Today we’ve seen the abovementioned work perfomed by Bernd Gnann and Hans Rüdiger Kucich. Frankly, it was a great joy and pleasure. After the show, the performers asked to advertize it as there are still places available. My recommendation: do not miss this show. Grab a ticket for one of the remaining shows till sunday.

Pencil (by openclipart.org - public domain)

The german Linux Magazin put the article about Linux on mobile devices online.

I’ve ranted about writing the article back in November and October. If you didn’t read the printed issue, the online article is another occasion.

Another interesting article is Wirbelstürmer which reports about the usage of OSM and openrouteservice.org to cope with the remains of the hurricane »Ike«. Thanks for putting those articles online, guys!

Wallraff Lecture at the JuBez, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2009-11-10

I just attended a a lecture of Günter Wallraff at the Jubez. He’s a master of investigative journalism, which surprisingly is not very common in germany.

He has played several roles during the last decades: as a turkish worker, as a journalist for an infamous german tabloid, as a black guy in germany or as a call center agent. Meanwhile, he’s kind of an institution.

I read some of his reports, books and saw some of his films. Visiting a lecture is like meeting a bigfoot: »Wow, I never believed it really exists!« :)

Update:

Metamorphosis.

Gebabbel Logo

The current issue 12/2009 of the german »Linux Magazin« features several GPS related articles. On page 40 there’s one about Openstreetmap on mobile devices, especially the N810.

Though I have written some papers for various conferences, it was a completely new experience to prepare a manuscript for a magazine and to read the printed transmogrification afterwards. Frankly, I learned a lot. It’s always great to write about things you think you are savvy about, as it closes gaps in your knowledge and forces you to go even more into detail.

I needed to test the latest versions of the software I’ve written about. Many things had changed, so it was essential to try out all commands and listings provided in the article to avoid misinformation.

All in all, a great experience, joy and pleasure. I will happily write another one in case I was asked.

Pencil (by openclipart.org - public domain)

After writing several papers for various conferences, I had the occasion to write an article for a magazine (I’ll post more details as soon the issue is out). I mainly did it to collect some experience with that kind of work. Fortunately the topic was about things I’m savvy about, so I just needed to collect the details and write it down. I needed several evenings anyway, as it required to check out current versions of some software and to cope with some glitches in it.

I’m not 100% content, but it’s now a good compromise of what was desired by the client and what I would have written if I was solely responsible for the content. What I’ve heard so far, the client is content as well. Great.

All in all an excellent occasion, and I learned a lot. If you are in the situation to write an article, don’t deny it just because you are too busy or lazy right now. Writing does not only improve your writing skills, but also is a nice training to nail down things effectively. Being an information worker at some software company, it is essential to let others precisely know what I’m intending. Otherwise I either was not able to achieve my goals, or at least it would cost me (and my colleagues) much more time.

I just finished reading the latest book of Helmut Schmidt, “Ausser Dienst”. It’s an autobiography, and due to his age and (political) experience, he has a lot of things to tell about domestic and foreign policy, about economies and the challenges we will face in the near future.

This year, there will be several elections in germany, including the European Parliament Election and the Federal Diet Election. Before you make your decision, I recommend to read this book. Then read more about the topics, get an opinion and judge which of the candidates or political parties will be able to lead us sucessfully towards the future.

Some cites from the book (in german language, sorry):

Die heutigen Deutschen unterscheiden sich in vierlerlei Hinsicht von ihren Vorfahren; [...] Wir sind gereift.

Meine vielen Reisen haben mir bestätigt, wie wichtig es ist, das eigene Land von außen zu betrachten und seine Institutionen und Gesetze mit denen anderer Staaten zu vergleichen.

Wir Deutschen, in der Mitte des Kontinents lebend, sind stärker als alle anderen Nationen darauf angewiesen, daß die Union zum Erfolg geführt wird. [...] Haben alle Deutschen das endlich verstanden?

In der Politik hat man es mit Menschen zu tun. Manche von ihnen sind bedeutend und treffen wichtige Entscheidungen. Einige halten sich nur für bedeutend, treffen aber gleichwohl wichtige Entscheidungen.

I’ll stop here, but hope to have wetted your appetite. Thanks for your restless work, Mr. Schmidt!

You can find more information about it on www.openstreetmap.info.

Not that my english was perfect (actually, it’s lousy :) ), but it reminds me of a column of Bastian Sick called »Zwiebelfisch«.

In his column, Bastian Sick collected some (even user contributed) material concerning german grammar. As the column got very popular, he condensed the material in a series of books (currently three) called »Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod«. There’s even a »three in one« issue.

If you have to cope with the german language (e.g. being a technical writer etc.) it will help you to avoid common mistakes and improve your skills. Even if you are a native speaker :) .

The eye-witnessers worked directly in the hell on earth. The have been forced to do the most incredible work during the Holocaust: They led the victims to the gas chambers, and after the gassing, robbed their goods, their hair, their golden teeth and finally burnt the corpses in the crematoria. Thus the name »Sonderkommando« which can be translated as »Special Unit«. What surprised me most was that the victims have been innocent even as they entered the gas chambers, which have been camouflaged like showers. Half an hour later they have been dead, gassed by Zyklon B.

The Sonderkommando inmates have been absolutely separated from all other inmates, and the Nazis killed them from time to time to keep the mass extermination as secret as possible. One of them, Shaul Chasan, who managed to »escape« to the concentration camp Mauthausen with the other inmates of Birkenau as the camp was evacuated, remembers that their guards also came to Mauthausen to grab them. He had luck and was not recognitioned.

The book is absolutely shocking. I can not imagine how civilized people can forget all of their education and create such a terror system as the Nazis did in germany. It seems that the Nazis had enough backup in the german population. Even if it came to the Holocaust. Being a german, I’m ashamed.

Shaul Chasan also reports that, after he returned to greece after the war, even his own brother didn’t believe him as he told that so many people have been murdered and burnt. It must have been really hard for him being called a liar.

Here are some citations taken from the book (sorry, but as I read the book in german, I cannot cite from the english texts):

»Einmal fanden wir einen lebendigen Säugling, der in ein Kissen eingewickelt war.[...] Wir brachten das Bündel zum Oberscharführer Moll mit der Meldung, das Kind lebe. Moll brachte das Kind an den Rand der Grube, legte es auf die Erde, trat ihm auf den Hals und warf es in das Feuer.«

»Moll kam herbei und schleppte ihn zum Ofen. Er verbrannte ihn den Kopf, und bevor er starb, mußte er gegen den Zaun laufen. Er lief tatsächlich gegen den Zaun und erhielt einen tödlichen elektrischen Schlag.«

Shlomo Dragon also reports that a woman victim, who came from the Bergen-Belsen camp, once shot a Nazi called Josef Schillinger:

»Die Frau wollte sich nicht völlig entkleiden und blieb im Büstenhalter und Leibwäsche stehen. Schillinger wandte sich ihr zu und schrie sie an: »Nein, ganz ausziehen!« und richtete seine Pistole auf den Büstenhalter. Die Frau öffnete den Büstenhalter, schleuderte ihn dem SS-Mann ins Gesicht und traf dabei seinen Arm. Die Pistole in seiner Hand fiel auf die Erde. Die Frau bückte sich rasch, ergriff die Pistole, zielte auf Schillinger und erschoß ihn auf der Stelle.«

Moll Once again:

»Einer von den Griechen, Jaques Benbenisti, war ein Maler. Den nahm Moll mit, damit er bei ihm im Hause Malereien anfertigte. Als er ihn zurückbrachte, erschoß er ihn auf der Stelle.«

»Einmal sah ich eine Frau, die mit einem kleinen Kind, einem Säugling, draußen geblieben war. Die Gaskammer füllte sich, die Türen wruden verriegelt, und die Frau und das Kind blieben draußen; wer weiß, vielleicht blieben auch noch andere, aber ich sah nur die Frau mit dem Kind. Ich sehe das noch, als sei es gestern gewesen – ein SS-Mann, ein Junge von achtzehn oder zwanzig Jahren, riß der Mutter das Kind aus den Armen und brachte es um, dann tötete er auch die Mutter. Beide hat er kaltblütig erschossen.
Nach diesen Verbrennungen, so erinnere ich mich, kam eines Abends ein Lastwagen voll mit alten Leuten, Kranken, Gelähmten, und mit Kleidern und allem schüttete man die von der Ladefläche des Lastwagens, wie man Kies ausschüttet, direkt in die Grube – lebend! Das habe ich zweimal gesehen – einmal am ersten Tag meiner Arbeit beim Sonderkommando und später, als weitere Transporte eintrafen, noch einmal – man warf die Manschen lebend in den Bunker – und verbrannte sie bei lebendigem Leibe.«

»Man erzählte mir, einmal sei eine jüdische Familie aus Deutschland gekommen. Der deutsche Wachtposten sei in Deutschland der Nachbar dieser Familie gewesen. Sie aßen und tranken die ganze Nacht gemeinsam, und am Morgen hat er jeden einzeln erschossen. So benahmen sich die SS-Männer.«