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Tuesday, July 15, 2003

Bits and Bobs

Before anything else, it has to be mentioned that Kutre Concierto 3 will go ahead in the Vegis tonight at 9.30pm. Be there or be square.

On to the news. For all those culinary enthusiasts out there, it is now being claimed that Lasagne is in fact British. The recipe was found in the first ever cookbook, found in the British Museum. Of course, there is the small matter of defining what is lasagne first.

A spurge of online search-engine games has manifested itself, meaning that when you get bored at work or at uni you can have a go at typing in various word combinations to the Google site, and hitting the button "I'm feeling lucky". Some of the current favourites are "weapons of mass destruction", and "french military victories".

Enough fun for today

Sunday, July 13, 2003

Scam update

First warning goes out to AOL users who are particularly being targeted by a porn trojan.

Next up is an interesting story about the methods of credit card thieves.

And finally, for those london folk, a telephone scam has been discovered that involves paying lots of money to listen to cheesy elevator-music. Great.

Be Aware

Thursday, July 10, 2003

Newsnight

First up, we welcome Roberto the Italian back to Mainz. After completing his degree in Italy he has now returned to rub it in for those who have yet to complete theirs :)

No doubt everyone has become aware of the comradeship going on between the Italian and German members of the European Parliament. Well, the latest shot was fired by the Germans, and is detailed here.

A new way to stop that unstoppable menace that is SPAM, or unsolicitated emails, has been found by the Internet Research Task Force. It has to be read.

Now for the serious stuff:
Bad news for Bangladesh, as a ferry carrying over 750 people sank, with about 400 currently missing.
Good news for a man from Arkansas who awoke after a lengthy 19-year coma. Apparently, he is now trying to catch up on what has happened.

As it becomes apparent that various mis-truths (not going to be sued here, thank you very much) were fed to the public as regards the reasons for war in Iraq, Tony Blair stands defiant (alone) that the proof will materialise as quickly as you can say "rehash me a ten-year-old thesis and pretend it's from a reliable source".
Also, that tear-jerking story of the female US soldier shot and stabbed in Iraq, and then heroically rescued (Saving Private Ryan, anyone?) by the american military turns out to be as far from the truth as The White House is from finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

A couple of IT bites now; consumers up to their eyebrows (for want of a more explicit expression) with paying too much to the music industry monoloths, are getting together and organising a revolt. Join in the fun.
Information about a replacment for the humble barcode has been released (inadvertantly) showing that it is yet another method to control the population. Read about this new invasion of privacy here.

That about it for now, tomorrow is the summer party of the nuclear physics institute, and seeing as we're in Germany, the beer starts flowing from 11am !!!
Friday also sees Carlitos, Lobelto, Makek (el croata), Alberto, Pepe, Eme, Pau, David, Bruno, Natalia, Consuelo, Mirian, Helene (la francesa), Ana, Maria, Pili, Tere and Susi head off to Berlin for the much-acclaimed Love Parade.

Can't wait for the photos :)

Sunday, July 06, 2003

Graduation, Breadmaking and Parties

Another trip to the UK, this time it was for the graduation of Douglas, my lesser half, sorry, my brother :)
This was attended after a six hour journey from London up to Durham (near the border with Scotland). The kindest way to talk about the weather up north is to say that it didn't snow...although I'm sure it tried. I admit, maybe I should have warned Olga of the temperatures up there so that she would have been able to bring something more than summer clothes, but it was amusing :) So, a big posh meal at a hotel that night, followed by the ceremony in the morning in Durham Cathedral, and then packing up all Dug's belongings into the trailer to bring home with us (along with five of us in the car). Getting home at half past one in the morning, my parents then had to leave for france the next morning, and Olga and I set off for London (I assume Douglas has now woken up).
In the Canary Wharf area of the capital we met up with Nick, who managed to take an extra long lunch-break in order to eat with us. We met up with Joe (Colombian from Mainz) and went shopping along Oxford Street. Rushing for the plane, we arrived at City Airport half an hour before take-off, and within ten minutes we were in the plane for Frankfurt, exceptionally efficient in my opinion, especially considering the palava in Frankfurt airport on the way out (after the usual bag scan and walking through the beep machine, they then scan the bag again and do a very intimate body search. If it wasn't for their authority in the airport, I would seriously consider reporting them to the police for sexual assualt, and Olga would back me up one hundred percent, as hers was even more explicit).

On Saturday, after shopping to fill up the fridge (after four days away there was no food left), I went off to work, not without first setting my bread-machine for a loaf of oregano bread (doesn't have a recipe, I made it up as I went along). It's not just me who liked the result, Olga thought it had just the right amount of salt, Alberto managed to chew it, despite having his four molars taken out, Andres also approved, and even Magda put aside her impressions of english men to say that she was impressed.
This same night there was a big selection of parties to going on around here. In Hechtsheim Lucia and Christina had their leaving party (which I could observe from my room :) there was a street party in Frankfurt which was attended by Ramsey etc. also, in Muenchfeld there was a party at the house of Mauri, and near to Wiesbaden there was a latin-american party. Which was great, and many people enjoyed themselves. Which one did I visit? None. I was too tired after work (does my age show?).

Tonight Fatma is coming over for dinner (let's hope the tomato-bread is ready by then) and then we'll be meeting up with Nick (yes, the one from London) and his brother in town for a couple of drinks.

On a less personal note, theregister reports that printer ink is now seven times more expensive than vintage champagne. I don't know who did this study, but speaking for my self, I don't usually drink the ink from my printer.

And relax...