Life on a Weekend

Thanks to bere, who referred her Euro-travelling friend Matthew from San Diego to me to direct him to WerkzeugH and other places I make look interesting on 23, I saw more of paraflows than I would have otherwise ...
Friday night I took him to the recording of monochrom's Taugshow, which seems to have been well received (and of which I got you a sneak preview here).
On Saturday I met Matthew at metalab, where he witnessed "the birth of civilization" in form of a community voting on the near future of netculture funding in our fine city.
Failed to meet him at the party at night though (from which I left quite early in order to get some sleep before collecting late birthday-gifts from my family on Sunday), where again Sylvia Fassl-Vogler did a great job of interpreting and being a better host than I will ever be.
Yesterday night was spent at WerkzeugH, where the Swedish elections were followed, although it never got too clear how many % exactly the Pirate Party had gotten.
bere must also have done some advertising cocktailrobots to Matthew, as only a little brainwashing^TM was necessary to make sure he'll be there cheering us on, when we manage to get some of the local bots to Robogames!

Statistic Life

According to Google Analytics, in the last month:

As many visitor's to this page came from the ISPs British Telecommunications and the local TV- and broadband provider Chello.
The Life has had one more visitor from Brazil than from neighboring Germany.
Most visits come from the United States, followed by Austria.
Google is by far the top referring source.
Interesting network-locations of visitors: Department of Veterans Affairs, National Arts Centre (country unknown), Jesuit Publications, Google, Finnish State Computer Centre, Novartis (Singapore) Pte Ltd. (Not that any of those would top the US Dept. of State)

Pirate Life

The Austrian Pirate Party have not qualified for the upcoming parliamentary elections ...

... but they have made 2 of the king's men convert to piratedom tonight at metalab, where the two were trapped after trying to get away with a chest full of data.

Sewing Life

CsMFMAATSGOIS is an installation in progress at WerkzeugH as a part of the ongoing paraflows festival.
Visitors are invited to bring their own fabric or materials, so I contributed some of my Netart, which was sewn into the evolving structure by Stefan Nussbaumer.

In case you didn't guess: CsMFMAATSGOIS is short for Coordinated Sewing Machine for Mapping, Analyzing and Transforming social Groupings of interactive Systems.

And here's some video of Stefan sewing.

Life Remembering

This quote from a BoingBoing-post from Sept. 11th 2001, quoting a John Perry Barlow's mailing list, somehow feels appropriate, as it's message is still relevant and worth repeating:
"This morning's events are roughly equivalent to the Reichstag fire that provided the social opportunity for the Nazi take-over of Germany. I am *not* suggesting that, like the Nazis, the authoritarian forces in America actually had a direct role in perpetrating this mind-blistering tragedy. (Though their indirect role deserves a much longer discussion.) ...
Remember that the goal of terrorism is to create increasingly paralytic totalitarianism in the government it attacks. Don't give them the satisfaction. Fear nothing. Live free. And, please, let us try to forgive those who have committed these appalling crimes. If we hate them, we will become them."

Caffeinated Life

When I was at the VEKKS yestereve I had to admire their "new" Espresso machine, which is wall-mounted to blend in with the trademark VEKKS-aesthetics.
Click the pictures for enlargement and to browse different angles on Flickr.

Life before the Big Robot Uprising

We are well aware that individual robot insurgents have already started singling out and devouring the more helpless members of human society: [7], [6], [5], [4], [3], [2], [1].

And from now on robots will even know what wine to choose to wash down their victims - robot-sommelier is able to identify dozens of provisions using infrared spectroscopic technology.
Giving away his role in the robot conspiracy, he identified a reporter's hand as prosciutto and recommended a Chianti Classico to go with it.

While in the near future the application will be limited to combat industrial wine fraud, NEC is thinking about actual end-user applications once they have the cost of the device down a little.

Life, 2 Towers, 2 Airplanes

Watching the BBC docu-drama 9/11 the last minutes in WTC (as I write this) is heartbreaking.
Once for the original footage which is just as shocking as it was when I saw those images live on the very same screen plus added detail of assorted footage which turned up later.
Twice for the reinactments, where you see people being told to stay in the office, return to their office, those individual stories of survival and death. Rescuers dying. Guilty feeling survivors.

Words fail me. Over and out.

Related: 3D-images of 9/11

P.S. Just apropos ... Watching CNN's recent special In The Footsteps of Bin Laden explained to me for the first time (in a non-satirical manner), why President Bush seemed so unimpressed or -surprised when he was told about the attacks while reading to kids: the warnings were there and they were drastic. Not publicly shared though, probably because the threats were still unspecific. But someone briefed president-style would definitely not have been surprised except for the novel method used.

Wild Life

What sad news to wake up to! The seemingly invulnerable Australian Crocodilehunter
Steve Irwin has been stung in the chest by a stingray near Queensland's Great Barrier Reef while filming a documentary.

It comes as a surprise, as the world has watched Irwin tackling life-threatening situations on a frequent basis, always unmoved by danger and enthusiastically chattering in his likable Aussie-accent.

The attack is supposed to have happened as Irwin was swimming above the stingray - the fish reportedly piercing Irwin's chest and possibly his heart with his poisonously barbed tail.

Rest In Peace, Crocodilehunter! And thank you for making nature documentaries watchable again for younger generations.

Communist Life

That's the India I used to know!
From this Boingboing-post on Indian state Kerala banning Microsoft from state-run schools by Xeni Jardin, I learned that the government of India's southern-most state has turned communist again - like it was when I traveled there 1990.
Sweet nostalgia! No single computer to be found in the whole state, back then, and Coca Cola, which has obviously been banned in Kerala again too, wasn't available in all of India (except miraculously in New Delhi - imported from Arab states and sold at stands on the street). I am curious whether the local Indian Cola brand Thumbs Up has survived the introduction of Coke and Pepsi in India ...

P.S. Also back then rickshaw drivers didn't get involved in death-races!

Disease Life

From the Loving Your Enemies Department:
"Mommy, can I get Ebola, pleeaase!" - "Well, let's see - wouldn't you rather get Sleeping Sickness or Black Death instead?"
It's easy to imagine conversations like this taking place at the gift shop at Boston’s Museum of Science, where these stuffed bacteria are offered.


(via mental floss)

Bun Life

In the raging easter-bun-wars between Swiss chocolate-maker Lindt and a small Austrian business, the Austrian "Prachthase" has won the latest battle before court.

The evil Swiss (chocolate-)empire had the Prachthase, which Hauswirth has been manufacturing since 1951, taken off the shelves last year, claiming it violated their Goldhase trademark, which they only registered in 2000.
Vienna's commercial court has now decided it didn't, asserting Lindt's registration was intended to hinder competitors.
Lindt is expected to appeal.

Night-Life's Day-Life

Walked by Chelsea earlier this evening, where locals Jellybeat where checking their sound for tonight's gig at Gürtel Nightwalk.
Tonight will be seeing quite a few shows in the open air in front of the bars and clubs along the "Gürtel" street, which bends across half Vienna.
The annual event held since 1998 includes a dozen locations like Rhiz, B72 or Cafe Carina.
The mobile video I shot turned out pretty noisy, which didn't prevent me from uploading.

Following up on Life Resurfacing

The expression of the day is Dungeon Girl ... and Natascha Kampusch's story isn't in any way done with yet. After an absence from CNN-text for about a half day, I have just seen it there again, page 102, which, if you are following CNN-text frequently, you know is the equivalent of the headlining story.

It has also been in the ever-repeating news cycle on CNNintl. TV ... so - any new news from inside Austria?
Police still can't deny or confirm that kidnapper Prikopil had an accomplice. Neither is there a definite yes on the sexual abuse, although it has been indirectly implied by the police-woman who was her first contact, kind of.
For the weekend the young woman is being granted a break from questioning, staying in a hotel, supervised by a team of psychologists.
The actual circumstance of her escape: Natascha vacuumed the car in the garden, which prompted Prikopil to move away from her vicinity to lead a telephone conversation.

My excuse for getting back to this boulevard news item?
I can link to one of my teletext-photos on 23, which haven't been viewed a lot, since I only recently switched them to public (from private).
Ok?

Things in Life I Wish I Knew Nothing About

Noooooooooo!!!!

(Spectacular case of elephantiasis - via)

Covert Animal Life

Introducing the Pooderman ...








This Poodle Disguise for Doberman Dogs might be a giant leap in the Public-Relations-For-Deadly-Dogs Department!

(via)

Life, Resurfacing

Wow. I mean - wow. Austrian news have been abuzz all afternoon with the possible reappearing of a girl gone missing 1998, ten years old.
Just ten minutes ago it has been confirmed, relatives (parents) have identified her (DNA test still awaited).
The story seems grotesque: A "confused" young woman is found stumbling through someone's garden in a town outside Vienna. She had jumped out of a red BMW a short distance before a spot traffic check. When police arrive, she tells them she's Natascha Kampusch, who had created grand search efforts and media coverage, when she disappeared more than eight years ago. She reports she has been held in a basement and was educated by her captor.
By the time of evening news the young woman's statement about her captor tinkering with explosives has reached media. The red BMW has been found abandoned, the manhunt is underway. A foto of the suspect has been published.

Wow again. I mean, I'm usually not so much into being touched by tabloid-oid news-items, but I have to admit - I am moved.

Update: First english media report

Update2: The culprit has commited suicide, throwing himself in front of a train during the evening. The talk of explosives merely served to intimidate the girl, none were found in the house. The girl seems to not have jumped out of the car, but got a chance to flee from the house, the guy seems to have taken off with the car then ... or so ... more details will emerge during the coming days, this is still just unfolding. Did I say wow yet?

Update3: The delight of having a CNN narrator pronounce Prikropil (the dead kidnapper)! The story is indeed bizarre enough to have Matthew Chance report from Vienna.

Life Welcomes New Reader!

In the first 24h-period that I'm tracking this page with Google Analytics, The Life has had a visitor from the U.S. Department of State, dutyfully surfing the blog-o-sphere for posts on North Korea.

I hope I could help - I promise to keep you updated about the embassy's showcase!

Any sponsors interested in advertising here with the keywords "North Korea"?

P.S.: A google search for "north korea robots" turns up a blog-entry titled "Wonderful North Korean Propaganda Films at YouTube" as #2 entry. Hmm.
For frequent news about South Korean bartending robots turn to SHIFZ-Blog.

Covert Life

Robot ..... Camera ..... Robot ..... Camera . Robot .. Camera . Robot . Camera . Robot . Camera ... Robot ... Camera ...

I could go on forever!

(via)

Mysterious Life

Hm, today police inquired about my next-door neighbour.
When I came up from my basement, I saw a policeman standing in my neighbour's apartment, with his back turned to me, so I didn't say hello and ask what they were doing right away ... ten minutes later the cop rang my doorbell and started to ask questions like: do you know the guy, does he have to do with tools?
At that point a thought balloon appeared above my head, reading "Are you looking for the guy inciting his faithful to build WMDs (Weapons of Mass Drunkenness aka Cocktailrobots)? I know him - IT'S ME!", but I managed to truthfully answer I knew of nothing like that.
When the officer put the statement "He claims he doesn't have a cellar compartment" in question form, I replied I didn't either ...
My attempts to find out why they were asking that stuff - "Did he build something evil?" - were basically ignored.
Although my first thought, being indoctrinated by western media, was of course my friendly neighbour might be manufacturing hair-gel bombs or interesting stuff like that, I suspect, they might as well suspect him of something profane such as burglary (which would actually be a shock).

In the light of this event, the "pest exterminator" who rang my door about a week ago to ask if I could open the door to the cellar floor for him, seems even less likely to be real, than I had suspected from the beginning. Why would a pest exterminator show up during the building manager's holiday, obvy not on appointment?
Must admit I'd rather thought he was a burglar than a cop.