Think Different - Challenge Yourself

Genesis of mankind on Facebook

Fabian — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:56:37 +0000

Combining the first relations of humankind and the biggest network of today and the result is a story of Genesis modern internet user will understand. Here you can find the page of Andrew where I found this creative piece combining old and new relationship(s) management.

I challenge myself – will the Horror begin?

Fabian — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:22:31 +0000

Since I got my very first ThinkPad in 2004 I always claimed these machines being the best working machines you can get. They are robust, unbreakable and have the best look! Last year I decided that it was time to replace my T41p with a handier X60. Even though it run on Vista I was quite satisfied until one day the machine didn’t boot at all. After a call with the service hot-line I got a new HDD since they figured it might be defect. I replaced it and wanted to install Vista but the installation process didn’t succeed thus I had to send it in. A few days later I got a call stating that the motherboard had to be replaced due water-damage. Such a damage isn’t covered by warranty what is quite reasonable but since I never poured over any liquid I was quite surprised and objected to their analysis. But they rejected my objection what in turn resulted in a cost estimation of 1,100€ to get my machine repaired. I figured that I better could buy a new one since I paid less than they actually wanted to charge me to get it fixed.

A couple of weeks later I made up my mind which notebook to buy. And again it was a ThinkPad this time a T400, but it came with too many flaws thus I got it returned what took some time since the shop didn’t want to take it back even though the German law guarantied me the right to do so.

Thus now I decided to go for the second best option: A MacBook! I know it’ll take me some time to get used to the OS but also something else bothers me a bit: I got the feeling that Apple turns into worse than Microsoft ever was when it comes to connectivity and compatibility. A Simpsons episode pointed out this aspect quite well:

Also an interesting statistic compiled by grapjam.com:

However, now I got a MacBook and now I have to live (die?) with it. My very first task is to find a decent music player that support ogg and flac. Any suggestions?

Where to go if you are single?

Fabian — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:41:55 +0000

If you are single and want to know where to go to meet as many potential partners as possible while on the other hand the competition is rather small you should take a look at the following map:

Sex-Ratio 2000

Here you can see the maps since 1960. But you will realize changes take quite a while thus some aspects remain consistent. If you look for women you should give Eastern-Europe and Russia a try whereas women should check out Arab countries, India and China. From now on everyone should know where to go if you are looking for an additional new partner.

“Making you seem better informed”

Fabian — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:10:07 +0000

I stumbled upon an amazing channel on youtube: “Making you seem better informed” It is definitely one of the most entertaining way to digest news. There are two I highly recommend you to watch. The first news is about a company that calls back their defective products whereas the second one is a debating round about how the billions of US taxpayer money shall be used.

A company’s recall of defective products:

Discussion round on how to sped taxpayer money

Running for Hearts

Fabian — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:15:08 +0000

A friend of mine will participate in this years London Marathon. Since it is common in the UK to ask friends and family members to donate some money for an organization of the runners choice, Tobias opted for the British Heart Foundation:

“I would like to use this opportunity to also conduct some fundraising for the British Heart Foundation. They engage in research and education to help people reduce their heart health risks, a cause which I can personally relate to and would thus like to suppport!”

The minimum value to donate is 2 Pounds what is not much at all considering the current exchange rate.

It would be great if many of you support Tobias and most importantly a great gesture for the people who will benefit from every pound he raises. If you want to donate something please follow this link.

is Superman still alive?

Fabian — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:01:11 +0000

A couple of days ago I presented you Jesus’ Paradise in Brussels but that wasn’t the only discovery I made during my trip through Belgium. I also found the street of Superman: In Antwerp! Since streets are usually only named after person who already took the final journey to Jesus’ Paradise the question if Superman is alive is answered…

Another black investment than oil

Fabian — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:06:40 +0000

Since the financial crisis affected almost every traditional form of investments a lot of alternative investment options are considered. For instance the investment into beer compared to an investment into shares of Commerzbank a couple of years ago and their return until today. While both investments yielded negative returns investing into beer would have yielded lower negative returns due savings in deposits and you had a fun dividend while consuming the beer.

However, there is another investment opportunity which caught my attention since it actually yielded positive returns over a period of 17 years. Investing into records! If you are into music, can call an record player your own and have records which are rare you should continue this hobby since it yielded over the last 17 years an annual return of 1,943 percent while an investment into the popular Templeton Growth Fund yielded only an annual return of 0,19 percent. For further details and how the value of the record investment was estimated take a look at the original article published by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Is being a grad student really a terrible life choice?

Fabian — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:49:08 +0000

Yesterday a friend of mine send me the following link:

Being grad students ourselves, we both couldn’t agree that it’s such a terrible life choice at all. Working will be nice and it’ll come with some nice (not only money based) incentives. However, most likely it’s the most relaxing time you have before you retire. The following clip shows the “World according to Graduate Students”. Unfortunately clip could use some improvements with respect to quality, but it unveils the different perception grad students might have:

So is it really such a terrible life choice?

“A Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis”

Fabian — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:37:58 +0000

A couple of days ago I came across wallstats.com and spend some time to read some of the posts. Especially the posters & visualisations of political/economical events are rather interesting. They try to explain events in a rather nice visualized manner. Especially the “Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis” is quite remarkable but also the visualization of the US American state budget. I wonder how ours would look like…

Was ist ist – What is is

Fabian — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:39:59 +0000

I decided to leave blogspot for a couple of reasons and decided to give wordpress a try. In addition to the rather technical change I switched from German to English thus some of my best friends will be able read the stuff I write from now on as well, if they are interested.

Today I recomend “Was ist ist” a song of Einstürzende Neubauten, a band which is considered as an avant-garde band founded in 1980 in West-Berlin. It may seem counterintuitive to start with a German song the new era of English written posts but I couldn’t resist. It’s a matter of fact that this song had a very strong impact on my way of thinking. It’s about ten years ago when I heard Einstürzende Neubauten the first time and it took me quite some time to get used to their music. In the begining the driving factor of giving them a second chance again and again was not due to their music but rather due to their lyrics. Even though the music itself won’t appeal to many people at least the lyrics are noteworthy. Most important the chorus:

de: Was ist ist / Was nicht ist ist möglich / Nur was nicht ist ist möglich

en: What is is / What not is is possible / Only what not is is possible

These three lines became kind of guideline for me personal way of thinking from which I also derive my personal belief that authorities have to be challenged again and again. I hope some will enjoy the song.