Ah Meng or a story to pick

A few days ago we came across this nice story. A shame we didn't know earlier when we were in Singapore. But we could have been suspicious and could have explored a bit further. Our guidebook told us that the zoo in Singapore is well worth a visit. Lying in the North of Singapore, the zoo is one of the world's few open zoos, where moats are preferred to cages. There are some 3200 animals, representing more than 330 species. The zoo manages to approximate the natural habitats of the animals it holds, and though leopards, pumas and jaguars still have to be kept behind bars, this seems like a nice place for zoo-animals. As a special treat at Singapore's zoo, one can have a breakfast of seasonal tropical fruits with an orang-utan. We actually thought about this, but travel advice tells you not to have fresh fruit which you haven't peeled yourself on the first days in a tropical environment. So we didn't go.

Some days ago we found Paul Carter's first book at our favourite bookshop, Kinokuniya, in KL. The title is kind of catchy: Don't tell mom I work on the rigs: she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse. Worth a try, we thought. Paul Carter has worked on oil rigs in the Middle East, the North Sea, Borneo, Tunisia, Sumatra, Vietnam, Thailand, Nigeria, Columbia and Russia. In his book he tells some of his stories, some terrifying and violent, but most of them utterly funny. Little D. loved the book and couldn't put it down once had started reading.

Here is one of his stories (summarised by us, it is really fun to read his whole account):
One drill ship in South-East Asia had a very special crew member. Ah Meng, a young orphaned orang-utan who the drill ship's captain found in some harbourside market. He brought her back to the rig and there she stayed for many years. The bar on the rig became Ah Meng's domain, since she ran the bar on the rig for the next fifteen years. According to Carter, the bar was always clean and organized, and Ah Meng mixed the cocktails as well. "And in this bar was never any fighting because everyone had too much respect for Ah Meng [...] and if she wanted to, she could pull your head off and throw it over the side. Whenever the rig was in Singapore getting work done in dock, the boys would take Ah Meng out into town. Some older taxi drivers still remember driving her, they will tell you she was just like any other tourist. [...] When the drill ship was sold to a new drilling contractor, the company said Ah Meng had to go. The crew was in Singapore at the time, and decided to phone the Singapore zoo for advise. The zoo had heard of Ah Meng, and immediately asked if they could have her. In a cab Ah Meng left the ship, the crew was in tears waving her off." Barely in her twenties, she started a new life at the zoo. Because of her bizarre circumstances and gentle nature, she became a kind of meet 'n' greet ambassador for the zoo.

Here is the story that the zoo favours:

"Born in Sumatra, Indonesia around 1960, Ah Meng came to the Zoo at the approximate age of seven in 1971 when she was confiscated from the Chinese family who had kept her as an illegal pet. In 1982, the Zoo introduced ‘Breakfast with an Orang Utan’ programme and Ah Meng was the star. She shot to fame instantly and became a celebrity both at home an overseas. By 1986, she had featured in almost 30 travel films and had appeared in more than 270 articles in newspapers and travel magazines.

For her outstanding contributions in promoting the Zoo as a tourist attraction, Ah Meng is the first and only non-human recipient of the ‘Special Tourism Ambassador’ award conferred by the then Singapore Tourism Promotion Board in 1992."

Now you can choose which story you like better...

Sadly, Ah Meng died on February, 8th this year. She was 48. A devoted mother, Ah Meng leaves behind two sons, two daughters and six grandchildren. You can see here how popular she was! We feel sorry for not having met her.

When we got to Malaysia - Part I

After 3 1/2 weeks in Malaysia, we thought it might be interesting to write down a few impressions.

It's raining, man!

Since we are living in London for quite a while now and the Brits love talking about the weather, we have to start this post with impressions of this important topic. The weather is mostly as we expected it to be, but not as predictable as we thought. Warm, usually around 32°C, very humid, with heavy rains and fierce thunderstorms in between, mostly in the afternoons. Rain and thunderstorms are very welcomed here, bringing a bit of cooler air. Of course, when the sun comes out again after the rain, it gets more humid than it was before, at least until all the rain water has evaporated. If, on a given day, there has not been a thunderstorm until 4pm, we start longing for one, especially when it is really hot and sunny. But neverthless, we cope unexpectedly well!

Da hood

The university guys rented an appartment for us. It is on the 11th floor of a 23-storey block, in a complex with 4 other blocks like ours. Recently built, not all appartments in the other blocks seem fully equipped or rented out yet. It is an enclave for foreigners here. We are probably the ones with the longest way home, most people here are from the Middle East or other Asian countries. We already met a very nice Iranian guy, who is here with his family, and a Japanese couple. And some others we don't know where they are from. People are nice, we tend to meet them on the 7th floor. The 7th floor is quite sociable, meaning there is internet access, snooker tables, the pools, the launderette and the childrens' playground.

We like our appartment, finding one like that in Frankfurt for little D. next year would be superb. But this will probably not happen, and surely not for 360€ a month. ;-)

The only thing that left us startled a bit in the beginning was that there was NOTHING in the flat when we moved in except for the furniture. No bed covers, no bed linen, no towels, no glass, no spoon, no telephone. That is OK for someone who moves in for longer, but we will stay only for 2 months. Anyway, stuff is quite cheap here and we have a shopping center in 5min walking distance, so we went on a shopping spree right away.

After half a day, we moved in with all the necessary stuff. And it is cosy now, especially during the thunderstorms. ;-)

Meal deal

A highlight in Malaysia is the food. It took us a few days to figure out what halal means. Most of the restaurants have a little sign, saying their food is halal. Halal food is basically the food a Muslim is allowed to eat according to his beliefs. It means of course no pork, no alcohol and no blood. Not too bad for us, too, since little D. became allergic to pork recently. :-(

We love the Malay and the Thai food, the Vietnamese and the Japanese food here. Luckily, we live close to the shopping center which houses a lot of restaurants. That comes in very handy! There are not so many places which offer Malay food. Probably, the residents want to eat something special when going out for dinner and not the stuff they get at home. What we miss so far is a Malay restaurant where you eat with your fingers. We were really looking forward to this. According to our guide book, this should be the waypeople here eat. Well, not around our place, but we will find such a restaurant. We mostly use fork and spoon (knives are very rare), and occasionally chopsticks. Surprisingly, the latter are much less common than we thought. A meal for two including drinks and service in a decent restaurant comes at 40-70 Ringgit, i.e., 7-12 GBP.

Our shopping center is so urban that it has a Delifrance café. They do very good coffee and "Stückchen" (German for small pieces of sweet pastry)!! (Better than in London actually - that is, ignoring Paul!)

They come in all shapes and (small) sizes

Malaysia is an interesting country with a mix of races and religions. A bit more than 50% of the people here are Muslim Malay, 23% are Chinese, 11% are Indian and the rest are non-Muslim Malay and people with other South-East Asian roots. We were a bit surprised how dominant Islam is in public life. If you don't know the figures you could easily suspect that more than 70% are Muslim. The mix of people is interesting: you see all kind of different people when walking around a bit. The men simply dress as they like, there is not too much difference to Europe, but some tendency to wear loud shirts and, on the other hand, some Muslim attire, of course. The women are more remarkable. You occasionally see Muslim women with this whole-body-coverd-black-veil, accompanied by a (presumably) Muslim husband in shorts, muscle shirt, sandals and cool sunglasses. (Remember, 32°C). Then there are a majority of Muslim women with scarves and the traditional shapeless, but very colourful dresses, then the younger women with jeans and modern long sleeved shirts and scarf, finally the ones without scarves. This is also reflected in the shops. You have shops for clothes to sew at home, many shops for scarves and those shapeless dresses, and then many, many ultra hip shops for younger people. And a lot of shops with very sexy, very short dresses. We haven't seen anyone wearing this. But no one would wear these dresses in daytime anyway. Many young Chinese women are dressed in a sexy way, showing a lot of skin (but they very well can, all very slender!). Of course, there are also the business type of women in suits. This should give some impression of the mix here.

Curiosities of Malaysia

As Europeans, some daily routines in Malaysia are quite unusual for us. Here are some of the funny and strange things we have stumbled upon (sometimes literally).

Malaysia, land of little steps

Malaysia, or at least the area around KL, seems to be full of small, irregular and unexpected steps. You walk on an even surface, and suddenly there is a heightened floor. Or an uneven kerb. Or some loose cobblestones. Or some water drainage which actually is a mantrap. The Malaysians seem to be very fond of steps and very often build some without any obvious necessity. Another topic are stairs: they tend to be uneven. The first step is often huger than the others, which really can make you stumble.

Shampoo and "excessive scalp oil"

Then there is the issue of shampoo. We had to buy new shampoo, and the supermarket has a whole row of shelves to offer. We didn't find one that promises to give more volume to the hair, but thousands against dandruff. (Seems to be a massive problem here. ;-) ) We chose one called "Clear", which promises "refreshing with cooling sensation". After all, it contains vitamins A, C and E. And what is good for our bodies might be good for our hair as well, we thought. The effect of the shampoo is an excellent distribution, yet not removal of the scalp oil with every wash. No dandruff. (We didn't expect dandruff anyway, but let's give the shampoo at least some credit. Although we think that the essence of being a shampoo is the removal of scalp oil. Maybe we are wrong.) Not quite satisfied with "Clear", we started a second attempt to find a suitable shampoo. After many minutes of browsing thoroughly through the shampoo shelves we found a promising product. "Sunsilk clean and fresh". "Remove excess scalp oil build-up in one wash" it says on the bottle. We will keep you posted. :-)

No-nos

When using the commuter trains to KL, you will soon find out that a lot of things are prohibited. Whereas we are well used to the no smoking and no eating or drinking sings, the imagination of the Malaysian Komuter [sic!] train authorities goes much further. In every carriage you will find 7 prohibition signs in a row which forbid the following actions: smoking, eating & drinking, littering, chewing gums, indecent behaviour, carrying dangerous & flammable materials (no cigarette lighters are allowed, but you wouldn't need them anyway because you are not allowed to smoke, so what) and bringing animals. Our favourite, of course, is the indecent behaviour sign. Encircled in red you find the heads of a woman and a man, maybe kissing. We can't really tell if they are kissing, because the heads are crossed with a red line. Our interpretation after all: in the train the very dangerous behaviour of kissing is not allowed. Some rebels, usually young couple still very much in love, dare to hold hands. Don't let the morale police see this, fellow friends. (Yes, there is a morale police in Malaysia, we think they are only in charge of the Muslims here, but we don't know exactly.) Anyway, we think Malaysia is not really suitable for honeymooners. Boy, have we been indecent in the past...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Another very strange thing is that 95% of the women and men in advertisments in this South-East Asian country are Westerners. How strange is this? Even with plenty of whitening creams, a Malay or Indian or Chinese woman will never look like Gwyneth Paltrow or Kate Moss or Avril Lavigne, who are all very popular here. (Our desperate attempt to find a night cream WITHOUT skin whitener finally succeeded.) Moreover, there are not only actresses or other stars posing in ads, but also many unknown Western models, women and men. As if they would not have plenty of pretty people here. Just think of the beauties of Singapore Airlines... The Malaysian men, at least, partly succeed in imitating David Beckham's hairstyles.

Stopover in Singapore

A lot has been going on, and finally we find some time to report it here. On Sunday, September 21st, we took a night flight from London to Singapore. T. had suggested to fly with Singapore airlines, in order to find out if the stewardesses really are as pretty as in the ads. (We did not expect this to be the case.) Well, they are. Most beautiful. A bit depressing actually for little D. ... But in the end, she spent much more time staring at them than T. And making admiring comments. In any case, the flight was comfortable, the food was good, the movie program included Keinohrhasen (a flick with Til Schweiger, the master brain of German film), and after all the excitement, we could even catch a little sleep.

Immigration was extremely simple, and we took a taxi to our hotel on the island of Sentosa, which lies south of the main (is)land. We had a really nice hotel with an especially nice pool and beach.

Our room had hillside view, which just meant that we saw 180° of this:

And yes, it is quite humid, but not too bad, we whitebreads could cope with it. It is also not too hot. Around 30° or less, which is OK. Singapore is interesting, but very modern and westernised. You can find all the shops from London's Oxford Street there as well. And prices in these shops are nearly the same as in Europe. We had only two whole days and an afternoon in Singapore, which of course is not enough to get a real impression. We very much like the Singapore Sling (kleiner versteckter Hinweis an unseren Freund H. aus B.), the famous cocktail invented by the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in the early 20th century. Very nice ;-) Of course, we had it in the Raffles Hotel. Beautiful building, restored in the late 80s, and just as colonial as you would expect from history books. We enjoyed our evening on the verandah there anyway.

The short time given, we still saw quite a bit of Singapore: Chinatown, the Indian district, some restaurants near the Singapore river, some Buddhist temples, all very nice. It was exam season for pupils when we were there. And you can make an offer in a temple to let your son or daughter get A grades. Funny. It was reported in the newspaper as well. I am not so sure if this is really Buddhist thinking or just a practical way to believe in good grades and the potential of your children. Or for the Buddhists to make some money.

If we should get back to this area of the world some time, then we will surely try to stop over in Singapore again.

Our Singapore discovery

Golden Rain, 2005

The artist is Li Chen, a Taiwanese sculptor, who currently has an exhibition in Beijing. We are not the only ones loving these sculptures. Recently, one was sold by Sotheby's Asia for 200.000 US$. Leaves us with the pictures only.

We think the sculptures speak for themselves:

Cultivated by Mist and Cloud, 2000

Cause, 2003

Silly Sunday or why the North-Americans will save our planet

The Green Car of the year 2008 is this Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid. (Not kidding, see here.) “This is a milestone in many respects,” says Green Car Journal editor and publisher Ron Cogan. Indeed. The city fuel efficiency rating of this monster is only 11.2l per 100km. What a wonderful world this is.

One of little D.'s favourite songs

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Back to London - or not

- Ein kleiner Reisebericht über die letzten Tage -

Letzten Donnerstag haben wir uns dem kanadischen Lebensstil etwas angepasst und uns ein Auto gemietet. Wir wohnen in Waterloo in bequemer Laufweite zur Hauptstrasse, in der viele Geschäfte, die beiden kleinen Kinos und ein Supermarkt sind, auch ein gut sortierter kleiner Buchladen mit dem schönen Namen 'Words worth books', hatten aber ohne Auto bisher wenig Gelegenheit unsere weitere Umgebung zu erkunden. Unsere erste Spritztour galt der Gegend nördlich von Waterloo. Dort lebt u.a. eine recht große Gemeinde von Mennoniten, die mit Pferdewagen unterwegs sind. Für die gibt es neben der geteerten Straße eine Schotterspur, auf der sie gemächlich dahinzotteln können. Es gibt hier sogar Verkehrshinweisschilder mit einem Pferdewagen, die den Besucher der Gegend auf solche langsamen Fahrzeuge im Straßenverkehr aufmerksam machen.

Am Freitag morgen sind wir nach London gefahren. T. hat am King's University College über seine Arbeit vorgetragen, little D. hat in der Zwischenzeit London erkundet. London in Ontario hat etwa 350.000 Einwohner, ist gut 100km von Waterloo entfernt und hat mit unserem London, abgesehen von den Straßennamen, nur sehr wenige Gemeinsamkeiten. London ist eine freundliche kanadische Stadt. ;-) Nach dem Mittagessen mit T.s Kollegen haben wir noch einen Abstecher an den Lake Huron gemacht. Wir sind in Grand Bend rausgekommen, ein kleines Örtchen an der Küste, das in der Saison voll ist von Familien mit Kindern. Da die Saison erst im Mai beginnt, war der km-lange Sandstrand wie ausgestorben. So weit wir sehen konnten, waren nur sehr vereinzelte Herrchen oder Frauchen mit Hund unterwegs - weit entfernt. Wir hatten den Strand ganz für uns. Was will man mehr?! Weil es am Freitagmorgen recht stark geregnet hat und das Wetter auch so bleiben sollte, haben wir leider unsere Kamera vergessen. Deshalb hier ein offizielles Bild von der Touristenhomepage:

Das Fahren auf Kanadas Landstraßen und Autobahnen ist übrigens sehr angenehm. Keine Drängler, keine Raser, entspanntes Fahren. Es geht auch so!

Samstag war ein eher ruhiger Tag. Wir haben im Regen St. Jacobs besucht. Und auch gleich im Levis-Outletshop eine Jeans für T. erstanden. Abends waren wir mit einem Bekannten sehr gut essen. Hier in Waterloo, im Charbries.

Am Sonntag wurde das Wochenende noch besser. Es war zunächst Regen und Schnee angesagt, wir hatten aber Sonnenschein vom Feinsten. Recht früh haben wir uns aufgemacht nach Niagara-on-the-Lake, ein pitoreskes Örtchen an der Mündung des Niagara River in den Lake Ontario, etwa 25km nördlich der Niagara Fälle. Jetzt wissen wir auch, wo die Reichen hier wohnen. Genau in dieser Gegend. Niagara-on-the-Lake liegt direkt am See und es gibt viele Häuser/Villen/burgenähnliche Häuser, die mit Seeblick gebaut sind. Die Gegend westlich des Niagara River ist eine Weingegend. (Der Wein wird dort auf Feldern angebaut.) Zum Glück sind wir dem Rat des Reiseführers gefolgt und haben die Autobahn schon vor Niagara-on-the-Lake verlassen. Es war ein gemütliches Fahren mit sehr schönen Ausblicken.

Niagara-on-the-Lake

Als wir endlich an den Niagarafällen ankamen, war es schon Nachmittag. Weil auch dort noch keine Saison ist, waren trotz Sonnenschein und Sonntag nur wenige Touristen unterwegs. Wir haben es sehr genossen. Die Boote, die in die Gischt der Horseshoe Falls fahren, hatten noch Winterschlaf. Little D. war sehr froh darüber, denn neben Personen auf Landschaftsfotos hasst sie auch Touristenboote auf Fotos.;-) Hier ein paar Schnappschüsse:

Canadian Horseshoe Falls
(Sie sind 56m hoch und 675m breit und es fließen 2.549 m³ Wasser pro Sekunde von den USA nach Kanada.)

American Falls
(Sie sind 58m hoch und 430m breit und lassen nur 1/10 des Wasser des Niagara Rivers durch.)

American Falls - Detail

Horseshoe Falls - Detail

Silly Sunday - delayed

Last Sunday we had a really nice time and as time went by we didn't post... So, here is the delayed Silly Sunday column.

Being in a new country, we are always curious about the ads. We saw one on TV we like to share with you. We have never seen this in Europe before (and are glad about this!) but it might just be our ignorance. Maybe it is out there as well.

It is all about Clear Play. "Clear Play is a fancy DVD player that can play regular DVD movies -- but without profanity, violence and nudity." First, we are impressed that they tell us the DVD player can play regular movies. So far so good. It works by cutting out the scenes that they think are profane, violent and all about nudity and probably (gasp!) sex. Don't be sceptical, the movie you will see is not choppy at all. And that is because they love movies as much as we do. (We doubt that.) They take great care to maintain the presentation quality of the movie. "The only thing gone is 'that one scene' you wish the kids never saw." But don't be disappointed. It is not only a tool for parenting. It is also useful for us. If you always wanted to watch a movie without the profanity and nudity in it, this is your gift.

Here you can watch an advertising clip that explains how it works. In action. You will see a house on fire. Firemen run inside the burning building and rescue a child. The Clear Play guys cut out a piece of the rescue action, you just see the firemen go in and come out. You don't see the real action of rescuing the child. (Yes, we also would have cut this out for our 4 year old daughter, but maybe we just would not have watched it with her.) Not a lot of excitement left actually in the ad clip. But isn't this why you watch a movie? To get enthralled, excited, angry, anxious. You might even cry. (To be fair, we guess the pieces where you can laugh stay in the movie even with Clear Play. Unless they are profane, of course.) What will become of our heroes? They are defined by the action that would be cut out. Arnie (yes, little D. was quite keen on his oeuvre when aged 16, not embarrassed at all now that he became a governor ;-) ) with his tattered muscle filled shirt, in blood, standing in front of whatever he just fought, looking fierce, but glad. How would you know what just happened? And how could you appreciate what he just did? Saving the world?

What pops into our mind immediately: Lassie. The collie we all loved in our childhood. The collie who made us cry, made us laugh and in the end made us happy. Imagine the movie Lassie come home with Clear Play. (The story, set in Depression-era England, is about a poor boy's dog - Lassie - who, when sold to a rich nobleman, makes a difficult journey to return home to her original owner.) Lassie - always in danger, sometimes even hurt, or the boy in danger and Lassie in danger as well while rescuing the boy or another family member or another dog. Would we remember it as clear as we do (with all the pain!) with Clear Play? We doubt it.

But it is not only about kids' movies. They have a Clear Play library with over 2000 movies to choose from. And a lot of genres: action, adventure, romance, comedy (imagine comedy without the bad language, you might actually very well miss the point, but maybe they don't have this kind of comedy), sport and even documentaries. And they constantly add new movies as they come out. You already know what we are up to. Of course, we are checking if they also have 'I am Legend', the latest zombie movie by Will Smith. And to our surprise, they have it! Now we wonder what would be left. The theatrical cut is 100 min long. The Clear Play cut might have at most 50 min (It takes about 45 min to show that it is a zombie movie. And the last 3-5 minutes are zombie free again.) But what would be left of the story? Yes, we can imagine why they think Clear Play might be necessary for this kind of horror-adventure-drama-sci-fi film... we just wonder how silly this is.

Just imagine what will become of some movies that kind of shaped us: "Jaws" will become a movie about nice sandy beaches in the sun, people who don't know the uncleared version might wonder about the music though (surprisingly as well: they have it in their library, even Jaws 2). Yes, we would share this cleared version with our daughter.

Imagine "An inconvenient truth" by Al Gore. Gore is a word that is quite profane. Better cut it out. Thinking about it, the title is profane as well. So, there is "The documentary without a title by Al" left. We are not sure what will be left over of the content. And don't wonder if your kids - who only get to know the cleared movie and documentary versions - ask what lions eat. No, they don't kill antelopes. What a peaceful view of the world. Then better to cut out all news as well.

In our humble opinion, it might be better not having your kids watch such films. Even with Clear Play. And why spending approx. $ 80 a year on the membership and additional $ 80 for a fancy DVD player? Just watch what your kids watch on TV and DVD and let them discover the world how it is. And if you don't want profanity, violence and nudity in a movie, then just don't watch it. Or make your own movie. Or use earplugs or don't look when it gets violent or leave the cinema or start knitting or take a book or just don't watch it.

Die weite Welt und die Provinz

King Street East, Kitchener

Seit dem 1. April haben wir London vorübergehend verlassen und uns aufgemacht in die schöne weite Welt. Die weite Welt ist in unserem Fall Waterloo in Kanada. Nein, wir machen hier nicht einfach Urlaub, aber wir genießen die Zeit neben der Arbeit.

Waterloo ist eine Stadt mit 115.000 Einwohnern, die in die Nachbarstadt Kitchener übergeht (214.000 Einwohner). Wir sind etwa 100 km südwestlich von Toronto in Ontario. Wenn man sich die umliegenden Orte anschaut, könnte man meinen, wir sind in Europa. Hier gibt es auch ein London, natürlich auch ein Paris, ein Heidelberg, ein Mannheim, ein Baden, Kitchener war früher mal Berlin, ein Stratford, offensichtlich nicht genug, um an Shakespeare zu erinnern, denn gleich daneben liegt Shakespeare. Auch gibt es ein Wallenstein, ein Cambridge, Woodstock nicht zu vergessen, New Hamburg, auch Delhi ist zu finden und gar Scotland; ebenso Brussels, Bornholm, Petersburg, Breslau und Dublin. Nicht wirklich einfallsreich, die Auswanderer in früherer Zeit.

Aber das ist jetzt anders, denn Waterloo hat 2007 einen wichtigen Preis erhalten. In dem Besucherheftchen für die Region klingt das so:

"Waterloo is gaining an international reputation as a key community of the 21st century, a reputation strongly enhanced when the city was named the world's 2007 Intelligent Community of the Year. That honour was bestowed by the Intelligent Community Forum; Waterloo was competing with impressive cities from all around the world. As the home of high tech giants, important academic centres and innovative institutions, Waterloo attracts wide-spread international attention on a regular basis. It's largely because of the presence of many cutting edge businesses, as well as two universities and other important institutions , that Waterloo has developed the personality it has - bright, creative, hospitable, culturally-aware, and entertaining."

Wie gut, dass auch wir jetzt eine Zeit lang zur Intelligent Community gehören dürfen. Wir haben sogar schon eine kleine Theorie entwickelt, weshalb Waterloo diesen beachtlichen Status erreicht hat: sehr wenig Ablenkung. Man darf sich nicht blenden lassen von der weiten Welt, denn auch in der Ferne kann es Provinz geben. ;-)

Perimeter Institute, Waterloo

Silly Sunday

In unserer neuen Kolumne 'Silly Sunday' wollen wir die interessanteste Meldung des Sonn-Tages reflektieren. Heute müssen wir nicht lange diskutieren, welche Meldung das Rennen macht. Wolfgang macht es uns - wieder einmal - leicht.

Doch heute ist unser Innenminister nicht Täter, sondern Opfer. Ja, auch wir empfinden spontan Mitleid. Der Chaos Computer Club e.V. hat in der neuesten Ausgabe seiner Vereinszeitschrift 'Datenschleuder' eine Gebrauchsanweisung zum Herstellen fremder Fingerabdrücke veröffentlicht. Als kleines Extra erhält man als Vereinsmitglied außerdem den Fingerabdruck von Wolfgang Schäuble zum Sammeln (und Verwenden?). (In den nächsten Ausgaben gibt es weitere prominente Fingerabdrücke - auch zum Sammeln.) Aber unser Mitleid ist gar nicht angebracht, denn der Innenminister nimmt es erst einmal gelassen. Sein Fingerabdruck sei kein Geheimnis, den könne jeder haben, er selbst habe nichts zu befürchten, teilte er Spiegel online mit. Wir sind zunächst beeindruckt darüber, wie Wolfgang auch hier selbstsicher und souverän sein Der-redliche-Bürger-hat-nichts-zu-befürchten-egal-wie-
sehr-der-Staat-in-seine-Privatsphäre-eindringt-Argument anführt. Ein wenig weniger selbstsicher wolle man aber doch prüfen, ob man gegen die Aktion des Chaos Computer Clubs juristisch vorgehen wolle und könne. Vermutlich will man, wenn man kann.

Nun aber zu der spannenden Frage: Wie mache ich einen fremden Fingerabdruck zu meinem eigenen? Der Chaos Computer Club hat das schon im Oktober 2004 erklärt. Haben wir verpasst. Dafür hoffen wir nun, die Botschaft weiter zu verbreiten. Erster Schritt zur Herstellung einer Fingerabdruckattrappe: einen geeigneten Fingerabdruck finden. Besonders gut erhaltene Fingerabdrücke findet man auf Gläsern, Türklinken oder Hochglanzpapier (also von nun an die aktuelle Vogue oder GQ besser nicht mehr in der U-Bahn liegen lassen). Hat man den geeigneten Abdruck gefunden, muss man ihn sichtbar machen. Dazu tropft man eine kleine Menge Sekundenkleber in einen Flaschenverschluss und stülpt diesen über den Abdruck. Das ausgasende Cyanoacrylat läßt die Fettrückstände des Fingerabdrucks zu einer festen weißen Substanz werden. Davon dann bitte mit der Digitalkamera ein Foto machen, dieses ggf. noch nachbearbeiten und schon hat man einen fertigen fremden Finegrabdruck im Computer. Wenn man diesen dann mit einem Laserdrucker auf eine Folie druckt, hat man ein Fingerabdrucknegativ. Auf das Negativ ist im nächsten Schritt eine dünne Schicht Holzleim aufzutragen. Diese trocknen lassen und auf Fingergröße zurecht schneiden. Fertig ist die Fingerabdruckattrappe. Wenn man nun die Attrappe mit ein wenig Geschick und Maskenkleber auf den entsprechenden eigenen Finger klebt, kann es los gehen. Die neue Identität ist fertig.

Für alle, die es lieber anschaulicher wollen, gibt es hier ein Video zur Bastelanleitung oder hier die Anleitung mit Bildern.

Angeblich sicherer soll er sein, unser neuer Reisepass mit Fingerabdruck. Und uns vor den Gefahren des bösen Terrorismus bewahren. Es ist uns ohnehin schon länger nicht klar, wie der Fingerabdruck im Reisepass den Terror aus dem Land halten soll. (Vielleicht will uns das mal jemand erklären?) Jetzt wird es jedenfalls noch unglaubwürdiger.

Aber wer denkt, dass so ein fremder Fingerabdruck nur an der Grenze sinnvoll sein kann, der denkt nicht weit genug. Auch die einfache inländische Kriminalität bietet hier Anwendungsbereiche. Man stelle sich nur mal vor, dass jemand, der einen Einbruch begehen will (etwa in einen Juwelierladen, denn der Aufwand muss sich ja lohnen), zufällig Zugriff auf die AFIS-Datenbank des BKA erhält und sich für jeden Finger einen Fingerabdruck einer anderen Person bastelt. Der Einbrecher hätte dann also 10 Identitäten und die Polizei hätte alle Hände voll zu tun. Das Basteln gibt ganz neue Möglichkeiten an die Hand... Und alles nur, weil Wolfgang sich für den Fingerabdruck im Reisepass stark gemacht hat und so den Chaos Computer Club gereizt hat, der nun die Bastelanleitung für Fingerabdrücke publik macht.

Doch auch kleinere Straftaten, möglicherweise sogar solche unter der Bagatellgrenze, sind denkbar. Edeka bietet in Deutschland schon seit einiger Zeit in einigen Filialen das Bezahlen per Fingerabdruck an. Wenn das kein Fall für unseren Hobbybastler ist...

ARD plusminus berichtete schon am 27. November 2007, wie das Fingerabdruck-Einkaufsystem von Edeka überlistet werden kann. Es wurde einfach der Fingerabdruck eines bereits registrierten Kunden nachgebildet und vom Fälscher zum Einkaufen benutzt. Die Rechnung bezahlte der registrierte Kunde. Die Reporter werfen die berechtigte Frage auf, was wohl passieren wird, wenn man demnächst auch mit dem Fingerabdruck Geld abheben kann.

Der Hersteller des Fingerabdruck-Systems, das bei Edeka verwendet wird, erklärt uns seine heile Welt so: "Es ist immer noch die sicherste Variante, mit der sie bezahlen können. Da sind jede Menge Sicherheitsschwellen eingezogen, die verhindern, dass es zur mehrfachen Nutzung kommt. Das alles zusammen führt dazu, dass ich ganz beruhigt sagen kann, das System ist sicher, und auch als Firma dafür einstehen kann, dass Zahlungen, die unberechtigt stattfinden, zurückgebucht werden, weil es gab bisher noch keine." Doch, eben gezeigt. Den Missbrauch ihres Fingerabdrucks müssen natürlich die Kunden beweisen.

Wir sind nicht überzeugt und halten das Bezahlen mit Bargeld für die sicherste Methode.

A deeper understanding of Zombies

Some weeks ago we wrote about Will Smith's latest zombie movie. You might remember that I, little D., was quite confused about the logic of the zombie's behaviour. A few days ago we went book shopping in one of our favourite bookshops in London and we came across the philosophy section. We didn't look for something in particular, just scanned through the shelfs (which is the most risky way to spend money there...). T. found a book. It didn't look immediately inviting to me, but I had a closer look. And you would not believe what I found: Article 12 in the book is by Thomas W. Polger and has the title

Zombies Explained

How could we not buy it?! What an inviting title. I mean, who wants to read something about the foundation of quantum theory or naval law in the 19th century if you can do research on zombies. If we had known earlier...

I followed a link in a footnote of Polger's explanation and found a whole scientific journal volume on Zombies. The Journal of Consciousness Studies, vol. 2, issue 4 of 1995. Very promising titles again: The unimagined preposterousness of zombies [...maybe not so unimagined by some of us...], Varieties of zombiehood, You can't argue with a zombie [...who would have thought...], In defence of impenetrable zombies, Zombies and the Turing test [...whatever this is... but why not test a zombie, there are so many outside...], What zombies can't do [...well, here I could add something...], Why zombies won't stay dead and the most promising article title: Yes, we are zombies, but we can become conscious. (Some days ago we went to the ignobel prize show here in London, and I feel a tiny bit reminded of it.)

I must admit I am intrigued and though I could not access the articles online I ordered a second hand copy of the journal for 1.03 Pound. Lucky me. The copy has to be shipped over from the States, this might take a while. But I promise I will keep you posted!

But you don't have to wait for the serious research volume on consciousness. In the meantime, the wikipedia entry on zombies enlightens us further. Zombies have various kinds of impact, I learned.

The most common definition is: a zombie is a reanimated corpse. The stories of zombies originate in the Afro-Caribbean spiritual belief system of Voodoo. According to their belief a dead person can be revived by a Voodoo sorcerer who keeps the zombies under control since they have no will of their own.

In 1982 the Canadian anthropologist and ethnobotanist Edmund Wade Davis traveled to Haiti and found out that a living person can be turned into a zombie. (Now we know what we always wanted to know: what an anthropologist and ethnobotanist does for a living.) To zombiefy someone you only have to add two 'special powders' to his/her blood stream. It is that easy. ;-) One powder's key ingredient is a near-lethal dose of tetrodotoxin, which is the same lethal toxin you can find in the Japanese fugu. According to Wade Davis, after such a dose a person can be alive in this state of near-death for several days, but remains conscious. But not enough, one has to add the second powder which takes the person's consciousness and put him/her in a zombie-like state where he/she seems to have no will of his/her own. You can find all this in Wade Davis' book 'The Serpent and the Rainbow', published 1985.

Stephen A. Haines from Ottawa in Canada, who reviewed Wade Davis' book at amazon.co.uk, gives us his opinion on zombification: "If the method of 'zombification' of malefactors seems extreme in our view, it may be simply because we hide our criminals away in concrete tombs at taxpayer's expense. ... To Davis, it's simply the quiet application of justice. Is this a technique we could apply in our own society? Probably not, since we don't possess the cultural background. But the rendering of justice at the local level for local offenses is surely something we might consider as a behavioural innovation." SURELY NOT.

But this still doesn't explain why a whole journal volume deals with zombies. Maybe we should not look for an explanation, maybe this is the wrong path, but it is so tempting. Going a bit deeper into it we find an article on philosophical zombies. Yes, philosophical zombies. The term was coined by David Chalmers. In philosophy of the mind, zombies are hypothetical persons who lack full consciousness. But they have the biology and behaviour of a normal human being. They are often used in thought experiments which make arguments against the identity of the mind or the brain. Fascinating.

Finally I don't want to conceal that there are zombie walks around the world. Zombie walks are gatherings of people who dress up in zombie costumes. Sometimes they are just a sort of surrealist performed art, sometimes they are part of a political protest. We didn't come across one so far but we will keep our eyes peeled.

A bit of advertisement

It will be fun!

Varekai - an evening in another world

First of all, we want to say a big THANK YOU to you, Chris!

"Deep within a forest, at the summit of a volcano, exists an extraordinary world—a world where something else is possible. A world called Varekai.

From the sky falls a solitary young man, and the story of Varekai begins. Parachuted into the shadows of a magical forest, a kaleidoscopic world populated by fantastical creatures, this young man sets off on an adventure both absurd and extraordinary. On this day at the edge of time, in this place of all possibilities, begins an inspired incantation to life rediscovered.

The word varekai means "wherever" in the Romany language of the gypsies the universal wanderers. This production pays tribute to the nomadic soul, to the spirit and art of the circus tradition, and to the infinite passion of those whose quest takes them along the path that leads to Varekai."

Yesterday, we spent the evening in the Royal Albert Hall watching a performance of the wonderful Cirque du soleil. It was an extraordinary experience and we had a wonderful time. It is hard to tell how it was. You can get a glance here:

It seems that there are other kinds of humans outside. Some without bones or bones made of rubber. But muscles they have. It was awesome and most fascinating to watch!

About legends and zombies

Our favourite cinema in London is the Greenwich Picturehouse, which is a bit alternative. There are screenings for older people, for mothers with babies, for autistic people, you get organic chocolate and ice cream there, and the seats are a bit like home and very comfortable (actually, much more comfortable than at home. We have a crap sofa. We always thought we would not stay long enough to replace it. We might replace it this year anyway...).

The film: I am Legend. The new one with Will Smith.

Will Smith is a brilliant scientist (who of course takes his daily workout very seriously, as all scientists), but even he couldn't contain a terrible, unstoppable, incurable (of course!), man-made virus. Somehow immune (of course), he is now the last human survivor in NY City and maybe in the world (accompanied by his dead daughter's cute dog Samantha). For 3 years, he has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors. But he is not alone.... hoohoo... in the dark there are mutant victims of the plague - the zombies. Smith's mission is to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus - and rescue the zombies.

Here we have two different reviews:

Little D.'s:

I still wonder how it could happen to find myself watching a ZOMBIE movie. I noticed it only after already watching the film for an hour. The time the zombies appeared. (New resolution: never trust anyone again for choosing a movie, not even the husband, always read some critiques first!) The film was definitely not one for me. Too exciting (not in a good way), too sad on the other hand. I didn't take my book with me - understandably, because we went to the cinema. So I couldn't leave and wait for T. while reading something exciting (in a good way). (Second resolution: always take a book - just in case.) The worst part was the end. For all of you who still want to see the movie stop reading!

Of course, Will was not the only survivor. The other survivor told him she knew that there are many more in the mountains. Because God told her. Because God has a plan and because He means well with humankind. Will was not convinced at first. Due to the fact that God let 5.6 billion people die, and that most of the rest of humankind were either mutated to zombies or eaten by zombies. Quite an argument. In the end, of course, there are survivors in the mountains. How silly is this!!??!!

There are a few questions I always wanted to ask: why are zombies always most stupid, but can very quickly get together when they found a fresh meal - the last survivor. How do they communicate? And what do they think how to share the meal? Hundreds of zombies and one human. This will not leave much for everyone. Maybe they are to stupid to think about this. Maybe that is why the 507th also joins in to hunt ONE (actually 2 and a half, but it doesn't really matter) human. What do they eat instead of humans - who are very rare in NY city? For the last 3 years now. Even our hero is too stupid to hunt game. (So he feeds his dog vegetables.) What do the zombies feed their zombie dogs? And why can zombies climb walls? Why don't they speak? Probably because of the effect. It might be more effective when they scream... I don't know.

T.'s review:

It is an enjoyable zombie movie. (Little D.: Maybe it is for someone who playes DOOM 3 to relax - who was lent DOOM 3 by his boss.)

Little review of January

First of all: we wish everyone a happy 2008 ... from February on - and simply hope that your January was fine!

Don't really know why we haven't blogged earlier, no time, not in the mood, ... doesn't matter. But because we want to share our adventures with you and want to remind ourself of our little adventures, let's see what happened.

We went home for Xmas. 2 entire weeks. It was nice to see our families again, we had a really good time (and too much delicious food...). But it was also nice to come back and move on. For little D. the year started with a mean cold :(. Hope this was it for 2008! T. is still busy at work - and enjoys it a lot.

Except the usual day by day life not so much happened in January.

We went to a nice Bach concert at the Royal Festival Hall with friends on the 22nd. Angela Hewitt played the first book of "Das wohltemperierte Klavier". It was a very enjoyable concert. Later we read that on the morning of the concert her mother died. How sad. She played her heart out in the recital. And it was her best concert of the Bach world tour so far.

For the last days we had a good friend visiting us. This is always special. Unfortunately little D. couldn't spend as much time with her as she wanted to. So we hope we will see her again soon!! You know, you have to put a little bit of effort in it to make the days in London worthwhile for your visitors. Luckily we found a very nice restaurant. It is a Chinese restaurant called Hakkasan and it is located in a quiet alleyway close to Tottenham Court Road. This was the first delight. Tottenham Court Road on a Saturday at lunchtime is VERY busy. Turning into Hanway Road was like leaving London. Suddenly we were the only people on the street. The second delight was the beautiful interior of Hakkasan. A mix of 1930s Shanghai-style (e.g. dark wooden carvings as dividing walls) and a bit of the Matrix, as Time Out magazine rightly put it. Sometimes the restaurant is used as a film set. And finally, the meals were delicously delicious! We had some dim sum and some small main courses. This restaurant is definitely a place to remember and a place to celebrate something special.

The other discovery we made during our friend's stay is a pub with a very nice view over the Thames and St. Paul's. We will definitely take our next visitors there as well.

Finally, we managed to go to the movies as well. See next post for this. January wasn't bad at all!