Just my cup of tea

Have I mentioned just how good Lyssa's Lounge is, especially if you read German? She does have the type of humour which easily qualifies as English, even though she's German. It probably helps that she hails from Hamburg ... but enough rambling, the only real reason for posting this is to recycle the amazingly elegant picture she published.

Capriccio by night

R., thank you so much for inviting me to Capriccio by night tonight - this was a great fun performance of really swinging baroque orchestra in an appropriately baroque setting! The only thing that was not quite so up to scratch was the speaker intonation of the carefully selected texts - I really think that it was his use of the PA that gave his part a somewhat preachy atmosphere. But why don't you listen for yourself - I've bootlegged the whole session, using a trial copy of mvoice on the new Treo 650 - the sound quality of the music is surprisingly good! Here's an excerpt from the eerie Vivaldi piece. I guess with that, I've just published my very first podcast!

Only in London ...

... would there be a flock of homo sapiens exhibited on the bear mountain, clad only in fig leaves & firmly tongue in cheek. Very nice - but only until Monday. I guess they'll have to be back in the office on Tuesday. The historical perspective on this event is not quite so amusing, though: Up until the 1930ies, african tribesmen were very successfully "on display" in zoos on a regular basis, and it was not tongue in cheek at all, back then.

Rodent power

The apparently popular story about a Hamster-powered phone charger reminded me of this strange guy that I saw hanging around in downtown Sofia with his two guinea pigs & a bowl. Initially I surmised that he was proposing to sell them, but 1 Lev (EUR 0.50) looked something awefully cheap, especially since business didn't appear to be so brisk what with him having no additional supplies in evidence.

Further research with a Bulgarian friend unveiled the unexpected: What you see in that picture is in fact a guinea pig powered crystal ball! For the aforementioned Lev, the guinea pigs would pick a slip of paper from the container on which the client's future would be described. Go figure that one!

Referenda 25.9.05

Since I'll be in Washington during the actual voting (and counting, sorry!), I might as well get it over with right now. So, here goes nothing:

1 Personenfreizügigkeit JA

2 Hanfgesetz NEIN

3 Familienzulagegesetz NEIN NEIN V2

4 Kinderzulageninitiative NEIN

5 Finanzhaushaltsgesetz Aufsicht JA

6 Finanzhaushaltsgesetz Globalbudget JA

7 Landwirtschaftsgesetz JA

8 Gewässerschutzgesetz NEIN

9 Bildungsgesetz JA

10 Ersatzwahl Gemeinderat N.N.

Kein Guru-Quatsch

Aussergewöhnlich lesenswertes Interview mit dem Philosophen Thomas Metzinger (Abo), sofern sich der Lesewert eines Textes nach seiner Kongruenz mit der eigenen Befindlichkeit bzw. Auffassung bemisst. Dann wäre er aber bis auf den Bestätigungswert nur überflüssig. Die philosophische Auseinandersetzung Metzingers mit den Erkenntnissen der Neurologie geht aber weiter, lässt sie doch einen eigenständig sozialwissenschaftlichen Standpunkt erkennen, der in fruchtbarem Dialog mit der Naturwissenschaft stehen kann. Die Haupterkenntnis? Seele, Religion, Sicherheit - alles Illusionen. Es ist kalt da draussen. Und seltsam beruhigend, sich dessen bewusst zu sein ohne durchzudrehen.

The Enthusiast

nthusiasm, as well as confidence, are intoxicating & inspiring - so here is definitely something for the shopping list of the next trip to London. I wonder whether that publication has anything in common with the other The E ...

Tuesch mi wider kalfaktere?

Dieser Ausdruck scheint durchaus gängig zu sein, findet Google doch immerhin 62 Fälle. Allerdings dürfte die hier angezeigte Verwendung speziell sein:

Tuesch mi wider kalfaktere?

Bedeutung: Sinngemäss: "Du kommandierst mich wieder herum!" Aber auch: "Du willst wieder provozieren!"

Etymologie: Laut Definition Wikipedia ist der Kalefaktor (von lat. calor Hitze und factor Macher - Einheizer) eine Hilfskraft oder ein einfacher Bediensteter, der herumkommandiert werden kann. Dem kalfaktern in der hier beschriebenen transitiven Verwendung scheint somit ein Missverständnis zugrunde zu liegen, es sei denn, man verstehe es in der ursprünglichsten Bedeutung von einheizen, provozieren.

op. 131

After listening to the highly competent evaluation of different interpretations of Beethoven's opus 131 in Diskothek im 2, I decided to buy their recommendation which is not available on iTunes unfortunately. But it sure was well worth waiting for - this is incredible stuff! Check out the finale in the sidebar and tell me why you haven't ordered it already ...

Doomed?

Embarrassing if I'd have to log this kind of radio communication (english, french, via print Cicero)! I am still not sure whether I prefer the sardonic canadian version, the pompously mocking spaniard, or the dry english ...