're dead you're in a tomb.
Wear a boot upon your foot,
Root can never rhyme with soot.

In mùscle, 's c' is an 's',
In mùscular, it's 's k', yes!
Cho'ir must always rhyme with li'ar.
Then, remémber, it's addréss,
With an accent like posséss.

''G' in sign must silent be,
In sìgnature, pronoùnce the 'g'.
Please remember, say towàrds
Just as if it rhymed with boards.

Weight's like wait, but not like height,
Which should always rhyme with light.
Sew is just the same as so,
Tie a ribbon in a bow.

When you meet your friends you bow,
Which again must rhyme with how.
In perfect English make a start,
Learn this little rhyme by heart.

how to sleep for 12 hours

andrea: brauchst nur so viel sport zu treiben, dass du um 9 ins bett fällst mit der Zahnbürste noch im Mund, weil du zu schwach bist den mund auszuspülen...

sounds reasonable :)

about success :)

elevator

walk home at night

Storm in the mailbox

Currently there is a very interesting and heated discussion going on in the mailing lists of the university here...

The beginning was the invitation to an event, hosted by a local fraternity and taking place on university's premises. The topic : Terrorism and its trends. The speaker: a colonel from the United States Marine Corps.
The problem: the invitation was sent to everybody connected to the university network by the 'administration' mailing list. Since then, everybody's mailboxes keep filling up by the most interesting replies, of which I will show some here. (It has to be noted, that none of them was in favor of the event)

guten tag, noch etwas verblüfft von der gerade geöffneten mitteilung erlaube ich mich nachzufragen, warum über "Administration" solche mitteilungen hochschulweit versendet werden.

I miei "complimenti" per la raffinata iniziativa culturale e per il relatore, la cui obbiettività scientifica è certamente fuori di dubbio.

Spero sia un caso di umorismo involontario.

Cordiali saluti

Gentile colleghe, gentili colleghi!

Mi sono posto la stessa domanda del preside Prey. Me la sono posta, a dir la verità, anche per la mostra del repubblichino nella guerra civile di Spagna. Senza alcuna pretesa di moralità, ma "Guernavaca docet!"

Werte Kolleginnen und Kollegen!

Ich habe mir dieselbe Frage gestellt, die sich auch Dekan Prey gestellt hat. Der Wahrheit zuliebe habe ich mir die Frage bereits zur Fotoausstellung des "Söldners" im spanischen Bürgerkrieg gestellt. Ohne jeden moralischen Anspruch möchte ich an "Guernavaca" errinnern.

Sehr geehrte Kolleginnen und Kollegen,

ich darf dazu von meiner Seite - und ich bin bisher nur Contract Professor an der FU Bozen - nachdrücklichen Protest gegen solche Veranstaltungen an der Uni Bozen einlegen. Das widerspricht jeder Haltung der politisch-sachlichen Unabhängigkeit einer Universität!

Ich möchte hiermit - u.a. auch als Buchautor zur "Nachhaltigen Demokratisierung des Irak", Passagen Verlag Wien 2005 - im Sinne gelebten Pluralismus davor warnen, derartigen Veranstaltungen, die potentiell rufschädigend für alle Lehrenden an der FU Bozen sind, jemals wieder Raum zu geben.

Ich erbitte dazu höflichst eine Stellungnahme derjenigen, die diese Veranstaltung genehmigt haben!

Anch'io sono rimasto alquanto "stupito" nel vedere che ospitiamo un
evento di questo tipo. Non credo che giovi in alcun modo
all'immagine della nostra università e del suo corpo accademico.
Personalmente, prendo decisamente le distanze.

Gent.ma Rettrice, gent.ma Direttrice Generale,
Mi associo con le voci di quanti hanno espresso perplessità rispetto
all'incontro che si è tenuto ieri presso la nostra Università.

Aggiungo che quando ho letto l'informazione ero talmente stupita che sono
andata a sentire di persona.
Aula magna affollata, cappellini rossi, credo appartenenti alla
confraternita organizzante.
E per quanto riguarda il relatore, penso di non andare molto lontano dal
vero a definirla pura propaganda.

Non vorrei essere equivocata, il problema NON è il tema, ma le modalità.

A maggior ragione a proposito di una questione tragicamente centrale oggi
come dimostrano le cronache degli attentati di Algeri occorsi due gg fa.

Dear Rector, Dear General Director,
I agree with my colleague Tagliavini. I had already noted in the past, with reference to law conferences organized by local associations and held in our lecture rooms, that people think that these events are somehow related to the University. The organizers do expect professors and students to attend, and in the general public perception the event is "University certified". This create problems.

Moreover, if academics from other universities are invited, this might become a source of embarassment. Imagine a law professor in corporate law invited to give a presentation at a conference organized by the Bar Association and taking place in our premises. He expects me to welcome him, maybe to have a dinner together, to talk with him about the conference but also about positions to be opened for young researchers, etc. etc. Unfortunately, I does not know anything about the event, or I am out of Bolzano in the relevant days, or I simply do not to want to discuss those issues or to meet the person.

Something similar happened to me two years ago, when the local Bar Association organized a civil procedure conference here in Bolzano. The organizers expected the "law professors" to attend and students to be in the audience. Unfortunately, I discovered that the event was taking place here only few days before its start, I had another conference in another place, we had no people in the civil procedure area (we are not a law school indeed), students of economics were not interested at all in a conference concerning forced executions (esecuzione forzata). My colleague Stefano Lombardo was nevertheless forced to attend the conference, because the organizers wanted to have a sign of the "University presence" and we felt we were cornered into a situation in which someone of us had to be present.

In short, a University is not a neutral place were people can hold events and give lectures.

Dear Rector, Dear General Director

I have attended the lecture on Terrorism and its Trends by Colonnel Prat in an University lecture hall.
I do believe that our University should ask itself and open an internal discussion on:
1) the possibility to have such external events organized within its spaces;
2) the need for a selection of topics and/or speakers (e.g. related to our expertises);
3) the necessity for maintaining these events clearly separated from University activities as there is the risk of being associated to them.

In this respect, in agreement with other collegues (see e-mails), I am also unconvinced our Administration should have sent the advertisement of the yesterday lecture to professors and students.

undecimber

static int UNDECIMBER
Value of the MONTH field indicating the thirteenth month of the year.

WHAT? I must have missed something...

Your results for the "What instrument are you?" quiz

Violin

You've been around since 1555 and you're not going anywhere. After all, what's cooler than an instrument that can break glass? Keep expanding to new genres and you'll live forever.

There you go... my personality is glass breaking :) Who could have guessed..

Committed revision 200...

ehehehe if that is not a reason to celebrate :)

apart from this... very clever office discussion...
this lamp is your lamp... this lamp is my lamp... From California to the New York Island ....This land is your land, it once was my land (oops... there WAS something different with the lyrics)

crisis scale

We're women. There is nothing above bottoms on the crisis scale. Bottoms are our natural enemy. They follow us around our entire lives, right behind us and constantly growing. How do they do that? I'm sure mine's back there secretly snacking...

(Sally in Coupling)

Default procedure

currentSituation('How are you?'){

tmpStat := getContext();
if(tmpStat != brilliantSituation || tmpStat != hellOnEarth)
return tmpStat;
else{
relativeStat := couldIFeelWorseInThisSituation(tmpStat);
if(relativeStat)
return 'alright';
else
return 'ok';
}

}


(this is the simplified version.. for simplicity reasons the parameter 'voice tone' has not been included)

Dictionary

Thanks to Eka who placed this fantastic survival guide in my mailbox today! Enjoy :)


Nine words women use...

1.) Fine :
This is the word women use to end an
argument when they are
right and you need to shut up.
(hahahaha...)

2.) Five Minutes :
If she is getting dressed, this means a
half an hour.
Five minutes is only five minutes if
you have just been given five more
minutes to watch the game before
helping around the house.
(not really..)

3.) Nothing :
This is the calm before the storm. This
means something,
and you should be on your toes.
Arguments that begin with nothing
usually ends in "fine".
(ehm..sometimes)

4.) Go Ahead :
This is a dare, not permission. Don't
Do It!
(tricky..tricky..watch out!)

5.) Loud Sigh :
This is actually a word, but
is a non-
verbal statement
often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh
means she thinks you are an idiot and
wonders why she is wasting her time
standing here and arguing with you
about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for
the meaning of nothing.)
(hhhhh...true true)

6.) That's Okay :
This is one of the most dangerous
statements a woman
can make to a man. That's okay means
she wants to think long and hard before
deciding how and when you will pay for
your mistake.
(this is not about taking revenge, but it's all about karma, dudes!)

7.) Thanks :
A woman is thanking you, do not
question, or Faint. Just
say you're welcome.
(absolutely...).

8.) Whatever :
Is a women's way of saying
F@*K YOU!
(in your face!!! whohohohoohoho)

9.) Don't worry about it, I got it :
Another dangerous statement, meaning
this is something that a woman has told
a man to do several times, but is now
doing it herself. This will later
result in a man asking 'What's wrong?'
For the woman's response refer to #3.
(mmmm...)

why?

About Heaven and Hell

"Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian, and it is all organised by the Swiss.
Hell is where the chefs are British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, the police German, and it is all organised by the Italians."

(Dave Craine)

lack of patience

today a not really ripe orange sparked off a train of thoughts in my mind...
I really think that our society is lacking patience and is generally harvesting all kinds of things in a rush, before they could mature and reach their full ripeness. And quite often a reason for this is the hope and obsession to make more profits and the horror of the thought of missing an opportunity.
Now, for fruits that is a widely acknowleged practice. However, there are a lot more instances of this. To mention another rather obvious one: I tried buying a winter coat today and asked in the shop if there were going to be some more models. The shopwomen told me, I was late, the season would be nearly over, they were going to get the spring and summer collection soon... WHAT?? In the beginning of December?? Now that seems even one step further than moving christmas right after halloween and easter to the beginning of january...
Now, this was all a well know thing. But the tendency doesnt stop here. Take a think of the way companies start to target kinds as potential consumers, bombing them with advertising and manipulating their desires before they even had the slightest chance to remotely develop their personality. As a consequence, it will be very difficult for them to find out what their real, unmanipulated needs would be and they will be growing up thinking that consuming goods will fulfil their desires. However, as quickly as this satisfaction is gained the quickly it will be gone again, leaving people empty handed.
I wonder if this couldn't have drastic consequences when it comes down to reach for a goal in life, be it professional or in private. Especially in relationships between people it often appears that, as soon as a friend or partner doesn't just fulfill one's desires, and there would be hard work or sacrifices needed, a lot of people won't be willing to put this in, just assuming that presumably the person would not fit for them. In that way, people are seen like goods, exchangeable and substitutable, as the possibility to patiently cultivate and grow real and durable affection is not known or seems too cumbersome.
Also the worry of deciding or choosing something and then waiting if it was the right choice often seems hard. So instead of setting all energies on one thing and then being patient to see if it prooves fruitful, attention is spread on thousand tasks or people tend to switch from one to the next. I wonder what could be a cure?