Die Nutella oder Das Nutella?
Take it outside, boys.

M and I went to a small Greek café here in Lüneburg the other day. Behind us were 2 guys speaking a language I didn’t understand but I think it was Greek. One had a Lord of the Rings T-shirt and long hair styled up like Elrond. He was a fan alright. He was just waiting for the one true ring to be found so he can go on an adventure. Anyway, I find it interesting how many English words have found their way into other languages, especially nomenclature in the IT world. For a while I wasn’t paying attention but my interest was peaked when I heard “…Mac OS…” than a long conversation with “…file sharing….linux….unix….samba….windows….Bill Gates….” This was quickly followed up with a Chortle! heh heh snort!” I didn’t understand, but I knew what they were talking about.

….Those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Geek to me.

We found this on Friday. It must have happened on Thursday night. I’ve already made my feelings about graffiti known.

It is an interesting tag. Can anyone decipher it? SAFT 52? S4FTP 52?

I ran for 80 minutes non-stop this morning. I was beat. I’m supposed to be training for a 10k run but I will be out of town when it happens. There will be others.

(get ready for some nerd talk)

After running I went to work because I had to do some wiring on a new network I built for some new office spaces we acquired. Eventually, both buildings will be joined with a conduit underneath the street, but before that happens we need a temporary solution. This means I set up a wireless bridge between the two buildings. I spent all day Friday drilling holes and pulling CAT6 cable. Today I hooked up network sockets using a punch down tool and I affixed antennas to the side of the building. That’s a lot of work for a temporary solution. In the process, I stabbed my finger pretty good and gushed blood onto the pretty pretty floor. Whoops. I also fell out of an attic space, down the ladder and onto the floor. It is a miracle I didn’t kill myself.

Anyway, I wanted to build the network the right way with rack containing a patch panel, the 16port switch and the wireless access point all nicely set up with patch cables and the whole 9 yards, but I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of patch panel to get. Instead I’ll just stick some RJ45’s directly on the cable for now and worry about it later. Technically, it will work just fine, but if a professional network engineer saw it, he would give me a stern talking to.

The reason I’m trying to get it done quickly is because I’ll be going to Florida next week for 2 weeks. It has to be up and running before I go. Preliminary tests show the wireless connection is working and I can see the network and get to the Internet. I’m just not sure how strong the signal is. Is it just barely reaching enough to work or is it full strength?

Hmmm. When we do connect the buildings, should it be a twisted-pair cable or fiber-optic? Fiber-optic will require bringing in people who know what they are doing. I think they are called professionals.

1. A new blogger in the sidebar.

2. A funny comic

3. I’ll miss Molly Ivins. Her last column.

4. An interesting little flash thingy. Click “Paint!” and draw your own figure.

5. Angry panda.

Hmmm, some interesting questions are raised here. When living in a country/society that still carries many physical, if not psychological, scars 60+ years after the last war ended, one often tries to put things in perspective.

Imagine that on 9/11, six hours after the assault on the twin towers and the Pentagon, terrorists had carried out a second wave of attacks on the United States, taking an additional 3,000 lives. Imagine that six hours after that, there had been yet another wave. Now imagine that the attacks had continued, every six hours, for another four years, until nearly 20 million Americans were dead. This is roughly what the Soviet Union suffered during World War II, and contemplating these numbers may help put in perspective what the United States has so far experienced during the war against terrorism.

The rest of the article here.

From our very own Landeszeitung Luneburg:

A GERMAN newspaper has apologised for accidentally placing a utility company advertisement for “the gas of tomorrow” inside a full-page story on the Nazi killing of Sinti (Gypsy) people in Auschwitz concentration camp.

This is actually almost a year old, but it was brought to my attention yesterday. The article is here.

Du alter Hase!

Fat German Rabbits to Feed Poor.

An east German pensioner who breeds rabbits the size of dogs has been asked by North Korea to help set up a big bunny farm to alleviate food shortages in the communist country. Now journalists and rabbit gourmets from around the world are thumping at his door.

Kill da Wabbit!

Kill da Wabbit!

About a block from our house, a bridge called the Reichenbachbrücke is being rebuilt. The construction will last about a year and it has already led to a significant increase in traffic driving past our house as a result of drivers taking detours due to the bridge being closed. As a result of the new bridge, a few trees have to be cut down. A few local environmentalists are not cool with that. In fact, they are outraged, OUTRAGED! I tell you. So outraged that they have climbed up into the trees and won’t come down. They have brought tarps and sleeping bags with them along with lots of food and warm clothing. They have hung up a large sign between two of the trees with a clever slogan: “Kopf benutzen, Bäume schützen, Bäume benutzen.” A few people from all over Germany have joined them. Those that don’t fit in the tree have pitched a tent below and they are acting as a sort of support team for the tree dwellers.

Way to stick it to The Man, man.

That’ll show ’em.