Thought out loud

Mag sein, dass ich in einigen Dingen etwas blauäugig oder naiv bin. Ich glaube grundsätzlich an das Gute im Menschen und gehe davon aus, dass jemand grundsätzlich gute Absichten hat. Leider hat mich die Aussage einer Nationalrätin nun eines besseren belehrt.

Ich gebe zu, ich habe mich nicht im Detail mit den Plänen des Bundes über die zentrale Biometriedatenbank auseinandergesetzt. So weit ich weiss, ist diese Datenbank auf unserem eigenen Mist gewachsen, es gab keine öffentlich bekannte Anforderung von aussen dafür.

Eine Woche vor der Volksabstimmung spricht Doris Fiala (FDP/ZH) gegenüber dem Sonntag offen aus, dass diese Datenbank zu Fahndungszwecken genutzt werden soll. Natürlich nur bei Schwerverbrechen. Ja Nee, is Klar!

Momentan wird die Verwendung der Daten zu Fahndungszwecken durch ein Gesetz  verboten. Da der Gesetzgeber jetzt schon laut über eine Verwendung dieser Daten zur Fahndung bei Schwerverbrechen nachdenkt, ist es in meinen Augen nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis diese Daten den Behörden vollumfänglich zurgänglich gemacht werden.

In 20 Jahren werden dann sämtliche Menschen bei Geburt katalogisiert, damit wir auch ein genaues “Inventar” über unsere Bevölkerung haben. Natürlich nur unter dem Deckmantel der Sicherheit.

Ich will nicht in einer Welt leben, in der ich gleich verdächtigt werde, nur weil man eine Hautschuppe von mir an einem Opfer findet, welches zufällig mal im gleichen Kinositz gesessen hat wie ich.

Ähnlich wie Roger habe ich heute ein erstes Mal erlebt.

Zum ersten Mal dieses Jahr konnte ich auf dem Weg zur Arbeit den Sonnenaufgang miterleben. Sieht schon heiss aus, wenn die gleissende Scheibe sich langsam in den Himmel schiebt und das Land erhellt.

Als Zückerchen obendrauf gabs noch Like a Bird von Nelly Furtado im Radio. So muss ein Tag anfangen…

UPDATE: Der hier hatte wohl einen weniger guten Start in den Tag…

Some of you may or may not have noticed that it got a bit quiet here lately. Sorry for that. For some reason, I lost the interest in blogging a bit. Maybe I’m somewhere between Phase three and four of the Blogger’s Lifecycle. Maybe I’ve just shifted my interests a bit. We geocached again, and I found new interest in photography.

Nevertheless I want to point out a newly-born swiss blog: The GeoBlog. It is a geography-game where you have to guess a location based on a small image provided. First, it was something running on eigent.li/ch. But lately, it grew so popular, that it deserved its own blog. So if you know a bit of switzerland, give it a try. There’s nothing to win (at least hasn’t been so far), but the warm and comfy feeling to have given the right guess

I always was a photo affected person. When I went on holiday, I usually brought home loads of pictures. Also, when being at home or out and about, I usually take snapshots of everyday-items that catch my eye.

We go away on long weekends quite often, due to the fact that we both are interested in other cities and can get accommodation to a fair price. When visiting other cities, I tend to make lots of photos of parks, historical (or just nice) buildings, streetviews, skylines, etc… Why not, if you’re able? You got your cam in your pocket. and with the development of technology, a pocket-cam gives you decent pictures even in sub-optimal lighting situations.

A few weeks ago, we were in Vienna visiting some friends. It was my first time there and I must say, the city took my breath away. You have parks, nice little alleys, and gorgeous buildings. Also, the life in the city center offers many snapshots. But I brought home only about 20 pictures. And the majority of them were taken by my girlfriend. I just wasn’t motivated to take pictures, and I didn’t know why. This bugged me and I kept on wondering why my motivation to take pictures just vanished.

While looking through the pictures, I noticed that many of the buildings were cut off. Meaning, they didn’t fit on one Picture. I got the same feeling again that I got back in Vienna. Why should I take pictures of something I can’t fit on one anyway?

Maybe I need something that can cover a wider angle. Maybe I’ve reached the point where I must break out of the boundries of pocket-cameras. Maybe what I need is a SLR. This would broaden the spectrum of possible pictures by use of multiple lenses. Wide-angle of 18mm. *sigh*

I was pleasantly surprised that the prices of DSLR-Cameras have dropped quite a bit. Maybe they are now in a Price-Range where someone like me can afford them. I’ve already been to a photo-store to hold some of them in my hand and get a feel for them. In the entry-level segment the technical differences between the brands are so small, that every camera makes good pictures. So its down to the non-measurable feel-good factor.

This Friday I can borrow my colleagues Nikon D40 to test-drive it for the weekend. I hope that will give me some insight if I can (and want) handle such a camera. After-all, you can’t just slip in in your pocket. You will have to carry around some weight when on holidays. And, its different to hold a Camera which weighs about 1kilo, compared to a 150g pocket-cam.

I’m really not sure. It’s still quite an investment. Am I willing to use it enough to justify such an investment? Has anybody of you experience in that field? Maybe some advice? I’ve checked some forums already. But all I get there is the Brand brainwash. Canon-Fans say only buy Canon, Sony fans say only buy Sony, Olympus fans…. you get the message.

I’m confused…

We’re on the final stretch to the Euro’08. And Switzerland is one of the host countries. In addition to that, the swiss are Panini champions. Statistically, every citizen has 40 Panini-pics. This is world class and way before the second place, Germany, with 3 pics per citizen.

When I was a Kid, I was also infected with the Panini-Virus. And it cost me most of my pocket money. Nowadays, the sales channels are a lot more sophisticated than they were during my school-years. Today, you get 2 pictures with every 0.5l bottle Coke you buy.

As I don’t even want to start collecting the pictures, i’ll just offer them here. Until now, I have the Following pictures available:

• # 511 Romania Adrian Mutu
• # 144 Turkey Tuncay Sanli

If you would like to have these pictures, just leave me a comment here or write me an email.

The pictures are sent via swiss mail (A-post). First come first serve applies

Yesterday, as I did a small “Tour de Suisse” for my job, I stopped at a roadhouse for a break. While washing my hands after using the restroom I was looking for the hand-dryer (since there was no paper-dispenser). Well, i couldn’t see any. I was already thinking “Damn it, I’ll have to walk out with wet hands” Then i noticed a peculiar device, somewhat looking like a newspaper- or magazine-holder.

After a second look I saw a pictogram showing to stick my hands in the device and then slowly pull them out again. As I stuck my hands in the device, a quite noisy motor came to life and blew a quite hard and warm air-flow at my hands. It felt somewhat like a “blade”. I was pleasantly surprised, because after 10 seconds, my hands really were dry, even under my ring.

Well, I just had my first time using a Dyson AirBlade. I’m so proud!

I never saw something similar. And its the first hand blow-dryer which works, and this fast. So thats a thumbs up from me