I hate programming languages which do not give an error when you do $foo = $bar when $bar does not exists, but is called $baz...

You can do lots of cool things in PHP, but most of the time you shouldn't.

Night Shift again

On night shift again. Five more days to go, it's boring...

YES, I do believe!

I, also, was touched by His Noodly Appendage.

Finding my place in the world...

Originally I started my browser to post something melancholic about the lack of visions and the search for Ideas. Then I got distracted by Google Maps... (Thanks Markus...)

So. Here I work when in Hamburg. This is my flat in Hamburg. The blueish white blurry spots in the upper right is where I work in Erlangen.
The place Pedro lives (and a lot of my friends as well).
A place which does not exaclty look like San Francisco. One of the sites Lord Byron declared to be the most romantic place on earth.
Little green dots where I want to spend my holiday on.

And I now stop, else I spend the whole night looking at satellite images...

Ich möchte Weintrinker sein...

Ich möchte Weintrinker sein,
Mit Kumpanen abends vor der Sonne sitzen
Und von Dingen Reden, die wir gleich verstehn,
Harmlos und ganz einfach meinen Tag ausschwitzen
Und nach Mädchen gucken, die vorübergehn.

Ich möchte Weintrinker sein,
Und nicht immer diese hellen Schnäpse saufen,
Nicht von Dingen reden, die nur mich angehn,
Mir nicht für zwei Gläser Bier Verständnis kaufen,
Nicht mit jenen streiten, die am Tresen stehn.

Ich möchte Weintrinker sein,
Bei 'nem herben roten oder leichten weißen
Um 'ne Runde spielen, nach der keiner fragt,
Ein paar Witze über den Verlierer reißen,
Der ganz einfach nur darüber lacht.

Ich möchte Weintrinker sein,
Nicht um ein paar Zehntel Skat mit Hirschbock spielen,
Wo man gierig Geld in seine Taschen wischt,
Nicht dem Nachbarn heimlich in die Karten schielen,
Ihn nicht schlagen, wenn er sich zwei Asse mischt.

Ich möchte Weintrinker sein,
Mit Kumpanen lachend ein paar Lieder singen,
Die sich um Trinken, Mädchen und um Liebe drehn,
Nebenbei ein bisschen reden von den Dingen,
Die am Tag in einer kleinen Stadt geschehn.

Ich möchte Weintrinker sein,
Nicht ab Mitternacht Frau Wirtins Verse grölen,
Kein Soldatenlied und nicht den Tag des Herrn,
Nicht vom Mittelabschnitt irgendwas erzählen
und auch nichts von Hungerpest in Hongkong hörn.

Ich möchte Weintrinker sein,
Auf dem Nachhauseweg wie Kinder darauf achten,
Dass man beim Bürgersteig nicht auf die Ritzen tritt,
Und im Bett dran denken, wie die Mädchen lachten
Und im Schlaf noch lachen über meinen Schritt.
Ich möchte Weintrinker sein.


Franz-Josef Degenhardt

Hiking in the Alps

Been hiking in the Alps this weekend. Today finally my legs are not hurting anymore...

Template problems in IE

Try using a browser instead.

New Template...

Changed the template for the blog, couldn't see the old one anymore. It was a bit too dark anyway. Feel free to comment, especially if you find any bugs or can't read something...

Smashing windows

I just love windows...

I tried to work a bit again on the department's website, checking how it looks in internet explorer. Everything is validated, it looks nice on Linux, it looks nice on a Mac. In windows, it looks crap. Placings are wrong, transparency in the pictures etc does not work and so on and so on. Trying to look at some other website my computer claims that my Network Card has restricted connectivity (badly translated to "Konnektivität") and cannot access the internet. It did show the MSN page though. So, after installing a "Small home and company network", changing the default "Show all my data to everybody" to "Piss off", rebooting, etc, I was able to look at other websites. Just to figure out that the one I was looking for to copy some stuff uses some non-standard-dirty-tricks which make all validation go boink. Internet explorer just ignores any standards and forces you to do shitty pages. Unfortunately it's 95% Market share.

Went home then. Tried to boot windows at my home PC. The TFT complained signal out of range, and went dark. After some meddling around I could boot into the failsafe mode. Where you cannot change the screen settings. Nice. So I looked at the graphics-card-manufacturers website. There it said: if your TFT does not display anything go to System->Settings and click... Makes you wonder if somebody actually read that stuff after they wrote it.

Then I tried to delete the driver. Which worked. For a couple of seconds. Then the "New Hardware found" thing popped up and gone was my monitor. Fucking automatisms... Messed around with the registry, tried reinstalling the video driver while in failsafe mode, nothing. Gave up.

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!

Paper is some amazing material...

If you want to do it yourself, get the layout here. It took about 4 hours of cutting and about half an hour of folding the thing up.

Maybe I am not the right person to complain about it, as I am also quite convinced about my opinions, wrong as they may be. But some of my collegues annoy me by being right, no matter what's the subject and how off they are (or by completely missing my point)...

At least I do not answer the question "Why should it?" with "Because I say it does!". Usually I try to make up an explanation or at least try to confuse people with weird stories...

Doing my tax declaration is as fun as last year. I have some stocks, so I got from my bank lots of paperwork, including also 5 pages of "Fill in this value in this field in the tax-form". I have to copy that stuff into my tax declaration. Why don't they just send it directly (preferrably electronically) to the Tax office? You don't have more privacy the way they do it now, as the tax office can check with the bank (without noticing anybody, without needing a permission from anybody) about all your data the bank has (even shoe size...). The data for taxes already subtractad from my salary are also sent electronically to the tax office by my employer. I still have to fill all that stuff into that stupid form.

I do my tax declaration electronically, using software provided by the tax office. The data are sent electronically to the tax office. Then I have to print the stuff out and mail it to the tax office. Digital signature still years away.

The Tax program also provides helpful tips: for the field labeled Summe der für 2004 festzusetzenden (anteiligen) Gewerbesteuer-Messbeträge i.S.d. §35 EStG der Betriebe lt. Zeilen 3 bis 8 u. 26 (ohne Gewerbesteuer-Messbeträge, die auf nach §5a ermittelte Gewinne oder Gewinne i.S.d. §18 Abs 4 UmwStG entfallen) - Berechnung auf einem Gesonderten Blatt - (Don't ask for a translation, I have not yet found out what that means, and I always thought I can speak german...), OK, so for that field it provides the help: "Fill in if you can apply for stuff from §35 EStG!" Thanks. Helped immensely.

Lower Deck Hawaiian Lounge!

Humanity keeps on being interesting. There is people closing in to their 30-ies being as naïve as a 14 year old, there is people in their early twenties being as old as close to their 40-ies. And sometimes the latter behave like the further and vice versa. But, in general, it's amazing how simple they are...

Most of my wrong understanding of people seems to be overestimating them...

A wonderful Photo-Essay about farmers in Kazakhstan on whose lands the debris of Russian rockets is falling down...

In other news: my blog is getting close to 5000 visits. Thanks to all :-) Send me a screenshot of the counter if you are number 5000 and win a free guest post (or a beer, whatever you prefer).

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
Keep you doped wit religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill

A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me


Working Class Hero --- John Lennon

Nasty little buggers...