Monday, December 27, 2004


Great architecture: The NEW Seattle Public Library - If you have a chance to visit - make sure to attend a guided architectural tour through this fascinating building! Posted by Hello

Monday, December 20, 2004

CNN.com - Grading the president - Dec 20, 2004

CNN.com - Grading the president - Dec 20, 2004: "With Iraq, it's difficult to imagine that historians will give him anything but poor marks. Bush took the country to war on false intelligence. His defenders will say a President has to go with the information he has and the advice he receives. But that's a cop-out.
The greatest Presidents have been those who demonstrated astute judgment in times of crisis--often despite the advice they were getting. Bush was told that 140,000 troops would be sufficient for the occupation of Iraq. This turned out to be wrong. As Truman said, the buck stops here.
Success in past U.S. conflicts has not been strictly the result of military leadership but rather the judgment of the President in choosing generals and setting broad strategy."

The Amazing Human Mind

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aodccrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dnsoe't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the hmuan mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azmanig huh?
Yaeh and I awlyas tghuoht slpeling was ipmorantt.


Takhns, Harald, for piontnig tihs out!

Thursday, December 16, 2004

vowe dot net :: David Marshak to join IBM

vowe dot net :: David Marshak to join IBM: "After 18 years I am leaving Patricia Seybold Group. In January I will be joining IBM/Lotus managing the real-time collaboration products."
Wow - that is certainly very intersting news! Let's see how this plays out, meaning how a veteran industry analyst turns into a product line manager within an IT industry giant. Be curious to see what David has to say about this experience in a couple of years from now ...

Wednesday, December 15, 2004


Happy birthday, Julian! Posted by Hello

Only in America - Janet Jackson's Super Bowl stage could be yours

Janet Jackson's Super Bowl stage could be yours | CNET News.com: "A Boston-area businessman is selling the stage upon which Janet Jackson shocked the world with a flash of her naked breast during the 2004 Super Bowl. "
Frankly, I am way more shocked by some of the brutality within the football game or the uses of guns all of the media etc.

MSNBC - Rumsfeld under fire for handling of Iraq

MSNBC - Rumsfeld under fire for handling of Iraq: "�I was very, very disappointed � no, let me put it stronger � I was angry by the words of the secretary of defense when he laid it all on the Army, as if he, as the secretary of defense, didn�t have anything to do with the Army and the Army was over there doing it themselves, screwing up,� Schwarzkopf said.
Schwarzkopf, a registered independent who campaigned for Bush in the last two presidential elections, has previously criticized Rumsfeld on several occasions as arrogant and out of touch with troops on the ground. "

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Spar Dich reich!

Druckversion - K�ufermangel: Volkswagen schafft sein Golf-Ziel nicht - Wirtschaft - SPIEGEL ONLINE: "Branchenkenner fuehren die Qualitaetsprobleme von VW auf die Kampagne zur Kostensenkung in den neunziger Jahren zurueck. Damals hatte der als 'Kostenkiller' bekannt gewordene VW-Vorstand Ignacio Lopez grossen Druck auf die Zulieferer gemacht. In der Folge gab es Rueckrufe wegen fehlerhafter Zulieferteile."
Was auf einem Spreadsheet oder in PowerPoint gut aussieht, funktioniert nicht immer wie geplant ...

Zwei Jahre spaeter ...

COMPUTERWOCHE ONLINE: Nemetschek ernennt zwei neue Vorstaende: "Peter Mossack, ehemaliger Entwicklungsvorstand der Software AG, wechselt auf die gleiche Position zu Nemetschek. Wie der Muenchner Hersteller von Software fuer die Baubranche bekannt gab, zeichnet der 50-jaehrige Manager ab Januar fuer die Produktstrategie und deren Umsetzung im Unternehmen verantwortlich."
Been there, done that.

Only in America - Nude statue lamp a Vermont debate

CNN.com - Nude statue lamp a Vermont debate - Dec 14, 2004: "The governor wants the lamp that incorporates the replica removed from his office desk during the upcoming legislative session. Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs said last week the governor was concerned the statue could be broken, but he also said there was concern that school children would see the nude."

Thanks, Greg, for pointing this out!

In Europe, bad feelings for Americans

MSNBC - In Europe, bad feelings for Americans: "People in France, Germany and Spain are more likely to have an unfavorable than favorable view of Americans, Associated Press polling found."
Are you really surprised?

Thursday, December 09, 2004

"Hoooo-rah! Rummy finally got called on the carpet."

Druckversion - Rumsfeld: Lost in a Masquerade - Politik - SPIEGEL ONLINE: "Not by the president, of course, but by troops fighting in Iraq. Some of them are finally fed up enough to rumble about his back-door draft and failure to provide them with the proper armor for their Humvees, leaving them scrambling to improvise with what they call 'hillbilly armor.'"
"Rummy met with troops at Camp Buehring, named for Chad Buehring, an Army colonel who died last year when insurgents in Baghdad launched a rocket-propelled grenade into Al Rasheed, a Green Zone hotel once frequented by Western journalists and administration officials that is still closed to guests because - despite all the president's sunny bromides about resolutely prevailing - security in Iraq is relentlessly deteriorating.

As Joe Biden told Aaron Brown of CNN about his visit to Falluja, "They got the biggest hornets' nest, but the hornets have gone up and set up nests other places." He said that a general had run up to him as he was getting into his helicopter to confide, "Senator, anybody who tells you we don't need forces here is a G.D. liar."

Rummy, however, did not hesitate to give the back of his hand to soldiers about to go risk their lives someplace he didn't trouble to go.

He treated Thomas Wilson - the gutsy guardsman from Tennessee who asked why soldiers had "to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles, and why don't we have those resources readily available to us?" - as if he were a pesky Pentagon reporter. The defense chief used the same coldly cantankerous tone and squint he displays in press briefings, an attitude that long ago wore thin. He did everything but slap the kid in the hospital bed.

In one of his glib "Nothing's perfect," "Freedom's untidy" and "Stuff happens" maxims, Rummy told the soldier: "As you know, you go to war with the Army you have."

It wouldn't make a good Army slogan, and it was a lousy answer, especially when our kids are getting blown up every day in a war ginned up on administration lies. Remember when the president promised in the campaign that the troops would have all the body armor they needed?"

Nicely put, Ray!

Q&A: Light the birthday candles for Lotus Notes: "What's very clear is that Notes has transitioned into a cash cow; it's not at the leading edge of their initiatives. Workplace is at the leading edge, and they would like to, for very pragmatic business reasons, sell more DB2 and sell more Websphere and the things that they regard as more contemporary technologies than Notes. So I think you'll see a lot of marketecture that unifies two architectures, and you'll see active selling efforts on the newer stuff. The older stuff will gracefully stabilize. "

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

CRN | Breaking News | Happy Birthday, Notes

CRN | Breaking News | Happy Birthday, Notes

Only in America: Amerikas Moraldebatte

Amerikas Moraldebatte: Sexmonster in Suburbia - Kultur - SPIEGEL ONLINE: "Dies ist mehr als Entertainment. Dies ist hohe Politik. Der Erfolg der schwarzen Kom�die von 'Golden Girls'-Veteran Marc Cherry trifft den Nerv der Nation - und zerst�rt ein aktuelles Klischee. Denn 'Housewives' entlarvt den 'neuen Kulturkrieg' ('New York Times') der Moralisten, die Pr�sident George W. Bushs Wiederwahl als Triumph von Sitte �ber Unsitte feierten, als eine heuchlerische Scharade."

CNN.com - Senator: Public�needs 'cold, hard facts' on Iraq - Dec 6, 2004

CNN.com - Senator: Public�needs 'cold, hard facts' on Iraq - Dec 6, 2004: "A moderate Republican senator who recently returned from Iraq said conditions are worse than last year and the American public needs to hear 'the cold, hard facts.'"

Monday, December 06, 2004

Earthquake strikes Germany, near France

We are always fearful about the potential for earthquakes in the Seattle area. Strangely enough - this one hit much closer to what we call our home: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - Europe: Earthquake strikes Germany, near France

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Tough luck


!cid_image001, originally uploaded by whilpert.

One desaster rarely happens alone ...

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Consumers could get caught under falling dollar

MSNBC - Consumers could get caught under falling dollar: "A recent article in the Economist magazine contended that the dollar is on the brink of losing its global hegemony because of U.S. finances that �look more like those of a banana republic than an economic superpower.�
�You need an alternative,� said Joseph Quinlan, chief market strategist for Banc of America Capital Management. �I don�t think it is the euro. It�s not the yen or the yuan. By default the dollar is the world�s currency for now.�"

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Research proving link between human bahavior and deathly heat wave in summer 2003

Klimastudie: Menschen mitschuldig an toedlicher Hitzewelle - Wissenschaft - SPIEGEL ONLINE: "Klimaforschern ist ein Durchbruch gelungen: Erstmals ist der menschliche Einfluss auf eine einzelne Naturkatastrophe erfasst worden. Die Hitzewelle vom August 2003, die in Europa mehrere Zehntausend Tote gefordert hat, war demnach groesstenteils die Folge von Umweltverschmutzung."

Only in America ...

Credit reporting agencies making big money by selling you information about yourself. Now they will do a little less business, because once a year one can order a free report - without the most critical information, however - your credit score. Is that an oversight? I don't think so ...

NPR : Phase-In Begins for Free Online Credit Reports: "Consumers contacting credit reporting agencies directly may be charged for the reports."