Sep 22, 2006
Seit dreißig Jahren begleitet mich "Laudato Si" durch Jugendgottesdienste und Agape-Feiern. Und ja, es ist nett, aber auch seeeeehr abgedroschen. Als ich letztens einen Ausschnitt aus Mickie Krauses Ballermann-Version des Lieds hörte ("Sei gepriesen für zwei- und dreimal Niesen", "Sei gepriesen für Poldi und für Schweini"), war ich hin- und hergerissen zwischen "Oh nee, jetzt verwursten sie schon Kirchenlieder!" und "Interessant, dass sowas offenbar einen Markt hat."
Ich war umso mehr erstaunt, als ich auf ein Interview mit Mickie Krause stieß, in dem er sich als ehemaliger Jugendleiter outete und Ansichten wiedergab, die sich mit meinen in weiten Zügen decken.
Wir brauchen Menschen, die Kirche machen, Kirche bewegen und verändern! Deshalb habe ich früher jahrelang Jugendarbeit gemacht und kann behaupten, Kirche bewegt zu haben. Wer Kirche verändern will, muss Mitanpacken und nicht darauf warten, dass andere dieses erledigen. Ich möchte aber zum Schluss auch noch erwähnen, dass es viele tolle Leute in der Kirche gibt. Unser Pastor zum Beispiel ist der absolute Hammer. Er gehört zu den Priestern, die es verstehen, ihre Gemeinde zu begeistern und zu bewegen. Mit ihm werde ich übrigens bei der Taufe meiner dritten Tochter Laudato Si singen, allerdings dann die Originalstrophen.
Ich hätte nie gedacht, dass ich sowas mal sage: Respekt, Herr Krause! :-)
Sep 19, 2006
Weird Al Yankovic did it again: White and Nerdy
Hey, what's so bad about admiring M.C. Escher as a great artist, reading Stephen Hawking and being really good at Pascal? You're all just jealous, that's what you are!
Sep 16, 2006
I couldn't resist any longer. All those hip people around me with their desktop widgets, their drop shadows and reflections -- and I didn't belong to them. But now I do. Yesterday, I received my new and shiny Mac Mini.
I immediately rearranged my desk so I got a complete workstation consisting of the Mini, TFT display, Logitech S530 keyboard and mouse, CME UF7 MIDI master keyboard and Logitech USB headset for doing programming, music composition and podcasting all from my chair.
Mac OS X is a really easy to handle operating system and it's fun to use. OS X and the iLife 06 package already contain most of the applications I need, and since I moved many common tasks on to the web, I didn't have to install much software so far.
Until now, I added Adium for IM, Seashore for picture manipulation, jEdit for editing text files, and of course Firefox and Skype.
I guess the next few days will be days of adventurous exploration.
Sep 14, 2006
At CTIA Fall 2006, Nokia released version 2.0 of their web browser for S60 phones
I've already been amazed how well the browser works, and now Nokia has improved it even more:
- The browser now integrates WAP functions, so there are no more two separate applications.
- Browser pages can be saved for offline viewing.
- Clicking on empty space displays a context menu (for example with a list of recently visited pages).
- Auto-detection of RSS and ATOM feeds has been added.
- Feed contents are displayed with the site's favicon and images included in the entry.
- Intervals can be specified for automatic feed updates.
Two of the few things that are bugging me in the current version are that the browser lacks form autocompletion and storing of access credentials. Version 2.0 removes those flaws, too.
Seems like Nokia is becoming a provider of great mobile phone software, additional to their already successful cell phone hardware business.
Sep 14, 2006
As I found in this forum entry&id=2314977&articleid=2314977#2314977 on OpenBC, the two german companies Enterprise Consulting GmbH and OTRS GmbH started working on a joint venture in February that aims at extending the free ticket system OTRS to an extensive ITIL tool.
For 2006, they plan on doing first steps towards ITIL certification. Among other features, OTRS is getting role-based access control, transactions and interfaces to 3rd party applications.
Early next year, OTRS GmbH is going to implement the ITIL processes "change management" and "configuration management" based on a central integrated data model, the "configuration management database" (CMDB). Implementation of release management and service delivery processes are following goals.
It's always good to see free software targetting the professional IT management tools market. OTRS had a successful start as a trouble ticket system and has every chance to be a good contender in IT process and service level management.
Sep 12, 2006
Most of my friends and colleagues like flying to holiday places, some even are frequent business flyers. Folks, you better watch your tongue and behaviour in the future.
According to the British Telegraph", soon "Passengers' chat will be recorded to foil hijackers Currently, researchers are developing computer systems that can monitor the whole plane, of course including the lavatory, with cameras and microphones.
And if you tend to get nervous before lift-off or even have a bit of fear of flying, well, you better don't show it.
"It would pick passengers who are behaving oddly or in an unruly manner," she said. "They may appear nervous, or could be getting up while the plane is taxiing. If someone looks as if they are praying, the microphones would be able to tell if they were by picking up key words."
Just imagine what will happen when you sit on the toilet, constipated, muttering to yourself "Oh my god, I think I'm gonna explode..."
Sep 12, 2006
Almost every morning, I have to endure my colleagues' talks about their latest adventures in World of Warcraft. "Yesterday, we spent hours on that quest in Shnirzelwood until we, finally, almost had Blargelfarg tanked, and then that stupid hunter just ran away!" Oh please. Spare me.
Reading about how Joi Ito, a successful venture capitalist and well-known figure in the IT business, draws parallels between managing his WoW guild and organizing a company, could make me reconsider trying out WoW myself, though.
Strategy+Business" explains in "The Ambassador from the Next Economy how Ito perceives managing his WoW guild of about 250 people as a good example of leadership in modern business:
Long frustrated by the fairly conventional hierarchies in even the most innovative technology companies, Mr. Ito says he sees in his Warcraft guild a new way to organize, manage, and motivate people. With his guild doubling in size every month, he does a lot of learning on the fly. "Every week or so, I have to add a new rank, build a whole bunch of new rules, and throw in kind of ad hoc structures," Mr. Ito says. "Im playing with all the different kinds of management ideas Ive had for companies with a bunch of people who are actually very dedicated. They will set their alarm clocks for 3 a.m. to run a raid of 40 people. They are committed to each other like people in a normal company wouldnt be committed to each other. So as a test bed for these ideas, this is actually pretty amazing."
He considers himself more a "custodian" than a "leader", putting the different abilities, backgrounds and experiences of his diverse guild members to their best use. And he doesn't really care much for hierarchies:
In the World of Warcraft, much of what you learn is how to improvise or accumulate the resources you need. [...] Once he knows what he really has to do, then he becomes incredibly creative in finding resources anywhere in the organization. He never even thinks about the fact that hes just jumped over three silos. Hes found out how to find who knows what, and how to engage that person to help him.
Next year, Ito is going to launch a new company of his own, its staff recruited from the ranks of his Warcraft guild.
Well, that gets me thinking. WoW is about getting the job done, in time and under pressure, in a team. Maybe I should ask my next job applicants about their leadership experience in World of Warcraft.
Sep 12, 2006
After my unnerving WiFi problems, Kai was so kind to get me a Netgear WG311T PCI card.
I just installed it, configured WPA and it works like a charm with Ubuntu 6.06.1!
Sep 11, 2006
I'm a strong proponent of online privacy. I want to feel secure living my online life, and I want the means to do so to be kept legal. (That's why Kai Raven always freaks the hell out of me.)
The recent case of a guy faking a craigslist ad, posing as a woman looking for a dominant guy and publishing more than 100 responses including names, photos, phone numbers and email addresses, raises another question: what about your right of privacy if you aren't clever or savvy enough to protect it sufficiently?Sure, it's quite stupid to respond to such a classified ad by giving up your name, phone number, work email address or even marital status along with compromising pictures. And it may be immoral to some people to cheat on ones wife or pursue BDSM practices. But that, let's be clear here, doesn't at all give Jason Fortuny, the guy who made up the ad, the right to publish their private information, put them on a virtual pillory and destroy their lives. What time do we have -- the dark ages? I sincerely hope he gets his ass sued off.
I'm with Ryan Singel in concluding that this prank was an act of pure arrogance and feeling of superiority. But what's even more reprehensible to me is the number of people approving his action because "those people deserved it", because they're "immoral scum" and "were dumb enough to put their information out there". That's making me sick.
The purpose of laws and basic rights is to secure the lives of all people, also and especially of those who don't know how to protect themselves sufficiently -- regardless of person, religion, sexual orientation, IQ or race. That's why phishing and the infamous "Nigerian scams" aren't legal. That's why misusing personal information isn't legal either, and publishing such information without the owner's consent is misuse.
We're used to the fact that in some smaller villages, you'll be quickly rejected, defamed or even mobbed into moving away if you don't fit in, or worse, get known for doing things that contradict the common norm.
The "global village" doesn't seem much different now, does it?
Sep 8, 2006
On yesterday's episode of the Daily Sourcecode&episode_id=25113, Adam Curry played a song that I liked immediately: "Underwear goes inside the pants" by LazyBoy. Like "Facts of Life", it's again speech -- I'd say a rant, to be exact -- combined with some backing beats and melody, and it's really resonating with me.
Download the song from the LazyBoy MySpace page&friendID=74874292 and tell me if you like it!
Sep 7, 2006
The death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin caused a great wave of grief and regret around the globe. The blogosphere was buzzing with articles and condolences only hours after the message of his fatal accident. But why is that? What made Steve more loved or admirable than other TV celebrities?
I'd say it's about respect, passion, credibility and fun.
For one, it was the enormous respect for his animals that Steve displayed. He put them in the lead role, not himself. He didn't get weary of pointing out the beauty and diligence mother nature put into her creatures. It wasn't about him, it was all about the animals. He put his health at risk (and it was quite a close call more than once) to give people the opportunity to learn about all those different species, to show his viewers the importance of preserving wildlife for usselves, the "crown of creation". That way, he in turn gained the respect of his audience.
Another thing is credibility. Steve not only put his money where his mouth was, he put himself there. He chose to get out into the wilderness, to go where his beloved creatures lived, instead of transporting them into a safe TV studio where they don't belong. That meant that he was likely to get hurt, but he accepted that. And he always emphasized that such injuries were his fault, not the animals'.
If you ask people why they watch "Crocodile Hunter" time after time, they will probably tell you "It's interesting, and he's funny". But I won't say that he was making fun of animals, I'd say he just had plain fun being with them. Just like I have fun teasing and joking around with friends and colleagues without the intention of making them ridiculous, Steve did with his "colleagues".
Finally, everyone of us could be jealous of how much fun Steve had with his job in general. He didn't hold back in showing how much he enjoyed his work.
I guess that's how he became that australian original that gained a great fan base all around the world by making people appreciate the wonders of nature and respect their fellow creatures. An original that will be missed.
What I learned from Steve Irwin is that while it helps to survive if you just blend in, if you really want to move something, you have to stand out by showing knowledge, respect for others and credibility. And that you can have fun doing so, too.
Sep 7, 2006
Replacing freedom with fear is not always a sure recipe for political success. At least not in America -- I guess in Germany it will still take citizens some more time to realize how they're dealt with.
The United States president though has to deal with a growing amount of open criticism. Criticism like that of Keith Olbermann%e2%80%9chave-you-no-sense-of-decency-sir%e2%80%9d/ from MSNBC's Countdown show:
More over, Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seek -- a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety.
And regarding Bush's comparison between Al Quaeda and Nazi Germany, Olbermann just poses one question: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"
Sep 7, 2006
It's been foreseeable and now it's official: SGI abandons IRIX as well as their MIPS-based workstation and server business at the end of this year.
First presented in 1988, IRIX-based systems like the Indigo, the Onyx, the Origin 2000 series or later day workstations like the O2 and the Octane made Silicon Graphics Inc. famous. If you talked about high-end computer graphics, especially in the movie special effects business, you talked about Silicon Graphics.
When I worked at the Karlsruhe Research Centre for my industrial placement and later for my diploma thesis, I did software development on SGI workstations and always dreamed about owning one myself. I eventually bought an Octane2 off eBay, but since I won't have the space (and time) to use it in our new flat in Freiburg, I reluctantly sold it a few days ago.
In the recent years, SGI had a lot of management and financial trouble. They entered the Linux market by building their Itanium-based Altix server series, unfortunately with only mild success, and stopped the development of new systems based on MIPS RISC CPUs.
Although SGI will continue support for the next years, this era is now finally coming to an end.
Sep 6, 2006
One of the advantages of using more and more web applications to communicate, organize and get information is that you only need a web browser to do your daily tasks. The browser is the new desktop, what have been desktop icons became bookmarks. Things get easier. But there's a flip side.
What also changes with that movement to working and living online is the dependency on others.
At this time of writing, I can't get to my task list because (once again...) all Zenlist displays is "500 - Internal Server Error". That may buy me some time to write this blog entry, but when I'll have finally finished all the to-dos I can remember, I'll be stuck.
We're well used to depend on computers and the internet, but we tend to oversee the fact that these dependencies are growing. Think about what happened last time when your broadband connection broke down -- or worse, your computer. If you're already using VOIP services, next time something breaks you'll be cut off not only from email, but also from phone communication. Enjoy the silence.
Depending on hardware and infrastructure is one thing. We try to compensate by choosing high-quality products, known brands and service providers with a good reputation. There's choice, and that's good. But let's not forget that choice comes at a price. If you want to make an informed choice, you have to look at the alternatives, weigh advantages against weaknesses, look for experience reports and reviews to finally base your decision upon.
When we add the dependency on Web 2.0 application providers to the mix, we have to spend a lot more time on that decision process. Look at the overwhelming diversity of application providers: does anyone keep track of how many calendars and social bookmarking services are out there? I don't.
And when you've finally found the application that does exactly what you need it to, don't forget that (like in every relationship) reliability is an important aspect. Even if it's not a marriage for lifetime, every divorce will cost you dearly.
Sep 6, 2006
perl -e'%c=map{[a..z]
->[log($)/log(2)8-48],
$}map 2($/8),68..
8*8;print((((chr)x($/16)).
("x00"x(256-$)/16))
x256)for map{$c{$},0}
"jklkjjj0kkk0j0g0g00jklkjjjjkkjkl"
=~/./g'|aplay
(from the Perl Monastery)
Sep 5, 2006
Inzwischen liegt der unterschriebene Mietvertrag auf dem Schreibtisch -- ab Oktober werde ich mit Carolin in Freiburg wohnen!
Neben den ganzen Umzugsmodalitäten gilt es jetzt vor allem, folgende wichtige Dinge zu klären:
Wo in Freiburg gibt es einen empfehlenswerten Irish Pub?
Wo in Freiburg bekommt man Frühstück/Mittagessen/Kaffee inklusive WLAN?
Irgendwelche Tipps?
Sep 4, 2006
It seems like some members of the IT press aren't convinced that COMBOTS will be successful even after aquiring the rights for using characters from New Line Cinema ("Lord of the Rings"), Paws ("Garfield") and United Media ("Peanuts").
At least some editors of the german ComputerWoche don't have quite the best wishes for the new project of the inventors of WEB.DE...
Sep 3, 2006
While not at all the first to present a Skype phone, Philips could very well claim having the best-looking autonomous handset with their VOIP841 (I disagree with the CrunchGear article that says the USRobotics USR9631 was operable without a PC, because it appears to me as using the USB port to connect to Skype.)
With Panasonic&catalogId=13251&itemId=98296&modelNo=Content08312006061130726&surfModel=Content08312006061130726, yet another manufacturer enters the ring. But it seems they haven't got very far into the market, since they don't even have a name for their Skype phone yet.
Sep 3, 2006
On YAPC::Europe (taking place this weekend in Birmingham), Dave Cross held an interesting talk about Advanced Databases for Beginners, presenting best practices in database design. Every developer should know them before starting with laying out his first database.
(via Marcus Ramberg)
Sep 1, 2006
Years ago, when I bought my Palm Pilot 5000 or the Palm Vx later, it went without saying that there also was a cradle in the package that connected to the PC to synchronize data and load the batteries. Today, you can count yourself happy if you don't have to buy the USB cable additionally. Nokia actually puts only a USB connection cable into the E61 package -- Nokia will charge you extra for a cable that in turn charges your phone.
If you want some cradle goodness that gives your phone a nice home while it's not that mobile, then the review of the ORA USB Cradle for Nokia E61 on e-series.org may interest you.
Aug 31, 2006
Sometimes, preparing the ground for a new to-be-developed Perl module requires more effort than doing the actual programming: creating a directory structure, building an initial Makefile, writing a MANIFEST file, etc. takes some time, especially if you have to look up which informations are necessary.
Module::Starter to the rescue. This Perl module knows exactly what a new module distribution should look like and creates a proper environment. You don't have to use the module itself, since there's an utility included named module-starter~petdance/Module-Starter-1.42/bin/module-starter that gets all necessary information from the command line and does all the work.
It's always important that basic work takes as less effort as possible, for otherwise developers often get reluctant to do it at all. Module::Starter ensures that creating new Perl modules is as efficient as it can be.
Aug 30, 2006
Many men, yours truly included, have difficulties with asking for directions.
And it's not just because we like to drive a few rounds in the neighborhood. We have our reasons, you know!
Aug 30, 2006
One reason for the success of Web 2.0 services is that they provide APIs that enable developers to use them from other applications. You just need an interface module, library or package[1] and yet you can easily call the service's functions from your own program.
Net::FeedBurner~sock/Net-FeedBurner-0.10/lib/Net/FeedBurner.pm, for example, makes it possible to access and modify the RSS feeds you registered with Feedburner
use Net::FeedBurner;
my $fb = Net::FeedBurner->new('user' => $user, 'password' => $password);
my $feeds = $fb->find_feeds();
my $feed_id = (keys %{$feeds})[0];
my $feedinfo = $fb->get_feed($feed_id);
fn1. In most cases, you also need a registered user account.
Aug 30, 2006
Kai Raven draws the following conclusion from an interview with Dieter Wiefelspütz, speaker on domestic policies of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), about public surveillance against terrorist actions:
Terms like "proportion", "purpose", "efficiency" and "control" were heard not a single time, them being only barricades that keep the state -- that in the eyes of that kind of politicians can only act as a prevention and surveillance state -- from fulfilling his duties.
It makes me sick that politicians are actually prepared to propose actions that could be taken right out of "1984", but it downright worries me when those people don't even come from right-wing parties, but from the "social democratic" one.
Aug 29, 2006
Terrorists don't have do do the laborious bomb part shopping any more to wreak havoc in a city. All they have to do is place a suitcase somewhere visible.
In today's case of Mannheim, it wasn't even a terrorist but only a harmless shopper that left his trolley unattended,1518,433951,00.html at a tram station. Police and bomb squad were called, the place had been wide-rangingly cordoned off and tram traffic stopped for two hours.
