Usually I am not prone to technostalgia, quite on the contrary, as the numerous generations of outdated hardware (starting with C-64, then Atari STs, finally Macs of all descriptions) may bear witness which have found their way into my friends & family circle (at a considerable discount). Not so with the Newton: I am still a proud owner of two MessagePads! (Well, maybe it's got to do with that nobody wanted them at any discount, but anyway.) And reading about Einstein to revive Newton (wouldn't that make a nice image?), I think I might just go and buy a Linux PDA ...
05/10/2004
Technostalgia?
Newton Never Dies. It only gets new Hardware? Now there's a serious technology flashback! May I just give you a peek view into one of my drawers?

Usually I am not prone to technostalgia, quite on the contrary, as the numerous generations of outdated hardware (starting with C-64, then Atari STs, finally Macs of all descriptions) may bear witness which have found their way into my friends & family circle (at a considerable discount). Not so with the Newton: I am still a proud owner of two MessagePads! (Well, maybe it's got to do with that nobody wanted them at any discount, but anyway.) And reading about Einstein to revive Newton (wouldn't that make a nice image?), I think I might just go and buy a Linux PDA ...
Usually I am not prone to technostalgia, quite on the contrary, as the numerous generations of outdated hardware (starting with C-64, then Atari STs, finally Macs of all descriptions) may bear witness which have found their way into my friends & family circle (at a considerable discount). Not so with the Newton: I am still a proud owner of two MessagePads! (Well, maybe it's got to do with that nobody wanted them at any discount, but anyway.) And reading about Einstein to revive Newton (wouldn't that make a nice image?), I think I might just go and buy a Linux PDA ...
Supporting blogger
I support blogger.com because blogger supports me! Here's their answer to a help request which may be relevant to you, too:
From: blogger@trakken.com
Subject: Re: Search in NavBar doesn't work
Date: 4. Oktober 2004 23:14:53 Uhr GMT+02:00
To: christian@dreyer.ch
Hi Christian,
This is caused by a bug on our end that removes one of the slashes ("/")
in your URL for the search box. We apologize for the inconvenience, and
we're working on getting this fixed.
Sincerely,
Blogger Support
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: Christian Dreyer {U 3130976 B 6760293}
Subject: Search in NavBar doesn't work
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 14:09:27 -0700 (PDT)
The title says it all - and please don't say that my website may not be
indexed by Google, because it is.
I hope this issue will be resolved soon - the search feature would be
extremely helpful!
I think that's awesome, especially since the problem is particular to my setup with a third party. And it's a free service! I've had much worse support in paid services ... but GMT+2 - pray, where are they?! On South Georgia?!
From: blogger@trakken.com
Subject: Re: Search in NavBar doesn't work
Date: 4. Oktober 2004 23:14:53 Uhr GMT+02:00
To: christian@dreyer.ch
Hi Christian,
This is caused by a bug on our end that removes one of the slashes ("/")
in your URL for the search box. We apologize for the inconvenience, and
we're working on getting this fixed.
Sincerely,
Blogger Support
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: Christian Dreyer {U 3130976 B 6760293}
Subject: Search in NavBar doesn't work
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 14:09:27 -0700 (PDT)
The title says it all - and please don't say that my website may not be
indexed by Google, because it is.
I hope this issue will be resolved soon - the search feature would be
extremely helpful!
I think that's awesome, especially since the problem is particular to my setup with a third party. And it's a free service! I've had much worse support in paid services ... but GMT+2 - pray, where are they?! On South Georgia?!
Collateral
Just back from watching Collateral. Good stuff, definitely worth watching!
Tom Cruise is a jazz-loving, highly effective, yet cynical contract killer with a mandate to eliminate in one night five material witnesses to a court case beginning the following day. But he's in need of a ride, so he hires chance encounter, equally effective cab driver Max. Max however has fallen for the prosecutor general, who is target #5, so the inevitable takes its course...
Very good, "documentary" camera (you're right there, Orlando!), great soundtrack, good acting, even by Cruise. I love the linked critique's quip on his "complete abandonment of mimic introspection"! And the way he terminates target #3 for answering a Miles Davis question incorrectly is just vicious. Very nice & atmospheric also the hunt for #5 in the dark district attorney's law library - reminded me of the cloaked alien hunter in a movie the name of which escapes me just now.
The movie breathes an unusual, almost existentialist air, what with the intense mutual psychoanalysis happening in the cab and Cruise joking about having killed his father while Max cannot live up to his ailing mother's expectations (they actually pay her a visit as well!). And the ending is not entirely Hollywood, either, despite of its close enough setting ...
Tom Cruise is a jazz-loving, highly effective, yet cynical contract killer with a mandate to eliminate in one night five material witnesses to a court case beginning the following day. But he's in need of a ride, so he hires chance encounter, equally effective cab driver Max. Max however has fallen for the prosecutor general, who is target #5, so the inevitable takes its course...
Very good, "documentary" camera (you're right there, Orlando!), great soundtrack, good acting, even by Cruise. I love the linked critique's quip on his "complete abandonment of mimic introspection"! And the way he terminates target #3 for answering a Miles Davis question incorrectly is just vicious. Very nice & atmospheric also the hunt for #5 in the dark district attorney's law library - reminded me of the cloaked alien hunter in a movie the name of which escapes me just now.
The movie breathes an unusual, almost existentialist air, what with the intense mutual psychoanalysis happening in the cab and Cruise joking about having killed his father while Max cannot live up to his ailing mother's expectations (they actually pay her a visit as well!). And the ending is not entirely Hollywood, either, despite of its close enough setting ...
04/10/2004
Gefährliches Staatsverständnis
Ein hervorragendes Interview mit Bundesrat Couchepin gilt es hier anzuzeigen!
Darin nimmt er in ungewohnter, durchaus unmagistraler Klarheit Stellung zum aus meiner Sicht brandgefährlichen Demokratie- und Staatsverständnis der SVP, die "das Volk" als den absoluten, totalen Souverän betrachtet und somit der verfassungsmässigen Gewaltenteilung - bisher erst implizit - die Berechtigung abspricht. Insofern erscheint die SVP nämlich nachgerade als totalitär, ein Attribut, das sie sonst gerne anderen zuschreibt.
Möglicherweise haben wir hier den archimedischen Punkt, von dem aus die SVP zu bewegen bzw. sogar zu knacken ist. Amüsant, wenn unser aller Ueli auf diesen Vorwurf faute de mieux mit "schlechter Stil" reagiert ...
Unbedingt lesen, weiterverbreiten, (mit SVP-Wählern) diskutieren!
Darin nimmt er in ungewohnter, durchaus unmagistraler Klarheit Stellung zum aus meiner Sicht brandgefährlichen Demokratie- und Staatsverständnis der SVP, die "das Volk" als den absoluten, totalen Souverän betrachtet und somit der verfassungsmässigen Gewaltenteilung - bisher erst implizit - die Berechtigung abspricht. Insofern erscheint die SVP nämlich nachgerade als totalitär, ein Attribut, das sie sonst gerne anderen zuschreibt.
Möglicherweise haben wir hier den archimedischen Punkt, von dem aus die SVP zu bewegen bzw. sogar zu knacken ist. Amüsant, wenn unser aller Ueli auf diesen Vorwurf faute de mieux mit "schlechter Stil" reagiert ...
Unbedingt lesen, weiterverbreiten, (mit SVP-Wählern) diskutieren!
02/10/2004
Six centuries
I'll go to bed very soon, but not before posting about my day of music which spanned no less than 6 centuries today. It started off with the already mentioned performance of Elektro-Punk (I think) Tomi Z. at 1am in the morning: Very loud, silly, in your face, obnoxious, lewd, direct, messy. Very much alive.

It ended sedately, i.e. in line with my current state of exhaustion, with a concert of italian madrigals from the sixteenth century. Cipriano de Rore composed those madrigals mostly on classical texts by Francesco Petrarca, whose 700th anniversary is being celebrated with a special exhibition in Basle where he lived for a bit before the big earthquake (a recurring theme...) struck in 1356. Incidentally, Petrarca was rediscovered as a founding father of humanism not least by Basle book printers in the early 16th century, hence there are lots of fine incunabula on display in that exhibition.
But I digress. I wanted to tell you about the concert: It was very low, beautiful, intricate, dialectic, refined, precious. But very dead.
Anchor che col partire
io mi senta morire,
partir vorrei ogn'hor, ogni momento,
tant'è il piacer ch'io sento
della vita ch'acquisto nel ritorno.
E così mille volt'il giorno
Partir vorrei,
tanto son dolci gli ritorni miei.
Alfonso D'Avalos
But I digress. I wanted to tell you about the concert: It was very low, beautiful, intricate, dialectic, refined, precious. But very dead.
Anchor che col partire
io mi senta morire,
partir vorrei ogn'hor, ogni momento,
tant'è il piacer ch'io sento
della vita ch'acquisto nel ritorno.
E così mille volt'il giorno
Partir vorrei,
tanto son dolci gli ritorni miei.
Alfonso D'Avalos
01/10/2004
"Please switch off your mobile phone during the flight"
The days of this pointless restriction may soon be over, if this report in Wired is to be believed. About time, too!
Presidential Debate, 1st round
It seems that Kerry won the first round - the WSJ's online survey shows over 70% of nearly 15'000 participants thinking so, and the Bush Contract on Intrade (look for it in the window opening) has also lost over 2 points actually gained, albeit on a very wide spread. Consequently, Strangely though, the Kerry contract hasn't picked up by as much, so it remains to be seen whether this is indeed a trend reversal.
INTP
It seems to be fashionable in the blogosphere to share one's Myers-Briggs Personality Type, so here's my rough approximation, if you care: INTP with a penchant towards INTJ.
With the exception of the distinction between Judging and Perceiving, I think I am pretty clear cut. If you want to see what this is all about, or check for yourself, here is a lot more!
With the exception of the distinction between Judging and Perceiving, I think I am pretty clear cut. If you want to see what this is all about, or check for yourself, here is a lot more!
Sexistic education?
Wonderful! And there is even a brunette involved. ;-)
Since we're talking maths & gender, here's a nice complement.
Since we're talking maths & gender, here's a nice complement.
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