German parliament amends law on data storage, wire-tapping

~ Enno ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday, Germany lost one of the cornerstones of its constitution. The fundamental rights of journalists to keep their sources confidential, the Hippocratic oath and attorney-client confidentiality have all been sacrificed.

The International Press Institute calls on Germany to rethink that strategy:

The proposed amendment creates different classes of protection, with defence attorneys, parliamentarians and members of the clergy beyond scrutiny in the first class. By contrast, journalists would be treated as less worthy of protection, with investigating magistrates having the right to require journalists to divulge their communications if doing so is in the interests of the prosecution.

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Quad Power!

~ Enno ~ Leave a comment

I caved in and bought a new PC. The thing that really strikes me is how long it takes to set up a new PC with Windows compared to Ubuntu. In any modern Linux distribution, I just insert the CD, select the software I want from a huge list and let it do the magic while I do something else. And in an hour, everything’s done.

Meanwhile’ I’m in the middle of day two of my Windows installation. Windows itself is a hassle to install: Missing RAID drivers mean I have to bake a new ISO image and can’t use the regular install CD. Which starts by finding a PC with a CD burner, finding the drivers on the net (because Intel only included 32 bit drivers, hooray), finding a floppy drive in the basement because the drivers are distributed as an executable that formats a floppy (oh, how convenient is that?), building the CD, blabla…
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Things I don’t want to repeat

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  1. Being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a flat and no tools, forcing me to walk several miles in bicycle shoes (last Sunday).
  2. Losing a contact 40 km from home, having to pick it up from the asphalt and try to put it in again (this Sunday).

I have a checklist for going on bike trips because I always forget something. But I left it in the office. I’m sure “spare contacts” weren’t on it, but I’m definitely adding them after today.

The cycle computer I got for last Christmas has passed the 2,000 km mark, and I’m planning a trip to Heidelberg for next weekend. I hope the weather will be as gorgeous as it was today.

ADSL @ Germany

~ Enno ~ 2 Comments

ADSL Modem

I really like the fact that I had my ADSL connection a day before I was moving into my new apartment. You can’t fault Alice for being slow. Neither can I fault them for much else: Their contract has a 4 week cancellation period, as opposed to everyone else’s 2 years, and they are 5 Euros/week cheaper than the competition. Oh, and they also don’t require me to have a landline like everybody else. Great, because I didn’t intend to get one.

One thing though: Their installation CD didn’t like my PC. “Your language is not supported”. So they decide that because my Windows is English, it wouldn’t help me if they installed their German-only software, and I’m better of without any software at all. And without an option to override that decision. Well…. It turns out I *am* better off without, but that’s because I’m a geek who can browse the CD and find the relevant PDF, and already knows how to set up his router anyhow.

Drinking in Public

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The German news reports that the organization of German cities would like to make playgrounds and tourist attractions alcohol-free zones. I’m sure that for my fellow Norwegians, the idea of drinking in playgrounds seems preposterous (the whole idea of drinking in public is suspect, really). It seems like an easy decision, but as the article explains, even attempts at creating smoke-free playgrounds are still only in a pilot-project stage.

Stranger in a Strange Land: Cycling

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The most important thing among the 20 kilos of luggage I was allowed to bring on the plane was my beloved bike. I may have a rather small selection of clothes and books as a result (the rest of my stuff may be coming here in late August), but I get to exercise after work.

Cycling in Germany is different from cycling in Norway. To start with, there are more choices of roads – Germany is basically a lot of roads with people in between, where Norway is a lot of mountains with almost no good place to put a road.

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Stranger in a Strange Land: Smoking

~ Enno ~ 2 Comments

I knew that going back to Germany would be a culture shock. It’s a bit like going to a foreign country. In a way, it’s stranger than that. Because at some point I must have accepted all this as normal.

Cigarette vending machines, for example. I don’t think other countries have these anymore. And why would you put them next to a bubblegum vending machine?

vending machines

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