imaginary threads

when i was small, my parents used to tell me to put everything in my room on its place in order to keep it tidy. i then imaniged how practical it would be to have some kind of special elastic threads which would connect each item with its place and, after it was used and displaced, would simply snap it back into position. sadly, i never managed to find these threads, but still the image of it serves as a measure of chaos/orientation for my room.
it works like that: i imagine a red thread attached to all the objects and their 'good' positions. as a result i get some structure of criss-crossing which can be classified in different categories.
if they are in a way that i can cross my room without problems, it is not so bad. also the cobweb stage is not too difficult, as it represents some kind of structured mess and still flat, so it can be removed easily. however, once in a while it reaches this kind of multi-dimensional chaos one knows from laser beams in scifi movies. then it becomes a hard task with multiple attempts to reach the other end of the room, find the switch and remove the chaos at once (unfortunately the switch only seems to work in those movies, but then, after it is switched back, the chaos is back as well).

Flieh deinen Schatten nicht

Es war einmal ein Mann, den verstimmte der Anblick seines eigenen Schattens so sehr, der war so unglücklich über seine eigenen Schritte, daß er beschloß, sie hinter sich zu lassen. Er sage sich: Ich laufe ihnen einfach davon.

So stand er auf und lief davon. Aber jedesmal, wenn er seinen Fuß aufsetzte, hatte er wieder einen Schritt getan, und sein Schatten folgte ihm mühelos. Er sagte zu sich: Ich muß schneller laufen. Also lief er schneller und schneller, lief so lange, bis er tot zu Boden sank. Wäre er einfach in den Schatten eines Baumes getreten, so wäre er seinen eigenen Schatten losgeworden, und hätte er sich hingesetzt, so hätte es keine Schritte mehr gegeben. Aber darauf kam er nicht.

Tschuang-tse, in: Sinfonie für einen Seevogel und andere Texte des Tschuang-tse, hrsg. v. Thomas Merton, Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf 1973, S. 130.

Gefunden auf http://www.zum.de/Faecher/kR/BW/bibellit/texte/t080.htm

Translation will follow soon.. couldn't find the English version so far.. click for other texts and information about the author

about time

"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils."
Louis Hector Berlioz

What makes a man a man? (C. Aznavour)

Recently I realized that holidays are coming through (just before they finish, but better late than never). Good indicators are usually that old 'fun' things revive, like cooking, knitting, building things, decorating.. in short, everything that does not involve computers or out of the house communication. So I feel a bit weird, noticing that these activities stunningly fit to the classical stereotype of a 'housewife' :)
This put me on the question as to which degree the old stereotypes about men and women are still alive/natural/valid? In the end I could not really say what makes someone 'classify' as 'man' or 'woman' (biology excluded). Any ideas?

Kompiuta

Des Woat Kompiuta (Hochdaitsch: Computer, boarisch ausgprocha: Komputa', Neiboarisch: Kompjuuta) is aus'm Englischn und bedeit nix andas ois wia Rechna oda Kalkulierer (von to compute - rechna, berechna, kalkuliern). A gängige Abküazung im Boarisch'n dafüa is' Kompi oder PC.

Ois an Kompiuta bezeichnet ma a Kistl aus Blech oda Blastigg, in dem an Haufa Elektronigg drinsteggt. Zu am Computer g'heat a Buidschiam oda sunst irgand a Ausgabegerät (in da Fachsprach nennt ma des "Peripheriegerät"), wos oahm de Ergebnis vo de Berechnungan, de im Kistl g'macht woan san, ozoang duat. Um de Rechnungen ins Kistl einzumbringa, is a Eingabegerät notwendig. Heitigndogs is des im Regelfoi a Maus und a Tastatua.

Säitsamerweise duat trodz dem Nam heidtzudog kaum meah oahna midt'm Kompi "rechnen".

http://bar.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptseitn

Now I want to know it

On the right hand side you find a poll about a question I was discussing with a lot of people. I want to know your opinion so please vote, or if your opinion doesnt fit put a comment. In particular I would like to know if also on this issue (under which several people in my aquaintances are suffering) the general opinion diverges from the actual behaviour of people. Of course this is only a very limited approach, but I'm not a sociologist so I have to use what comes my way.
Thanks already for your cooperation!

And then?

Tomorrow CERN is planning to power up it's Large Hadron Collider, result of a project started in the 1980s. The objective of this experiment is not a trivial one - in fact, some physicists take it to provide key facts about the creation of the universe.
Now I wonder: what happens if it doesn't? For sure a lot of calculations were done so it is likely that some things can be observed. But in some sense I doubt that we will know the universe's deepest secrets in the near future. And I can't help imagining some irritated faces should the outcome of this experiment be: nothing?

Nachtrag..

it's been a while ago, but still i would like to share some impressions of my trip to the baltic countries with you.
on the map below you see the places we travelled to in these three weeks. i really enjoyed going with the flow and in my curiosity soaking up as many details as possible. however, i came to realise that i was bound to miss out on many things.. maybe some other time i will be able to complete the picture a bit more.



these pictures are a truly random selection from the journey (truly random as i must have exceeded picasa's limit for selected pictures so it dumped more than half of my selection :)
in this place i want to thank everyone for this great journey: Diana, Andrej, Valdemaras, Olga, Andreis, Martins, Marijn, and all their friends and families which i could meet and which were so friendly and caring. I hope to see you before long :)

How to make a top

about truth

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."
Oscar Wilde