Too tired to read. Surfing around Magnum Photos, where some of the worlds best photographers show their work (Henri Cartier Bresson is still my favourite)

Went to an art exhibition today. Pictures from Lionel Feininger (good), Paul Klee (liked two of them) and some dutch masters from 17th century Haarlem (near Amsterdam, not the part of Nieuve Amsterdam); and the pictures which are permanently at the Kunsthalle in HH (modern works as well as old masters). The most interesting thing about these exhibitions are not the paintings, although some are really great. What I like more is watching the different types of people who go there. These people are the same at every art exhibition.

The rich couple: they go there to show their presence at something cultural, mutter things like "This remembers me of the early works of (insert well known painter) in his phase when he was in (insert well known french place), don't you think..." Generally well dressed, always being really serious, no smile, talking softly, walking around like the place belongs to them and being annoyed by the peasants standing in their way.

The rich intellectual: sometimes smiling, comments more based on knowledge than the comments of the rich couple. But not that different

The leftish teacher couple (including numerous children): usually dressed in ecologically correct clothing from remote regions of the Himalaya or dressed in bib overalls. Accompanied by lots of children who are running around noisily, behaving like this is the greatest playground or the most boring place on earth. The parents generally just running around, looking at the pictures, reading heavily in the guide or listening to the audio-guide at least twice. Absorbing all facts and useless information about the pictures to torture pupils in school with them.

The well educated upper middle class couple (with two too nicely dressed, too well educated children): having some knowledge from books about the painter and having read all about the exhibition in newspapers, they walk around and believe in the little texts close to the pictures. Their children are really silent, no running, no making fun, just standing nicely dressed and in awe in front of the pictures. These children grow up to be really boring bankers or might catch a turn during puberty to get really interesting freaks... These families look just like being out of a text book from the sixties about happy families.

The economy student: he is usually there to impress his girlfriend. Walking around and behaving very well educated, pretending knowledge about art he hasn't, and in general behaving like an economy student (actually he might be a law student...)

Ah, and sometimes there are normal people, walking around, looking at the pictures, trying to understand those little texts which talk the impressive reasoning the artist has done for his work, sometimes liking pictures, sometimes not, sometimes in front of modern works wondering if it is art or a fire-extinguisher...

Of course there are more types of people, these are just the most prominent....

... Man [sollte] nie eine Gelegenheit vorübergehen lassen [...], etwas von anderen zu zitieren, was immer interessanter ist als das, was man selbst findet.

      Marcel Proust

In wirklichkeit ist jeder Leser, wenn er liest, ein Leser nur seiner selbst. Das Werk des Schriftstellers ist dabei lediglich eine Art von optischem Instrument, das der Autor dem Leser reicht, damit dieser erkennen möge, was er in sich selbst sonst vielleicht nicht hätte erschauen können. Daß der Leser das, was das Buch aussagt, in sich selber erkennt, ist der Beweis für die Wahrheit ebendieses Buches

         Marcel Proust

Erstaunlicherweise widerspricht die Definition der Seilbahn im Österreichischen Seilbahngesetz (s.u.) nicht der Defintion der Eisenbahn des deutschen Reichsgerichtes von 1876:

Eine Eisenbahn ist ein Unternehmen, gerichtet auf wiederholte Fortbewegung von Personen oder Sachen über nicht ganz unbedeutende Raumstrecken auf metallener Grundlage, welche durch ihre Konsistenz, Konstruktion und Glätte den Transport großer Gewichtsmassen beziehungsweise die Erzielung einer verhältnismäßig bedeutenden Schnelligkeit der Transportbewegung zu ermöglichen bestimmt ist, und durch diese Eigenart in Verbindung mit den außerdem zur Erzeugung der Transportbewegung benutzten Naturkräften - dampf, Elektrizität, tierischer oder menschlicher Muskeltätigkeit, bei geneigter Ebene der Bahn auch schon durch die eigene Schwere der Transportgefäße und deren Ladung usf. - bei dem Betriebe des Unternehmens auf derselben eine verhältnismäßige gewaltige, je nach den Umständen nur bezweckterweise nützliche oder auch Menschenleben vernichtende und menschliche Gesundheit verletzende Wirkung zu erzeugen fähig ist. (Reichsgericht 1876)

Seilbahnen sind Eisenbahnen, deren Fahrbetriebsmittel durch Seile spurgebunden bewegt werden. (Österr. Seilbahngesetz)

Somebody complained about lacking sources for the rant about funiculars (yes, in german it IS Seilbahnen): so, here they come (most of them in german). I originally saw it on TV (NDR extra3, a satirical magazine...)

mvregio.net,
Die Tageszeitung
Das österreichische Seilbahngesetz (not really related, but funny anyway...)

I did not manage to find anything on the pages of european union... These pages are in law-speak, which I do not understand...

And by the way: the highest mountain in MeckPom is 178 meters, not 160 meters as I stated. Sorry if I hurt the feelings of anybody from there...

Funiculi, Funicula

Oh, wonderful world of european burocracy! The europian parliament, in its never ending wisdom, decided, that every country, every region there is on the european continent (and not to forget the british isles) should have and really needs a law about funiculars. So they went to write an european guideline and saw that this was good.

Now there are some parts on the european continent, like Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where stupid indigens never thought they ever would need a funicular. These small minded natives do really think, it is a stupid idea to build a funicular to the huge mountains they have there. The highest risings in MeckPom reach some impressive 160 meters (that's 480 feet for you imperials out there) above sea level. These stupid indigens had to be forced by the european union (by some penalty as high as 800.000 Euro per day!) to see the inlaying goodness of having a funiculaw.

Where would we be without the deep thinking and wise decisions of the european parliament...

Snow Catastrope in Hamburg. It startet snowing last night quite heavily, so this morning it was really beautyful. There are only a few things more beautyful than dawn in snowy landscape... (and one of this few things finally has sent me a mail ;-)

When I woke up again at 19:00 it had snowed a lot more, alone 7cm in one houre some time in the afternoon (at least TV said so). There are now some 15cm of snow, TV special news cast about this (highest amount of snow since 16 years!). Driving is kind of difficult now, as the streets are not cleaned nor salted, everything is white and slippery... At least people stay at home and are not clogging up the streets ;-)

Hope the snow lasts for some days; but weather forecast for the weekend predicts rain, will be really ugly then :-(

The Camel's hump is an ugly hump
Which well you may see at the zoo;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little to do.

Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,
If we haven't enough to doo-oo-oo
    We get the hump -
    Camelious hump -
The hump that is black and blue!

We climb out of bed with a frouzly head
And a snarly-yarly voice.
We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl
At our bath and our boots and our toys;

And there ought to be a corner for me
(And I know there is one for you)
    When we get the hump -
    Camelious hump -
The hump that is black and blue!

The Cure for this ill is not to sit still
Or frowst with a book by the fire;
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
And dig till you gently perspire;

And then you will find that the sun and the wind
And the Djinn of the Garden too,
    Have lifted the hump -
    The horrible hump -
The hump that is black and blue!

I get it as well as you-oo-oo -
If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo!
    We all get the hump -
    Camelious hump -
Kiddies and grown-ups too!


          Rudyard Kipling - Just so stories for Little Children

HALFTIME. Today is the 7th in 14 night-shifts. And it looks like we are taking our 1000th run. Party on Wayne. In other news today: our coordinators office got a DOOR! Thinking that we are at one of the worlds largest particle accelerators, having a door is a great improvement for the science of physics and for humanity in general. (No, I do not mean "now we don't have to see him all the time"...)

Had breakfast with a friend of mine (she called it dinner). Steak just after waking up is no good idea.

One day I will write a book. At the restaurant's bar was a guy worthy of fifty books. Small glasses in strange ways on his nose, smiling all the time, sometimes loughing out loud about a hidden joke in the world nobody else sees. Communicating with the waitresses in whale-language (at least it sounded like a whale), sometimes dissapearing in the plastic bags he brought with him, back seconds later after placing things in a slightly different order in his bags. But strangely enough, it was not Harry Rowolth practizing for his Lindenstraße part (Or he was disguised really good...)

A girl came by and offered free cinema tickets for a new film, you just had to fill out some survey if you liked the film... Sadly it is at a time too late for me, else I would have gone. There is such a thing like free lunch, but it is at times when you are not around. (Is this one of universes hidden jokes the guy at the bar was laughing about?)

Kein Schwein ruft mich an...

190 e-mails the last two days, 180 of them spam, 2 or 3 real mail. With the amount of hot air produced by that you could go to mars in a balloon ;-) (and the mail I am waiting for is still not on it's way...)

Getting used to working night shift. Today I nearly overslept ;-)

Listening to the relaxing sounds of Radio Universidade de Coimbra. Why relaxing: it is alwas relaxing to know that there are really crazy guys out there ...

Finished reading Illuminatus by Shea and Wilson (read it the second or third time...). Thinking about it, it is amazing, how many people fear to say NO to whatever (and who fear to say YES as well). Everybody is clamped by his image (or whatever he thinks is his image) and what other people might think...

Just being one self and saying what you want (or more: doing what you want) costs people a lot of effort. People are remote controlled by society, publicity...

(BTW: not thinking about anyone specific, just to be clear...)

Another night shift. Just after two days of night work completely lost the notion of what day of the week it is. My computer says it's friday, maybe it is right...

Woke up at 16:00 today, had breakfast, went for a walk. Just to see, if the Elbe is still there. Two hours of cold. Nobody walking around, everybody closed in in their houses. Just me on the outside (and lots of cars, like small homes driving by enclosing their inhabitants in a more or less warm and comfy place). Passing by all the villas and huge houses of the poorer part of the world. Sometimes the cars in front of the houses look like they are treated better than the kids in the houses. Strange world there close to the river...

Returning to the place I call temporarily my home, eating, going to work.

Yeah, me want blog to!

OK, this will be in english, german or portuguese, whatever I feel like. It will probably be of no importance to anybody, but at least, I can say I blog to ;-)