Superstition? The Truth!
I just stumbled upon this - and even if I never choose my job or partner or whatever according to “what the stars say”, nearly everything what this wise little thingy says about me is nothing but the plain truth .
No, stupid, not what you think! It is the “loves music, is polite and generous” part I mean, of course :-)
Mediothek Krefeld - neu eröffnet und schon preisverdächtig
Vor etwas über einem Monat ist der Neubau der Bibliothek, pardon, der Mediothek Krefeld, eröffnet worden. Eine Bibliomanin wie ich kommt da natürlich nicht dran vorbei, und ich muss zugeben, alle meine Erwartungen angesichts der euphorischen Berichte im Vorfeld der Eröffnung sind noch übertroffen worden. Zunächst war ich etwas skeptisch, allein schon die Umbenennung von “Stadtbibliothek” bzw. -bücherei in das etwas hochtrabend klingende “Mediothek” - und dann stehen da doch nur ein paar verstaubte Uralt-CDs und DVDs rum, das kennt man ja… Aber nein, weit gefehlt. Ein breit gefächertes Angebot sowohl an Musikträgern als auch an Spielen für PC und verschiedene Konsolen erwartet einen dort; weiterhin eine gute Auswahl an DVDs und dann noch die sogenannten “Literaturpakete”. Dies sind Zusammenstellungen von Büchern, deren Verfilmung als DVD und dazu gibt es meist noch den Soundtrack auf CD; alles handlich in einer Box zusammengefasst. Sozusagen das Rundum-Sorglos-Paket.
Daneben gibt es natürlich noch die Hauptsache - Bücher Bücher Bücher!
Mehr über die Mediothek kann man auf Martins Blog lesen. Eine schier unfassbare Menge an Fotos gibt es hier.
Was gibt es noch zu sagen - ach ja: Die Mediothek Krefeld ist für den Bibliothekspreis des Deutschen Bibliotheksverbandes nominiert. Welche deutsche Bibliothek die Auszeichnung als “Bibliothek des Jahres 2008″ erhält, wird am 24.Oktober 2008, dem “Tag der Bibliotheken”, bekanntgegeben werden.
Melotron - Das Herz (Tuning in again… Part 19)
One of my favourite tracks at the moment. Perfect lyrics, electrifying tune :)
Read…:
Maßlos der Traum
Nur vom Zufall erschaffen
Himmelhoch jauchzend
Zu Tode geliebt
Wir bauen aus Prognosen
Uns Lebensattrappen
Doch das Herz braucht mehr
Brennen soll es, brennen
Sturm himmelwärts
Brennen soll es, brennen
Brenn Menschenherz
Brennen sollst du, brennen
Sturm himmelwärts
Brennen sollst du, brennen
Brenne mein Herz
Die Zukunft verkauft sich
An goldene Zeiten
Im Aktienpaket
Bis der Menschenwert steigt
Große Gefühle
Auf Rechnung begleichen
Oh das Herz braucht mehr
Wo Wissen schweigt
Werden Worte zu Waffen
Menschen aus Plastik
Recycelt das Heer
Wer nur zerstört
Wird nicht aufhören zu hassen
Oh das Herz braucht mehr
Brennen soll es, brennen
Sturm himmelwärts
Brennen soll es, brennen
Brenn Menschenherz
Brennen sollst du, brennen
Sturm himmelwärts
Brennen sollst du, brennen
Brenne mein Herz
Kann sein, dass ein Sprengsatz
Die Wahrheit verkündet
Kann sein, dass ihn einfach
Nur keiner kapiert
Anders zu sein
Ist vielleicht keine Sünde
Doch mein Herz braucht mehr
…and listen:
Wort des Tages
Auf den Webseiten des Duden wird seit dem 01. Mai 2008 das jeweilige “Wort des Tages” in der rechten oberen Ecke eingeblendet. Es lässt sich auch per RSS-Feed abonnieren.
Bisherige Wörter:
03.05. Gedankenfreiheit
04.05. auratisch
05.05. Feinstaub
06.05. herzergreifend
07.05. Veloziped
Ein ganzes Jahr lang, bis zum 30. April 2009, gibt’s so jeden Tag ein anderes Wort neu zu entdecken.
Neu - das Eszett gibt’s jetzt auch in groß
- jedenfalls im Unicode-Zeichensatz. Als Buchstaben selber gibt es das “große scharfe S” schon lange, wenngleich es sich bislang nicht durchgesetzt hat. Seit über einem Jahrhundert wurden mehrere Vorstöße unternommen, um den hässlichen Doppel-S-Ersatz bzw. die Umschreibung mittels SZ überflüssig zu machen.
Wozu das Ganze? Liest man beispielsweise das Wort “BUSSE”, so muss man sich zum einen aus dem Kontext erschließen, ob es sich dabei um die Mehrzahl des Fortbewegungsmittels handelt, oder schlicht um Reue. (Es sei denn der Satz lautet BUSSE AUSSCHLIESSLICH MIT NASSEN FÜSSEN BENUTZEN… dann verschiebt sich der Sprachschmerz auf andere (Satz-)Teile - aber lassen wir das… ) Zum anderen verletzt es das Sprachgefühl, sofern damit tatsächlich “Buße” gemeint ist. Was aber bei weitem schwerer wiegt als das individuelle Sprachempfinden ist die Tatsache, dass sich auf Grund des fehlenden Großbuchstabens Personennamen nicht richtig wiedergeben lassen. So muss sich eine Frau Roßberg bislang damit begnügen, in Versalschrift als Frau ROSSBERG angeschrieben zu werden, oder, noch schlimmer, als Frau ROßBERG. Dasselbe gilt für Ortsnamen auf Landkarten.
Seit dem 8. April hat “Latin Capital Letter Sharp S” nun offiziell den Unicode U+1E9E, hurra, hurra! - Und wie sieht das große ß nun aus?
So:
Wie bekomme ich das jetzt in meinen Rechner? Tastaturtreiber (für Windows und Mac) gibt’s hier zum herunterladen (Webseite von Andreas Stötzner), eine Lösung für Linux-Nutzer findet sich etwa hier (Wikipedia, Abschnitt “Tastaturbelegung”).
Als Computerschrift gefällt mir die Linux Libertine auf den Seiten des Libertine Open Fonts Projekts sehr gut. Weitere Schriftarten zeigt diese sehr ausführliche Liste des TypoWiki auf.
Jetzt muss es nur noch fleißig benutzt werden, das versale Eszett. Ich bin schon gespannt auf die ersten Zeitungsüberschriften, Buchtitel oder Werbeslogans!
[Dank an das Fontblog für den Anstoß zu diesem Eintrag]
Only for the statistics
Registration created 2008-04-29 17:24:32
Cat Stevens - Sad Lisa
One of my favourite songs by Cat Stevens.
Pictorial Vocabulary Guides
Some days ago I found these wonderful vocabulary guides at LanguageGuide.org (via Teachinglinks.co.uk). The method is simple - put your cursor on the pictures and read their descriptions in the chosen language. You can also enable a tool which reads the descriptions to you, useful for the correct pronunciation.
You find guides for languages such as French or German, but also for languages as for example Vietnamese, Hebrew, Japanese or Russian.
I am especially fond of the colourful bathrobe shown there :-D
I am a song (Tuning in again… Parts 3 - 18)
No, I am many songs.
I have taken the idea for that list from Tonio’s blog. I’ll complete it perhaps, once I have understood the missing categories ;)
These songs make me…
…happy: Bananafishbones, Easy Day - lyrics
…sad: Diorama, Synthesize Me - lyrics
This is a song I often listen to the last days: The Mary Onettes, Lost - I couldn’t find the lyrics… if someone knows where to find them, I’d be glad if they’d let me know!
This song makes me ponder over life: Dire Straits, Iron Hand - lyrics
And this says a lot about me: Hildegard Knef, Für mich soll’s rote Rosen regnen - lyrics
This one should be played on my funeral (although I won’t hear much that day, I guess): Noir Désir, Le vent nous portera - lyrics
I’d like to hear this on my wedding day: Oomph! - Supernova - lyrics
I would do anything to hear this song in a live performance: Deine Lakaien, Over And Done - lyrics
This reminds me of my childhood: Chris de Burgh, The Ecstasy Of Flight (I love the night) - lyrics
I like the lyrics of this song: In Extremo, Liam - lyrics
I like to fall asleep when I listen to this: Kikai, Blue (feat. Kimberly Keck)
When I have just got up, I like to hear this one: Indochine, Dancetaria - lyrics
This song makes me think of holidays: The Beach Boys, Kokomo
And this one of solitude: Letzte Instanz, Jeden Morgen - lyrics
I can sing this song, not perfectly but completely: The Pogues, Young Ned of the Hill - lyrics
What I am listening to right this moment: Marizibill, Etre au monde
This is a song which makes my friends think of me - tell me, you who are rading this! Family welcome too, of course :)
Terry Pratchett donates to Alzheimer’s research
Best-selling author, Terry Pratchett, has pledged $1million to leading UK charity, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, in a bid to help find a cure for the devastating disease, with which he was diagnosed in December 2007.
Read more on the website of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. (via Paul Kidby)
The original speech Terry Pratchett held in Bristol on the 9th Annual Network Conference of the UK’s Alzheimer’s Research Trust on March 13th, 2008 can be found on the website of The Bristol Evening Post.
Or you just go on reading below:
My name is Terry Pratchett, author of a series of inexplicably successful fantasy books and I have had Alzheimer’s now for the past two years plus, in which time I managed to write a couple of bestsellers.
I have a rare variant. I don’t understand very much about it, but apparently if you are going to have Alzheimer’s it’s a good one to have.
So, a stroke of luck there then!
Interestingly enough, when I was diagnosed last December by those nice people at Addenbrooke’s, I started a very different journey through dementia.
This one had much better scenery, interesting and often very attractive inhabitants, wonderful wildlife and many opportunities for excitement and adventure.
Those of you who’s last experience with computer games was looking at Lara Croft’s buttocks might not be aware of how good they have become as audio and visual experiences, although I would concede that Lara’s buttocks were a visual experience in their own right.
But in this case I was travelling through a country that was part of the huge computer game called Oblivion, which is so beautifully detailed that I have often ridden around it to enjoy the scenery and weather and have hardly bothered to kill anything at all.
At the same time as I began exploring the wonderful Kingdom of Dementia, which is next door to the Kingdom of Mania, I was also experiencing the slightly more realistic experience of being a 59 year old who finds they have early onset Alzheimer’s.
Apparently I reacted to this situation in a reasonably typical way, with a sense of loss and abandonment with an incoherent, or perhaps I should say, violently coherent fury that made the Miltonic Lucifer’s rage against Heaven seem a bit miffed by comparison. That fire still burns.
I want to go on writing! Admittedly, that means I have to stay alive.
You can’t write books when you are dead, unless your name is L. Ron Hubbard.
And so now I’m a game for real. It’s a nasty disease, surrounded by shadows and small, largely unseen tragedies.
People don’t know what to say, unless they have had it in the family.
People ask me why I announced that I had Alzheimer’s.
My response was: why shouldn’t I?
I remember when people died “of a long illness” now we call cancer by its name, and as every wizard knows, once you have a thing’s real name you have the first step to its taming.
We are at war with cancer, and we use that vocabulary.
We battle, we are brave, we survive. And we have a large armaments industry.
For those of us with early onset in particular, it’s more of a series of skirmishes.
My GP is helpful and patient, but I don’t have a specialist locally.
The NHS kindly allows me to buy my own Aricept because I’m too young to have Alzheimer’s for free, a situation I’m okay with, in a want-to-kick-a-politician-in-the-teeth-kind of way.
But, on the whole, you try to be your own doctor.
The internet twangs night and day. I walk a lot and take more supplements than the Sunday papers. We talk to one another and compare regimes.
Part of me lives in a world of new age remedies and science, and some of the science is a little like voodoo.
But science was never an exact science, and personally I’d eat the arse out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance.
Fortunately, I have the Greek Chorus to calm me down
Soon after I told the world my website fell over and my PA had to spend the evening negotiating more bandwidth.
I had more than 60,000 messages within the first few hours.
Most of them were readers and well-wishers.
Some of them wanted to sell me snake oil and I’m not necessarily going to dismiss all of these, as I have never found a rusty snake.
But a large handful came from ‘experienced’ sufferers, successfully fighting a holding action, and various people in universities and research establishments who had, despite all expectations, risen to high places in their various professions even while being confirmed readers of my books.
And they said; can we help? They are the Greek Chorus. Only two of them are known to each other and they give me their advice on various options that I suggest.
They include a Wiccan, too. It’s a good idea to cover all the angles.
It was interesting when I asked about having my dental amalgam fillings removed.
There was a chorus of ? hrumph, no scientific evidence, hrumph???., but if you can afford to have it done properly then it certainly won’t do any harm and you never know.
And that is where I am, along with many others, scrabbling to stay ahead long enough to be there when the cure, which I suspect may be more like a regime, comes along.
Say it will be soon - there’s nearly as many of us as there are cancer sufferers, and it looks as if the number of people with the disease will double within a generation.
And in most cases you will find alongside the sufferer you will find a spouse, suffering as much. It’s a shock and a shame, then, to find out that funding for research is three per cent of that which goes to find cancer cures.
Perhaps that is why, for example, that I know three people who have successfully survived brain tumours but no-one who has beaten Alzheimer’s???although among the Greek Chorus are some who are giving it a hard time.
I’d like a chance to die like my father did - of cancer, at 86.
Remember, I’m speaking as a man with Alzheimer’s, which strips away your living self a bit at a time.
Before he went to spend his last two weeks in a hospice he was bustling around the house, fixing things.
He talked to us right up to the last few days, knowing who we were and who he was.
Right now, I envy him. And there are thousands like me, except that they don’t get heard.
So let’s shout something loud enough to hear. We need you and you need money. I’m giving you a million dollars. Spend it wisely.
Taken from here: The Bristol Evening Post
