November 2004

Citizenship and Dual Nationality

29 November 2004

Since I’m often asked about Christopher’s citizenship status, here is a primer on Citizenship and Dual Nationality from the US Embassy. For Christopher: “A child born to an American parent and a German parent acquires both American and German citizenship at birth, regardless of place of birth, if the parents satisfy the jus soli or [...]

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Stillstand

27 November 2004

Christopher’s kindergarten group went ice skating on Thursday, and he was so excited by it that he just had to take Mama and Papa ice skating in Adendorf today. Never mind that we haven’t skated in 15 years. That’s the advantage of being a spoiled only child, you can create your own events, just like [...]

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Horse

25 November 2004

In Germany, Santa has a sidekick, the Nikolaus, who comes ahead of time and cases the joint for the big guy. As Mama was unpacking the Christmas decorations this evening, Christopher said the Nikolaus needs a horse and quickly drew and cut out this. And I had another one of those moments when realized my [...]

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Monkey Noises

25 November 2004

Looking through one of my new Bloglines feeds, I saw this about Spanish soccer fans taunting black English players with monkey noises. That reminds me of my first sports experience in Hamburg. In the fall of 1990, I ventured alone to the Volksparkstadion to watch HSV play Frankfurt, and was disgusted at how the Hamburg [...]

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Cleaning Lady or Jilted Lover?

25 November 2004

Europe and America. Is Europe the cleaning lady? Or the jilted lover? We report, you decide.

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Godzilla versus PapaScott

25 November 2004

Godzilla versus PapaScott I fought the monsters, and the monsters won. (via nico b)

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Leappad Comes To Germany

24 November 2004

Spiegel Online: Learning with Alpha Betty about Leapfrog’s entry in the German market. Christopher has an American My First LeapPad and loves it. Maybe now we can get some German books for it.

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Amok under hunting stand

23 November 2004

A Minnesota story makes the Hamburger Abendblatt: Amok under hunting stand – five hunters dead. The Abendblatt doesn’t mention the racial overtones… the dead hunters were rural Wisconsin natives, the accused killer is a Hmong immigrant from St. Paul.

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Wild Wild East

23 November 2004

I enjoyed talking with Anton Nossik last night after the discussion. (The LiveJournal link is his personal blog, professionally he has several Russian news sites including mosnews.com in English.) It was interesting to hear his main first impression of Germany: the “friendly” roads and drivers. The autobahns are certainly well built, and built for speed, [...]

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Pirates of the Internet

23 November 2004

Since we didn’t actually talk that much about press freedom at the discussion, I didn’t get a chance to use the line I came up with. So I’ll have to give it here. If we’re talking about press freedom in a place where it can really make a difference, we’re talking about a place that [...]

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Early Morning Cologne

23 November 2004

I came to Cologne grateful for the invitation from the Deutsche Welle, but skeptical about the event. A discussion forum about blogging, organized for and by the mainstream media, Das kann nicht gut gehen, that could never work. However, it turned out that DW let the bloggers run the show, and so it was an [...]

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Press Salon

22 November 2004

The discussion begins. Konstantin is expanding the topic… that’s good, since bloggers are not journalists, so weblogs don’t have much to do with press freedom. Freedom of expression is something that means something in Germany and the United States, but perhaps something different in other countries. Therefore it is good that DW has brought two [...]

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Greetings from the Café Largus

22 November 2004

I’ve arrived in Cologne and am at the Café Largus, site of the Deutsche Welle Press Salon on Weblogs and Press Freedom. I’m now testing the connectivity… one, two, does this thing work? I seem to be the only one here without a camera. Sorry, no pictures here.

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MagpieRSS 0.7

22 November 2004

MagpieRSS 0.7 is out. The date_timestamp could come in real handy for my blogroll.

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Gordon

22 November 2004

Freehand pencil sketch by Christopher Hanson, 20 Nov 2004

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Open Letter to Devil Dogs

22 November 2004

Kevin Sites Blog: Open Letter to Devil Dogs of the 3.1, the marine unit involved in the mosque shooting. (Remember this for the panel in Cologne tonight.) (via Don Park)

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My World and Welcome To It

21 November 2004
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Sydney Photos

21 November 2004

We’ve put Mama’s pictures from Syndey onto Flickr, in case anyone has never seen the Sydney Opera. The pictures are not yet titled or ordered, so be prepared for mystery and suspense.

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blogging can help smart people get jobs

20 November 2004

Further proof that blogging can help smart people get jobs Oh, only smart people, so that’s why I’ve been having trouble

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A Simple Cell Phone

18 November 2004

She doesn’t know it yet, but we are about to drag my mother-in-law kicking and screaming into the 21st century. We are getting her a cell phone. She’s 70 years old and drives alone, sometimes at night. She needs a mobile phone in case of emergency. We’ll convince her of that. But she’s techno-phobic. She [...]

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Press Salon

18 November 2004

I usually ignore award contests for weblogs, because 1) I believe that weblogs are an expressive medium solely motivated by personal satisfaction, and 2) I wouldn’t win anyway. But I make exceptions for award contests that invite me to dinner. Next Monday I’ll be in Cologne attending a “press salon” held by The Deutsche Welle [...]

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Oldest German Blog?

16 November 2004

I’m just wondering, what’s the oldest active German weblog? How many German blogs that were early adopters of first wave of blogging services like Blogger (Aug 1999), Diaryland (Sept 1999), and EditThisPage (Dec 1999) are still active? I’m familiar with the EditThisPage crowd… Andrea started in January 2000 and is still going strong. I think [...]

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I Like the Poof

16 November 2004

I made the mistake of showing Christopher how to poof items from the dock on my PowerBook. Now he wants to do it all the time.

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Norwegians now favor joining EU

16 November 2004

Poll shows Norwegians now favor joining EU. Think of all the oil money we can redistribute!

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Rotten Compromise

16 November 2004

In describing the CDU/CSU health care “plan”, I love how Reuters starts with the phrase “Germany’s squabbling conservative opposition”. The proposal has nothing to do with reforming the health care system, and everything to do with distributing party influence and power of Merkel and Stoiber. Now, I’m all for a health financing system that does [...]

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Half Time

15 November 2004

I haven’t complained about my job in a while, and after this I promise not to complain again for another 3 months. This week is the ominous “6 weeks before the end of the quarter” deadline when either I or my employer can give notice of termination. I’ve decided not to leave entirely, but rather [...]

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Rhonda McDonald?

15 November 2004

Rhonda McDonald? Japanese McDonald’s TV ad (via loic)

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Day at the Opera

15 November 2004

My wife went to Sydney for 10 days, and all I got was this digital image. She got back yesterday, at least physically. Her brain is still catching up.

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worst of both worlds

15 November 2004

U.S. Immigration, the worst of both worlds: porous and callous.

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fast food ad ban

15 November 2004

British white paper proposes banning fast food ads before 9pm. But aren’t the worst cravings at midnight? (via andrewsullivan)

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