Late Weekend Update

I only realized yesterday that I had not done a weekend update this weekend. So I'm going to give you a late update (sort of a down-date ... or is it low-date? I've got no idea).

DVD to watch: Still "Gilmore girls" (you don't really think I'd make it through 12 DVDs with four episodes each in one weekend, do you?).

Book to read: nothing special this weekend, I've been going over older books.

Game to play: I re-installed "Anno 1701" and played some.

So, that was my weekend this weekend. And I promise not to forget about the update next week.

A difficult word

"Datenvorratsspeicherung" is a difficult word - even for someone like me, whose native language happens to be German. Well, German does have other difficult words, but, apart from being difficult to remember, pronounce and speak correctly, this word's meaning also is problematic.

This long word (which I'm not going to repeat) stands for the saving of data (in this case: the emails and page-views) of all people living in Germany for a certain amount of time. Normally such a collection of data is only allowed if someone is suspected to have done something criminal, but with a new law, the government wants to have instant access to the data of all people in this country - as if we've all done something criminal, at least potentially.

Germany has very strict laws as to what kind of data the law enforcement agencies have access to and what kind of data can be saved for a certain amount of time. Most data is not saved for the government, but for either the citizens or some company. For example, my telecommunications company has to save my connections for a certain length of time, just in case I don't pay my bills because I'm sure I haven't made all those calls. Then they have to prove I have. Companies can also find out whether I've ever taken a loan I couldn't pay back and other stuff like that.

But access to such data is limited. I, for example, can not find out whether or not my neighbour has ever taken a loan and not paid it back - the landlord, on the other hand, can ask for that data and will receive it. You have to have a good reason to get that data.

Now, what about that new law and all the data stored?

First of all, as people fear, it will make internet access more expensive - because the companies have to stock up on their storage in order to keep all that data stored.

But what makes it harder on most people is the idea that every movement in the net will be watched. The government will be able to determine exactly which sites every citizen has visited, no matter whether it's the person's own blog, a porn site, a site with 'forbidden' context (like neo-Nazi propaganda) or anything else. And, in addition, every email will be saved as well, no matter whether it's the application for a job, a letter to a friend or a complaint about a TV-program (or other stuff).

The net-outcome will be rather low. It's true, modern terrorists use the net for communication and planning - but then, the easiest way to stop the state from finding out will be using the servers of other countries to go online. I can not imagine Russia, for example, going through the same strict data storage. From what I've learned from various other people, not even all servers used there are registered. And then there's such a thing as broken links. For example the link to the first blog I've ever read one day suddenly led to a porn site instead. The same could, theoretically, lead to an innocent citizen suddenly landing on the site of a Muslim terrorist group. Can it then be proven that said citizen landed there by accident? Or will he or she be persecuted for such a mistake?

Or maybe an email could contain keywords associated with terrorist groups, but mean something completely different. Nevertheless, and for no other reason, the email will be read.

And how far will they go? Will they follow everyone who has ever said something bad about the government - in that case I'm done for, I guess.

Difficult words are not to be trusted, no matter in which language, that much is for sure.

A Plant Tycoon Update

So, here it is, another update on my progress in "Plant Tycoon".

By now I have completely remodelled my nursery (even the fountain) and reached the limits of my three seed-boxes. I'm currently checking all the seeds and throwing out those plants which sell for less than 20$.

I've made quite some progress by buying Mutation Liquid, creating new plants by simply putting it on plants I already have. The down on this is that it costs 1,000$ for three uses, so I have to keep on selling expensive plants in order to finance my experiments with it. But it runs well…

I'm also still cross-pollinating plants, so I get a lot of new plants all the time - but no magical ones, I'm still stuck with just one of six.

I've made a lot of progress in the financial department, though. On the whole my business is running well and I've got most of the bugs by now as well.

Hometown Shopfronts

After I'd let you take a look at the streets of my hometown last time, I'll show you some shops this time around. Are you ready?

There's my favourite Kebab-dealer and a nice café - which, admittedly, looks better in the summer when the tables and chairs are outside. Nevertheless, it's cosy.

This is a new shop - and the last two didn't last long in there - and I even almost got into trouble for taking this photo. The owner asked me what it was for, but as I don't do anything commercial with it, it was okay for her. They sell decorations and gifts.

My manga shop. I buy all my manga in there (except for "Trinity Blood" which I buy at the train station). They also have a lot of other stuff in there, from humorous books to toys.

Another new shop, situated in the area of the "Old Castle" again. This one sells all sorts of coffee, tea and even hot chocolate (and I really have to check it out one day, I could do with specialized hot chocolate during the winter).

One more bookstore, although I buy most of my books somewhere else (but due to the lots of stuff in front of it, I couldn't get a good photo). It's a nice place, though, and I go in there just as regularly as I enter my favourite bookstore.

This was another trip through my hometown, then. Expect two more, one about the area where I live and one about special places or buildings.

And another one...

What can I say? I still suffer from "Pirates of the Caribbean".

My pirate name is:

Mad Mary Flint

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
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Talk about being mad, ey?

Finally the Kilt

Copyright by Tanja Meurer

This is for Kate who has brought a real light into my life with her Mute Mondays and loads of interesting pictures of men in kilts.

Although I assume she likes the real flesh-and-bone variety better...

I've been walking

...through my hometown yesterday and - as it was a fine day and I've had a digi-cam for ages - I've also been taking pictures. So, from now on, expect a post about my hometown with some pictures in it every now and then.

I could, of course, just sent you to my father's photo-blog, but I won't. He's taking pictures of stuff he likes and I'm taking pictures of stuff I like. Nevertheless, if you want more impressions of my hometown and its surroundings, take a look there. Even though his comments are in German, the pictures don't really need description.

For today, let it be an impression of various streets:

This is the walkway of the street going parallel to the railways. Unfortunately, although the weather was great, it's already November, so only very few roses were still in bloom. During the summer it looks really glorious - and smells wonderful, too, with the loads of pink roses blooming.

This road was just redone some time ago, especially the many parking slots are new. As you can see in this picture - and various other ones -, my town doesn't have too many straight streets. I rather like that, makes the whole city look more organic.

This is the newest area of the city centre where cars officially are not allowed. The house on the right is newly build and contains a host of shops. When you walk along the road from the last picture and turn left at the first chance, you'll be standing where I was when taking that picture.

This small street was also done completely new when the new building (again on the right) was constructed. It looks lots better than before.

This is the lower end of the original city centre. If you follow the street shown on the picture before last, you'll come to this view. In the left and centre of the picture are a café (the smaller building, looking like a pavilion) and the largest shopping mall in my hometown (the grey building with the banners).

This road is in an area called "Old Castle" because it once was the site of the old castle. The only thing still standing is the central tower, though (and I also have two pictures showing it, but I'll post them another day).

So, this was the first tour through my town, only the streets for now, but we'll come back for the shops and other interesting buildings and places later on.