Richard, I see your 34 matches and counter with 46 players named “Jeppe” in Europe and 9 in the American World of Warcraft. ;-)

(Of course “Jeppe” is a fairly common name in Scandinavia, especially in Denmark.)

Saw this at work – the cleaning staff seems to have a weird sense of humor – either that, or a large dose of patriotism.

In the 1970s and 1980s, people lived under the constant threat of nuclear war destroying Earth, in the 2000s we live under the constant threat of climate change. Doomsday scenarios have been changed accordingly and seem to be quite en Vogue:

At least that doomsday vault is just in time.

I was at the airport’s regional train station the day before yesterday, waiting for the subway home. When it entered the station, I heard a short discussion behind me. A somewhat older man, slightly Indian-looking, asked a woman for directions. She pointed to the ticket vending machine, and turned to enter the subway.

The man looked still lost.

“Where do you want to go,” I asked him.

He showed me a piece of paper he was holding. “To this hotel,” he said.

I looked at the paper and it listed an address in Frankfurt.

“I don’t know this hotel-” I began. Then I noted something.

“Wait a second,” I said. “This hotel is in Frankfurt on Oder. That’s in East Germany. You are in Frankfurt on Main. It’s the wrong Frankfurt.”

“But I have to get to this hotel, is it far?”

“Well, it’s in East Germany, near the Polish border. Very far I’d say – at least seven or eight hours with the train.”

“But I must go to this hotel, because I already paid for six nights.”

I didn’t really want to argue with him. After all, what do I know about other people’s plans? By now my subway had left, too.

“Well, this station is just for the regional trains, the subways. There is a long distance train station too; just follow those signs.” I pointed them out to him. “But follow me.”

I led him up the stairs, and brought him to the ticket office of the German train company.

“You can inquire about the train schedules here, and also buy tickets,” I told him. “They’ll be able to show you where to go and so on.”

“Very good, thank you,” the man said.

“No problem, Sir, you’re welcome.”

I went back down the stairs, just in time to find out that the next subway would have ten minutes delay.

Two Frankfurts

Just remember, people: When and if you go to Germany, and you want to go to Frankfurt, make sure you get the right one.

• Frankfurt/Main (Main is the name of the river, not the English word “main”) is in western/central Germany
• Frankfurt/Oder (Oder is a river, too) is in eastern Germany, on the Polish border.

With apologies to Dickens for abusive use of his book title. :-)

Google-Anzeige:

Aha. Elite Partner. “Singles mit Niveau”. Die Beispiele sind, von oben nach unten: Golfer. Ärztin. Tanzlehrer.

Ja, sehr elitär.

Gut, Ärztin kann ich als Beispiel ja noch nachvollziehen. Und Golf ist selbstverständlich der Sport der Oberschicht. Aber Tanzlehrer? Was ist denn jetzt daran toll? Schon klar – der gutaussehende Draufgängertyp, das Image von der heissen Salsanacht. Mega-Leet.

Für mich definiert sich ein “Single mit Niveau” sicherlich nicht dadurch, dass sich diese Person für etwas besseres hält und sich auf einer solchen Website anbietet. Aber es geht wohl um Abhebung vom Pöbel um jeden Preis. Deutschland entdeckt das Klassendenken.

Es gibt Produkte und Dienstleistungen… die braucht man einfach nicht.

This is an article from last year, but I didn’t see it then: The BBC asked whether Halloween was too scary after some dim-witted British preacher suggested that the horror theme of Halloween was “too scary for children and adults”:

The Rt Rev David Gillett, the Bishop of Bolton, says the “more horrific” of masks prove too scary for many children. With the Mothers’ Union – a Christian parenting group – Bishop Gillett is backing a campaign called Halloween Choice to promote the lighter side of the festival.

“The emphasis has become so evil and scary, I’ve spoken to children and adults who find it too scary,” he says.

To be fair, the BBC provides opinions to counter the reverend as well. And if anybody objects the commercialization of Halloween – also criticized in the article – then why don’t they take on Valentine’s Day or Christmas first?

Maybe the good Mr. Gillett should get out of the home more and actually live a little. The scary atmosphere is exactly what’s fun about Halloween. I love Halloween: Especially on years when it is foggy. Nothing better to watch some scary old movies with a bowl of orange and brown M&Ms at hand.

What do you think? Is Halloween fun? Too scary? Too commercial? What’s your favorite Halloween activity, or do you never even take notice of it?

My iPod is 2.5 years old, and today I dropped it for the first time. Height: 1.5m. Ground: Solid stone. Since I plan to buy a new one I wasn’t really too worried about it. When I picked it up I saw that it had suffered no dents, not even any obvious scratches beyond what scratches it already had. The plastic part of the case had separated a little from the aluminum part, but a little pressure made it snap back in place. Picking a random song from my playlist of 3612 mp3’s on the thing showed that it still worked. I was quite impressed.

I was even more impressed that my iPod seems to have a mind of its own. The random song it picked was “Live to Win”, by Mötorhead.

I don’t know about you, but I do get a kick out of such coincidences.

Could my iPod have picked a better song? Which one? Which song would the iPod (not) have played if it had been killed?

The BBC reports:

A headteacher caused some distress by reading to about 400 children from the last page of the final Harry Potter book at a primary school in Somerset.

One pupil at St John’s School in Midsomer Norton is reported to have covered his ears after headteacher Carolyn Banfield began the reading.

Another generation of losers in the making.

Today is the day the “last” Harry Potter book gets published. Crazed fans are besieging bookshops, which will start the sales frenzy at midnight. A lot of these crazed fans are adults. Now here’s something the government could do to help all of us: Gather up these people, and send them back to elementary school. Make them take part in forced literacy programs. I may believe that an educated person will read Harry Potter to find out what the hype is all about. I do not see how any educated and intelligent person would actually do so. And there is no way in hell either of the two would queue up for days or hours to get their hands on a stupid children’s book.

I just hope J. K. Rowlings had the guts to kill Harry Potter off, so that we will be spared this insanity in the future.

Update, much later: No such luck.