Travel Blog: Day 89

Sorry that it's been so long - almost three weeks. I was kind of procrastinating. The problem is, that writing a blog post just gets more work the longer you wait.

Well here we go. Last thing I mentioned was that I got to Bariloche. I had some good days there. The area strongly reminded me of the Alps. Lots of snow covered mountains, lakes and lots of swiss or mid-European

architecture. In Bariloche I also met and Argentinia from Mendoza by the name

of Lucas. One day we rented a car and drove around the seven lakes, constantly stopping at all the wonderful viewpoints.

After Bariloche I took a very comfortable 21 hour bus ride to Cordoba. They ha

d warm food, good movies and even wine and whisky. Once in Cordoba I did not really do a lot. Actually I just did not find a lot of things to do. I walked through the city plenty of times. Went to an art museum and ate lots of ice cream. One day I wanted to

go swimming but the minute I stepped out the hostel it started to rain and it didn't stop for the rest of the day. But in Cordoba I met Olli again - the English guy I have mentioned before. We played some cards, cooked with each other (well, most of the times I just ate what he cooked) and had some good time.

My next stop was Mendoza - Argentinia's main wine region. I spend some more money on the hostel because I really wanted to have a pool. It turned out to be a good decision because the weather was really hot (35 Celsius / 95 Fahrenheit). On my first full day I went with some people out to the wine area and rented some bikes. We hit three or four bodegas and tasted some of the local wine.

Most of it was pretty good. We also got a really interesting tour at one of the places. It was just strange to see that the vineyards were not on small hills li

ke they are in Germany. Here they were just flat - like fields.

I also spent Christmas in Mendoza (I am talking about the 24th). I spent most of the day at the pool and at night there was a big BBQ. For me it was a strange setting for Christmas. I did not really get into the mood. The dinner was tasty though and later at night most of the people went to a club. By now I really should have figured out that I am not the club kind of person. In summary the Christmas was pretty weird. I missed family and also (a little suprising) the cold weather. I had a better day on the 26th when Lucas invited me to play football with his friends. We played for three hours and after that we had a great BBQ. It was just a perfect setting with all those nice Argentinian people who invited me into their home and treated me as a honored guest!

On the 27th I took a bus to Chile. The ride went through the Andes and there was some beautiful scenery. Too bad the border crossing took us about 2 hours because every piece of luggage was taken off the bus and put through one of those airport X-ray scanners.

But eventually I arrived safely in Santiago and found my hostel. I had only one full day there but this one was really fun. I met "Baba" at the hostel, a 40 year old German who has been travelling for 20 years. He has been to Santiago several times and knows

the city pretty well. So he played the tour guide for a Brazilian guy, two Australian girls and me. We took a walk through the city, starting in Bellavista - Santiago's bohemian quarter - and continuing through Chinatown until we got to the market area. There are so many different markets in a rather small area: fish market, flower market, vegetable market, meat market....

He then took us to some Chilenian beerhall for drinks and food. We each had a "terremoto" (earthquake) which is white wine with pineapple ice cream and fernet. Half a liter of that makes you really tipsy. So afterwards he took us for some coffee.

But not regular coffee but "café con piernas" or "coffee with legs". He was a little secretive about it and I was quite surprised when he lead us into a place which looked like a strip bar. And that is basically the concept of those places - there are lots of them in downtown Santiago. Except the women that serve you the coffee do not strip...but then they are not wearing a whole lot to begin with anyway. A really strange business idea!

To finish things off we went to a bar which is famous because Bill Clinton once drank a coke there. The half empty glass is still on display - I wonder what they did to it so the coke did not turn green....

The next day I took a bus to Valparaiso where I am at the moment. This is where I will celebrate New Year's tomorrow. I already have taken lots of pictures of this beautiful place but I will save those for my next post. I should have enough time at different airports on my way to New Zealand.

Happy New Year to everybody!

Lyrics Snippet #13

This song came to my mind fairly often during my time in southern Patagonia:

I see trees of green, red roses too,
I see them bloom, for me and you.
And I think to myself... what a wonderful world.

~ "What a Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong ~

Travel Blog: Day 69

Wow, so much has happenend since my last post. I spent a couple more days in Buenos Aires. On Sunday I went to the football game "Boca Juniors vs. Gimnasia La Plata" in the Boca stadium called La Bombonera. The athmosphere was absolutely intense. The supporters only stopped singing during the 15 minutes half time break. Amazing! On Monday night I went to a percussion show called "La Bomba del Tiempo", which was also really entertaining - lots of rhythm!
On Tuesday I wanted to see the Andy Warhol exhibition in the Malba but when I got there I found out that the museum is closed on Tuesdays. So I went for a stroll in the park instead.
The next few days I spend in La Plata visiting a friend of mine who studies there. Had some fun times and explored some of the nice parts of the town.
After that my patagonian adventure started. I took a 15 h bus down to Puerto Madryn from where you can go to the Peninsula Valdes where I actually saw some whales! It was absolutely awe-inspireing to be so close to those giants of the sea. And there I met Olli again - an English guy I travelled with for a while in Bolivia. He, me and Paul - another English guy - afterwards went south to El Calafate to go see the Perito Moreno Glacier. I've never seen a glacier before and this one really is a terrific one to start with. It's a monster, it's huge. Take a look at the pictures, but even the pictures cannot convey the majesty of the thing. And my words don't do it justice. I guess you just have to go see for yourself. The glacier moves about a meter a day, and we are talking about a 30 km long mass of ice with an average height of 74 m above the water. The noises were incredible - like thunder without the lightning. And when a big piece of ice breaks off it is just undescribable. This glacier is one of those things that, the longer you look at it, the less you are able to comprehend it. And taking into acount the beautiful surroundings - snow topped mountains and condors circling above the scenery - it just felt like a picture painted by someone with too much imagination.
The same night the three of us took a bus to El Chalten where we started a three day's hike the next day. Just rented a tent and three sleeping bags and started walking. The scenery was (again) beautiful with the peak of Fitz Roy always towering above everything. After about 4 hours of walking we set up tent and had some dinner. Because at this time of the year it is light until about 22:30 (or 10:30pm) we decided to hike up to the two nearby lagunas (I forgot the name). After some time of exhausting hiking we finally saw the first one - a frozen and snow covered lake. After we climbed another small ledge we saw the other laguna. This one was not frozen at all but looked really cold - a deep blue color with some big chunks of ice floating inside. The whole picture looked so beautiful it was unreal. It looked like it belonged into some fantasy saga. I have to be careful not to repeat myself and to not use the same words over and over to describe the beauty of southern Patagonia.
The next day I hiked with the two others to a nearby glacier but then left to go back to our tent alone. I needed some time to myself to read, write and relax. The third day we started the way back and were rewarded with more beautiful views before we reached El Chalten again where we treated ourselves to a couple of beers.
On the next morning it was time for me to say goodbye to my fellow travelers because they were heading further south to do some more hiking and I was going north to Bariloche. This meant a 2-days bus ride. On the first day our bus broke down so we had to spend 5 hours in the middle of nowhere. But that was not too bad. I played some hackey sack (which I hadn't done in years) and played some other games and thus really got to know some of the other people on the bus. Because of the delay we got to Perito Moreno (the town, not the glacier) at about 2 in the night. Since the hotel still wanted 60 Argentinian Pesos for the night some of us decided to just spend the night partying. I turned out we were lucky because the little town celebrated its 82nd birthday with some live music on the streets. So we joined the locals and had a good time before we hit a nearby bar. When the bar closed down at about 5 in the morning we went to an ATM to get at least a few hours of sleep in a warm place. After about an hour the police showed up and had us move out. It was still a fun night and I was able to sleep a little the next day on the bus to Bariloche. This is where I got yesterday night after another 13 hours on the bus. Today I didn't do much. Just walked around a little and told some people over the internet that I was still alive. As always: Enjoy the pictures!

PS: I finished a few more books:

• "The Sum Of All Fears" by Tom Clancy
  
• "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
  
• "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
  
• "The Final Reckoning" by Sam Bourne
  
• "Stalin's Ghost" by Martin Cruz Smith
  

Travel Blog: Day 50

Update: I fixed the link to the second gallery (Iguazu Falls)

This is just a short one. It is 7:16 in the morning and one of the computers at the hostel in Buenos Aires is "free". I did enjoy Sao Paulo even though the city did not offer much to me except for the interesting architechture. At times it did remind me of NYC, though. It was also a rather expenisive place - one night club we passed required a 300 Reais entrance (ca 117 Euro). I also had the chance to attend another football game. The fans were really giving their best but it somehow could not beat the cheerful athmosphere of the Maracana stadium in Rio.
From Sao Paulo I took the bus to Iguazu and the falls were just amazing. I am not sure if I have used the word before but the falls really made me hold my breath. Especially the "Devil's Throat" seemed to me like a computer animation out of an "end of the world" movie. It was just so massive and unreal. I also went to Paraguay for a few hours to buy some cheap electronics - I really needed a new memory card for my camera. The one I bought seems to work fine but the 2 USB flash drives I bought turned out to be electronic waste. 40 Dollars just went down the drain.
I then took a plane to Buenos Aires today and tried to dive into the night life. The evening (night) was allright but getting back to the hostel really was a pain. It was raining really hard and I was almost out of money. I did meet some locals, though, who helped me find a cash machine and a taxi...
Enjoy the pictures.

Travel Blog: Day 41

The night in Santiago was great fun. Went to see some live Salsa which was really good. I ended up paying for a bed I did not sleep in, since I got back pretty late and got picked up for my airport transfer at 4:50.
The flight to Rio was uneventful and once there I got on a bus that was supposed to bring me close to my hostel. I had 2 people tell the bus driver to let me out at Rio Sul Shopping Mall - but of course he "forgot". So I got out at Copacabana beach and had only about a 30 minutes walk with all my luggage in a comfy 37 degree Celsius heat (98.6 Fahrenheit). The first night I didn't do much and went to bed early. The next day I spent with 2 Americans and an Englishmen by the name of Neil. We went first to Ipanema beach and walked from there to Copacabana beach where we set up camp. The waves were awesome and after some time of practice I succeeded in a few decent body surfs. But every now and then - when my timing was bad or the wave was just to big - the wave would just wash me away and would play with me like I was a ping pong ball. I didn't know where up or down was and was just tumbling through the water....so much fun!
At night we all went to Lapa where there is a huge street party at the weekends. Because of the absence of public bathrooms the dark side alleys soon started to smell rather unpleasant. It is also pretty dangerous there when it comes to thieves. Three of the people I hung out with that night got some stuff stolen. But it was still a fun night and I got to bed at about 6:30.
On Saturday I again did not do much except going to the Fluminense stadium with Neil to get tickets for the Sunday game against Palmeiras. At night we went the the club "Rio Scenarium" which was a really good but fairly expensive club. For me the night out in Lapa was more fun.
Sunday was then the day of the football game. Neil and I took the subway to Maracana stadium and there the party was in full swing. People were singing and dancing intensively even before they got to the inside of the stadium. And once inside they atmosphere was even better. It was just breathtaking and beautiful. Check out some videos here.
On the next day I decided to finally go see a doctor because the pain in my right hand did not cease. It had been hurting since the Halloween party when I punched a door because the security guard at Loki hostel would not let me look for my lost cell phone. I know it was a stupid thing to do so keep your smart remarks to yourselves ;-)
I did spend almost 5 hours at the hospital and it turned out that the metarcarpal bone ("Mittelhandknochen") of my right pinky was fractured. It only took me 10 days to find that out. Cycling down the Death Road was really painful but then I still thought it was just a very strong contusion. I don't even want to think back to all the times people shook my hand and squeezed really hard. But one remarkable thing is that in Brazil (as well as in Argentina) the public hospitals are for free so I didn't have to pay a single dime. To all my American readers I can only say: "Support Obama! Public healthcare is not a bad thing!".
I was planning to go to the Ilha Grande to hit the beaches but with my nice little cast I figured it wouldn't make much sense. I decided to stay a few more days in Rio instead and go to Sao Paulo from there. In Rio I went up the cable car to the sugar loaf - which at 17 Euro (25 $) is not really a bargain. The view from up there is worth it, though. I was lucky - just when i finished my 'round' a cloud moved in and you couldn't see anything.
Today I took the bus to Sao Paulo. At a mere 7 hours this is only a stone's throw for South American standards. I will take it easy tonight because tomorrow is Friday and I need some energy for the bustling Sao Paolo night life.

Travel Blog: Day 33

Update: I found the picture CD from the Death Road trip and added some pictures to the second gallery (click on the second picture).

Sorry, but this post is goint to be a long one. So many things have happened since last time...

My little trip to Uyuni was stressful but worthwile. I couldn't really sleep on the nightbus on our way there because the last 3 hours of the ride were on a very rough, unpaved road. We got out in the city of Uyuni at about 7 in the morning and at first I was shocked by the desolateness of the place. It reminded me of Mos Eisley....just without the people and the action. The town was a dead place surrounded by barren lands. It got a little better later on when there were actually some people in the streets. But enough of that. We (Oli, the English guy, and I) booked a tour starting at 10:30 and somehow managed to pass the time until then. When the time arrived we got into a Toyota Landcruiser (Bolivia is totally "Toyota land") together with 4 other tourists and the guide. First we went to the "train cemetery" where you can climb the old train wrecks. After that we headed out into the Salt Flat which is the world's largest with covering more than 10.500 square kilometers. It was quite impressive to be totally surrounded by white...only the mountains at the horizon hinted that it does not go on forever. Basically in the middle of the desert is the "Incahuasi island" - a small mountain covered with lots of really tall cactuses. This was when the battery in my camera went dead. I will try to get my hands on some of the "funny pictures" we took and show them to you later.
On our way back we experienced another highlight. A tire of the Landcruiser blew at about 100 km/h. The driver handled it expertly but the replacement of the tire took a loProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

time since the car jack did not work properly.
Since I definately did not want to spend the night in Uyuni I took another night bus back to La Paz. This time I did succeed in catching some sleep even though it got really cold during the last 3 hours or so.
So I was back in La Paz for Halloween. I actually got a "costume". OK, it was only a wig but I did not feel like spending a lot of money on a costume. I went to a Halloween party at Loki Hostel with 2 guys I had formerly met in Cusco. The party was OK but the downer was that I lost my cell phone. Or got it stolen. Who knows? Tried everything to get it back - in vain. Shit. But cannot help it now.

I tried to set my mind to more pleasant things by going to a Bolivian football game. I paid about 2€ to get a ticket for the game of the year - the local derby between "Bolivar" and "The Strongest". It was quite a good game and Bolivar won it 3:0. The only downside was that they do not sell beer in the stadium :-(

I was wrong when I wrote last time that the "Death Road" descends almost 3000 m...actually it is more like 3600 m. But let's start at the beginning. I really wanted to do the trip with a company called "Pro Downhill" which was recommended to me by several people. I couldn't book the tour with them though, because they were closed on Sunday and on Monday - the Bolivians conveniently shift a bank holiday to Monday if it falls on a Sunday. So I had to book with one of the companies whose office was open on Monday since Tuesday was my last full day in Bolivia. I ended up booking at an agency called "Aka Pacha Travel" which I really cannot recommend. The bikes were basically crap. Worst thing was that the brakes were not as good as you would need on a dangerous road like this. When the road was really steep the bike hardly slowed down if I pulled the rear brake as hard as I could. Also the suspension didn't really work and neither did the gearshift. Well I am glad I survived. The trip was more exhausting than I thought and I can totally understand why some people fall off their bikes - the road is full of rubble and boulders. I came close to falling a couple times, too.
Somehow I cannot find the picture CD fro the trip so you have to be content with the pictures I took. I will try to recover the lost pictures from one of the outher guys on the tour.

Today I flew from La Paz to Santiago where I will spend the night before I head on to Rio tomorrow morning. I will get picked up from the hostel at 4:50 am. Yeah! I did manage to take a short walk though and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

PS: I have finished 4 books so far

• Der Schatz im Silbersee by Karl May
  
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (thanks to Olaf)
• Airframe by Michael Crichton
  
• "The Appeal" by John Grisham

It's just not easy to find really good books at the book exchanges in the hostels...

Travel Blog: Day 27

Ok let's see...what has happened since my last post? In Puno I made a boat tour to the famous floating islands of the Uros. They were really interesting to see but I must say the Lonely Planet was right about the commercialization of the islands. When we left the women sang something in their native language for us (Aymara) before switching to "Vamos a la playa" and in the end the all waved and said in unison "Hasta la vista baby!"

After that we went to the island of Taquile where we hiked a little and learned some stuff about the local culture.

The next day I went to Copacabana - a small village on the Bolivian coast of Lake Titicaca. I spent most of the day reading before I had some Mexican food for dinner. This stuff must have been really bad because it made me sick for the next 4-5 days. That is why I wanted to get the hell out of that place and went directly to La Paz the next day...missing to visit the famous Isla del Sol.

At first I really didn't like La Paz too much but that was partly contributed to the lousy weather and me being sick. When both these conditions got better I actually came to like La Paz. It is really hectic and there is lots of traffic (and thus lots of exhaust fumes) but the setting between the two mountain ranges is spectacular.

Then I met some other travellers that I got along with really well and we decided to spend two days in a small village called Sorata to relax for a few days. We stayed at an eco-lodge called "Altai Oasis". It was a wonderful place with lots of green grass, colorful flowers and an army of animals: 4 dogs - including 2 puppies, geese, chicken, ducks and ducklings, two llamas, kitten, two cows, a sheep, a goat and probably some more that I didn't see.

On our first night we tried to cook some pasta....in a a kind of camping kitchen where you had to make a fire to cook upon. It was great fun even if the result really was not that great :-)

The next day Oliver (England) and I hiked to the cave of San Pedro. It was an easy but amazing walk with ever changing views of the surrounding mountains. The cave was quite impressive, too, but the pictures didn't turn out very well.

After going back to La Paz we went to have dinner at one of the fanciest restaurants in La Paz because it was Joanna's (US) birthday. We had a fabulous meal for less than 10 Euro each.

Tonight I will take the night bus to Uyuni to see the the famous salt flats. Upon my return to La Paz I only have one more thing to do before I fly to Rio de Janeiro: Cycling down the "World's most dangerous road" also known as the "Death Road". This sounds way worse than it actually is because nowadays there is hardly any traffic on the road and the cyclists have it basically to themselves. The amazing thing is that on the 65 km the road descends almost 3000 meters and thus includes several vegetation zones from the altiplano to the rainforest.

Pseudophilosophischer Gedanke des Tages #7

Der Weg mag ja manchmal das Ziel sein - der Rueckweg hingegen ist es selten.

Travel Blog: Day 17

The first thing I did after writing the last post was buying a new camera. Got myself a Canon again and so far I am totally happy with it. After relaxing a couple days I started my trip to Machu Picchu. Since I didn't have enough time for one of the four day treks I chose the "easy way", meaning that I would go to Aguas Calientes (the town close to Machu Picchu) by bus and train and would visit the site the next day and return afterwards.

People who want to climb up Waynapicchu need to get up early, because only 400 people are allowed to go up there each day. So I got up at 3:30 and started my hike up to the entrance of Machu Picchu around 3:50. It was still absolutely dark then but by the time I reached the entrance at around 5:10 it was getting light. I was among the first 40 people in line so I got my ticket for Waynapicchu.

Machu Picchu really is a mystical place that somehow radiates a peaceful aura. After the 2 hours tour I had some time to relax before I hiked up Waynapicchu at around 10. It was quite an exhausting way up and I wouldn't recommend it if you are not fit and healthy, but the view from up there is amazing.

I also found two hidden treasures in Machu Picchu - 2 Geocaches ;-)

When I came back to Cusco I checked in at a different hostel because the other one was a little too quiet. I ended up at Loki which some people claim to be among the top 10 hostels in the world. It is a really fun place and I finally got the chance to party a little :-)

So now I am in Puno at the Lake Titicaca and I need to make some plans for the next days. This town is located at an altitude of about 3800 m/12500 feet so I have to take it easy. The air is pretty thin up here.

Some things I experienced so far on my travels:

• Local drinks: I've tasted some of the local beers and most of them are quite drinkable. Pisco is a popular liquor made of grapes which is also the main ingredient of a cocktail called "Pisco Sour". Both pure and in a cocktail it tastes pretty good...but I have been told by a Peruvian that the cocktail is for women only (most tourists don't know or don't care).
  Coca tea or "mate de coca" is also really popular and is said to have a number of positive effects like reducing the symptoms of altitude sickness, providing energy and suppressing hunger and thirst. You can either buy tea bags or just throw some real coca leaves into hot water.
  Only "decocained" tea is allowed to be exported to the USA.
• Local cousine: I've already written some time ago that I tried some of the local dishes. In the meantime I had the chance to try some alpaca meat but not any guinea pig so far (Meerschweinchen). The later is rather expensive.
• Moon and stars: The moon down here is "the wrong way around", meaning that the waning moon has the shadow on the left side and not on the right side like in the norhtern hemisphere. Also especially in Colca Canyon I was able to see a fantastic starry sky because there was no "light contamination" for miles around.
• Traffic: I still haven't figured out the traffic here. The streets are full of taxis (an in Lima minibusses) and they pass each other all the time within the city. I also don't know who has the right of way but it always seems to work out somehow. As a pedastrian you have to be extremely careful as vehicles do not care about pedestrians at all.

As always: click on the picture to get to the gallery.

Travel Blog: Day 11

Hey there, just arrived in Cusco. But first things first. I left Lima on a nightbus to Arequipa where I spent several days. The bus was amazingly comfortable...if you paid extra for the VIP seats. Considering that I would be on the bus for 15 hours I didn't mind paying a little extra. It was kind of like flying first class (or how I imagine flying first class would be like). They served dinner and breakfast, handed out pillows and blankets and you could recline the seats almost to a horizontal position.

When I arrived in Arequipa I started speaking to a girl that I overheard talk German on her cell phone. She told me she would work some time for an organization that helps the poor children around Arequipa. I kind of sticked with her and the other volunteers for the day and watched them help some of the children with their homework (as you can see in some of the pictures). I would have loved to help more but my Spanish still needs improving.

The next two days I walked around Arequipa and visited the beautiful Monasterio Santa Catalina. I also got to see "Juanita", an Inca girl that was sacrificed by the Incas about 500 years ago in order to appease the mountain god.

After that I went on a 3 day trip to the Colca Canyon where we did some serious hiking through breathtaking landscapes. We even saw several condors. So after seeing the smallest bird in the Monasterio the day before (a humming bird) I got to see the largest one just the day after.

I have not yet any picutures to show you of the canyon because my camera broke the day before the trip. I will try to get a new one today.

Enjoy the pictures!

Travel Blog: Day 6

Just a short one today...since I need to get some breakfast now. I started a "A Picture a Day" gallery (another good idea I just stole from somebody else).
Here is the link.

I am still trying to figure out whether it's time to shave or not - what do you think?

Travel Blog: Day 4

So this is the fourth day of my trip. I arrived safely in Lima in the late afternoon of Oct 3rd. The 12 hour flight really wasn't funny and Iberia really did not impress me. I got picked up at the airport by a cab that brought me to my hostel. The cab driver spoke pretty good English and so we talked about football (or"soccer"for my American readers), Peru, beer and the local cuisine. At the hostel I met some other nice travellers and had the chance to try the local beer as well as pisco - the local licor.

On the next day I started exploring the vicinity. The district the hostel is located at is called Miraflores and it seems to be where all the tourists and rich people live. Everythings is really clean and has a strong American or western influence. I strolled along the coast up to the LarcoMall which is build directly into the cliffs and helped myself to plenty of local food at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I was brave and tried some of the local dishes. Most of them were actually pretty good...but neither do I know the names of the dishes nor do I know their ingredients.

Later on I visited the pre-inca pyramid of Huaca Pucclana. Quite impressive to see a site like this in the middle of a city. I also made contact with some naked dogs. Apparently the only peruvian dog race is the "Peruvian Hairless Dog". Interestingly many of the "normal"dogs in Miraflores wear clothes...

Yesterday I did some more cultural stuff: visting the museum "Raffael Larco Herrera" , the cathedral and the Monasterio de San Francisco. At the latter I got a private tour as I was the only participant of the English tour. I saw thousands and thousands of bones in the catacombs of the monastery. Sadly you weren't allowed to take pictures. The bones you see in the pictures were in the cathdral. At night I went with two fellow travelers from Israel to the district of Barranco, which is famous for its bohemian and romantic athmosphere. We ended up in a club that had some really good live jazz music.

What else is there to tell? Lima is colder than I thought. Considering some of my future travel destinations I might not have packed enough warm clothes.

Today I am just taking it slowly and I will hop on a 15 hours bus to Arequipa in the afternoon.

Enjoy the pictures....click on the one in this post and you will be directed to the gallery.

Travel Blog: Day 1

The day of departure has finally arrived. I am writing these lines at the Madrid airport while waiting for my connecting flight to Lima.
I have made reservations for a hostel in Lima for three nights and have arranged to be picked up at the airport. I do not have any more plans right now. Just want to get over the jetlag and explore the city. I will keep you updated about where I am going after that.

Gedanken zur Wahl

Nun, wer das hier liest ist ja sicherlich mit den Ergebnissen unserer schönen Bundestagswahl vertraut. Kann nicht sagen, dass sie mich vom Hocker reißen...aber dafür kann ich mich jetzt mal vier Jahre entspannt zurücklehnen und aus Oppositionssicht wieder hemmungslos über alles schimpfen, was von der Regierung verzapft wird. Für mich persönlich ist das Ergebnis vielleicht auch gar nicht so schlecht. Ich werde mir jetzt erstmal überlegen müssen, was ich mit dem ganzen Geld anfange, dass mir durch die bevorstehenden Steuererleichterungen zusätzlich zur Verfügung steht. Vielleicht lass ich mir ja ein Sprungbrett in meinen Geldspeicher einbauen.

Aber mal im Ernst, sollte es Herr Westerwelle wirklich schaffen, ein einfacheres und "gerechteres" Steuersystem einzuführen, dann gebührt ihm mein größter Respekt. Die Chancen dafür schätze ich allerdings ziemlich gering ein. Zu groß ist die Lobby der Steuerberater und der Profiteuere des jetztigen Systems. Zudem lässt sich so etwas von der Opposition immer ziemlich einfach als ungerecht hinstellen und wird dadurch unpopulär (Stichwort: Nachtzuschläge, Freibeträge für Übungsleiter, Pendlerpauschale etc.).

Wenn ich mir eine Besetzung des zukünftigen Kabinetts aussuchen könnte, so würde ich gern Westerwelle als Finanzminister sehen. Dann wäre ich mal gespannt, wie es mit den Steuersenkungsplänen aussähe. Aber Westerwelle wird sich ja mit ziemlicher Sicherheit den "relaxten" Posten des Außenministers sichern. Dort kann man immer glänzen ohne innenpolitisch irgendwas unpopuläres durchsetzuen zu müssen. Aber auf den zukünftigen Finanzminister bin ich trotzdem gespannt. Irgendein Depp muss sich finden lassen, der sich da zum Affen macht und die ganze Prügel einsteckt....und auch kein gesteigertes Interess an einer erfolgreichen Fortsetzung seiner politischen Karriere hat.

Zum Schluss noch einmal zu den nackten Zahlen: CDU und FDP vereinen auf sich 48,4 Prozent der abgegebenen, gültigen Stimmen. Ich finde es daher unpassend, wenn in den entsprechenden Medien von einer "deutlichen Mehrheit" gesprochen wird. Berücksichtigt man zudem noch die Wahlbeteiligung, so kommen die beiden Parteien auf knapp 35% aller möglichen Stimmen. Das bedeutet, dass wir alle die nächsten vier Jahre von einer Koalition regiert werden, die nur von etwa einem Drittel der Wahlberechtigten gewählt wurde. Das zeigt doch ziemlich deutlich, wie wichtig es ist wählen zu gehen!

Ich frage mich...

ob Jürgen Trittin in seiner Kindheit wohl sehr unter seinem Namen zu leiden hatte....

Lyrics Snippet #12

Today I listened to Marilyn Manson for the first time in ages. In his song "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" Manson expresses a rather negative weltanschauung.
I don't think his lyrics are very deep though...when it comes to Manson it is all about the show. But he does put on a hell of a show - the concert in Cologne in 1998 was one of the most entertaining I have ever attended.
Some of his songs really have a certain beat/groove/feel/oomph/energy/whatever to it that makes me want to jump up and down...and...well...into other people ;-)

Everybody's someone else's nigger
I know you are so am I
I wasn't born with enough middle fingers
I don't need to choose a side

~ "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" - Marilyn Manson ~

Travel Blog: Day -23

Finally some good news! After a lot of major and minor misfortunes it was about time!

A few days ago I decided on which three people I would like to live in my apartment and they have been waiting for me to get everything arranged.
But over the last days it looked like my landlord would not agree to me renting the apartment to three students. Rather suprisingly today I got the go and I am now only waiting for the three contracts to fly in. In a matter of days all should be settlted...

Only about 3 weeks left until take off.

Travel Blog: Day -31

No good news from my apartment. By now it looks like I will only get people to rent single rooms. I know my landlord will not be happy about it and chances are that I am not allowed to do this at all.
Yesterday two girls took a look at my place and seemed really interested. I had a good feeling about them, too. Got a message from them today that they unexpectedly got an offer for a dorm room so they are going for this (cheaper) option.

I now advertised in the local newspaper - the ad will be published on Friday. I just hope there are some people who are just as desperately looking for a place as I am looking for somebody to rent it to.

Travel Blog: Day -35

I guess most (all?) of the few people who read this blog already know about my travelling plans.
I have decided to take 6 months off and travel around South America, New Zealand and Australia.

My flights are booked and the general route has been laid out. I will work out the details along the way.

• October 3rd: Flight from Frankfurt to Lima, Peru (via Madrid, Spain)
• Somehow make my way to La Paz, Bolivia
• November 4th: Flight from La Paz to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Via Santiago, Chile)
• Travel southward to Buenos Aires, Argentina (maybe Uruguay...if there is time...), then further south to explore Patagonia. Then on to Santiago
• January 3rd: Flight from Santiago to Auckland, New Zealand (via Los Angeles, USA and Brisbane, Australia)
• Travel southward to Christchurch
• January 27th: Flight from Christchurch to Sydney, Australia
• February 1st: Flight from Sydney to Brisbane
• Move along Australia's east coast up to Cairns
• March 24th: Flight from Cairns to Melbourne
• March 29th: Flight from Melbourne to Frankfurt (via Singapore)
  

I still have some things to get straightened out before I leave. The most pressing issue is my apartment...haven't found anybody to rent it. Got lots of inquiries for single rooms but not for the whole thing. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Updates will appear here on a regular basis.

Lyrics Snippet #11

Today I present you a little piece by Phil Ochs - a songwriter I actually stumbled across when reading Stephen King's "Hert in Atlantis" where his song "I Ain't Marching Anymore" (video) was mentioned several times.

If you are into 60s and 70s folk/protest music you should check out some of his songs:

• Bullets Of Mexico
• Links on the Chain
• Talking Cuban Crisis
• One More Parade
• The Men Behind the Guns

Those I like best from the few I know (hardly more than a dozen) so there probably are lots of others worth listening to.

For I marched to the battles of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain't marchin' anymore

~ "I Ain't Marching Anymore" - Phil Ochs ~

Pseudophilosophischer Gedanke des Tages #7

Fotos sind nur ein erbärmlicher Versuch die Wirklichkeit einzufangen.

Where is my vote?

Werbung oder keine Werbung? Das ist hier die Frage...

Seit einiger Zeit prangt an meinem Briefkasten ein "Stopp! Keine Werbung"-Aufkleber. Vereinzelt verirrt sich zwar manchmal ein Flyer von einem Pizza-Schuppen oder einiger freiberuflicher Kistenschlepper im Briefkasten, aber im Großen und Ganzen erzielt der Aufkleber die gewünschte Wirkung.
Ein Klientel, das diesen Aufkleber jedoch geflissentlich ignoriert, sind die politischen Parteien. Zur Europawahl und den gleichzeitig durchgeführten Kommunalwahlen hatte ich jede Menge Wahlwerbung im Briefkasten. Und kaum denkt man, damit sei jetzt erstmal Schluss, finden sich schon wieder einige Pamphlete dort - der bevorstehenden Stichwahl zum Ortsvorsteher sei Dank.
Dabei scheint die Sache klar zu sein. Das Bundesverfassungsgericht urteilte 1988 (BGH vom 20.12.1988, Aktenzeichen VI ZR 182/88), dass solche Aufkleber beachtet werden müssen.
Auch ein Rundbrief der GRIBS (Grüne und Alternative in den Räten Bayerns) befasst sich mit dem Thema und kommt zu folgendem Ergebnis:

Wahlwerbung
"Bitte keine Werbung einwerfen !"
Werden solche oder ähnliche Aufkleber auf Briefkästen ignoriert, kann dies Unterlassungsbegehren mit z.T. nicht unerheblichen Rechtsanwaltsgebühren für die betreffenden Untergliederungen mit sich bringen.
Wenn sich auf einem Briefkasten ein werbeabwehrender Aufkleber befindet, muss dies auch bei der Verteilung von Wahlkampfzeitungen oder sonstiger Parteiwerbung respektiert werden. Trotz der besonderen rechtlichen Stellung von Parteien ist Wahlwerbung nach aktueller Rechtsprechung grundsätzlich wie gewöhnliche Werbung zu behandeln. „Dem Recht der Parteien, ihrer politischen Tätigkeit ungehindert nachgehen zu können, entspricht keine Pflicht der Bürgers, sich von den Parteien informieren lassen zu müssen.“ (NJW 2002, Heft 5, S. 380) Die Übersendung von Werbematerial trotz eines erklärten entgegenstehenden Willens stellt eine Besitz- bzw. Eigentumsstörung und darüber hinaus eine Störung des allgemeinen Persönlichkeitsrechts dar.
Wenn werbungsabwehrende Aufkleber missachtet werden, hat der oder die Betroffene zivilrechtliche Abwehr- und Unterlassungsansprüche. Dies kann im Einzelfall nicht unerhebliche Rechtsanwaltsgebühren für den Störer - also die Parteigliederung - zur Folge haben.

Für die hobbymäßigen Stressmacher und Beschwerdebriefschreiber unter euch also ein gefundenes Fressen.

PS: Generell finde ich es nicht schlecht, dass die Bürger über die politischen Programme der Parteien informiert werden, aber auch Parteien stehen eben nicht über dem Gesetz. Und zumindest die Informationen zur bevorstehenden Stichwahl waren bei mir überflüssig - ich hatte meine Stimme bereits am Tag zuvor per Briefwahl abgegeben.

Lyrics Snippet #10

Here's another song that deals with the Northern Ireland conflict: "Zombie" by The Cranberries (watch the video on youtube here). I remember listening to this song again and again when I was around the age of 15. It always sent a shiver down my spine - and still does.

It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen.
In your head, in your head they're still fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are dying...

~ "Zombie" - The Cranberries ~

Lyrics Snippet #9

After the overwhelming response to my last "Lyrics Snippet" post I just feel obliged to keep writing to keep all of you satisfied and entertained. No, but really, this may sound a little harsh. I would be lying if I said I wouldn't care...but still....f*ck it. If this whole thing doesn't change anything for anybody else it still has affected the way I listen to songs. Exactly six days ago I was in Mannheim listening to some band at the Mannheim city festival. When they played "Sunday Bloody Sunday" I thought this would be a good song to write about here. Wikipedia tells me that this song is about the "Bloody Sunday" - January 30th 1972. On this day a demonstration for civil rights took place in the town of Derry. Thirteen people were shot by British military...
Check the rest out for youselves...

And the battles just begun
Theres many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart

~ Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2 ~

Wahlen leicht gemacht

Auf dem Foto erkennt man meine Briefwahlunterlagen für die bevorstehenden Kommunal- und Europawahlen: 2 Merkblätter, 2 Wahlzettel, 6 Stimmzettel und 4 Umschläge. Einfacher gehts kaum, oder?

Lyrics Snippet #8

Today I turn to a rather trivial topic. Tonight Manchester will play Barcelona in the Champions League Final. Reason enough for me to create a little post about the reference to athletes in songs. Right now I can think of three and I invite everybody who reads this to contribute to the list. I know there are hundreds - if not thousands - more.
Valid are only songs that are not especially dedicated to an athlete or sports in general (like "Three Lions"...beautiful song by the way).

Steppin' into the jam and I'm slammin' like Shaquille
Mad boy grips the microphone
Wit' a fistful of steel

~ "Fistful of Steel" - Rage Against The Machine ~

________________


See I've Got Heart Like John Starks
Hitting Mad Sparks
Pass Me The Mic
And I'll Be Rocking The Whole Park

~ "Get it Together" - Beastie Boys ~

________________


Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Woo, woo, woo)
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away

~ "Mrs. Robinson" - Simon and Garfunkel ~

Flash Mob gefällig?

Habe gerade durch Zufall gesehen, dass am Montag 18:00 Uhr in Ludwigshafen ein Flash-Mob geplant ist (guckst du hier). Mal sehen ob ich es schaffe, daran teilzunehmen. Immerhin könnte ich dann Punkt 66 auf meiner Liste der "101 Dinge, die man getan haben sollte, bevor das Leben vorbei ist" streichen.

Ich kann es nicht mehr hören!

Muss denn in jeder, aber auch wirklich jeder Meldung über die Zukunft von Opel die Floskel "tragfähiges Konzept" verwendet werden?
Und bin ich eigentlich der einzige, den das stört?

Lyrics Snippet #7

Just a short one today:

If ignorance is bliss, then knock the smile off my face

~ "Settle for Nothing" - Rage Against the Machine ~

PS: For a better understanding of RATM lyrics I recommend the "Lyrical References" section in the RATM FAQ

Lyrics Snippet #6

One of the best-known songs of the great depression is probably "Brother, can you spare a dime", which was written in 1931 by E.Y. Harburg (music by Jay Gorney). This song has been recorded by dozens of artists and also appeared in a Simpsons episode :-)

Interestingly, 8 years later Harburg wrote one of the most hopeful songs of the era - "(Somewhere) Over the Rainbow".

BTW: Don't think I just know all this stuff...looked it all up on wikipedia.

Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime;
Once I built a tower, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?

"Brother, can you spare a dime" - Music by Jay Gorney, Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg

Lyrics Snippet #5

So, now to a different topic. Considering the current economic crisis I find it appropriate to share a couple of lyrics snippets from songs about the great depression.

The first one is from Springsteens "Ghost of Tom Joad" which is basically a song about John Steinbeck's book "Grapes of Wrath". Reading the book surely helps to understand the song...maybe it is even necessary. But really, if you haven't read it yet, go ahead and do it. In my opinion it's an eye-opening masterpiece.

There's also a version of this song by Rage Against the Machine which is...uhm...slightly more "dynamic". Remember, RATM songs are best served at high volume :-)

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

~ "The Ghost of Tom Joad" - Bruce Springsteen ~

Pseudophilosophischer Gedanke des Tages #6

Versuche nicht, dein Glück an dem Glück Anderer zu messen. Jeder muss sein eigenes Glück finden.

Lyrics Snippet #4

One thing I want to make very clear: No, I am not suicidal. OK, now that this is out of the way I will present the last (very short) song snippet out of my "suicide cycle":

"I was me, but now he's gone"

~ "Fade to Black" - Metallica ~

Pseudophilosophischer Gedanke des Tages #5

Wie passt es eigentlich zusammen, dass sich Arbeitswochen endlos hinzuziehen scheinen, aber die Monate und Jahre nur so an einem vorbeifliegen?

Lyrics Snippet #3

Alright, since I started with the suicide topic I can as well stick to it. I have at least a couple more along those lines.
Today's snippet is from a band I really like called "K's Choice". The song (click to listen) is about an old woman trying to kill herself by getting on the highway in her wheelchair. This is what she said when a young woman (the first-person narrator) tries to "save" her:

She said, "Girl you're so naive
and you're too young to understand
I am now chasing my husband Stan
A pale man in a black suit came to take him
in trade for a cup of tea
A pale man came to take him away from me"

~ "Old Woman" - K's Choice ~

Lyrics Snippet #2

Today's lyrics snippet is from the song "Suicide is Painless" which was the title song for the TV show "M.A.S.H." (and the movie as well). I always enjoyed watching that show...because it was funny, sarcastical, cynical and touching.

It's hard to pick only a part of the song, since all the stanzas are pretty good. I went for the last one:

A brave man once requested me
to answer questions that are key
is it to be or not to be
and I replied 'oh why ask me?'

'Cause suicide is painless
it brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.

"Suicide is Painless" - Music by Johnny Mandel, Lyrics by Mike Altman

Lyrics Snippet #1

Today I will start a new category on this blog. First difference is - as you will have probably noticed - that posts of this category will be written in English. I do that to multiply my already huge number of active readers :-)

As I have written before (in German) I am not sure where to go with this blog. What I am trying to do now, is supposed to be an easy way for me to come up with new posts on a regular basis...without investing too much time.

So I decided to present interesting pieces of song lyrics. That's it. Not more. The fact that there are so many good songs around makes it easy to find something to put on here. Alone the songs by Rage Against The Machine provide an endless pool of noteworthy lyrics...whicht probably has something to do with the fact that Tom Morello graduated from Harvard University with honors as a Political Science major.

Ok, here goes the first one:

AIDS is killing the entire African nation
And a vaccine is still supposedly under preparation
But these governments, they don`t mind the procrastination.
They say we`ll kill them off, take their land and go there for vacation

~ "Darkness" - Rage Against The Machine ~

Politischer Aktivist...in der kleinstmöglichen Form

Gestern war ein besonderer Tag für mich. Ich habe das erste Mal wirklich etwas getan um die Politik im Land zu beeinflussen....abgesehen von (häufig sinnlosen) Diskussionen...wie z.B. zuletzt über die unsäglichen Kommentare der CDU, CSU und FDP zum Wahlprogramm der SPD:
So wird der Vorschlag des 300-Euro-Steuerbonus z.B. von CSU-Generalsekretär Alexander Dobrindt als Mogelpackung bezeichnet, da die betroffenen ja eventuell auf eine viel höhere Steuerrückerstattung verzichten würden. Was für ein schwachsinniges Argument.
Genauso geht mir auf den Sack, wie mein Spezi CDU-Generalsekretär Ronald Pofalla wieder vor lauter Verzweifelung versucht, die Bevölkerung mit der Behauptung zu verängstigen, das Wahlprogramm sei die Plattform zur Zusammenarbeit mit der Linkspartei. Interessanterweise schließt die SPD eine Zusammenarbeit mit der Linkspartei explizit aus...was nicht unbedingt etwas bedeuten muss, aber es könnte ja mal erwähnt werden. Das Problem ist, dass diese unqualifizierten Behauptungen es in die Nachrichten und auch in die Köpfe der Menschen schaffen und Pofalla damit sogar erreichen wird was er will.
Im SWR Contra Tagesgespräch vom 20.04.09 sagt er dann noch wörtlich:

• "Steuererhöhungen wird es mit uns nicht geben"
• "Die SPD will Steuern erhöhen, wir wollen Steuern senken"

Die Tatsache, dass die SPD nur den Spitzensteuersatz erhöhen möchte und dabei aber den Eingangssteuersatz von 14 auf 10 Prozent senken möchte, wird natürlich verschwiegen. Auch die Äußerungen des baden-würtembergischen Ministerpräsidenten Öttinger, der wiederum die Steuersenkungspläne der SPD ablehnt und der Meinung ist, dass solche erst in 2012 finanzierbar seien, passen hier nicht ins Bild.
Eins möchte ich hier noch mal klar stellen. Ich bin zwar tendenziell eher der SPD zugewandt, aber mir geht es hier nicht darum das Wahlprogramm der SPD zu verteidigen, sondern die dreiste Verdrehung der Tatsachen durch die anderen Parteien zu ächten. Auch die SPD ist in dieser Hinsicht keinen Deut besser...leider ist die Politik in unserem schönen, Bild-Zeitung-dominierten Land nun einmal so.
Meine Meinung zum eigentlichen Inhalt des SPD-Wahlprogramms werde ich vielleicht später in einem gesonderten Post kundtun.

Aber eigentlich wollte ich ja auf etwas ganz anderes hinaus. Ich habe nun endlich mal nicht nur gejammert, sonder auch etwas getan....und mich dabei in finanzielle Unkosten gestürzt. Unglaubliche 55 Cent hat mich die Briefmarke gekostet, die dafür sorgt, dass meine Unterstützungsunterschrift an ihrem Bestimmungsort ankommt und hoffentlich dazu beiträgt, dass die Piratenpartei Deutschland zur Bundestagswahl zugelassen wird. Wer sich auch beteiligen möchte, der findet alle notwendigen Infos auf http://ich.waehlepiraten.de
Es lohnt sich übrigens das Parteiprogramm durchzulesen - es ist besser als der etwas irreführende Parteiname vermuten lässt. Momentan sind sie zwar noch sehr spezialisiert, aber das muss ja nichts Schlechtes sein. Besser als sich zu allem eine Meinung "auszudenken". Die Grünen haben damals ja auch fast ausschließlich mit Umweltpolitik angefangen (Achtung: ungeprüfte Aussage).
Ob ich die Piraten wählen werde weiß ich noch nicht, aber ich finde sie sollte zumindest wählbar sein.

Warum.....

...heißt eigentlich gerade das alkoholfreie Jever "Jever Fun"???

Hier mal was Positives

Ich finde, in einer Zeit lauter schlechter Nachrichten sollte man auch mal die Guten betonen. Zwar gab es auch gestern wieder jede Menge negativer Meldungen zu diversen Unternehmen oder ganzen Wirtschaftszweigen, aber in den letzten Tagen konnte man zwischen dem Morast der Krisenberichte auch das ein oder andere Blümchen entdecken.
So sieht der Halbleitergigant Intel die "schwerste Zeit überstanden" und der Chiphersteller Infineon verkürzt die Kurzarbeit (und das im positiven Sinne).
Außerdem überraschte Goldman Sachs mit einem starken ersten Quartal und Milliardengewinnen - sogar 13% höher als im Vorjahreszeitraum.
Auch der amerikanische Notenbankchef Bernanke sieht erste Anzeichen für das Ende des Abschwungs.

Das sind zwar alles nur Tropfen auf den heißen Stein, aber besser als nichts. In meinen Augen ist die negative Grundstimmung ohnehin eine der Ursachen der aktuellen Krise.

[Update]
Auch gestern gab es wieder einige gute Zahlen...unter anderem von JP Morgan, Nokia und Google.

Script: Dateipfad in die Zwischenablage (Update)

"And now to something completely different"...wie man bei Monty Python sagen würde. Heute geht's mal um was Praktisches, nämlich die tägliche Arbeit mit dem Computer. Ich habe mir vor einige Zeit ein kleines Script zusammengeklaut und zusammengebastelt, dass es ermöglicht, den vollen Netzwerkpfad zu einer Datei in die Zwischenablage zu speichern. Wozu man das braucht? Nun, z.B. im beruflichen Umfeld möchte man gern Links auf Dateien verschicken, die sich auf einem Netzlaufwerk befinden. Blöderweise hat jeder das Laufwerk auf einem anderen Buchstaben gemappt, so dass der Empfänger u.U. mit dem Link nichts anfangen kann. Das Script liefert aber den sogenannten "UNC-Pfad", dass heißt komplett mit Servernamen etc, so dass das Mapping keine Rolle spielt.

Auch in anderen Situationen kann das Script nützlich sein. Manchmal möchte man z.B. eine Datei aus einer Anwendung heraus öffnen, muss dann aber umständlich zum richtigen Pfad auf der Festplatte navigieren, obwohl man daneben vielleicht schon ein Explorer-Fenster "an der richtigen Stelle" geöffnet hat. Auch hier einfach den Pfad ins Clipboard kopieren und direkt in das Feld "Dateiname" des "Datei öffnen"-Dialogs der Anwendung eintragen.

Das hier erhältliche Archiv besteht aus zwei Dateien. Zum einen gibt es das eigentliche Script ("unc-pfad.vbs") und zum anderen eine Registry-Datei ("registry.reg") mit der man einen Eintrag im Kontextmenü generieren kann (siehe Screenshot). Diese Datei muss man jedoch vor der einmaligen Ausführung anpassen - hier ist nämlich der Pfad zum Script eingetragen.

Auch ohne Registry-Eintrag lässt sich das Script jedoch elegant nutzen. Man kann z.B. eine Verknüpfung in der Schnellstartleiste der Taskbar erstellen. Dann muss man eine Datei nur per Drag&Drop auf die Verknüpfung ziehen und schon hat man den Pfad in der Zwischenablage.

Das Ganze läuft bei mir unter WinXP. Nehme an, dass es auch unter Win2000 laufen würde. Bei Vista bin ich mir nicht sicher. Zum Erstellen des Eintrages im Kontextmenü benötigt man übrigens Admin-Rechte.

Wäre sehr an Rückmeldungen und Anregungen interessiert.

Update:
Die jetzt erhältliche Version sollte nun auch unter Vista laufen. Wundert euch übrigens nicht über die Abfrage des Internet Explorers, ob ihr den Zugriff auf die Zwischenablage zulassen möchtet. Das Schreiben in die Zwischenablage muss nun mal den Umweg über den IE gehen. Ihr könnt allerdings eure Sicherheitseinstellungen im IE anpassen. Der Punkt heißt "Programmatischen Zugriff auf die Zwischenablage erlauben" (oder so ähnlich) und befindet sich im "Scripting"-Abschnitt.
Letzter Hinweis: wenn ihr die Registry-Datei anpasst, um das Script in euer Kontext-Menü einzubinden, dann achtet darauf die Backslashes im Pfad zu verdoppeln - so wie im Beispiel schon erkennbar ist.

Schon ne ganze....

....Weile her, seit ich das letzte Mal ein paar Worte hier verloren habe. Aber vielleicht ist das ja auch das Gebot der Stunde. In Zeiten wie diesen sollte man seine Worte beisammen halten - wer weiß wann es wieder neue gibt.

Angewandte Mathematik

Als ich neulich mit der S-Bahn fuhr kam mir der Gedanke, dass mein Hinterteil ein prima Beispiel für eine Ableitung ist. Während die S-Bahn beschleunigt, spüre ich einen Druck in eine Richtung. Hält sie konstant eine Geschwindigkeit, so spüre ich weder einen Druck nach vorne noch nach hinten. Beim Bremsen...na ihr wisst schon. Anschaulicher kann Mathematik nicht sein....und ein Blog-Eintrag auch nicht sinnloser.

Ach ja, Frohes Neues!