PFlight2000 - Soaring through Life in Switzerland

Lisa does it Doggy Style

2011-07-25T20:44:00.001+02:00

My uncle has got a dog. The dog’s actually a She, and She’s called Lisa.

Lately my uncle was unavailable for a couple of days, and amongst others I had the pleasure of taking care of Lisa.

Lisa is a nice dog. Indeed, a very, very nice dog. Lisa doesn’t bark, she doesn’t slobber, and she doesn’t beg for food at the table. Lisa knows exactly what she wants. But she also knows exactly what she doesn’t want. And that’s where it gets interesting: Not only does she not do things she doesn’t not want to do, but she really develops extraordinary problem solving skills and very interesting solutions.

For example, Lisa doesn’t like rain. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fragrance ‘Wet Dog’. On the other hand she always likes a refreshing bath in a pond or a lake, and she likes to swim a lot… So, it rains, and Lisa needs to go out. Certain natural things even happen with dogs. Of course it gets a bit difficult with solving problems here, even the hardest dog’s will doesn’t really have a chance against rain. Lisa minces around under the patio and gives me begging looks: ‘Would you please turn off the water, I need to go poo…!’

Lisa likes sticks! She likes to retrieve them, but most of all she likes to chew them. But Lisa doesn’t like artificial bones. You know, these things made of some sort of animal skin, which you can find in supermarkets next to pet food. At the first try, to give her such a thing, Lisa immediately dropped it to my feet, with this distinctive ‘eek’-look in her eyes. After a couple more tries, she finally took the bone and disappeared with it – just to dig a hole in the garden and burry the bone in there. And of course she returned afterwards, looking at me with a look of reproach to tell me: ‘I put it in a safe place, where it can’t be found anymore. But don’t even think about giving such a thing to me ever again!’

Mein Onkel hat einen Hund. Der Hund ist eine Sie, und Sie heisst Lisa.

Mein Onkel war kürzlich für ein paar Tage nicht abkömmlich, und nebst anderen hatte ich das Vergnügen, Lisa in dieser Zeit zu betreuen.

Lisa ist ein lieber Hund. Ein wirklich sehr, sehr lieber Hund. Lisa bellt nicht, sabbert nicht, und sie bettelt auch nicht um Essen. Lisa weiss sehr genau, was sie will. Sie weiss aber auch sehr genau, was sie nicht will. Und hier wird’s interessant: Nicht nur sträubt Lisa sich gegen Dinge, die sie nicht will, sondern sie entwickelt auch teilweise komplexe und höchste interessante Lösungsansätze.

Lisa mag zum Beispiel keinen Regen. Liegt vielleicht an der Duftnote ‚Nasser Hund‘. Andersrum hat sie aber nichts gegen ein erfrischendes Bad in einem Weiher oder See, und sie schwimmt auch gerne und gut… Nun, es regnet also, und Lisa müsste Gassi gehen. Schliesslich verlangt die Natur auch beim Hund ihr Recht. Jetzt wird’s natürlich schwierig mit der Problemlösungsstrategie, gegen Regen hat auch der stärkste Hundewille keine ernstzunehmende Chance. Sie tänzelt ungeduldig unter dem Vordach umher und wirft mir ab und zu bettelnde Blicke zu: ‚Stell doch bitte mal das Wasser ab, ich muss aufn Topf…!‘

Lisa mag Stöckchen. Sie apportiert sie auch sehr gerne, aber am allerliebsten knabbert sie dran rum. Lisa mag aber keine künstlichen Hundeknochen. Ihr wisst schon: Diese harten Dinger aus irgendwelchen Tierhäuten oder so, die man im Warenhaus beim Tierfutter findet. Beim ersten Versuch, ihr so ein Teil anzudrehen, lässt sie mir den Knochen sogleich lustlos vor die Füsse fallen, mit einem deutlichen Igitt-Blick in den Augen. Nach ein paar weiteren Versuchen nimmt sie den Knochen dann doch – und geht damit nach draussen wo Sie ihn im Garten vergräbt, damit er verschwunden ist. Dann kommt sie aber ganz sicher zurück und schaut mich mit einem vorwurfvollen Blick an um zu sagen: ‚Ich hab das Ding jetzt an einen sicheren Ort versorgt. Aber denk nicht mal dran, mir noch einmal sowas mitzubringen!‘

The Blitz

2011-07-17T21:59:00.004+02:00

For my first composing-project after the long break due to school I chose something similar to the project I ended with last year: A lightning.
Last year it was the big clock in a shopping mall in Victoria, BC, Canada, this time it's a landscape I changed into a thunderstorm-picture. Nice to know: The two pictures are less than a one-hour walk apart from each other, and they have been taken within a couple of hours at the same day. ET and I walked the Beacon Hill Park in Victoria that grey Saturday morning, which is directly at the Juan de Fuca Straight on the south end of the city. When it began to rain, and also because we were hungry, we went to the shopping mall to get something to eat.

Für mein erstes Composing-Projekt nach der Schul-Pause habe ich dort angefangen, wo ich vor mehr als einem Jahr aufgehört habe: Ein Blitz.
Letztes Jahr war es die grosse Uhr in einer Shopping Mall in Victoria, BC, Kanada, diesmal ist es ein Landschaftsbild das ich in ein Gewitterbild verändert habe. Interessantes Detail: Die beiden Schauplätze liegen nicht mal eine Stunde zu Fuss voneinander entfernt, und sie sind innerhalb weniger Stunden entstanden. ET und ich sind an diesem trüben Samstagvormittag durch den Beacon Hill Park in Victoria spaziert, der direkt an der Juan de Fuca Straight im Süden der Stadt liegt. Als es dann angefangen hat zu regnen, und auch weil wir Hunger hatten, sind wir dann in die Shopping Mall gegangen und haben etwas gegessen.

About the picture:
First of all I created a single lightning. This is no problem; it takes just a couple of filters in Photoshop.
With extreme levels and a bit of masking a realistic looking lightning evolves, without taking a picture of a real lightning - which is extremely difficult and needs a huge pile of luck.
Nun zum Bild:
Zuerst habe ich einen einzelnen Blitz erzeugt. Mit ein paar Effekten in Photoshop ist das überhaupt kein Problem.
Mit einer extremen Tonwertkorrektur entsteht ein realistisch aussehender Blitz, ohne dass ich einen echten Blitz fotografieren muss - das ist nämlich verdammt schwierig und man braucht auch eine gehörige Portion Glück dazu.

As you can see here, the original picture is too dark. But this highlights the clouds.

Wie hier zu sehen ist, ist das Bild unterbelichtet. Dies hebt aber die Wolken besonders hervor.

In a first RAW-processing I darkened the picture even more.
In einer ersten RAW-Konvertierung habe ich die Wolken noch einmal etwas düsterer gemacht.

In a second RAW-processing I lightened up the landscape, otherwise you could think the picture was taken by night.

In der zweiten RAW-Konvertierung wird nun die Landschaft aufgehellt, damit das Bild nicht aussieht als wenn es bei Nacht gemacht worden wäre.

Let's place the lightning into the landscape; this also takes some alignment and masking.

Den Blitz ins Landschaftsbild gesetzt, ausgerichtet und noch etwas maskiert.

Now I coloured the lightning with a blue hue, which makes it look a bit more realistic.
To top that, I put in a little bit of shine into the clouds, where the lightning comes from, and on the lighthouse, which it hits. I didn't put in any rain or wind, because that would distract the viewer and steal away a good deal of the dramatic of the picture.
Nun wird der Blitz noch leicht blau eingefärbt, das lässt ihn noch realistischer aussehen.
Das Tüpfelchen auf dem I sind der Lichtschimmer in den Wolken, wo der Blitz herkommt, und der erleuchtete Leuchtturm, wo er einschlägt. Auf Regen und Wind habe ich verzichtet, da dies vom eigentlichen Bild ablenken und dem Bild viel von seiner Dramatik nehmen würde.

At the end I put a light blue hue over the whole pictures, which makes it look like the lightning lit it up a bit. But again the pictures now looks like it's been taking by night, although it was 9.30 in the morning.
Zum Schluss habe ich noch einen blauen Schimmer über das ganze Bild gelegt, so als würde der Blitz die ganze Szenerie erleuchten. Natürlich erweckt auch dies wieder etwas den Eindruck von Dunkelheit, obwohl das Bild um 9.30 am Morgen aufgenommen worden ist.

For the finale I used the smart sharpener, which makes the picture almost jump at the viewer.
Für den finalen Effekt sorgt der selektive Scharfzeichner, der dafür sorgt das das Bild den Betrachter beinahe anspringt.

Some words about the equipment used: I took the picture with my Nikon D300; the lens was a 16-85 mm f/3.5-5.6. The focal length was 48 mm, aperture f/4.9, the shutter was on automatic.

Ein paar Worte noch zur Ausrüstung: Ich habe das Bild mit meiner Nikon D300 aufgenommen, das Objektiv ist ein 16-85 mm f/3.5-5.6. Die Brennweite beträgt 48 mm und die Blende war auf f/4.9 gestellt, die Belichtungszeit wurde automatisch geregelt.

Welcome Back - Willkommen zurück!!!

2011-07-16T23:31:00.000+02:00

It's been more than 14 months since I wrote the last entry in this blog. That's an awful lot of time, especially in today's fast moving world, and I'm glad to be back today! A lot has happened, some things have changed, and I will try to put things into a useful order.
First of all, the reason for my absence: I did some advanced training and became a Sales Specialist. To give you an idea what that means and what I've learned, let's put it that way:
I can now run the branch office of a store or shop. Or I could work as a Key Account Manager now. Or as the team-leader of a sales-team, back office or field service. Some CEO might even employ me as a Sales Manager, although I didn't become a Sales Manager which is just the odd step higher on the career-ladder.
What have I learned? Well, a lot.
Sales planning, for example: Given the correct facts and figures, I could plan the expansion of a company abroad. I can tell you which products would make sense for different target audiences, how many sales points and branch offices we need, or - if we work with independent trade channels - how many field agents we need.
Clearly I can calculate prices from the expense distribution sheet, including margins, breakeven-point, priority of products, and calculation by equivalent value, contribution margin accounting and other nasty stuff with numbers.
Of course I could also calculate forecasts and regression coefficients. Or set up complete sales statistics, including averages, standard deviation and coefficient of variation (I love my TI-36XII!!!), brightly coloured diagrams and meaningful tables with loads of numbers, all classified for better clarity.
Not to forget that I can plan sales promotions from definition of target audience, over target definition, right down to corrective actions, same thing goes for advertising campaigns and general marketing.
Oh yes: Distribution! This was my strongest subject! I can now plan the distribution of products and service with SWOT-analysis, over utility value analysis, calculation of numeric and weighted distribution, logistics and strategic distribution.
Also I could talk you to sleep with a lecture about management (by delegation, objective, helicopter, kangaroo, jeans, hippo and other funny things…), market research, and sales psychology.
And last but not least I could also give you a lecture about Swiss engineered sports clothing that copies several features and the name of a little white fox that lives in the desert, but that's another story…
There's just one tiny little snag: I didn't pass the federal exams. This means, I'm still a sales specialist, but not federally certified. Of course it would be possible to repeat the exams, and the school where I took the classes offers a special price for repetitions. But the exams cost the same, and together that's quite a pile of money - which I'd rather spend on something else.
So, what did I get in the end? Well, first of all - as I said - I got a certificate from school, which says that I'm a sales specialist, though it doesn't give any 'real' qualification. Also I gained several new contacts and colleagues, which is always good to have. It gives you some kind of network.
Also: I can blog.
I can take photographs.
I can photoshop.
I can go cycling.
I can re-join my old friends in the forums.
I can go to the zoo.
I can go to the botanic gardens.
I can soar the virtual skies of Microsoft's Flight Simulator.
All this gives more value to me than the simple phrase 'eidg. Fachausweis' written on a sheet of paper.
In short: I GOT MY OLD LIFE BACK!!!


Expence calculation sheet and other stuff with numbers

Es ist jetzt mehr als 14 Monate her seit ich den letzten Eintrag in diesem Blog geschrieben habe. Das ist eine verdammt lange Zeit, speziell in unserer schnelllebigen Welt, und ich bin froh heute zurück zu sein. Viel ist passiert seither, einiges hat sich verändert, und ich möchte versuchen die Dinge einigermassen in eine sinnvolle Reihenfolge zu bringen.
Zu allererst, der Grund für meine Auszeit: Ich habe eine Weiterbildung besucht und bin jetzt Verkaufsfachmann. Um Euch eine Idee zu geben, was das genau heisst und was ich dabei gelernt habe, lasst es mich mal so beschreiben:
Ich kann jetzt die Filiale eines Geschäftes leiten. Oder ich könnte als Key Account Manager arbeiten. Oder als Leiter eines Verkaufsteams, im Innen- oder Aussendienst. Einige Geschäftsführer können mich sogar als Verkaufsleiter einstellen, obwohl ich nicht Verkaufsleiter bin was noch etwa eine Stufe höher auf der Karriereleiter angesiedelt ist.
Was hab ich gelernt? Nun, vieles.
Verkaufsplanung, zum Beispiel: Mit den entsprechenden Zahlen und Fakten ausgerüstet, könnte ich die Expansion einer Firma ins Ausland planen und durchführen. Ich kann Euch genau sagen, welche Produkte Sinn machen für verschiedene Zielgruppen, wie viele Zweitstellen und Filialen wir brauchen, oder - wenn wir mit unabhängigen Absatzmittlern arbeiten - wie viele Aussendienstmitarbeiter wir brauchen.
Sicherlich kann ich jetzt auch Preise kalkulieren anhand des Betriebsabrechnungsbogens, inklusive Absatzmargen, Nutzschwelle und Produkt-Priorisierung, und Kalkulationen mit der Äquivalenzziffer machen, Deckungsbeitragsrechnungen und andere wirklich wichtige Dinge mit Zahlen anstellen.
Natürlich kann ich auch Vorhersagen und Regressionskoeffizienten berechnen. Oder komplette Verkaufsstatistiken, inklusive geometrische Mittel, Standardabweichung und Variationskoeffizienten (ich liebe meinen TI-36XII!!!), Diagramme in den schönsten Farben und bedeutungsschwangere Tabellen mit tonnenweise Zahlen, alle in Klassen geordnet für eine bessere Übersichtlichkeit.
Nicht zu vergessen ist, dass ich auch komplette Verkaufsförderungsaktionen durchführen kann, von der Situationsanalyse, über die Zieldefinition bis hin zur Nachkontrolle. Dasselbe gilt auch für Werbekampagnen und das klassische Marketing.
Ach ja: Distribution! Das war mein stärkstes Fach! Ich kann nun die Distribution von Produkten und Dienstleistungen planen, mit SWOT-Analyse, Nutzwertanalysen, Berechnung von numerischer und gewichteter Distribution, Marketinglogistik und strategischer Distribution.
Natürlich kann ich Euch auch mit einem Vortrag über Managementansätze einschläfern (Management by delegation, objective, Helikopter, Känguru, Jeans, Nilpferd und andere wüste Dinger…), dasselbe gilt auch für Marktforschung und Verkaufspsychologie.
Und nicht zuletzt könnte ich Euch auch einen Vortrag halten über in der Schweiz entwickelte Sportbekleidung, die diverse Eigenschaften eines kleinen weissen Fuchses aus der Wüste kopiert hat, aber das ist eine andere Geschichte…
Die Sache hat nur einen klitzekleinen Haken: Ich hab die eidgenössische Prüfung nicht bestanden. Das heisst, ich bin zwar Verkaufsfachmann, aber nicht mit eidg. Fachausweis. Natürlich wäre es möglich, die Prüfung zu wiederholen, und die Schule an der ich gelernt habe macht auch ein spezielles Angebot für Repetenten. Aber die eigentliche Prüfung kostet noch mal so viel wie letztes Mal, und das ist ein ziemlicher Haufen Geld - welches ich lieber für andere Dinge ausgebe.
Was bleibt also unter dem Strich? Nun, wie bereits gesagt: ich hab den Wisch der Schule, auf dem steht dass ich Verkaufsfachmann bin, aber das gilt nicht als ‚echte' Qualifikation. Und ich hab mir ein Netzwerk mit neuen Kontakten und Kolleginnen und Kollegen aufgebaut, und das ist auch eine ganze Menge wert.
Ausserdem: Ich kann wieder bloggen.
Ich kann fotografieren.
Ich kann photoshoppen.
Ich kann radfahren.
Ich kann mich mit meinen Freunden in Foren herumtreiben.
Ich kann in den Zoo gehen.
Ich kann in den botanischen Garten gehen.
Ich kann im virtuellen Himmel von Microsofts Flight Simulator cruisen.
Dies alles ist mir mehr wert als der kleine Eintrag ‚eidg. Fachausweise' auf einem Stück Papier.
Kurz gesagt: ICH HAB MEIN ALTES LEBEN ZURÜCK!!!


Bücher mit bedeutungsschwangeren Titeln

The Clock

2010-05-08T22:27:00.001+02:00

Hello and welcome to the world of Photoshop! With some time at hand between working at the office, going to school and doing homework, I decided to create something new with a picture I took during my wonderful holiday in Vancouver and Victoria, Canada.

The original picture shown a pitoresque clock in a shopping mall in Victoria, B.C., and after a couple hours of work I came out with a version that looks a bit like having emerged from a scary movie, where an android from the future lands in present time and then goes to commandeer a denim and leather outfit together with black sunglasses and a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and comes up with the line ‘I’ll be back’ at least once throughout the movie…

Airbus A380 and other ugly planes

2010-01-24T17:03:00.003+01:00

On January 20th the brand new Airbus A380 approached Zurich for the first time. 23’000 people watched the show.

Several mates from work asked me why I didn’t go and take a few pictures. Here are my reasons:

1. I expected that there would be too many people around, and I don’t really like such crowds unless it’s the concert of one of my favourite bands.

2. Beginning with the summer-schedule Singapore Airlines flies to Zurich with the A380 every day, instead of two flights per day with the Boeing 777.

3. For me the A380 is not really a beautiful airplane. I think it looks like a sperm whale suffering from flatulencies…

Now, ugly airplanes have something like a long tradition, and here’s where I want to get to with this post. I’m not talking about the Boeing B757 with its slightly distorted proportions. There is worse in the history of airplanes.

A little historical flashback brings us to Everett WA in the year 1947. Commercial aviation is at the dawning of a new era. The Douglas Aircraft Company introduced their DC-4, which evolved from the C-54, and that was the first land-placed commercial airplane that could cross the Atlantic in a nonstop flight. Lockheed followed with the L-1049 Constellation – which in fact is one of the most elegant airplanes ever built.

Boeing had nothing to offer, as they had only built bombers during the war, the last being the B-29. Not the worst in ugly airplanes, but the cause is wrong: Dropping bombs onto other people just isn’t a nice thing to do... Instead of developing a completely new airplane, Boeing took the highly efficient, supercritical shaped wing of the B-29, mounted bigger Pratt &Whitney Wasp engines, and mounted it to a fuselage-construction never seen before: A widened B-29 fuselage was mounted on top of a standard fuselage, in front view the construction looked like an 8. The result was a freighter called C-97 Stratofreighter. The passenger-version was named B-377 Stratocruiser. Ugly enough?

Certainly not! When NASA started shooting apes into space with rockets, the need of a super-transporter to fly the rocket-segments from their building-site to the launch-site at Cape Canaveral became evident. A leading engineer of Conroy Aircraft once saw a Stratocruiser and thought, if it was possible to convert a B-29 into something like that, it would probably also be possible to build a much larger plane with the same airfoil. The result had such extreme proportions and was so ugly, that many aviation experts proved to be fish experts as well and called the plane ‘Pregnant Guppy’. The official name then was B-377PG. Further versions were then called B-377SG (Super Guppy), a version powered by turboprop engines was known as B-377TG (Turbine Guppy).

And here’s the catch to it: If you look very close, you’ll recognize certain similarities between the A380 and the Guppy-series...

Wicked Number Seven

2009-11-26T18:09:00.002+01:00

In Christianity 7 is a lucky number:

- 7 days of Creation. God rested on the 7th day.
- 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine in the Pharao's dream.
- 7 days of the feast of Passover.
- 7 last sayings of Jesus on the cross.

Thank you Wikipedia for this.

What about this on my blog? Well, as I always like to point out: A Pflight's gotta do what a Pflight's gotta do (thank you John Wayne for this).

Yesterday I bought a new computer, it's called Leader VII Pro. And guess what: It's the 7th computer I've owned: So far I've had one Apple Macintosh Performa 75 (all-in-one), 2 PC's running on Windows 4 (Windows 98se, Windows ME), 2 PC's running on Windows XP, one Notebook running on Windows XP, and one Notebook running on Windows Vista Ultimate.

And here comes Number Seven: It's got an Intel i7 CPU, and it's running on a 64bit Windows 7 Home Premium.

DRI-Panorama

2009-10-15T23:08:00.004+02:00

I just tried out some new software. The pictures were taken at night out of my living-room window. This was my workflow: I took three sets of three pictures, exposure 30", 15" and 5", aperture f:5.0. The three sets were processed with the Photomatix DRI-tool, then the panorama was created using PTGui. The last steps were done in Photoshop CS4: Increasing contrast, and sharpening. For those who have been here before: What you see used to be our lawn with apple-, pear- and nut-trees.

Von PFlight2000 - Soaring through Life in Switzerland

COW

2009-08-27T23:46:00.003+02:00

Don't text while driving! That's the message the Gwent (Wales, UK) Police Department wants to send to us. And I think in this format the message is VERY clear: Cassie Cowan kills 4 people in a car accident because she gets distracted by using her cellphone while driving.

Be warned: What you are about to see is EXTREMELY GRAPHIC!!!!!

And here's NBC's The Today Show on that topic:

Colléction Schlumpf, Mulhouse

2009-08-16T19:51:00.006+02:00

Hans Schlumpf ran a yarn factory in Mulhouse. His factory held the monopoly for rough yarn all over France, which gave him absolute control of the market for this yarn. That made him a wealthy man. Unfortunately he and his brother Fritz had a very expensive hobby: They collected cars. Old cars. Antique cars. And here comes the sad story: Not only did they spend every single penny of their own pile into their car collection, they also used money from Hans’ company to buy more and more cars. In 1977 the company went bankrupt, leaving over 2000 people without a job. At a raid during a strike in 1977 the mob discovered the 400+ cars. Selling all these vehicles – the oldest was built in 1886 – would have brought all the money to pay the company’s debts. But the French government insisted and turned the old factory halls into a museum, the ‘Cité d’Automobile’, City of Cars.
The vast majority of the cars in the collection are French built cars, such as: 19 Panhard & Levassor, 19 Renault, 29 Peugeot etc, etc. But the highlight of the museum are 123 Bugattis. Amongst them are 2 Type 41 Royale from the original Schlumpf Collection, and a replica of a third one. Only six of these wonderful automobiles where ever built.

Here are some of the highlights of the museum:

Bugatti Type 35
If anybody hadn't heard about Bugatti cars in 1924, this changed with the Type 35. Approx. 200 of all variants were built, more than 2000 races were won until 1930. Bentley, Alfa-Romeo, Mercedes, you name it, Bugatti beat it with this car. This was the car that finally created the legend of the brand.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Bugatti Type 41 Royale
Built for Royals, but none of them were interested... Only 6 cars were built in total, two of them are exhibited in Mulhouse, also the replica of the Royale Roadster.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Bugatti Type 46
The Type 46 from 1929 was a direct hit against the Mercedes-Benz SS and the Hispano-Suiza H6B. Its 5.3 liter engine was smaller than the engines of the opponents, but Bugatti had enough expertese to make up for that with power and stamina. And of course the body looked like the american cars of that time. The car was also known as 'Petit Royale'.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Bugatti Type 50 T
Had the Type 46 established the brand Bugatti all over the world - the Type 50 should now prove that this wasn't just by accident. 'Le Patron' Ettore brought his 20 year old son Jean into the company, and he was responsible for rhis construction and for the breathtaking design of the T-Todel. The 'normal' Type 50 raced the 24 heurs du Mans 4 times, but none of the cars ended the race, mainly because of damaged tires. This was also a problem for the T-Model, as the engine produced 275 hp which was too much for the tires.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Bugatti Type 57
Ettore Bugatti's son Jean built this car, and also designed some of the most spectacular carbodies of all times for it. The bodies Ventoux, Galibier, Stelvio and especially the breathtaking Atlantic Coupé, of which only a handful were built, remain unforgetable.

Type 57 C Galibier:

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Atlantic Coupé - extremely rare!

Von Colléction Schlumpf

The replica of the famous Type 57S Atalante Coupé:

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Bugatti Type 101
After Ettore's death in 1947 the company only built one more model. But without the genius on the helm, the car remained unsucessful. Actually the company missed to do new developments, and so this car was basically a Type 57 with a new body - so the car was basically 25 years old when actually came out...

Von Colléction Schlumpf

This Type 101 obviously does not have its original body anymore. It's been redesigned by an italian designer.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Bugatti Type 251
The attempt to build a car for the new 2.5-liter formula ended in a disaster. Although Gioacchimo Colombo - the father of Ferraris pre-1954 12-cyclinder engines - had designed the engine the car lasted only half a race.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Both Ettore Bugatti and his son Jean had died already years ago, and the small company from Molsheim had financial problems and was taken over by Hispano-Suiza in 1963. In 1966 Simca bought Hispano-Suiza, and the brand Bugatti disappeared.

Bugatti EB 16/4 Veyron
Well, yes, it's a Bugatti... In 1987 Romano Artoli founded the Bugatti International Holding in Luxemburg. He knows people who have money. On September 14 and 15 in 1991 the EB110 is being presented on the Place de la Défence in Paris and in the original factory halls in Molsheim. Many former Ferrari and Lamborghini constructors have worked on the car, but the audience misses the connection with the original Bugattis. 139 cars have been built, plus the prototype of the limousine EB112, when in 1995 the company is going bankrupped. Artoli and his crew have created a financial mess.

When it comes to exotic cars, big brands have the advantage: Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maseratti belong to Fiat, Lamborghini once belonged to the Mimram family, before it was sold to Chrysler, then to Mega Tech in Indonesia, and now it belongs to Volkswagen. And Volkswagen also bought the rights of the name Bugatti in 1998. After various design-studies the EB 16/4 Veyron is being presented in 2000, production begins in 2003 in Molsheim - but not in the old factory halls, since they still belong to Hispano-Suiza-Mercier. 16 cylinders, 4 turbochargers, 1001 hp, 406 km/h - that's truly Bugatti-like. Although, not much is left from the myth in this car...

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Ferrari 500 TRC
The Testa Rossa saga began in 1957 and ended in 1962. The concept was to create a competitive open-bodied race-car for gentlemen-drivers, who didn't have the opportunity to race for a factory team. So Testa Rossas were hardly ever operated by the Scuderia Ferrari. The model 500 TRC was actually the last ever Ferrari to have a 4-cylinder engine. The Testa Rossa saga found a follow-up in the timeless ugly 512BB Testarossa from 1984.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Although looking roughly the same, this car is not a Testa Rossa. The bodyshops Scaglietti and Fantuzzi in Modena used the same design from Pinin Farina for several open-bodied racing cars, so it's very difficult to tell the difference. This one could be a 412MM or a 860 Monza.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Ferrari 250 GT Lusso
The Ferrari 250 in all its variants marked the beginning of the Golden Age for the italian company with the jumping horse. Most of the cars were designed by Pininfarina, who's name by then still was Pinin Farina. Ferrari built a so-called rolling chassis with the engine, and sent this to Scagliatti, who built the body of the car and the interior. This particular car already showed typical 1970s elements back in the late fifties.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Ferrari 250 Le Mans
Although not a real 250 model (the number means the ccm per cylindre) but rather a 330, Ferrari tried to cheat the FIA on this one. The car was presented as a race-variant of the 250 SWB from 1959, but really had nothing in common with this one. The FIA found out what had happened, and the car was banned from the 3-litre races. It had to compete with much more powerful opponents, which eventually lead to the legendary P-Series, ending with the 330 P3 and P4.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Alfa Romeo 8C 2,9 A
With the 8C - stands for 8 cylinders - Alfa Romeo presented a new generation of sports cars in 1931. The car first had 2300 ccm, in 1936 the engine was enlarged to 2900 ccm. About 30 cars were made of that type, with some of the most elegant bodies ever seen and very typical for that time.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Arzens La Baleine
Paul Arzens was a French designer who designed many locomotives for the SNCF. Also he constructed two cars: La Baleine and L'Oef. La Baleine was based on the chassis of a Buick, and wich it's streamline shape it was 40 km/h faster than the american original.
This car is not part of the original Colléction Schlumpf, as it was in use until Azens' death in 1990.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Trabant 601
How many people do you need to build a Trabant? 5: Four fold the cardboard, one handles the glue...
This car represents more than anything else the lifestyle in the DDR / GDR. It's twin-stroke engine with 600 ccm produced 27 hp, enough for 107 km/h topspeed.
This car is not part of the original Colléction Schlumpf.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

The Group B Monsters
Ford RS200
Peugeot 205 Turbo 16
In 1984 the FIA introduced a new formula into Rally Sports: Group B. I won't bother you with reglementation details, just so much: Allowed was basically everything, as long as you produced 200+ cars of that model. This lead to this legendary Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, with 500 hp, AWD, and a weight of only 900 kg. The engine was mounted in the middle of the car, behind the driver's and copilot's seat. Technically these cars had absolutely nothing in common with the 'original' 205 that populated european streets in the 80s and 90s, the RS200 never even had a 'brother' for normal street use. Once unleashed, the engine turned the care into a rocket on wheels, hardly controllable by its driver. Many fatal accidents within a very short period forced the FIA to bring this adventure to an end in 1986. Never again have so highly overpowered vehicles entered a rally-track, but the thundering sound of the engines, the puffing of the whastegate-valves and the turbine-like whining of the gearbox still brings goosebumps to fans.
These cars are not part of the original Colléction Schlumpf.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Here's for some Action:

Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster
After the success of the SSL and the W154 forumla cars back in the 30s Mercedes-Benz tried to catch up to the Ferraris and Porsches after WWII. The result was the 300 SL, which was built as coupes and roadsters, both for normal use and for racing.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Porsche 962
In the early 80s Porsche dominated the so-called Group C with the model 956 and its successor 962. The engine was an evolution-version of the original 911 engine.
This car is not part of the original Colléction Schlumpf.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

Audi R8
The successor of the Group C in track racing is todays Le Mans Series. The peak of the series is the 24 heurs du Mans, the 24 hour race. The prototypes are the kings of the road, and Audi won the race 6 times with the R8, plus many more races in total.
This car is not part of the original Colléction Schlumpf.

Von Colléction Schlumpf

PS: I appologize for the messup with the name Franco Sbarro in the first version of this blog, and I want to point it out very clearly here: Franco Sbarro had NOTHING to do with the Bugatti-disaster in the early nineties. He was not involved in the EB110 project. His connection with the name Bugatti is a replica of the Type 41 Royale that has been built until 1983.

PFlight in Alsace

2009-08-07T22:54:00.004+02:00

Let's face the facts: A mobile home is a convenient way to spend your holiday on a camping ground. You fill the car with all the stuff you think you might need, like clothes, food, drinks, toiletry, laptop, camera, bicycle, etc, etc, and then you drive to the camping of your choice. If you're lucky enough they have still some place for your vehicle, so you park it, plug in the electricity, turn on the gas for the kitchen, and there you go. Happy camping!

So far, so good. Now, in my case the car was 5.5 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2.3 meters high. The camping ground wasn't the problem. BUT: Imagine you have to drive that thing somewhere because you want to see some of the beautiful cities in the area! I drove over to the beautiful region of Alsace in France, so the plan was to visit Strasbourg for the European Parliament and of course the huge cathedral, and to visit also Colmar for the famous altar of Isenheim, painted by Matthias Grunewald. Believe it or not: I didn't find any parking place in either city where you can park a car higher than 2 meters for longer than 2 hours!!! And if you park there, you really get ripped off! In Colmar these parkings cost twice the price for a normal car parking...

In Strasbourg I parked the car for two hours, rushed for the cathedral for a couple of pictures, rushed back to the car and left the city in frustration. In Colmar I didn't even park, I was so frustrated after searching for a parking for more than an hour, so I left the city without having even really stopped.

I ended up in Mulhouse that day, at the National Car Museum with the huge 'Collection Schlumpf'. I'll tell you more about that later.

At least I spent two wonderful evenings in the beautiful village of Ribeauville. But the short trip left a bit of a bad taste after what I've experienced. One tends to think 'what do you expect from a land where they eat snails and frogs', but that's unfair since my parents experienced the same in Germany and Spain with the very car.

Here are some pics:

A stork walking around in the camping Pierre de Coubertin in Ribeauville

Von Elsass

Dramatic lighting by a nearing thunderstorm in Ribeauvile

Von Elsass

Ruined castle in the distance

Von Elsass

After the thunderstorm

Von Elsass

The next evening showed 25°C and sunshine

Von Elsass

The famous Metzger tower in Ribeauville

Von Elsass

Beautifully lit house: The light comes from the fassade of the next house, which is also painted yellow

Von Elsass

Full moon rising - some of you might know a similar scene, seen about a year ago in West Van

Von Elsass

The giant Munster of Strasbourg - unbelieveable how they managed to build this a couple of hundred years ago!

Von Elsass

The entrance with the huge round window above it

Von Elsass

Beautiful old house next to the cathedral. It's a restaurant now.

Von Elsass

That's it, hope you liked the pics! Pictures of the Collection Schlumpf and the story to that museum follows later.

The 30 Years Revival Party

2009-07-01T19:45:00.002+02:00

It all started with a briefly mentioned idea at a birthday-party: How about meeting again, the same people, at the same place? People who haven’t met for ages...
For this I have to take you back three and a half decades. In a little village near Baden a new terraced house was finished and young families moved in. Some of them already knew each other briefly, others just met when moving in. Four of the seven families became very close friends, as the parents as well as the kids where of roughly the same age. We, the kids between 2 and 6 years old by then, used to visit each other day in day out, we played at the huge playground and had lots of fun together. From 1979 we spent Whitsun together in a farmhouse in Eastern Switzerland. The last time we did so was 1982, as our family had moved to Staufen in 1980. I lost contact to most of these people in the meantime, and so seeing these folks again was quite interesting.
As well was the weather: The forecast said constant rain from Friday afternoon till Tuesday. But we managed to stay out of the rain whenever we were outside.
But now I’ll let the pictures speak:

Von Grub Revival 2009

The Saentis, the highest mountain in the area:

Von Grub Revival 2009

Impressive cloud over Lake Constance

Von Grub Revival 2009

The house where we had spent Whitsun together 30 years ago:

Von Grub Revival 2009

This is warming you up after a long day in cold weather:

Von Grub Revival 2009

A foggy morning:

Von Grub Revival 2009

Altstätten/SG:

Von Grub Revival 2009

Forgive me for not showing people, I primised'em that.

Recent Work

2009-06-17T21:02:00.005+02:00

It's been a while since my last post, and I want to show you some of my recent pictures.

We had a company-dinner lately. The company gave out two tickets for the Interlaken Green Field Festival (Hard Rock and Heavy Metal), and we organized a little airguitar-contest. For those not knowing what an airguitar is: it's an imaginary guitar that people play at rock-concerts. So here he is: The winner of the tickets, accompanied by Queen & Paul Rodgers.

Last weekend I went to the Botanic Gardens in Zurich. It was a hot and sunny day, and this colorful dragonfly grabbed my attention.

The Jumper

2009-05-18T21:52:00.003+02:00

No comment, just something for fun. I took this at the Bike Days in Solothurn and put 16 pictures of one jump together. Shutter: 1/2000s; Aperture: f:5.6; Rate: 8 pics/s. Therest was 7 hours photoshopping (them bicycles have too many spokes...)

Von Ablagebox

BTW: Can you find the mistake in the picture? Look hard!

About money, politicians, Indians and a cavalry

2009-03-19T22:07:00.004+01:00

Switzerland is a tax-haven. Our politicians take every chance to deny that, but it’s a fact: Property tax is very low here, and we have double-tax contracts with only a few other countries.

The Germans, and especially their financial minister Peer Steinbrück, don’t like this. I don’t blame him. So the OECD came up with the idea, to make a ‘black list’ with all countries that are so called ‘tax haven’. With Switzerland ranking on first place.

Now our politicians started to panic. In order not to be put on that list our financial minister Rudolf Merz announced a week ago that the banker’s discretion shall be weakened. Then first doubts occurred that this special list maybe didn’t even exist. Switzerland was furious.

Peer Steinbrück assumed himself to have been victorious. In an interview he said: ‘You don’t have to send out the cavalry. The Indians only need to know that the cavalry exists!’ (Link is in German) It's a comparison widely used in Germany. In this context the cavalry being the ‘black list’, the Indians being the Swiss. We didn’t like it though – and our parliament fired back with speeches way below the belt. Some referred to Mr. Steinbrück as 'ugly German', others even put him in comparison with the Nazi’s back in the 30’s in Germany.

But today I found out some interesting facts: Steinbrück’s saying refers to the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under the command of General Custer. The Indians are the Hunkpapa-Sioux tribes Cheyenne and Lakota, with their chiefs Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Big Foot. Custer attacked their village at Little Bighorn. Since the heavy cavalry-weapons were inapplicable in the hilly terrain and Custer underestimated the Sioux both in number and tactics, he suffered a crushing defeat.

Having learned this, I must say I’m proud to be referred to as an Indian. Mind your tongue, Mr. Steinbrück, or we might strike back and give you a real whitewash!

Bless you!!!

2009-03-02T16:35:00.001+01:00

Just a short one this time. The famous sneezing panda - in case you haven't seen this yet:

Enjoy!

Just another day at Masoala Rainforrest...

2009-02-20T19:30:00.004+01:00

Finally I got myself a macro lens. And of course I had to try it out immediately. So what better to do than taking the camera to the shop and then leaving for the zoo's giant Masoala building?

At first I was a bit worried since I always struggle keeping the camera still. And with a macro lens of that focal length (105mm) and that aperture (f/2.8) you get a depth of field of only one or two millimeters at miminum distance. See the berry, that's only about 5mm big:

Von Masoalah!

Time for some animals:

Von Masoalah!

How many years of turtle-life do you count on this picture?

Von Masoalah!

After having taken the usual pics of the cameleon and the turtles, I thought it was about time to see something new. It didn't take me long to find a couple of crested couas, and one was kind enough to pose for my camera:

Von Masoalah!

And then something very unusual happened: Normally the lemurs in the masoala building hide in the trees or climb up and down the roof, so you don't really get near them. But today an aloatra gentle lemur appeared upfront of my camera and climbed down the tree very slowly, letting me take several pictures. Things don't get much better than this!!!

Von Masoalah!

Just another Saturday afternoon at the zoo...

2009-02-12T22:46:00.003+01:00

I'll let the pictures talk this time.

Von Zoo 7.2.09

Ben Roethlisberger - or how to get an American back to where he belongs

2009-02-02T13:04:00.002+01:00

It truly was a disastrous weekend for Switzerland. Nothing but bad news...

Let’s look at the WEF: Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkish Prime Minister) left the meeting after a rather loud discussion/argument with Israel’s Prime Minister Ehut Olmert on Thursday evening, and shouted at the audience that he’d never return do Davos anymore. The WEF ended on Sunday evening, with more new questions than old questions answered.

Sports: Men’s Ski-Downhill and Woman’s Super-G on Saturday were cancelled due to fog. Of course no-one wants the athletes to race downhill at speeds of 100+ when you can’t even see the front tips of your own skies. Unfortunately these two races are the only ones of the weekend where Swiss athletes would have had a chance. In the Slaloms the Swiss didn’t even win a flowerpot...

Australia: Roger Federer lost the final of the Australia Open against his all-time rival Rafael Nadal and broke down in tears. Not that tears are a bad thing! I like athletes who show emotions! But Roger’s emotions just showed what the country felt overall after this weekend.

So is there really no good news at all? No.

Uhm, wait a minute! The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl on Sunday! And their Quarterback, Big Ben Roethlisberger, is Swiss! Well, at least he has a Swiss name... Telling from reactions of dozens of journalists all over the country (Switzerland, not the US) you could think the guy really is Swiss. The facts are slightly different: Ben’s great-great-grandfather Karl left Unterfrittenbach in the bernese Emmental (that’s where the cheese with the big wholes comes from) in 1873 for the US. It was the time of the industrial revolution, when unemployment was very high in Switzerland and the government gave everyone CHF 100.—who decided to leave the country for good.

When the Steelers won the Super Bowl the last time in 2005 (where didn’t really matter), Ben was invited to visit the small village of his ancestor in the Emmental – before that he probably couldn’t even point out that tiny little cheese-and-chocolate-country on the map...

To cut a long thing short: The Swiss feel so bad after this disastrous weekend, that we have to be proud of a Football Superstar with Swiss roots, who’s even more American than President Barack Obama...

Kitzbuhel / Austria 2009

2009-01-24T18:27:00.005+01:00

140 km/h (93 mph) is one hell of a speed. In Switzerland you're only allowed to drive 120 on the highway. In Kitzbuhel in Austria the ski-professionals are racing up to 143 km/h on their skis. Kitzbuhel is the steepest downhill-ski-slope in the world, the fastest, and definitely one of the most difficult and dangerous. At that speed if things go wrong, they really go wrong. As Swiss skier Daniel Albrecht found out on Friday morning:

Listen to the commentary from the two Austrian journalists - you don't have to be fluent in German /Austrian to understand how shocked they were by the crash.
At the moment Daniel's in hospital in intensive care, kept in coma to prevent stress causing brain damage. As far as the doctors can say he'll survive, but they don't know about permanent injuries now. May he get well soon!
Just two days later the main race was held, won by another Swiss, Didier Defago, who just won the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen a week earlier.

Congratulations!

The Glory (????) of the Human Voice

2009-01-10T14:49:00.003+01:00

Between Xmas and New Year I converted all my 400+ CD's to MP3 for my iPod. Working as a salesman in a CD-store back in the early 90's I happen to have some collector's items which I came across again now. I'd like to show you some of them.

Warning: If you're a musician with a discriminating ear, then DON'T watch the second video in this post as it might be ototoxic for you!!!!!

Note the questionmarks in the title. What I'm going to show you gives you a completely different look at singers.

If you're a regular reader of my blog you will remember the post about the English salesman who sang an aria in a talent show. Here comes the opposite: Florence Foster Jenkins was an American 'singer' who started her career in 1912 and died in 1944. All her relatives and friends advised her not to sing. But when her father died and she inherited several million dollars, she funded her singing career. Her concert were very rare, normally once a year she would sing at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York. Only one month before her death she sang at Carnegie Hall in New York. The audience was always chosen by herself in personal interviews, so it wasn't easy to get a ticket. The concerts were always sold out, and people left with tears in their eyes - tears of laughter, where as FFJ thought it was tears of emotion. Once a critic stated that she 'didn't let herself get terrorize by the intention of the composers'.

To give you a reference what I'm talking about, here's 'Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen' from Mozart's Magic Flute, sung by Diana Damrau, a German opera-singer. The aria itself is a real tester. It's one of the most difficult pieces to sing in classical music:

And here, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the one and only Florence Foster Jenkins with her version of the same aria. Note her complete lack of rhythm, pitch, tone, and overall singing ability:

Welcome to the year 2009

2009-01-08T22:11:00.002+01:00

Here's a selection of pictures I took between Xmas and the New Year:

Staufen has an Advent calendar every year. People from the village create one window for each day, this year I found this one the best.

Von Jahreswechsel 08-09

Although it got freezing cold on New Years Eve - the streets were basically ice-rinks - I went up the hill in our village to see the bonfire.
Lighting the fire up

Von Jahreswechsel 08-09

Lots of smoke at first...

Von Jahreswechsel 08-09

It's slowly starting to get hot

Von Jahreswechsel 08-09

On fire!

Von Jahreswechsel 08-09

The next day showed winter in all its beauty - time for a nice shot of a blackbird eating holly-berries.

Von Jahreswechsel 08-09

And last but not least: A whiteheaded maki at the zoo in Zurich wishes you all a Happy New Year!

Von Jahreswechsel 08-09

The Sixdays of Zurich

2008-12-15T21:57:00.005+01:00

The Sixdays of Zurich have a tradition that goes on for ages. This kind of bicycle race is actually quite a big deal all over Central Europe.

The formula is this: You have bicycle races for six nights, each from eight in the evening till two in the morning. The main races are being held by 12 teams with 2 riders each, so you see the teams in about 6 different races each night. The main races are:

L'Américaine / Madison: All teams are on the circuit, one rider each races, the other one rides on ‘standby’. Each ten laps there is a sprint, the whole race lasts 125 laps. Teams change riders on their own discretion. Speeds up to about 60 km/h.

Von sixdays

Team Pursuit: Something like the above, but since the race is shorter it gets much more hectic. Rider changes are more frequent. Speeds up to 70 km/h.

Von sixdays

Derny: Racing behind a pacemaker. Each rider had a pacemaker on a small motorbike (the Derny), and has to tell him how fast he’s able to go. 75 laps, one rider change, and extremely enthralling duels. Speeds up to 80 km/h. The catch is: The bigger (and fatter) the pacemaker is, the easier is the job for the rider.

Von sixdays

After each night the accounts are being made, and who has the most points after six night wins... Easy, isn’t it?

Not to forget are the fringe events, like the dancing barmaids at the Caipirinha bar...

Von sixdays

Enjoy the pics – and excuse their poor quality, I only had my compact with me and the light was pretty dark.

Happy time

2008-11-10T20:51:00.003+01:00

Finally the stress of the past 2 1/2 months is over, and I have 2 weeks to recover. The initial plan was to have 2 weeks vacation on my own and maybe with my brother who planned to go to Africa for a while. But plans can change, and so did this.

First: My brother went yesterday, and not only for a while, but for at least 18 months, probably even 2 years. Read his blog - if you can read in German...

Second, my dear friend Natasha is staying in Germany for three months, and we eventually made plans for her to come over for a couple of days - which happened today! I'm so extremely excited!!!!

Chinese bubbles in space

2008-10-24T08:15:00.003+02:00

The Chinese are a very proud race. Actually they're so proud that their pride sometimes stands in their way. This can either end in tears, but that's not what I want to show you. I want to make you laugh.
About a month ago the Chinese sent a couple of Taikonauts (Chinese for astronaut) into space. The Chinese were very proud of that, as it was their second mission where they sent men into space. In fact they were so very proud that they even published a news-story including the detailed dialogue between the Taikonauts - hours before the spaceship even left the ground. Read the AP-story about this.
Now, it seems that this wasn't the only goof in Chinese publicity for this mission. Watch the video below: Right at the beginning - in the first one or two seconds - you can see an air bubble rising from the exit for the Taikonaut. This phenomenom appears again at minutes 5.52, 6.44 and 7.19. I havent't been in space myself yet - and probably never will - but this is the first time I've seen something like this.

I want to make something clear: I don't doubt that the Chinese actually were in space. Several nations are watching the skies, they would have told the Chinese not to tell lies. But to me it seems like the space-walk was re-performed (or pre-performed?) in a water tank. Maybe something happened to the original video - or there wasn't any? Or the Taikonauts never really left their space ship? The last possibility is, that the Chinese have filmed a phenomenon that no-one has ever seen before. Questions and questions... We will probably never know the answer.

Queen & Paul Rodger

2008-10-18T11:38:00.004+02:00

I know I’ve been awful quiet for the past few weeks. There are several reasons for this. For one I’ve just been too busy at work – I had an exhibition in Germany for a weekend in September, and then we had our own exhibition for three weekends in our company. So spare time was very limited. For the other reason: I’ve been busy learning HTML and relating stuff. What this means might be pretty clear – think fast! (Sorry for the dig...)
But here I am, back at blogging and photographing!
It’s been almost three weeks now that Queen & Paul Rodgers played their concert in Zurich’s Hallenstadion. And as a big Queen and Bad Company-Fan it was clear for me to get tickets for me and a friend.
The sound was great, the band played lots of old Queen songs (which I still managed to sing along), some songs from Free and Bad Company (Paul’s former bands), and also some songs from the new album The Cosmos Rocks.
Here are some impressions:

Von Queen & Paul Rodgers

Concert video taken in 2005 - Queen rocks with Paul Rodgers:

Concert video taken in 2008 - Queen play Bad Company:

Ugly bloke with one hell of a voice

2008-09-13T13:28:00.001+02:00

He was the perfect winner of Britain’s Got Talent-show: Ugly bloke with wry teeth, and a nervous wreck when he has to face a camera. But what a voice!!! There are rumours that Luciano Pavarotti himself has taught him singing like that. Just sit back and look/listen to that:

CERN, LHC and Black Holes - or: What has happened and what has not (yet) happened

2008-09-10T21:23:00.003+02:00

Today the CERN launched its largest experiment yet: After 15 year of planning and a 6 billion Euro investment just to build the 'Large Hadron Colider' (LHC) the scientists started two streams of protons. Those two streams are now being accelerated up to almost the speed of light, which will take several weeks. By the time these protons travel at target speed - and everything is still stable in the experiment - the scientists will lead them onto collision course. The aim is to get several protons to collide and produce an effect similar to what the scientists believe happened shortly after the Big Bang. So far, the machine has just been started and is now running on idle. There hasn't been any collision of protons yet.

But there is also a catch: When two protons collide there is a possibility that a black hole appears. Black holes are generally known as fields of immense gravitation, strong enough to suck everything in and crush the atoms of all matter. I've heard stories about black holes that could shrink the earth to the size of a tennis ball - please don't hold me responsible if this is not true. Since the whole process at the CERN experiment is rather abstract and 'normal' humans can't really describe everything I do understand fears about the nearing end of the world.

The CERN guys try to wipe away those concerns - obviously. Tiny little black holes appear everywhere in the universe - some even here on earth. And none of these has ever sucked in the earth because they only last for very short time.

Personally I'm confident on what the CERN guys say. I don't think the earth will disappear with a huge firework in October. If it does, it's been a big show.

Here's some clips and facts I found on the web today.

And this is what happens if something goes wrong on the experiment:

The End of the World

2008-09-10T07:56:00.000+02:00

Today is the first day of the end of the world. What makes me think of that? The following event: Today the Nuclear Research Centre in Geneva (CERN) is starting an experiment which results in a tiny little black hole.

Several scientists – namely some that are not working at the CERN – have addressed their conCERNs to the world that this experiment could very easily result in a black hole that could not be controlled and would eventually eat up Geneva, Switzerland and then the rest of the world. Therefore this experiment should not start – according to those scientists.

Now, the CERN is probably the absolute research centre when it comes to nuclear stuff. So if there is a bunch of scientists who can handle this it’s definitely the ones in Geneva. Therefore I don’t have any worries that we will be sucked into that black hole in Geneva this moooaaaaaaaahhhhhrrrgggg!!!

See you tomorrow in the next world.

Work, Photoshop and Germany

2008-09-05T20:09:00.005+02:00

The first two weeks are done. Well, almost. I don't have a weekend really, since tomorrow morning our team leaves for Friedrichshafen for an exhibition. But I'll have a day off on Monday. I don't know what I'll do, but photography is definitely an option.
I learned a lot about retouching in Photoshop lately. I bought a bunch of tutorial-DVD's of respected Photoshop professionals, and seeing their workflow actually on screen is by far better than just reading it in magazines and books.
One example is this self-portrait that I just did within half a hour with several layers, masks and filters, and a technique called 'Dodge&Burn' by Calvin Hollywood. It shows the PFlight presenting the latest trend in MTB freestyle-fashion (I mean the beanie, not the glasses...) according to a big Japanese cycling-company.

Coming Home

2008-08-22T14:44:00.003+02:00

Deutsch
Ich bin wieder zuhause. Viel verändert hat sich nicht. Die Häuser, die um uns herum gebaut werden, sind etwas weiter in der Fertigstellung, aber sonst ist alles noch wie vorher.

Letzte Woche habe ich noch einen Rundflug zu den Gulf Islands gebucht, mit Harbour Air. Ich war Gast auf einem Post- und Taxiflug nach Salt Spring Island und Maple Bay. Es war ein wunderschöner Morgen mit einem Hauch von Nebel in der Ferne.

Am Freitag besuchte ich mit ET das Vancouver Aquarium im Stanley Park. Mitten im wunderschönen Park gelegen, gibt's nicht nur Fische zu sehen: Diesen Sommer ist eine Langzeit-Ausstellung über Amphibien, und es gibt auch einen Raum mit exotischen Schmetterlingen. Und natürlich haben wir auch das kleine Beluga-Kalb gesehen.

Am Morgen des letzten Tages fuhren wir nach Granville Island. Mir gefiel der überdachte Markt am Besten, und auch der Wasserpark für die Kinder. Am Nachmittag trafen wir Mausi, und zum Dinner trafen wir eine weitere von ET's Freundinnen. Anschliessend genossen wir einen wunderschönen Sonnenuntergang - und einen nicht weniger spektakulären Vollmond über der Lion's Gate Bridge.

Der Abschied von ET und Kanada ist mir erstaunlicherweise weniger schwer gefallen als andere Abschiede. Woran das lag kann ich nicht genau sagen. Normalerweise bin ich derjenige, der sich nach der Heimkehr in der Wohnung einschliesst, das Radio anmacht und dann heulend zusammenbricht. ET hat's am Flughafen ganz schön deftig erwischt, ich bin ehrlich gesagt etwas erschrocken darüber und habe den ganzen Flug über ein wenig ein schlechtes Gewissen gehabt sie wieder alleine ihren Problemen und Herausforderungen zu überlassen. Ich hingegen gehe nächste Woche wieder meiner Arbeit nach, die mir Spass macht.

Mir bleibt im Moment nur noch, mich vollständig von meinem Mörder-Jetlag zu erholen - ja, den spüre ich auch nach 4 Tagen noch - und Euch noch ein paar letzte Bilder zu zeigen. Die kompletten Alben können hier betrachtet werden.

English
Back home again. Not much has changed, though. The houses that are being built around ours got a bit further in the making, but everything else is like it used to be.

Last week I booked a scenic flight to the gulf islands with Harbour Air. Actually I was the guest on a mail run and taxi flight to Salt Spring Island and Maple Bay. It was a great morning, no clouds, and a nice layer of haze in the distance.

Friday ET and I went to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. It's a really nice place, and there's not only fish to see: This summer they have an exhibition about amphibians, also there's a room with lots of exotic butterflies. And of course there's the Beluga Cub which we also saw.

The last day was dedicated to Granville Island. I mostly liked he indoor market, and the children's water park. In the afternoon we met Mausi, and for dinner we met up with another of ET's friends for a nice outdoor dinner and a great sunset - including the rising of the full moon over Lion's Gate Bridge.

For me, leaving ET and Canada wasn't as difficult as it used to be on other leaves. I can't say why this is so. Normally I'm the one locking myself up in my flat after the returning, turning the radio on and then break down and cry. It hit ET quite hard at the airport, and to be honest, I was a bit terrified about that. On the flight back a bad conscience took over about leaving her alone with her problems and challenges to deal with, while next week I will be going back to my work that I love.

What's left with me is a killer-jetlag still 4 days after my returning - and showing you some last pictures. The complete albums can be viewed here.

Victoria

2008-08-16T04:14:00.004+02:00

Deutsch

Eigentlich war der Plan ja gewesen, mit Susan und Ray nach Tofino zu fahren und dort zu campen. Einiges hat dann aber dagegen gesprochen und so war schon Anfangs letzter Woche klar, dass wir in der Gegend von Victoria bleiben würden. Genug zu sehen soll es dort auch geben, wurde mir gesagt.

Wie ich in den folgenden vier Tagen herausfand, ist das auch wahr. Ich will deshalb diesmal gar nicht gross Worte verlieren, sondern vor allem die Bilder sprechen lassen. Viel Spass!

English

Actually the plan was to go camping at Tofino with Susan and Ray. Several things then cropped up and so it was clear by the beginning of last week that we would stay in the Victoria area. There would be plenty to see as they told me.

And as I found out the following days it is very much so. Hence I don’t want to talk too much today and rather let pictures speak.

Rumkommen / Getting around

2008-08-08T00:41:00.003+02:00

Die ersten paar Tage habe ich also (üb-)erlebt. An den Verkehr hier muss man sich erst einmal gewöhnen: Vortrittsregeln für Fussgängergelten hier nur, wenn der Autofahrer gut gelaunt ist. Also besser 2x schauen und erst dann loslaufen wenn der Autofahrer wirklich angehalten hat.
Bin am Sonntag in Downtown Vancouver gewesen mit ET. Wir sind durch Gastown spaziert, haben die Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Gardens in Chinatown besucht - jedenfalls den Teil wo man keinen Eintritt zahlen muss - und sind danach über Yaletown zur Waterfront bei Coal Harbour gelaufen. Es ist schon seltsam: Da geht man durch eine Kanadische Stadt und fühlt sich fast schon wie in Singapur: Es hat enorm viele Asiaten hier, und nicht nur in Chinatown. Am Coal Harbour habe ich dann nicht schlecht gestaunt: Harbour Air unterhält hier eine Flotte von alten DHC-2 Beavers und DHC-3 Turbine Otters. Also Flugzeuge die bis zu 60 Jahre alt sind. (Noch mehr gestaunt habe ich dann am Abend, als die Nachricht einer abgestürzten Grumman Goose am Fernsehen kam: Ein Flieger aus den 30-ern.)

Montag - BC-Day! British Columbia wird 150 Jahre alt. Der Premier von BC sowie der Premier von Kanada sind in Victoria und gratulieren der Provinz in bester Politiker-Manier zum Geburtstag. Ganz BC hat einen freien Tag, und den nutzen wir um ein wenig zu radeln. Es gibt einen wunderschönen Radweg um den Stanley Park. Der Weg verläuft meist direkt am Ufer, auf der anderen Seite hat man dann den Wald oder die steilen Felsen des Parks. Quizfrage: Wie schafft man ein schweres Fahrrad die steile Strasse zu ET's Zuhause hoch? Richtig: Man schiebt - oder nimmt den Bus. Jeder Bus hier hat einen Fahrradträger vorne am Kühlergrill, der 2 Fahrräder aufnehmen kann und den man gratis nutzen kann. Man muss bloss schnell genug sein, die Räder wieder runterzunehmen bevor der Bus weiterfährt - besonders wenn man die hintere Tür benutzt hat… Abends haben wir dann noch einen kurzen Spaziergang durch die nähere Umgebung gemacht und einen eindrücklichen Sonnenuntergang erlebt.

Grouse Mountain - the Peak of Vancouver! Darauf habe ich mich lange gefreut! Die Aussicht ist wirklich atemberaubend, an klaren Tagen sieht man sogar den Mount Baker im US-Bundesstaat Washington, etwa 110km entfernt. Vom Besucherzentrum aus hat man freien Zugang zu verschiedenen Shows (Lumber-Jack Wettbewerb, Raubvogel-Show, Grizzly-Gehege) und kann den steilen Weg ganz zum Gipfel hoch laufen. Von dort ist die Aussicht noch besser. Wieder im Besucherzentrum haben wir uns die Lumber-Jack Show und die Vogel-Schau angesehen und ein paar hübsche Bilder der fliegenden Vögel gemacht. Nach einer Sessellift-Rundfahrt sind wir mit der Gondel wieder nach unten gefahren und haben noch einen kurzen Blick ins Wolfsgehege geworfen. Zwar haben wir die Wölfe gesehen, allerdings sind die nur faul rumgelegen. Kein Wunder bei schwülen 26°… Die Busfahrt nachhause war ein Erlebnis der besonderen Art: Nach wenigen hundert Metern wurden alle Fahrgäste gebeten auszusteigen, da der Bus Probleme mit den Bremsen habe. Glücklicherweise befindet sich der Capalino-See - Vancouvers Süsswasser-Reservoir - mit dem eindrücklichen Cleveland Damm gleich um die Ecke, so dass wir die 35 Minuten Wartezeit etwas kurzweiliger verbringen konnten. ET konnte ihr Missfallen über die Angelegenheit mit dem Bus allerdings nicht ganz verbergen.

Den Mittwoch habe ich dann vor allem mit Faulenzen und Bildbearbeitung verbracht, und heute habe ich Waschtag. Morgen Freitag geht's dann nach Victoria auf Vancouver Island - mal sehen, was uns da erwartet. Susan und Ray werden uns fahren, das wird bestimmt lustig!

So I survived the first couple of days here. You really have to get used to the traffic here: ROW for pedestrians is only valid when car-drivers are in the mood of the year. So better watch out twice and wait for the car to come to a complete stop before you cross the street.
Went downtown with ET on Sunday. We walked throught Gastown, visited the free part of Dr. Sun Yet-sen Classical Gardens in Chinatown, and then walked via Yaletown to the Waterfront at Coal Harbour. It really irritated me a bit: You visit a Canadian city and feel like you're in Singapore. There's an enormous amount of Asian people around here, and not only in Chinatown. Coal Harbour held another surprise for me: Harbour Air operates a fleet of old DHC-2 Beavers and DHC-3 Turbine Otters. Planes of an age up to 60 years. (The bigger surprise came with the evening-news, as a Grumman Goose had crashed: A plane built in the 1930's.)
Monday - BC-Day! British Columbia turns 150. The premier ministers of BC and Canada came to Victoria and congratulated the province in best politician-manner. BC has its day off and we take a bicycle ride. There's a nice cycling-path around Stanley Park. The path leads mostly directly along the coast, on the other side there's the forest and steep cliffs of the park. Have a guess: How do you get the heavy bicycle back up to the place where ET lives? Right: You push it uphill - or you take the bus. Every bus has a bicycle rack attached to the front , where you can put up to two bicycles for free. Just make sure you get them back off quick enough - especially when you used the back door of the bus... In the evening we took a little night walk in the closer area and saw an impressive sunset.
Grouse Mountain - the Peak of Vancouver! I was particularly looking forward to this one! The view really is breathtaking, on clear days you can even see Mount Baker in Washington State / USA, about 110km away. From the visitors centre there's free access to several shows (lumberjack contest, birds of prey, grizzly bears) and you can take the steep climb to the very top. From up there the view is even better. Back to the visitors centre we went to the lumberjack show and the bird show, where I took a couple of nice pics of the flying birds. After a round-trip with the chair lift we took the cable car back down again and took a glance of the wolves. Yes, the wolves were there, but we only saw them lying around. No wonder, at a humid 26° day... The bus-trip back home was an experience for itself: After a few corners the driver ordered everyone to disembark, because the bus seemed to have a problem with the breaks. Fortunately we were just a few steps away from Lake Capilano - where Vancouver has its fresh water from - and the impressive Cleveland Dam. That made the 35 minutes of waiting a bit easier. Still ET couldn't hide her disapproval about the bus-incident.
I spent Wednesday lazing around and processing my pictures, and today is laundry-day. Tomorrow we'll be off to Vancouver Island - we'll see what awaits us there. Susan and Ray will drive us, so that will be funny!

2008-08-04T06:34:00.000+02:00

Tag 1 an meinem Ferien-Ort. Das erste Mal dass ich die Umgebung bei Tag gesehen habe. Als ich am Freitagabend nach 20-Stunden Reise endlich angekommen bin, war es bereits dunkel. Ich erinnere mich nur noch wage an eine wahrscheinlich halbstündige Fahrt durch eine Stadt, die auch London oder Edinburgh hätte heissen können. Nahe ETs Haus hätten wir dann noch beinahe einen Waschbären umgefahren. Die Viecher haben offensichtlich gar keine Angst vor Menschen oder grossen Autos.
OK, Samstagmorgen. Nach 8 Stunden im Koma bin ich morgens um 6 aufgewacht und musste mich zuerst wieder zu erinnern versuchen wo ich war und andere wichtige Dinge wie etwa meinen Namen, wo oben und unten ist usw…
Nach einer angenehmen Dusche und einem wunderbaren Frühstück mit ET schauten wir erst einmal nach dem Wetter (ich habe bestes Sommerwetter aus der Schweiz mitgebracht) und gingen danach in der näheren Umgebung einkaufen. Wir waren wohl die einzigen in der ganzen Umgebung von Vancouver zu Fuss zum Einkaufen gingen - was ein normaler Kanadier ist nimmt sogar für 200 Meter das Auto…
Nachdem wir dann den Nachmittag an den Northshore Docks verbracht hatten sind wir abends mit ETs Freunden ein echtes amerikanisches Steak essen gegangen. Die fragen da nicht einfach danach wie durch das Fleisch sein soll - man muss sich auch noch entscheiden für wie viele durchschnittliche Europäer die Mahlzeit gerechnet sein sollte. Meine war für mindestens 2 gerechnet, entsprechend viel hab ich dann auch übrig gelassen…
Zum Schluss sahen wir uns noch das Abschluss-Feuerwerk vom Vancouver Festival of Light an. Ein gelungener Tag - und ich war danach wieder so geschafft wie am Abend zuvor nach meiner Ankunft.

Day 1 in my new holiday-resort. The first time seeing the environment in daylight. When I arrived here on Friday evening after a 20-hour journey it was already dark. I vague remember a probably 30-minute drive through a city that could also have been called London or Edinburgh. Close to ET's house we almost knocked down a raccoon. These critters don't seem to be much afraid of humans or big cars.
Anyway, Saturday morning. After being in coma for about 8 hours I woke up at 6 in the morning and tried to remember where I was and other important things like my name, where's up and down...
After a decent shower and a wonderful breakfast with ET we watched the weather-channel (I brought best summer-weather from Switzerland) and went shopping in the closer area. We were probably the only ones walking to the shops - what's a real Canadian takes the car for 200 meters...
In the afternoon we took a walk to the Northshore Docks and then went having a real American steak in the evening, together with ET's friends. They don't only ask you how you'd like your steak to be done - you also have to decide for how many average Europeans the meal should be. Mine was for at least two, as I could tell from the leftovers...
The day ended with us going to see the fireworks of the last day of Vancouver's Festival of Light. Through and through a good day - and I was bushed after that like 24 hours before...

Sprachen / Languages

2008-08-03T02:33:00.000+02:00

Deutsch:
Schon John Wayne sagte: "Ein PFlight muss tun was ein PFlight tun muss." So war es natürlich nur eine Frage der Zeit dass ich einmal nach Kanada reisen würde um meine Brieffreundin ET in Vancouver zu besuchen. Und nun ist es endlich soweit.
Ich bin also in Kanada angekommen. Irgendwie war ich blauäugig genug zu denken, hier sei alles wie in einem Hollywood-Film, schliesslich sind die kanadischen Metropole meist keine 200 km von der Grenze zu den USA entfernt. Weit gefehlt… Das fängt schon bei der Sprache an: Hier wird Englisch und Französisch gesprochen - und nicht unbedingt in dieser Reihenfolge. Daran muss man sich erst mal gewöhnen. Auch daran, dass mit dem schweizerischen Schulstuben-Französisch hier nicht viel anzufangen ist. Eine kleine Anekdote dazu:

Ich stieg in Montreal ("Mo-real") aus dem Flieger und wurde an der Passkontrolle von einem äusserst freundlichen Zollbeamten fast schon herzlich begrüsst. Nach diesem Aufsteller dachte ich, der PFlight2000 sei nun bereit für Kanada. Also zum nächsten Hähnchen-Grill und eine Mahlzeit bestellt:

PFlight: "Hi! I'd like a Chicken Club Burger Meal."
Verkäuferin: "%?&?#@??$¤???"
PFlight: ".......hä?"

Das Kanadische Französisch lässt sich am Besten so beschreiben: Man stelle sich einen Amerikaner vor, der mit seinem furchtbarsten Akzent versucht Französisch zu sprechen, aber des Wortschatzes nur zum Teil mächtig ist. Wenn dann die Quebekians versuchen Englisch zu sprechen funktioniert es genau andersrum…

English:
As John Wayne once said: "A PFlight's gotta do what a PFlight's gotta do." So it was just a matter of time that I was going to visit my friend ET in Vancouver. And now this time has come.
So I arrived in Canada. Somehow I was stupid enough to think everything would be like in the Hollywood movies, as most of the major Canadian cities are located less than 200 km from the border to the USA. Wrong! Even the language: Here in Canada people speak French and English - and not necessarily in that order. You have to get used to that. Also because the French they speak over here doesn't have much in common with our Swiss French. A little story to that:

I got off the plane in Montreal and a very friendly customs officer welcomed me. This was good enough to enlighten my mood drastically and I thought I was ready for Canada. So off I went to the next chicken grill and ordered a meal:

PFlight: "Hi! I'd like a Chicken Club Burger Meal."
Chicken grill lady: "%?&?#@??$¤???"
PFlight: ".......what?"

The Canadian French can be described best as: An American trying to speak French with his worst accent and lacking some words. When Quebecois speak English this works the other way round...

Flying to Canada

2008-07-24T21:58:00.000+02:00

I can’t believe it’s only one week before my first big leave after 2002. Then it was Singapore, now it will be Vancouver to visit my friend ET. I have no idea, what to expect. But I’m slightly nervous about 14 hours of flight. I received a few good advices from several people. But the customs-check...

The Girl

2008-07-16T21:13:00.000+02:00

A couple of days ago I did a portrait-session with a work mate. Neither she nor I had any experience with this, so it was a First for both of us. The session went very well, she was extremely patient and played along better than I was hoping. Here are some examples - after some work in Photoshop.

The Birds

2008-07-06T13:20:00.000+02:00

Although there are several building sites around our house and thus the noise level is rather high, I have spotted at least 3 bird-families raising their young. The cutest ones I find the swallows: Their five chicks have just fully fledged but still are a bit toddling. Today I got the chance to take a couple of heart-warming pictures.

I hope, you like those pics as much as I do!

At the zoo

2008-06-28T17:24:00.000+02:00

Ok, it's been already three weeks now that I attended a foto-class at the zoo in Zurich. But I just focused on other things these three weeks. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag right now, since things are still in the making.

The course was actually really interesting, though my camera didn't play along. The teacher, a well-known animal-photographer in Switzerland, lent me one of his lenses, a 70-200mm F2.8 VR. But my camera wasn't able to focus correctly with that lens, and so all pictures I did with this one got blurred. Nonetheless I'm convinced that this is probably one of the next lenses I'll get for my camera - if I get to save enough money, since it costs about as much as the D300 itself... But next will definitely be a decent macro-lens. :)

But here you go: One of Masoala's giant turtles, taken with my own 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 VRII. The limited aperture-setting leads to slight motion-blur even though VRII is doing a very good job. You may not see it: That thing is about 1m long, far more than 150kg and close to 100 year old! I like the mirror-effect on the water pretty much... :)

10 years after: Bullet train hits bridge

2008-06-03T22:16:00.000+02:00

Bullet trains got their name from their look. The first bullet train, the Japanese Shikansen Express, really looked like the bullet of a gun. Today those trains can go faster than 300 km/h, and in France they actually do. What can happen if something goes wrong was brought to our mind exactly 10 years ago at the small town of Eschede in Germany:

The wheel of the first passenger car of an ICE train lost its rim, which got stuck within the passenger cabin. Instead of engaging the emergency brake, the passenger sitting next to the site called a conductor. Meanwhile the rim grabbed a piece of a track switch, also slamming it through the passenger compartment, and then changed the setting of another switch – while the train crossing it. So now the train was rolling on two tracks. Just a few hundred meters ahead was a road bridge across the tracks, with a pier placed exactly between the two tracks the train was rolling on, still with 200 km/h. The pier got more or less pulverized; the bridge collapsed and buried car no. 5 underneath itself. The other 7 cars and the rear motor car jack-knifed like a folding ruler into the pile of the collapsed bridge and the completely flattened car underneath.

101 people died, more than 80 were injured, some of them so severely that they still can’t live without medical help. Those responsible for the accident have never been called to account. The Deutsche Bahn payed 30’000 Deutsch Mark for every lost soul – a cold comfort.
Let’s hope those lost souls rest in peace now.

Read the story here.

Masoala in Zurich / Introducing a new toy

2008-05-04T22:14:00.000+02:00

A zoo can be a very sad place. All the animals locked up in cages not bigger than a couple of telephone-cells – for those who still remember what a telephone-cell is. The zoo in Zurich had to deal with a considerable loss of visitors probably due to the lack of modernisation of its facilities. So they came up with a completely new idea: Why not build a hall as big as two ice-hockey stadiums and plant rain-forest in there? All the animals that live in such a rain-forest should also live in that hall, and the visitors can walk through the hall on walk-ways and see the animals without glass or metal bars in between. Of course some animals were considered too dangerous for such an exhibition, so no tigers, poisonous snakes and other ‘fierce creatures’ were let in the hall. The whole project is called ‘Masoala’, as is the name of the rain-forest in Madagascar. See some impressions here...

Chameleon catching a fly

Gecko posing for the picture

Unknown bird - there are hundreds of these orange things!!!

Chameleon stalking

With this post I’m also introducing a new toy of mine. Yes, I did it: I bought the brand new Nikon D300. Although it's a rather expensive camera, I think it's worth each penny. It took me some time to get familiar with it, but now, after almost a month, I know what the main menues are - of course I still haven't tested all the 400 or so sub-menues... See sample-pictures here.

Sparrow greeting a snail

Dragon-head flower - can't remember the correct name...

Cherry-tree

Flightforum Flight Rally / Spacecaptain Claude Nicollier

2008-05-01T19:55:00.000+02:00

It’s April and the Flightforum has carried out the annual flight-rally. This year’s destination was the airfield La Blecherette at Lausanne. It was the seventh rally, and this year we had 60 planes taking part. And as if it was magic: The seventh time the weather was with us!

I flew with my ‘long time rally-pilot’ Jeff again this year, a man who earns his money flying A321’s for a large German carrier, and a man who emanates confidence like no other pilot I’ve ever met flying a small plane. This time we flew with HB-KOE, a french Robin DR-400 equiped with the latest avionics. Also joining us were Melanie, Jeff’s girlfriend, and Martin, one of my former YMCA-mates.

We took off in Birrfeld and headed south first, towards Lucerne. Turning right we passed the Pilatus Mountain, the airfields Alpnach, Kägiswil and Meiringen. Next we passed Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen and entered the Jungfrau Region. The flight track then lead us over the Schilthorn and Gruyerre. Then Jeff asked Martin who sat in the co-pilots seat to take over the controls – Martin was happy as a clown, as this was his first time flying an airplane on his own. We followed the motorway towards Vevey and then entered Lausanne airspace and enqueued the Lausanne approach pattern. After an interesting landing on the upward sloped strip we taxied to our parking and took a short look at the other planes.

The highlight of this year’s rally was a lecture of four-time Space Shuttle astronaut Claude Nicollier. The lecture was very interesting and held a wealth of information about the Space Shuttle and its missions. Mr. Nicollier also brought in funny things like: ‘There are written procedures for everything in the space shuttle – even for using the toilet...’

On the way back we flew more or less directly to Birrfeld. We overflew Romont, passed by Fribourg, did a circle over Bern and Staufen and then landed safely at our homebase. Our team will most probably fly together again next year - unless Jeff has other duty with a larger plane.

Lucerne with the famous Chapell-Bridge

North face of the Eiger

Turning final at Lausanne La Blecherette

The Bundeshaus at Bern - including about 8'000 people who demonstrated for a free Tibet

Claude Nicollier and me

See the whole album here.

Mark Knopfler

2008-04-15T21:32:00.000+02:00

Well, I didn’t REALLY know what to expect from that: Mark Knopfler, former head and singer/guitar player from Dire Straits, was to play in Zurich. Of course I know all the old DS-Songs. Of course I know several songs from his solo-albums. But actually seeing one of the biggest guitar heroes of all times is something different. And just as unspectacular his music seems at the first instance the concert begun: Lights out – band’s on stage. No big intro, no laser beams, no films on an oversize silver screen. Just 7 guys on stage who instantly begin to play. And they played. And played. And played. It was only after 2 hours and 15 minutes when they finally left the stage – it’s been quite a while since I have seen a concert during that long.
After 5 or 6 songs from his solo-career Mark began to play several old DS songs. What It Is, Romeo and Juliet, Telegraph Road, Sultans of Swing and others. The audience couldn’t get enough, and we got more of it. Amongst the encores was Brothers in Arms, a song about the Falkland war fought by the UK in 1983.
What had begun as a very wet and demoralising day ended with a wonderful music-event that I will always remember.
I took these pictures last night in Zurich, no comment on the videos.

Spring...?!

2008-03-24T20:51:00.000+01:00

Monday, March 24, 2008.
Spring started 4 days ago. And now this:

0° C, snow. Funny, we didn’t have that much snow throughout all winter...

Tuskany Tuna

2008-03-22T23:37:00.000+01:00

Here’s my 2008 spring recipe, quantum for 4 people:

4 big tuna steaks
Salt and pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
Some olive oil
2 sticks celery
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
100g black olives
500g peeled tomatoes
1 roll of parsley
2 bay leafs
2 spoons of capers
20 leafs of basil
100ml dry white wine

Pour the lemon juice over the tuna steaks, put them back into the fridge.

Cut the celery into small pieces, chop onion, garlic and parsley. Also cut the tomatoes into little pieces, cut the olives in half and take out the stone. Steam the celery, onion, garlic and parsley in olive oil. Add the tomatoes, olives, capers, bay leafs and the wine. Let it boil gently for at least 30 minutes, but no longer than 45 minutes.

Spice the tuna with salt and pepper, fry it for five minutes on each side. Chop the basil, but not too small.

Sprinkle the basil over the fish, serve it with the vegetable sauce. For a side-dish, serve fresh bread or salted potatoes.

Notes: The original recipe says ‘Swordfish’ instead of tuna – also on the pictures you see swordfish. To my horror I noticed that the swordfish is a highly endangered species. So please, order tuna or porbeagle and let the swordfish live!

Desert: Spicy chocolate cubes

200g dark chocolate
100g milk chocolate
100g butter
250g oatcakes
60g walnuts
50g raisins
100g dry apricots or cranberries
100g molasses (not essentially needed – makes it just much sweeter)
Salt (I use Fleur de Sel)

Grind the oatcakes (not too fine, needs to be crunchy), chop the walnuts. Put both aside for the moment.

Melt chocolate and butter, be careful that things don’t start to boil! Add all other ingredients and stir. Pour mass into a flat baking pan and gently pour salt over it – only very little!!! Let the mass cool out, cut into cubes and eat. Don’t forget to brush your teeth after that...

I don’t use the molasses, it only makes things much sweeter. Also I add some barberries to the cranberries. Try it out!

Picture by courtesey of ET. Thank you and S. for 2 days wonderful company!

PersonalDNA

2008-03-16T13:38:00.000+01:00

I saw this test on CS' blog last sunday and thought I'd give it a try. What can I say? The result was exactly what I expected. Does this mean, I know myself?

This is the graphic version:

Considerate Realist

And this is the result in plain text:

You are a Realist
Your attention to detail, appreciation of how things function, and awareness of the world around you make you a REALIST.
Routines are reassuring to you—you feel safer and more at ease when sticking with familiar things.
You like to stay close with those around you, seeking comfort from familiar faces.
You are interested in processes—how things work, what they do, and why—not just how things look.
Sometimes you doubt that you can find solutions to problems, although you have a good sense of why things happen, and can use that knowledge to find the best way to do something.
You are down to earth, concerned more with practical, detail-oriented things than with dreamy or ambiguous ideas.
You have a good sense of your abilities and weaknesses, and don't let your ego get in your way.
You're not one to force your positions on a group, and you tend to be fair in evaluating different options.
You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.
You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

You are Considerate
You trust others, care about them, and are slow to judge them, making you CONSIDERATE.
You value your close relationships very much, and are more likely to spend time in small, tightly-knit groups of friends than in large crowds.
You enjoy exploring the world through observation, quietly watching others.
Relating to others so well, and understanding their emotions, leads you to trust people in general, even though you're somewhat shy and reserved at times.
Your belief that people are generally well-intentioned contributes to your sympathy regarding their problems.
Although you may not vocalize it often, you have an awareness of how society affects individuals, and you understand complex causes of people's behavior.
You like to look at all sides of a situation before making a judgment, particularly when that situation involves important things in other people's lives.
Your close friends know you as a good listener.

I have nothing to ad.

PS: I finished the test in 20 minutes. But I'm always fast on such things.

Bushpilots

2008-03-13T23:09:00.000+01:00

A bushpilot returns from a hop to an international airport. His friend asks him: 'Their runways must be pretty long, as I heard.' - 'Long? Not particularly. But WIIIIIIDE!!!' Obviously he landed sideways...

I came across a series of DVD made by a pilot named Greg Miller and some of his friends. So far I thought I knew what bushpilots are capable of. The two DVD's tought me better... These guys land their highly modified airplanes in places I thought not even helicopter-pilots would get their vehicles in! And not only that: With their huge tundra tires they touch down on the water and let the plane roll out on the bank of very small rivers. 150 feet is enough to get airbourne, and turns during take-off or landing aren't a problem. Also the DVD's show that a real bush-plane has the main wheels in front and the wing on the roof. Low wings and tricycle landing gears are for pussies...

Landing in these places requires full control of the airplane. Knowing exactly where it begins, where it ends, and of course: Knowing what the aircraft will do next.

Greg and his friends show great skill controlling throttle and brakes when landing on river-banks with rocks as big as a medicine ball. With 44" low-pressure tires and self-designed heavy-duty gear struts they manage to bring the airplane to a stop upright - this is true skill.

I can't embed the teasers here, so please watch them here:

Big Rock & Long Props - Volume 1
Big Rock & Long Props - Volume 2 - Waterplay

Volume 3 is planed to be released by end of April. I'll be one of the first to buy!!!

Thanks Greg, you caused me sitting in front of my television, unable to close my mouth for two hours!

Howling at the moon...

2008-02-22T19:17:00.000+01:00

Thanks E.T. for this wonderfull shot of the lunar eclipse. Here in Switzerland it took place at 4 in the morning - and guess what: I was awake at that time.

No, I didn't really want to get up at that time in the morning, but these events always bring up some kind of insomnia in me. So I got up, went outside to see the moon - and saw this:

Wednesday and Thursday this week were the first cloudy days in four weeks of constant sunshine...

If you are stolen...

2008-02-05T20:11:00.000+01:00

...call the police at once!

Engrish.com holds a wealth of funny translations from mostly asian signs into english. Browse and laugh!

Stupid...?

2008-02-04T20:28:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I came across this not-too-serious report about Americans being stupid from CNN. At first I thought 'oh yeah, the typical answers you'd expect from Americans'. Today when I discussed the film with a couple of work mates I came to the following conclusion:

First off, I don't think ALL Americans are stupid - of course there are some, just as there are stupid Swiss, stupid Scotts, stupid Germans... The second thing is: The reporter only showed us the stupid answers - I bet there were lots of correct and thoughtful answers. And if you ask enough people you'll get similar answers in Switzerland or anywhere else in the world as well.

I see this report as a nice dispersal - a good laugh from time to time. Nothing more. I don't see any deeper sense in it, and I don't see any clishees confirmed in it.

Look at it and laugh if you can - I can. And I think I could even laugh if this was about Swiss being stupid.

The New Mercedes-Benz Museum

2008-01-31T21:38:00.000+01:00

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
Janis Joplin, 'Mercedes Benz'

A couple of weeks ago I joined my dear brother on a drive to Stuttgart, to meet with some of his bush taxi-friends at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Although Mercedes-Benz in itself should already be an offence to a real bush taxi pilot it was really interesting for the whole bunch of us. Here are some pictures:

First steps...

Benz Motorwagen – the very first car with a piston engine

First touring cars...

That would be mine: Mercedes-Benz 500K

To whom do these exhaust pipes belong...?

Exactly: THE LEGEND, Mercedes-Benz 300 SL!!!

The sexiest car-front made in Germany

Hot-water rocket as used to drive cars in crash-tests

Here comes luxury: Maybach 62S. How many houses could I buy for the same money...?

If your car looks like this under the bonnet it’s a fast car

After a long and exhausting day at the museum we parted and drove back home - another 250 km with only 100 km/h on Germany's unlimited highways. But what do you want with a Toyota HZJ78...

Two Things Meme

2008-01-28T17:12:00.000+01:00

Although I still have another meme pending I will do this as a quickie:

Two Names You Go By:
1. Mac
2. PFlight2000

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Sweatsuit (caught a flu...)
2. My beloved Tevas. ET once stated that I'dprobably wear them from April to October constantly...

Two Things You Would Want (or have) in a Relationship:
1. Respect
2. Humor (haven't been in a relationship for a long time, but I guess that would still be it)

Two of Your Favorite Things to do:
1. 'Flying' long haul flight on Flight Simulator
2. Cooking

Two Things You Want Very badly At the Moment:
1. Stronger medication - this flu is killing me!!!
2. Getting healthy on the spot

Two Things you did Last Night:
1. Having a very uneasy sleep with feverish dreams
2. Got really mad that again I catch a flu at the last day of my holiday - what will the bosses think...?

Two things you ate today:
1. A banana
2. Another banana

Last two people you talked to:
1. Mom - she popped in because she saw that the bicycle is still in the shed and that means I'm not at work
2. My brother

Two Things You're doing tomorrow:
1. Trying to get healthy
2. Brewing more linden-blossom tea

Two longest car rides:
1. To Würzburg and back in one day, getting my brothers first Bushtaxi (800km)
2. To Mendrisio and back in one day because the weather was to bad to stay longer (500km)

Two Favorite Beverages:
1. Earl Grey Tea with cream and sugar
2. Mineral water

Two Things About Me you may not have known:
1. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to die - and who would REALLY miss me...?
2. I'm very afraid of turning fourty in two years.

Two jobs I have had in my life:
1. Liquidator for a bankrupped furniture shop
2. Messenger cyclist

Two Movies I would watch over and over:
1. Heat (NOT Andy Warhol's, the one with Pacino and De Niro!!!)
2. Ronin, because I like the actors, I like the plot, I like the car chases, but most of all because I have been to most places in the movie.

Places I have lived:
1. Switzerland
2. Scotland

Two of my Favorite Foods:
1. The ones that I cook
2. The ones I get in my favourite restaurant

Two places I'd rather be right now
1. Singapore - Chinese New Year is coming up next week!
2. At work to f***ing do my job!!!

Two people I think will respond:
1. No idea...
2. Even less ideas...

I’m not tagging anyone, but feel free to do it.

2008-01-22T15:04:00.000+01:00

Ventriloquism in Latin means ‘belly speaking’. But this description is wrong, because it’s not the belly that’s talking. It’s simply the art of speaking without moving the lips. The consonants are produced with the tongue and the palate only. As the lips are an essential tool for speaking, there are several restrictions for a ventriloquist: He (or she) can’t pronounce the letters P, B and M. He needs to create the illusion of pronouncing these letters – otherwise the show is screwed. The illusion gets perfect when the artist uses a puppet that – in the simplest form – can move its mouth. The more complex puppets even roll eyes, move eyebrows and maybe the arms as well. If the puppets are handled correctly, the audience gets the illusion that the puppet talks. Let me give you some examples:

Paul Zerdin is a British ventriloquist who acts both alone and with puppets. In this short clip he shows how to wind up sound engineers prior to the show when he’s doing the sound check, along with some other rather nasty jokes. ‘I was a unique case at the mental hospital: I was the only patient with voices in the head others could hear as well.’

Here’s an extreme example: Kevin Johnson uses TWO puppets at the same time. To make that even more complicated he shows the audience what it’s like in dubbed movies when the actor’s lips are moving differently to what the dubbed voice says.

At last: Jeff Dunham. This American ventriloquist has several puppets he uses on stage – one at a time. Achmed, the dead Terrorist can move his jaw, roll eyes and lift eyebrows – it seems to be alive. Along with playing a conversation this is probably the most complex kind of performance for a ventriloquist – although Jeff’s jokes are a bit worn out...

The Rubber Band Gun

2008-01-18T21:51:00.000+01:00

When I was a kid still at school I was in a clique with my brother and a friend. Our 'headquarter' was a secret room between a wall and the roof in our old farm house. A loose board in the wall was the door, and what was behind that no-one was allowed to see. Yet the room was so small that you could hardly sit upright and with three people it was already packed. We had heating, a little water tank, and whenever soldiers were in the village for manoeuvres we begged for some of their emergency provisions: We had enough army bisquits and chocolate to survive several days. We trained ourselves in rope-techniques (my brother still does theat - but on a much more professional level).

Of course we also had weapons: One was a special plug whith the wires connected to each other, in order to blow every fuse. An unimpeachable strike against our school and always a guarentee to drive the caretaker nuts. Another weapon was the obligatory rubber band gun: A 'single barrel' weapon to fire one rubber band at a time, and the rubber band would strike in an area of about two square meters around your target. We thought we could conquer the world with our rubber band guns, but as time passed by we grew up and apart.

And now I found this in a forum:

Poor little us to think we had advanced techniques...

Car Commercials in Europe

2008-01-04T15:37:00.000+01:00

Germans have a weird way to advertise their cars. If you watch a movie on TV you’re likely to see at least one commercial for a German car. And here’s the weird thing about them: They all have the colours faded to an icy, metallic gray. Here's an example:

Have you noticed? The only ‘real’ colour was the rear lights of the car and the blue Europe-label on the number-plate. Everything else is held in different gray tones. The reason for this colour is: It looks very technical. Cars shouldn’t show emotions. They should put the viewer in a special mood. The commercial has the message: This car is the ultimate perfect machine. It has no flaw. It never fails.

The British seem to have a completely different approach to car commercials. Just look at this:

Poor pussy though... The SportKa is evil. It shows emotions. It has to. This is the British sense of humour. Wanna see another one?

Reminds me of a mouse-trap in some sense... But as we all know, birds are very intelligent. And sometimes they pay back all we did to them and then laugh.

Mayday, mayday, mayday: Engine failure in modern airliners

2007-12-31T03:06:00.000+01:00

By definition, an engine failure at an airplane is a hazardous thing. Compared to a car, which you can stop alongside of the rode and you’re fine, you can’t just stop an airplane in mid-air and call for help. This means the pilot has to deal with the situation in-flight and still keeping situational awareness – flying the aircraft and avoiding physical contact to anything more solid than the air it flies in. This requires a big deal of training, and also is one of the many reasons why professional pilots generally are well-paid labourers.
Back to the engine failure. There are many reasons why an engine of a plane seizes duty:
In the golden days, when airliners had huge piston engines with propellers attached to, the most common reason was fatigue of material. Just imagine: 18 pistons per engine, moving back and forth several thousand times per minute, something’s got to brake sooner or later. Today’s jet engines only have rotating parts, therefore fatigue is not such a big issue anymore.
Another reason may be lack of fuel. Mostly this results out of miscalculation in the planning stage of the flight, although there reportedly are cases when fuel-leaks occurred in modern airplanes.
But the most common reason for engine failure at modern airliners is given to pilots by mother nature’s own creatures: Birds.
Let’s have a closer look at that case. This is a modern jet engine:

It’s a widely used CFM56 engine, attached to such planes as the Boeing 737 and some versions of the Airbus A32X series. This type of engine is called a ‘high bypass turbofan jet’. High bypass meaning, that the turbofan in front of the engine – the thing that’s visible if you look at the engine from the front, here colored light blue – leads most of the air alongside of the combustion area. The bypass air is being accelerated and then mixes with the air coming from the combustion area. In modern jet engines this bypass air produces up to 80% of the total thrust in flight. And when the bypass airflow mixes up with the hot air coming from the combustion part - red - it also reduces the noise of the engine.
Another very convenient thing the front fan does is acting as a centrifuge, when something gets sucked into the engine that’s not air. We’re basically talking about water (rain) and ice (hail). The CFM56 engines have been extensively tested on that, and so far no-one managed to extinguish the combustion fire inside the engine with water.
Birds are a different story: Some of them are big and heavy enough to make it into the combustion chamber, causing mayhem in there. Although the front fan works a bit like a food processor and slices the bird into little pieces, the engine still gets ripped apart and can explode. In the temperate climate zone birds don’t fly very high. So the most likely moment to ‘catch’ a bird with such an engine is during take-off and landing. The landing isn’t much of a problem: The aircraft is about to touch down soon anyway, and the engines don’t run at very high power. The take-off is the critical moment: The engines are running at full power – well almost, but that’s another story – and the aircraft might already be too fast to stop on the remaining runway: Beyond a certain speed (V1) the pilot has to take-off, no matter what.
The deal is: Bring the aircraft to a save flight-level, stabilize its condition, and then deal with the problem. But the pilot doesn’t face an impossible challenge: Engineers have been thinking about the problem already. And here’s the solution: Modern airliners are able to take-off and climb to a save flight-level even when loosing half of their thrust at V1 speed.
I’m sorry for this very long introduction, but I think it explains what’s happening exactly in this video: Bird-strike at Manchester airport. The engine explodes and the plane instantly looses 50% of its propulsion, yet still the pilots react very calmly to it. This is not a fake, it’s been filmed with a video camera connected to an radio-scanner. Enjoy – and remember next time you sit in an airliner: Your pilots are highly trained professionals, and the equipment is extremely reliable and redundant.

Wild Pork Sirloin on Hay with Mushrooms and Pasta – for 4 hungry people

2007-11-04T16:14:00.000+01:00

Autumn. The ‘Time of Plenty’. I really love that season. Not only for the foggy and cool weather after a hot summer. But also because the variety of fresh food is bigger than at any other time of the year.

Here’s a recipe I’ve tried out just recently. Sorry for the missing pics: Normally I cook alone and then I don’t think of taking pictures as well...

This is what you need:

800g Pork Sirloin, whole pieces
Salt
Pepper
Hay

600g mixed Mushrooms
2 little Onions

Butter
2dl Cream
1dl White Wine

500g fresh Pasta

Prepare as many sheets of aluminium foil as you have Sirloin pieces, big enough to wrap the pieces. Cover each of the foils with hay. Preheat the oven up to 180° C.
Spice the Sirloin pieces fairly with salt and pepper, then sear them for 3 minutes in a cast iron pan with little olive oil. Wrap the pieces in the hay and the Sirloin pieces and roast them in the oven. After 25-30 minutes take them out and let them rest for another 10 minutes. Then unwrap the Sirloin and wipe off all the hay.

Brush the mushrooms and cut them into pieces. Peel and chop the onions. Melt the butter in a cast iron pan until it boils, then put the mushrooms in. Stir gently, so they don’t get burnt. After two minutes put the chopped onions in and wait until they glaze over. Now pour the wine, and when it’s boiling pour the cream. Let boil until the consistency is right.

Prepare the pasta, then serve all together. Decorate the table with fresh grapes and figs. You can add leaves and maroons as well. Enjoy the meal.

Some advice from my side:

You can get hay from a local farmer, they feed the cattle with it. Normally they can spare one bag of it, a cow eats a lot more of it every day. Also pet shops have hay, but there you have to pay for it. If you want to take fresh grass and dry it, lay it in the sun. Don’t store the hay in a plastic bag, paper is ok, fabric is perfect.

Depending on the size of the pig, a piece of Sirloin is roughly 400-500g. So you should be fine with it. If you can get Sirloin of wild pork, that’s even better. But don’t go hunting a boar yourself unless you have a hunting licence...

Get mushrooms that grow in the temperate climate zone. Shi Take don’t match the general taste of this meal. Porcini, chanterelles and Champignons de Paris are ok. If you dare collecting the mushrooms yourself, please show them to someone who’s familiar with them. In Switzerland there are approved mushroom-inspectors that tell you which ones are edible when you show them what you’ve got. And don’t take the red ones with the white dots, they can make you see funny colours and scary faces if you eat them. Also you might get tummy aches...

Some of the ideas I took from this website - all in German...

Amy Winehouse

2007-10-27T14:36:00.000+02:00

I'm a music-lover. If you take a look at my profile you can see I know a band for every letter in the alphabet. I like most styles of music, from heavy metal over rock, pop, blues, electro... Mostly I like singers who really can sing, who have a very distinctive voice. Amongst my favourite singers are David Coverdale (Whitesnake, ex-Deep Purple), Fredy Mercury, Joss Stone - and Amy Winehouse.

Exactly that artist played at the sold-out Volkshaus in Zurich lately. Tickets were hard to get, and I considered going to Zurich just to see if there's a chance to get a ticket on the street.

Fortunately I didn't go.

Amy Winehouse is a 24 year old British soul singer with a 'golden voice'. In the song 'Rehab' she sings about being told to go to a drug-rehabilitation, which she refuses to do. She should better think again, otherwise she'll end up like Janis Joplin, whom she's being compared with: JJ died in 1970 at the age of 27 because of drugs.

This is - in broad strokes - what newspapers and radiostations reported about the show:

Amy Winehouse was completely caned and only able to perform 4 (!) songs in Zurich, before she was taken off stage by her worried husband. After the first two songs she left the stage for some treatment and only came back after some 10 minutes. Her band must have been very embarrassed that the show already ended after 50 minutes.

This is Amy Winehouse performing 'Back to Black' at the BBC Sessions:

And this is her performance of the same song in Zurich, totaly deranged:

A spokesman of 'Good News Entertainment', the organizer of the concert, stated that they won't invite her to Switzerland again, unless she's got herself - and especially her handling of alcohol and other dangerous stuff - under control. In my opinion that's a fair deal, since the audience must have been really upset after that 'concert'.

If you read this, Amy: I won't have a drink on you, but I really hope you're changing she lyrics of your song soon:

'They try to make me go to rehab
And I said yes, yes, yes!'

And then I'll come to your next show here in Switzerland.

I'm alive!

2007-10-14T13:09:00.000+02:00

Yes, of course I am. The reason for my long absence wasn't holiday - it was actually work. As we have put up the new product range for next year we had exhibitions at our company, which lead to many weekends on duty. The whole thing is over now, and I will have time to write again. Stay tuned!

Don't smile!

2007-09-05T21:35:00.000+02:00

No, really: You're not allowed to smile. Not on official identification-items such as passports and identity cards.
My old identity card was out of date and so I had to make a new one. And of course it's not enough to just ask for a new one - you have to go to the photographer's to make new pictures on which you don't smile.
Mine looks like this:

I thought there's much more potention in this little picture of which I got eight pieces on paper. So I scanned it into the computer and played around a bit.
For example: How do you like the fake smile?

And that's not enough. Take a close look at the following picture - what's wrong with it?

This is how it should be:

And here's upright - see what I did?:

As if the fake smile wasn't bad enough. Horrible, isn't it? I'll stick to the first one - and that's what I got on my identification card as well. Otherwise I might not be able to leave the country anymore. Let's see it once more. Or twice...

Eidgenössisches Schwing- und Älplerfest 2007

2007-08-26T22:40:00.000+02:00

Traditional Swiss sports are somewhat down to earth. It’s nothing like chocolate-eating competitions or cheese-rubbing time-trials. Traditional Swiss sports are wrestling (Schwingen), rock-throwing (Unspunnen-Stone, 83 kg) or maybe Hurnussen (hornetting).
The latter is rather a flatland-sport, where as Swiss wrestling and rock-throwing come from the mountain areas. There are several happenings throughout the year with these sports, but the federal alpine-festival (eidgenössisches Schwing- und Älplerfest) only takes place every three years. This year it was in Aarau.
Swiss wrestling has got nothing to do with the dumb and perverted show-off fights of American wrestling. As already pointed out it’s very down to earth, and it’s not professional.

Here are some basic rules of Swiss wrestling:
- There are two types of wrestlers: ‘Sennen-Schwinger’ (shepherd-wrestler) and ‘Turner-Schwinger’ (gymnast-wrestler). The Sennen-Schwinger is one who only does wrestling and no other sports. The Turner-Schwinger is one that is in a gymnast-club and wrestling is only one sport he does. Turner-Schwinger have to be dressed in white, Sennen-Schwinger have to wear dark trousers and preferably a blue shephard’s-shirt without collar. Both types have to wear wrestling-pants with handles.
- During the fight, both wrestlers have to hold the opponents pants with at least one hand, otherwise the fight is being stopped.
- The wrestling-field is round and covered with saw-dust. Both wrestlers wipe the dust off the other ones back after the fight.
- Wrestling is a non-professional sport. No prize-money is given. At normal events the first prize is a cow-bell, at national events the winner gets a wreath.
- The winner of an event will further on be referred to as ‘bad guy’ (ein Böser) or ‘evil wrestler’ (böser Schwinger).
- The winner of the annual national Schwingfest and the even more important federal Schwingfest (every three years) is called King.
- The athletes are named the ancient Swiss way: Family name first. So this year’s King isn’t Jörg Abderhalden, it’s Aberhalden Jörg.

If you think, throwing a guy on his back with nothing but grabbing his pants, you better think again: Most athletes are at least 1.9m tall and 100kg heavy (6-footers at 220 lbs)! An athletic sports-commentator of our national radio station got flipped over in less than a second in a fun-fight on Friday!
The rules for rock-throwing are even simpler: just throw it as far as possible. The rock is so big and heavy that hardly any athlete can really throw it…
The festival attracted 200’000 people. If you have been to Aarau before, you might be able to imagine what the city looked like over the weekend: The whole city was a huge camping yard, and every green spot large enough to put on a tent was occupied. But still the festival was very peaceful. Unfortunately one athlete died because of the heat and dehydration.

Hope you enjoy the videos.

Thanks to Swissinfo.org that they put some videos on youtube!

Meeting a friend

2007-08-05T23:22:00.000+02:00

Five years are a long time. Especially when you haven't seen one of your very best friends for so long.
It struck me thunder when my friend from Singapore wrote me an email not too long ago that she'd come to Europe to visit a friend in Germany and would like to spend the last weekend of her holiday at my place. I was at the ceiling!
So I took a 2-day leave from the job and drove up to Albstadt in southern Germany (Schwäbische Alb, for those who know the area) where she was staying with her childhood friend. On the way I got some chocolates at Zurich Airport, payed the beautiful town Rottweil (yes, that's where the dogs are coming from) a visit, and also the airfield Degerfeld with the infamous asloped runway that goes downhill in the western direction.
Of course, being Swiss I calculated the driving time and told her I would be there at 4 in the afternoon. And of course, being me some things didn't really work: The restaurant at the airfield, where I wonted to get a drink and maybe an ice-cream, would only open at 5 in the afternoon. So I arrived one hour early in Albstadt. So I stood there at the house, 30° C in the shade, with a bag filled with melting chocolates. I'll spare you the details about how they looked after that...
Anyway, Natasha and her childhood friend with kids arrived. Meeting a friend after a long time is something very special. I don't remember having been so happy in the past five years.

Meeting for the first time

We went out for dinner, local dishes of course, and back 'home' had a nice chat with the master of the house. The next morning hosted a very nice surprise for me: The lady of the house runs a Balinese Wellness-Studio in the basement of the house, and she offered me extensive treatment for a special "friendship-price". 90 minutes of total relaxation including a fullbody-massage!
After that we had some time to fool around a bit, take some pictures and in the afternoon we drove back to my place. After a light dinner at home we went to Lake Halwil with my parents for an ice-cream and a little walk at the lake.

Fooling around at Lake Halwil

Saturday was a surprise for my friend: One of my work-mates once spent a couple of days in Singapore, and my friend played tour-guide. And now we met my mate again in Zurich. The usual thing: Walking through the old town of Zurich (it's more beautiful than many people think!!!), souvenir-shops (travelers want to bring something home for their friends) and of course: Sprüngli!!!!! Switzerland's No. 1 chololate manufacturer, that runs several shops in town. The day ended with an italian dinner in a restaurant near my place.

Fooling around in Zurich

Sadly the next morning was departure. But only after a nice breakfast together with my parents and introducing my friends into walnut-trees and lime-trees - not the ones with the citrus fruits, but the ones where you make lime-tea from the blossoms. ;-)
Later on I drove her to the airport and we parted for the next year or so...

The sadest part

See more pictures here.

I have a daughter - NOT!!!

2007-07-29T17:13:00.000+02:00

Village talks. Living in a village, you can't really avoid that. Everyone knows everyone, and of course somebody will always watch you at whatever you do.

When Expatraveler was in Switzerland and visited me every couple of weeks / months, people started talking about my new girlfriend. Although we were and still are good friends, that kind of relationship was out of question from the beginning on. But because I always like to confuse people a bit I took quite some pleasure in leading things in a certain direction.

A couple of weeks ago things got even funnier.

But let's start at the beginning...

Several years ago one of my uncles moved to Poland and met a woman who had a young daughter. That daughter got quite attracted by my uncles tales about Switzerland and eventually came over here to work at a farm. And since we have a big house accomodation was no problem here. The young lady liked to go out at night, and as it happens when girl meets boy she got involved into some kind of romance. Two years and a couple of visits later he finally got her pregnant - and disappeared to Lebanon, where he actually came from and knew another woman that attracted him more. So there she was in Poland, with a daughter but without a father for the kid, and decided to return to Switzerland in order to try her luck again on Swiss men. Nothing really happened this time, except that she thrown out of the appartment she lived in and moved in our place again - with the baby this time.

I don't think I really have to go into details about the rest, but according to village talk I became the father of a 1 1/2 year old daughter within just two weeks... That's even faster than it happened in the bible! ;-)

Don't they look pretty? But believe me, I wasn't the only one who was exptremly happy when they finally left after almost 2 months!

What's your password?

2007-06-26T22:00:00.000+02:00

We all have passwords. I believe, most of us enter at least one password a day anywhere on a computer. Be it for online-banking, email-accounts or just simply our favourite newsgroup or forum. There's nothing really about that, it's normal for us, daily life.

How do we chose these passwords? I have several email-accounts, of which I use one for personal contacts, another one for online-shopping. Further accounts are used for trash, registering software where I expect spam mail sent to. For the latter of course I don't use high-security passwords, these are the simple ones. For my homepage, personal email-account and financial stuff I have a set of passwords that I've created for high security.

But here comes the point I actually wanted to get to today: PC Magazine recently published the hitlist of the most commonly used passwords in the internet. If you are using any of these log off the internet immediately, go take two Aspirins and use the site linked further down or install this addon for Firefox.

1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. blink182
10. (your first name)

It's hard to believe, but it's true: Number One is the word 'password'. I never thought there are so many pitiable fellas around that actually follow every word on the screen: 'Enter password' - so they enter 'password'... ;-)

It's no surprise then that number two and three are '123456' and 'qwerty'. The first real surprise comes further down: I didn't think (your first name) is ranked higher than the name of the partner/girlfriend/boyfriend or family members. And by the way: 'password1' is ranked quite high as well. A free lesson for all hackers then: When you cracked one site with (username) and 'password', try the next one with (same username) and 'password1', 'password2', 'password3'.

Just in case I've worried you now: Here are some links for a password-generator (in best German language...) and a password-checker, and that's all for free. I know, the checker-tool is from Microsoft, but don't we all trust Mr. Gates' concern for internet security? ;-)))

And tomorrow morning I request a new password for my pc at work. ;-)

Flying the Maddog - MD-83 Simulator

2007-06-17T17:22:00.000+02:00

How does an aircraft fly that’s called Mad Dog? Just a small example: Aviation staff members at Zurich Airport know a very distinctive story about this particular airplane:

Tower:
Alitalia 194 - taxi to rwy 28, hold short

AZ194:
Ahhh, yes, taxi to rwy 28

Tower:
AZ194, cleared for take-off

AZ194:
Ahhh, two minutes, need preflight (checks)
30 seconds later:

Tower:
Alitalia 194, YOU ARE CLEARED FOR TAKE OFF NOW.

AZ194:
Ehmmm, yes, yes, take off in two minutes
…In the mean time: Rwy16 was blocked by a B737 with a flat tire, Rwy14 was overloaded, so Tower decided to take a Delta B767 from Cincinnati in on Rwy28. Its crew was exhausted after 8 hours in the cockpit…
Tower
Alitalia 194, expedite take-off, we have Delta 767 final on 28 2 miles!

AZ194:
Ahhh, we need 30 more seconds...

DL104:
Hey Spaghetti, take-off or I'll fuck you from behind!
Alitalia 194 took off like a rocket...

It’s not reported if this really happened. But still it’s a funny story. By the way: The MD-80 series has very powerful engines, so 'taking off like a rocket' is nothing special for these birds.

About a month ago I had the chance to fly such a plane at and around Zurich Airport. Well, not the real plane, but we rented a full-motion simulator at Swiss Aviation Training Center (SAT) in Zurich-Kloten. This simulator is the device they train the real pilots with. It’s basically a real MD-83 cockpit that’s mounted on a very powerful hydraulic platform. Through the windows the pilots can see the environment moving around. Of course, since the emphasis of the device is to train procedures, the graphics visible through the windows are not very good.

Here are my pictures:

Pilot in command:

Take-off:

Inflight:

Landing:

Sorry for the bad quality of the images. Obviously I wasn't able to take teh pictures myself, also it's very dark in the simulator (no windows) and the hydraulic-plattform keeps the whole thing rocking.

I had the chance to fly an Airbus A330 about 2 years ago, also at SAT. But since an Airbus is more or less a flying computer the difference to the Flight Simulator 2004 on my pc isn’t too big. But the MD83 really gets you working: No computer is helping you keeping the plane airborne. No TV-screens are providing all vital flight data at a glance. All ‘steam-gauges’, and pulling the yoke moves oil through 150 meters of hydraulic tubes. This bird really gets you working. You need to stem all your weight into the brakes to get the plane to stop at the end of the runway – even with full reverse thrust. Pulling the yoke to rotate the plane at take-off almost lifts you off the seat. There is no servo-system like in every average car today. I can only laugh at these silly movies where a child as the only survivor lands such a plane – or even a bigger one – since a 10 year old couldn’t even move the yoke or even reach the pedals…

I hope I die before I get old

2007-06-05T18:53:00.000+02:00

Who's the oldest rock singer in the world? Well, it's definitely not Mick Jagger, since Alf Carretta could even be Mick's dad - he's 90 years old! And here's the story:

Alf likes to play Bingo. But the city council of London decided to shut down Alf's favourite bingo hall. So he turned to BBC and asked them to do something about it. But instead of making a documentation about how badly old people get treated in the UK they invited the whole old people's home where Alf lives and recorded a hard rock album. They're first single 'My Generation' - originally by The Who - has just reached the Top 30 of the British Single Charts, and the video clip has reached top scores at youtube.

Together the 40 members of the band are over 3'000 years old, with an average age of 78. You GOT to watch this - especially the old bloke at the end of the clip!!!

You have to agree with me: These are angry old people! They don't like being treated like they have been treated. And the line 'I hope I die before I get old' just becomes something else when 90 years old Alf sings it.

If you want to find out more about The Zimmers, check out these sites:

http://www.thezimmersonline.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thezimmersband

Have fun!

Cars in the water...

2007-05-30T21:37:00.000+02:00

The threat of global warming leads people to hilarous ideas. Over the coming weekend the G8 meeting in Germany will discuss matters like these, unfortunately not all participants agree with all ideas. Here is mine: Take what we've got, and think about new ways using it.

The British car magazine Topgear came across similar thinking. But their idea seemed to be fueled with more than just one pint of beer... Typical British humour along with some really stupid ideas - but still a BIG laugh!

Part I:

PartII:

Part III:

Part IV:

Hope you have as much fun as I had when I found this...

The good new of the week

2007-05-25T13:01:00.000+02:00

I don't have to go to hospital! That was one huge reliev when I was laying on the couch at the doctor's.

It all startet on Tuesday late evening when I almost puked my guts out. No sleep at all that night, but on Wednesday - I stayed at home that day - things seemed to improve a bit. On Wednesday evening the pains in the guts came on big time and I thought I just had an occlusion. But in the night I got diarrhea and the pain in the guts got worse.

The very next day a pharmacist refused to sell me medication against occlusion since the symptoms led him to the assumption that I had appendicitis.

DAMN!

I don't want to go to hospital! Not in this wonderful springtime. Not when they need every single employee in our company. NOT AT ALL!!!

But since my health condition got worse throughout Thursday I had to face the fact that there was probably something going horribly wrong in my belly. So this morning I called the doctor's and declared an emergency. They booked me at 9 in the morning - and I was alone with no car. The doctor is in the next village, and I couldnt possibly walk or sit on a bicycle.The pain got worse...

Fortunately my brother went to work late gave me a ride to the next Mobility car. So at least I could drive to and from the doctor's, how I would get back home was not of a major concern to me then.

So there I was on the couch, telling the doctor where it hurts - and believe it or not: 'That's just a flu...' She subscribed me some strong medication on a biological basis and told me to come again when I start to get high fever.

Lucky me. I'm home, and now that the pressure is off the pains are slowly disappearing. Walking is good, just sitting around triggers the pains again.

Humor in the logbook

2007-05-14T19:06:00.000+02:00

Every registered aircraft in the world - especially those belonging to an airline - has a logbook where the pilot reports failures or occurences during the flight. In airlines these logbooks are called 'Gripe Sheets', and whenever the plane reaches its homebase mechanics check these sheets, deal with the problems quoted by the pilots and confirm and explain the solution for the problem in the gripe sheet.

For quite some time abstracts from Qantas gripe sheets occur in the internet, and the mechanic's solutions somethimes are really funny. I don't have any evidence of the accuracy of these quotes, but I had a lot of fun reading them. Have fun too!

(P = The problem logged by the pilot.)
(S = The solution and action taken by the engineers.)

P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on backorder.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Bird causes mayhem at Zurich Airport

2007-05-07T22:02:00.002+02:00

A runaway-bird from the zoo at Zurich causes sheer chaos at Zurich Airport - furtunately only a movie. The story: An american software-company soon releases a panel / cockpit for the Airbus 320 in Flight Simulator X. For the teaser they asked two Flight Sim buffs from Switzerland to make a movie in Flight Simulator. Here's what they came up with.

Expecially funny: The swiss accent of the controller of Zurich Aiport. Watch and laugh...

Flightforum Fly-In 2007

2007-04-29T21:21:00.000+02:00

Imagine the Swiss Airforce Base at Lodrino (Ticino) with the mandatory barbwire-fence and tight security-checks at the gates. And now imagine 60+ civilian General Aviation planes landing at this Airforce Base. Impossible? Let's see...

I flew from Birrfeld LSZF (Argovia, close to Lupfig) to Lodrino. here are some sample pics, below's the link to the large file with 55 pics.

Mellingen

Dramatic views near Brauwald:

Brunnen

Rigi

Staufen

And here's the link to the complete file:

http://www.pfriedli.ch/sternflug2007/sternflug_2007_e.htm

Have fun!

Faithless

2007-04-13T23:26:00.000+02:00

Music is a strange business, and I’d like to think of the business-part of it for a moment: Living in Europe you get loads of American bands travelling through Europe, but many European bands – although super-stars in Europe – are mainly fresh water as soon as they leave the continent.
Roby Williams is such an example, that kid’s been trying to get into the American market ever since he left Take That in the early nineties. Another – though less famous – example is Faithless. The duo from London – with a third man behind the scenes – that’s been around for some 10 years now has revolutionized Trance, Tecno and Trip Hop with their sound-experiments. For years Faithless have been the only Techno-Trance band who played their songs live on stage with a complete band. Every album has a different key, and the new one ‘To All New Arrivals’ makes no difference: The loud Tecno-Sound known from songs like ‘Insomnia’, ‘Salva Mea’ or ‘God Is A DJ’ is gone, and the music is very relaxing now – almost with a touch of Pink Floyd. And again they’ve had a good hand in choosing the additional musicians: Where else would Cass Fox’ voice fit in better that in Faithless – and the footprints left by names like Dido didn't make that an easy task.

Last night Faithless played in Winterthur. The hall wasn't all too big, only about 2000 people. This gave the concert more the ambience of a club-concert. Maxi Jazz was at his peak again, Sister Bliss showed her typical British coolness all through the show. And as usual the show was breath-taking! Audiences in Switzerland tend to be rather standoffish, but Faithless is one of the few bands that get the laziest crowd jumping. I guess the example – taking from a show a couple of years ago – says more than a thousand words...

2007-04-03T18:52:00.000+02:00

The blogger-system played a trick on me: Although I submitted the GMT-post on April 1 early morning, it was still displayed as March 31. I leave it up to you to figure out what that means... ;-)

But here is something a bit more real: Isn't it amazing what you can do with houses...

http://www.geogreeting.com/view.html?zdMgAOiq+g7p4ngS+mM4UViA+gE0J.7S+ciWY

Anyway, have fun trying it out on http://www.geogreeting.com

Greenwich Main Time

2007-04-01T00:13:00.000+02:00

Time is a strange thing, as Pink Floyd already remarked in their song with that very title. The moments come and as you still try to hold them they’ve become only memories already. No-one has ever been able to conserve time, not even a single millisecond.

Some egg-heads once thought a couple of decades ago that you might save some energy by setting all clocks forward one hour in spring just to set them backwards again in autumn. Normally these time-jumps result in rising accident-rates the day after the collective clock-setting, but no-one has ever been able to count the saved energy.

Another funny thing about time is that we don’t seem to have the same time all over the world. In Zurich it might be 9 in the morning when I pour my second cup of tea at work, while in Vancouver people are just laying down for sleep. Or in Singapore the masses are heading home from their job.

But now scientists in Switzerland have come up with an idea to really save energy by re-setting the clock. Energy that’s uselessly wasted for calculations concerning different time-zones. The thought was: Why can’t Switzerland being the country with the most accurate watches and clocks be the zero-point of time?

That would make it easier to calculate different times in the world, e.g. for communicating with Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo or Vancouver. Being in the time-zone of Central Europe you first have to look up the time-difference between Greenwich in England and the desired destination-time, and then add or subtract on hour, depending in which direction the destination is. So if Switzerland was on Greenwich Main Time this adding or subtracting wouldn’t be necessary and would save just a little bit of energy.

And now this: Our beloved federal government has decided to connect Switzerland to Greenwich Main Time! In order to avoid another wave of accidents this time-switch will take effect on Easter Sunday, since Monday is public holiday in Switzerland. What seems to be a rash decision was actually planned for a long time. Just to give you an example: Microsoft has already announced that there will be updates for both Windows XP and Vista, where the Swiss capital Bern is mentioned along with Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon and London. And of course these updates will be available from Sunday, 8 April, in all four languages of Switzerland – German, French, Italian and for Vista also in Rumantsch – and in English.

So, just one week after the ‘regular’ switch to summertime we will have another switch to Greenwich Main Time over the Easter Weekend, which will give us back the hour they took last weekend.

Good for all Easter Bunnies in Switzerland: They can sleep one hour longer this year before they have to hide all the Easter Eggs.

Holzofen-Pizza

2007-03-25T23:15:00.000+02:00

With Holzofen-Pizza you can get any woman in Switzerland and Germany. And who ever had a real Holzofen-Pizza once will probably never forget the experience and the very distincitve taste of it. Holzofen means an oven that's heated with wood. All those frozen pizza you can buy in your grocery-shop in german-speaking countries are Holzofen-Pizza, it's like 'handmade'.

In this case the Holzofen actually is the only heating in my parent's house, and when the oven is hot enough you can make pizza or bread in it. And there's a lot of space in the oven. I think when we were kids we once had 15 pizzas in the oven.

So today we had a family-gathering. Normaly thes events include my parents, my younger brother and me. But this time even my youngest brother and my sister along with her partner and her dog joined us. Mom made the dow in the afternoon while dad made the fire in the oven, and in the evening we all made our own pizza. Have fun with the photos...

En Guete!

Vampires are alive!

2007-03-24T22:08:00.000+01:00

No, that’s not my idea. Actually it’s René’s. But first things first...

Every year in May TV-viewers all over Europe gather together in front of their TV to watch the Eurovision Song Contest and rate the 12 finalists from different European countries. Back in the 80s Switzerland once won the contest with a Canadian artist – Celine Dion. But after that, whenever Switzerland had reached the final what we heard was something like ‘Switzerland – 0 points’. Most of the winners were slsciously dressed women and came from Eastern Europe. That’s tough for the proud Swiss soul. Actually we feared we’d lose our pride slowly...

So the word went out to find an artist who could be a worthy representative for our country and make the jury say ‘Switzerland – 12 points’ again. Of course most Swiss artist would rather go on playing in pubs and shabby gym halls than to embarrass themselves on TV all over Europe. But finally one man stood up and said: ‘I’ll do it’: It was René.

Well, most probably you’ll know René as DJ BoBo.

DJ BoBo wrote a song and a matching script for a TV-friendly show and finally presented the song ‘Vampires are alive’.

So finally we have a Swiss artist who’s willing to either lead us to glory or to instantly scuttle his glorious career – and of course you can already hear the prophecy of doom again. There is a line in the ‘Vampire’-lyrics that goes ‘Free you spirit (...) Sell your soul’ which lead some hardcore-Christians of the SEA (Christians with serious brain-damage...) to complain that the song might drive mentally unstable people into suicide. They wrote letters to several members oth the government to ban the song and asked the artist himself to change the lyrics. Here's the link to the story, in best German (sorry, ET ;-)): http://www.factum-magazin.ch/wFactum_de/aktuell/2007_03_13_DJ_BoBo_Vampire.php

Ok, first of all: The government has probably more important things to do than to decide whether a song should get international airplay or not, just because its lyrics are about fictional creatures. Our teenage-heroes were much worse - even Marilyn Manson is a tussy compared to what we used to listen to. And second: DJ BoBo is UN-ambassador against hunger, so he’d probably be the last one who wants people to follow these lyrics.

Now that the first rage has calmed a bit, let’s see what’s left: DJ BoBo is still singing his original lyrics, the Swiss government has not yet decided about the song – and probably never will – , the SEA has reached the desired popularity and we’re back in the 80’s where the P.M.R.C. tried to ban artists like Prince, Sheena Easton, WASP, Judas Priest and other bands with obscure lyrics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parents_Music_Resource_Center

Thanks chaps, I really had an incredible laugh when I read about your proclamations! Can we get back to business now? ;-)))

Paint it black... - wait, let's get some colours!!!

2007-03-12T21:56:00.000+01:00

As I said earlier on: Spring is coming. Even I feel it now. The flowers begin to bloom and I started painting with my computer...

After a few rather embarrassing attempts I tried repainting one of my favourite airplanes in flight simulator again. The plane is an old Saab 91 Saphir, built in Sweden shortly after WWII: http://www.sibwings.com/freeware/repaint/ebed.jpg

It's not as easy as it may sound, since you can't just copy one or two photos into the repaint template. Another tricky thing is the alpha-channel. A repaint template is basically a 24-bit bitmap, and attached to it is as 8-bit black&white picture that tells the model in flight simulator how shiny the airplane should be, where the windows are and other important stuff that I don't understand too well either. This is called the alpha-channel.

And exactly this alpha-channel trapped me. Of course the paint looks good, but it's way too shiny. Actually it looks like it's covered with gelatine... Since the Saphir's been built way back in the 40's and 50's it looks a bit out of place.

But hey, we're living in the internet-age, and the producer of the sim-airplane has got a very good forum and I'm sure I'll find a proper solution for the problem.

Thoughts about cooking

2007-03-11T10:40:00.000+01:00

Some say, 2 hours of cooking is too long when the meal’s eaten in only 15 minutes. I have a different opinion on that one. It really depends on the occasion, on the guests you have and on what you want to achieve.

Yes, there are times when I just put some frozen pre-prep-meal in the microwave oven. But this just happens when I had a long day and don’t want to cook and don’t want to eat bread, cheese and meat. Mostly when I cook for myself I do some Asian food in the wok or just the ordinary pasta with pre-prep gravy. Sometimes I put a steak in the oven together with rosemary and garlic. But these are rather rare exceptions. Since I’m living alone with my brother there’s not many opportunities for big cooking. Whom should I impress? Eating is basically providing the body with food. But still it’s very interesting what you can do with this oldest need of life in general.

So I prepared the Lemon Chicken with self-made roquette-pesto, and it did take 2 hours. But since it was a test for my mom’s birthday it really was worth it. I made some minor mistakes and miscounted the amounts of some ingredients, but in the end I took a very tasty meal out of the oven and was really happy with it.

Lemon Chicken

2007-03-10T16:02:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was one of these days when you think that everything breaks when you touch it. I ended up taking four (4!) attempts for having dinner. Later on I went to bed loaded with frustration about such a bad day - and in fact a very frustrating week at work. Even better to wake up this morning to Shanya Twain's 'Up' - 'there's no other way but up from here'. And behold: A sunny morning and no rain in sight. As I went to bed yesterday night it was pouring...

I had to get myself a new pair of trousers since I ruined my last clean pair yesterday night with half a liter of french dressing - one of my dinner-attempts - and I couldn't do any laundry before today afternoon. So I took the train to Aarau and tried my luck at an outdoor-shop first, where I had ordered two pair of pants about 6 months ago - but they still keep me waiting. Next shop was Men's Globus and finally success: The saleswoman did her job so well that I walked out with actually two pair of new trousers.

Climax of the day will be my dinner: I'll try out some special Italian meal that I will cook for the whole family on my mom's birthday in April. The main dish will be Lemon Chicken filled with self-made roquette-pesto, and sage-butter pasta. The catch is: Since the paste is spiced with sage, normal pesto made with basil would taste too pale with the ckicken. So I take roquette which adds some 'roughness' to the ckicken as well. Yet I'm not sure about the starter. A creamy soup with the rest of the roquette would probably be the easiest to make. No idea about the desert though, guess I'll just wait and see what's in the stores by mid-April that kind of fitts the main dish and the desert. I'll definitely not go for some simple fruit salat, it'll have to be something a bit more sophisticated. ;-)

Hope you're hungry too now, I'll update you when I'm through with cleaning the kitchen.

Spring is coming!

2007-03-08T18:05:00.000+01:00

Yes, finally spring is coming! Despite all prophicy of doom we didn't get any snow at the beginning of March - last year we got about 70cm at this time of year. Now we're looking at some 10° C (50° F for our American friends) and more or less dry weather. Even my Nepenthes has some spring fever: Three new, tiny weeny cans are growing, although Nepenthes are known to be rather demanding plants and not easy to handle.

In fact I did have some trouble with this plant: In the first 6 months all well-grown cans withered and died, so that i had doubts about my abilities of growing plants. But now I'm really satisfied with me and my 'baby'.

Here are two of the new cans. I couldn't take a picture of the third one, because it's hidden behind a ton of leafs.

2007-03-07T20:58:00.000+01:00

Hi everybody who reads this! I'm PFlight2000, and I'll write about all the world and his brother - mainly about the himself actually.

What's up today? After a very tiring day I'm relaxing at home, surfing the internet and listening some radio broadcast about contemporary rock music. I just browsed the site of Switzerland's biggest ticket-seller, when I ran into the ad of a Deep Purple concert coming up in Zurich later this year.

Good Lord, Deep Purple? They do still exist? Yes they do actually, although the Lord isn't with them anymore, he's been replaced by Don Airey. But since I've seen DP on their last tour with Ritchie Blackmore - must have been back in the early 90's - I didn't buy a ticket. Plus I've just bought tickets for Faithless - Insomnia, God is a DJ - in Winterthur for me and a work-mate. So I guess that will do for this year. Unless of course Whitesnake would decide to play in Switzerland again.