Nicolai Pavel
Nicolai Pavel, head of an experimental particle physics group here at Humboldt University died on Saturday. He has been ill for quite a long time. He was a very nice person and one of my favourite professors. Hadn't it been for Francesco Knechtli who came to my office one day to recruit me, I would most probabely have done my Diploma in Pavel's group.
Copenhagen
Here is a list of some remarkable things about Copenhagen:
- they have traffic lights which count down the remaining seconds til they change again.
- there was an ecological hairdresser close to my hotel. Does he cut hair without the use of pesticides? =8-}
- there are bike parking slots everywhere, even in front of the US embassy.
- they have bicycle carriers at the back of taxis.
- you can travel comfortabely with a bike in the S Bahn.
- they remove the snow from the bike lanes. In Berlin they use the bike lanes to collect all the snow that they have removed from the street.
- at the airport there is a changing table in both, men's and women's toilets.
- a conversation on Pusher Street:
(...)
woman: So, what do you study?
me: Physics.
woman: What is this?
me: (...)
woman: Ah wait, there was something else, Chemistry or so... Is this similar?
me: Mmh aeh, yes.
- they have this fancy, fully automatic Metro. You can sit in the very front, as if you were driving yourself. That's not so special? It is. When I came to Berlin in 1999, there was a guy at every Metro station who had to clear every train before it could leave, "einsteigen bitte, zurückbleiben bitte" but with real human voice, no tape. For the Berliner S Bahn this is still the case. Trains without drivers? Unthinkable.
Sibirische Kälte
Monday night I came back from warm Copenhagen (around -5 degrees when I left) to Sibirian Berlin (-18 degrees upon arrival). Since then I make a huge fire in my oven, everytime I come home, i.e. Monday night, Tuesday morning, Tuesday night, this morning. This has the effect that the temperature was still above 10 degrees in the morning. That's how well insulated my flat is.
But the truly Sibirian cold manifests itself in the following way: If it is cold, then whenever I cook (and therefore produce vapor) water condenses at my kitchen walls. So the outside wall just below the window is quite often humid in winter. Yesterday night it was not humid anymore, there was real ice on it (indoors!). Which means that the wall itself was 0 degrees! That's how well insulated my flat is.
Lieber Bundestag,
Du bist deine Hauptstadt
nicht wert!
Fahr doch nach Bonn, da ist es annähernd so spiessig, wie du selber bist!
Ira (thanks a lot!) sent around some pictures of our New Years excursion to Czechia. Here are two of them. Just to illustrate what I mean by
hills . You wouldn't really call this
mountains would you?
This is the only picture
with me. (There should be some more pictures from other people around, though.) It's right in front of our hut. And it's the last sign of my Ski sticks. I lost them that same day.
lists
I am preparing 5 applications for PhD positions. Here's my very personal non scientific list of priorities. It's based on some things I heard people saying about the different groups and on some though very few work of some of the people I know, and on some personal prejudices about the places and countries. The only city of the five, I have ever been is Paris. Though I will go to Copenhagen next weekend.
- Edinburgh
- Copenhagen
- Dublin/Paris
-
- Graz
The next list is even more shaky, it's somehow reflects how high I estime the probability of getting the position. (Note that this is based on some personal conjectures only.)
- Graz
- Paris
- Copenhagen
- Edinburgh
- Dublin
I plan to work on these lists by finding out a bit more clearly what these people really do.
It's a
sad story. It
looks sad by now, after the removal of the asbestos. But why don't they just leave it there. There is not one good reason to tear it down. Why don't they wait until there is a really good project for that area? There is no need for a gigantic building such as the old royal palace was. What would you do in there? It's construction will be so expensive that you cannot use it for any really interesting thing. Another PotsdamerPlatzArkadenShoppingMallMultiplexCinemaCultureForGoodSituatedBoringCitizen place, who needs that? I really wonder how long it will take until the authorities in this city and in this country realize that the main advantage of Berlin is that there is a lot of room which is still affordable for innovative people. This is not secured by such gigantic projects. Rather the ruin can perfectly well be used for cultural activities and parties. (Though in its current state it's cold in winter I agree).
And me personally I confess that from an asthetical point of view, I prefer the Palace of the Republic as it was originally to the Stadtschloss. That one was just a bit older but nothing special really.
By now, the Lampenladen is a part of Berlin history in its own right. Why does the Bundestag decide what's goint to happen to it? Ask the people of Berlin! It's our city. Not that of tourists and politicians.
New year
A lot has happened since my last posting. First of all, I got my degree shortly before Christmas and am now for sale, i.e. looking for a PhD position. Any suggestions?
I spent Christmas in Switzerland, and new year in Czechia. I am quite sure that you need not more than two hands to count those Swiss that have ever been to Czechia for skiing. Well, I am one of them. The place,
Pec pod Snezkou, was horrible, just like any Ski resort is. Maybe even a bit noisier than I am used to from the Alps. Fortunately, we were staying in
a hut outside the village.
The mountains are such that I would rather call them hills, but decent hills. They are round, smooth, wood covered. Around 1200m to 1300m, the highest, Snezka, is 1600m.
Nice area, but the scenary is not as breathtaking as it is at some places in the Alps. I brought my touring equippment from Switzerland and indeed the countryside is perfect for some nice relaxed walks, almost nowhere too steep. But unfortunately the weather was too bad for this. Especially the last two days were very foggy. So finally, I ended up snowboarding for three days on the slopes.
hills 
with me