Bumper-sticker-Philosophy

Why do people put bumber stickers on their car saying "dog on board"? Do they expect other people to drive more carefully this way? "Oh, i just wanted to kick that dumbass off the road, but now I see he has a dog wth him. Poor dog. I will be nice to him and not crash into his car..." "Oh, he has a dog, so I will not overtake him, else he might send his dog after me..." What the f*** is the message? "Please do not wave steaks at my car, because my dog will go nuts"?

Why do people with bumper stickers saying "children on board" drive SUVs? Why do they drive like they want to kill everybody elses children?

Why do people with bumper stickers saying "Jesus loves you" either drive like they are completely stoned or like they are in definite need of an exorcist?

Some scientist has calculated the odds that god exists (67% Chance...). I am not sure if this is what I call religion or belief. Believing in God or Gods is something which does not need a proof. Every belief is right. That is why it is believing.

For me, I do not need god to appreciate the beauty of the universe. On the contrary: somebody who made such an interesting universe might have created a lot more interesting people. Sometimes I think, there are just a limited number of prototypes...

What I do not like about (jewish, christian, muslimic) religion: for more than 2000 years we have been praying that god helps us with our problems. We should have found a way to solve them on our own... If we are as intelligent as we claim (our ancestor ate the apple...), why do we still blow up bombs to kill each other? Why do we kill people for no reason?

Adam ate the apple. God kicked him ot of paradise saying that, now he ist intelligent, he can live on his own. Jesus came, said, well, maybe we should try to get along without killing each other. Mohammed came alond and said, well, do not kill somebody innocent, just because he has a different belief. Maybe just try to live on your own...

Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe

               Alphonso X, the learned King of Spain, 1252-1284

The average physicist can perhaps be forgiven a certain amount of paranoia regarding the physical universe, for it often seems that no sooner does he display his latest Theory than the universe is found to feature an additional Effect that renders said theory incomplete if he is lucky (e.g., Erwin Schroedinger) or incorrect if he is not (e.g., Niels Bohr). This element of mistery is one of the things that makes physics exciting.

                Understanding more quantum physics - M.Morrison et al. (I usually call that book More fun with quantum mechanics)

Instant Messengers are a great tool for control freaks. You always know when your (geek-)friends are online, when they arrive home, when they go to bed... Big Brother is always around. And even, if you do not know for sure, you can make up a story.

Somehow humans make up a story always. Be it Amelie, who when her love arrives late, makes up a story of him getting kidnapped, being a fugitive, ending in Afghanistan wearing a tea-warmer on his head; be it anybody else making up a small story why things happened the way they happened. If we cannot make up a story we get worried. (Sometimes also the stories worry you...) If I do not have an explanation why people do things, I worry and get doubts. If I have a story made up, unrealistic as it may be, everything is fine... Humans are strange beings.

Getting annoyed by television again. Advertisements tell me what to buy, series tell me what to wear and how to behave, news tell me what to believe is reality... Everybody owns the only truth.

There are many truths. Every person has their own reality he or she lives in. Sometimes it corresponds to other persons reality, sometimes it doesn't. That is what makes people interesting. That is what distinguishes us from mindless robots. Or what should distinguish us...

Ah. And if somebody is right, it's me. Everybody has the right of my opinion...

Ended up listening to Tchaikovsky's violin concerto in d major, op. 35... At least some signs of intelligent life on this planet.

Random Pictures Special World Womens Day:

Missionaries 0 Nils 1.

Nothing as good as calling Jesus and his followers a bunch of pre-communist long haired pre-hippie sectists ;-) (Note: I generelly respect religions and believes. But if people try to missionarize me I get into polemic mode...)

On womans day a link to a curagious woman: Michelle from the resistance. 'Leesen verrry carefully, I weel zay zis only once...'

La proximité crée de liens
Liens d'amitié, liens d'inimité,
Liens de fraternité, liens de rivalité.
J'ai peur de liens
Infinis et complexes.
Creés par de sentiments multiples et divers.
Nul n'a la maitrise des sentiments humains.

On me suggere l'amitié.
Quelle belle relation!
J'en respecterais les obligations morales.
Quel apaisemant de pouvoir partager ses secrets!
Ce qui m'inquiête, c'est la brièveté.
Les liens que nous crions se muent au gré des circonstances.
Or l'amitié n'obtient sa noblesse
que dans la pérennité et l'exclusivité.

Essaie la fraternité me souffle t-on.
O noble relation
Que cependant m'effraye.
La compassion et l'entraide fraternelle.
L'échange er la partage
Demandant beaucoup de concession
Chacun se soumettrait-il à ces rêgles
Aussi nobles que complexes et exigantes?

A moins de trouver un moyen d'être au dessus de tout
Inaccessible, suffisant, tout-puissant
A moins de trouver un moyen de s'élever au rang de Dieux,
De renoncer á cette aventure unique,
Celle d'être un Homme parmi les Hommes.

Existe-t-il un refuge ici-bas?

                        Déli - Rokia Traoré

A friend of mine today said that some years ago the weekend was not long enough to relax. Today it is not long enough to work. We are getting old...

Random Pictures #3

Things you do not want to hear during dinner

Second place: This smells and looks like cat food: yes it did, but it was good anyway

The Winner: This exactly looks like sperm: it was supposed to be a gin-tonic-jelly, it was good and "Irgendwie schmeckt der Pflaumensaft komisch".

I finished reading The Perfumed Garden by Nafzâwî. Looks like men, women and their relations between them did not change that much in the last 500 years... (Only that Nafzâwî recommend bathing every other day. This is varying today ;-) BTW: there is a online version in english here

Trust me on the sunscreen...

Questions I would like to have an answer before I die (which will be in 60 to 80 years, depending on the progress of medicine and how good I can hide from it...) #1

There are two kind of baguette in the world. The ones which turn sloppy the next day and the ones which get rock hard. Why? And how can I tell one from the other? And why can't germans make a decent baguette (except these...)?

On general request by a single woman you may now post comments. I may not read them. And you need to activate JavaScript. Mariana, es da Máfia, mas gostamos de ti...

Started reading the stories of 1001 nights some days ago. (In a more exact translation, not the fairy-tale version...) I also started watching "sex and the city". Comparing both (which you can't) you start to wonder where all the poetry has gone...

Referring to sexual activities in "sex in the city" sounds really as if (north-american?) women do not have any fantasy at all, no subtelity, no poetry. Even when 1001 nights is as drastically as sex and the city, the arabian text shows much more beauty, more respect, more love as the american tv-show. Sad world if poetry is gone...

Random Images #2

Sometimes I wish life could be like a computer-game. You just save everything before the difficult parts and if you mess up, you start again. Would be nice. Sadly, if you fucked up a situatition, the only thing you can do is make it fubar and hope people declare you insane.

Blogspot has problems with non-ascii speaking people... Not my fault, if this looks crappy.

Went to a great concert yesterday. The band is called in extremo. They sound like Rammstein playing the Carmina Burana, a mix between medieval music and dark metal (or something like that). I still cannot hear well...

As I have been told, it was one of their more boring concerts, nobody got burned by misdirected fireworks and they were not as drunk as they normally are ;-)