Züri G'schnätzlets
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Thinly-sliced bits of web-logged goodness (as I see it)
from Downtown Switzerland and beyond. |
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Saturday, May 25, 2002
Monday, May 20, 2002
What's a Zurich Bericht? The Zurich Bericht (which means Zürich Dispatch) is my on-going journal of my now-extended journeys abroad in Zü:rich ("Downtown Switzerland"), and other destinations world-wide. Zurich Bericht's are longer than Z�ri G'Schnatzlets and I send them out by email on an irregular basis. If you're not already receiving the Zurich Bericht and you think you might enjoy my rambling missives, then drop me an email at zurcherart@hotmail.com and I'll put you on the list.
Du kannst noch etwas auf Deutsch sprechen It's a bit of a slow "news day" - and since we were speaking of introducing good words into conversation - I'm going back into the vault to re-run this item out of Zurich Bericht, Vier (Volume 1) from July 2000. This was when I was working in Zürich for a month or two at a time, but not living there yet. I learned a new German word today on the commute to the office. I was riding the Number 14 Tram from my hotel to the Zurich Hauptbanoff/Main Station, when I noticed that there is a big red lever over the tram's door (on the inside). I wonder how that escaped my notice before? Anyway, here was a big label by the lever that read - t�rnot�ffnung. Sometimes German just sounds like English spoken with a � well, spoken with a German accent. I think you can figure out what this word means, Dear Reader. Just sound-it-out-loud. Go ahead, I'll wait�. *Du kannst noch etwas Deutsch sprechen - You can now speak something in German. Sunday, May 19, 2002
Speaking of Stars Is it just way too obvious to ask why one of Dione's friends didn't phone her up last week to suggest she take that other case of lipstick?
But That Could Be Anybody. Right? My water bearing aquarian stars sent me this message by way of Astrologer Michael Lutin who writes the Horoscope column for American Way Magazine. Obviously it's not going to do one bit of good to ask you to behave yourself and not continue to freak people out wondering where you are going to be next week. Since you have no idea where you will be even tomorrow morning, next week is a long way off. We could all respect you need for complete freedom, if only your inner child weren't forever screaming and crying to be held.
Liechtenstein Redux Züri reader M. wrote in: Just wanted to ask if you're sure you've visited (almost) the whole country of Liechtenstein. Because to me it sounds like you might have missed the northern part (north of Schaan, where the bus from Buchs to Vaduz turns south). That would be the villages of Nendeln, Eschen, Mauren, Bendern, etc. Not that they're anything special ... ;-) Friday, May 17, 2002
A Dab�ll Do Ya So, I mentioned Tuesday that my company had a major computer outage this week. The power went out to all the routers and servers that allow us to surf the Internet at work. But, not only that, all servers we operate for other companies were powerless. Even worse, all of our mainframe computers here in Z�rich that are used by airlines and airports all over the world (but mostly in Europe) went down too.
By the next day this was the story all over the company (I can�t promise it�s true, but by now it is company legend): The company that owns and manages our buildings had important guests so some big-wig with the landlord was showing them around. The landlord-VIP was trying to impress the other VIP's by demonstrating how he delivers a doubly or triply backed-up power source to our important data center. Then to show how important everything at our operation is he pointed out the big red button that�s labeled with something like �Do Not Push Button�. This button is the emergency cut-off breaker that immediately disconnects all the doubly, and triply back-up power supplies so that all computer systems immediately crash. The big red do-not-push button has a cover over it to keep people from accidentally pushing the button (like I did with a button at Heathrow Airport but that�s another story). So this important guy takes the cover off the button to show the visitors this special button and - as he does - the cover starts to slip out of his sweaty palms, which causes him to lunge forward to catch the falling cover. But, as he lunges forward he catches the red-do-not-push-emergency-cut-off-button instead of the heavy-metal-do-not-remove-except-in-case-of-emergency-cover. Of course that immediately drops the power to all of our critical (and non-critical systems). Now when I heard this story I knew I had to stop by Mark�s desk. Mark is my British colleague, and I knew this story deserved a dry and witty in-that-British-way retelling. Then without embellishment he repeated the story more or less as I wrote it above. He added that this explained why the power to the data center was out for so long on Tuesday. All the techs were scurrying around trying to figure out why all the back up power systems weren�t delivering power, because of course who would think first to check the protectively covered emergency cut-off switch. But why didn�t the landlord call immediately and sheepishly admitted to pushing the panic button to save us even more trouble and expense? I asked Mark. Mark answered, "Would you ov called up? I would�a wiped me dabs off that cover and snuck out under the cover of the darkness I'da just created." See. Mark never disappoints. Well after ex-pat American Debra and I finished screaming ... "wiped me dabs!" ... we vowed to work that phrase into every conversation we can. You�re invited to use wiped me dabs or a variant often too. Wednesday, May 15, 2002
Which Way to Walk 500 Miles? If The Proclaimers started walking 500 miles east from Ann B. Davis star on Hollywood Boulevard and passed the Elvis-A-Rama Museum and Giftshop along their walk they might take this route until they reached the giftshop.
They would head EAST on HOLLYWOOD BLVD, 2.8 miles and then CONTINUE onto PROSPECT AV where they would go less than .1 miles and then TURN LEFT onto N VERMONT AV. After 0.6 miles they could TURN RIGHT onto LOS FELIZ BLVD and then FOLLOW as the road goes into W LOS FELIZ RD where they would walk 0.4 miles and CONTINUE onto E LOS FELIZ RD. Then they might go 0.1 miles and then TURN LEFT onto S GLENDALE AV before walking 1.3 miles in order to CONTINUE onto N GLENDALE AV. Still walking they could go 1.2 miles and then FOLLOW as the road goes into N VERDUGO RD After 0.6 miles they would walk bearing LEFT onto CANADA BLVD to walk 1.8 miles more. Then they would walk into N VERDUGO RD; walk 0.9 miles and BEAR RIGHT onto VERDUGO BLVD. And yet still walking they might walk 1.2 miles and then FOLLOW as VERDUGO BLVD goes into FOOTHILL BLVD. Walking 0.3 miles they would TURN LEFT onto ANGELES CREST HWY [HWY 2 (EAST)] only to walk 60.7 more. And then they might again TURN RIGHT - this time onto HWY 138 (SOUTH-EAST) (but only for 8.7 miles) - until they TURNed SHARPLY LEFT onto I 15 (NORTH). They might then walk and walk 17.6 miles in order to CONTINUE onto 7TH ST. After 2.5 miles they would be able to TURN LEFT onto HWY 18 (WEST) and from there go 0.9 miles and then TURN RIGHT again onto I 15 (NORTH). Then for one really long stretch the would be able to walk 155.3 miles before BEARing RIGHT onto the RAMP to HWY 161. For a change of pace the could walk 0.4 miles on the ramp and then TURN RIGHT to walk onto HWY 161 (but for just 0.1 miles) before turning back to the LEFT onto HWY 604. After 12.9 miles they would be stil on HWY 604 but at this point it would also be called LAS VEGAS BLVD. where they would still walk for 13.8 miles bfore they then TURNed LEFT onto W SPRING MOUNTAIN RD. -though only for 0.4 files. Finally they could turn LEFT onto S INDUSTRIAL RD and after only 0.2 miles (but still only 287.2 miles into their 500 mile trek) they could look up and see the Elvis-A-Rama Museum and Giftshop in Las Vegas, Nevada at 3401 Industrial Road.
The Bonus Round However, if Vanessa didn't stop when she collided with the Proclaimers and continued walking until she walked out along the Santa Monica Pier then she would fall off the pier and likely drown 80 hours after leaving the Elvis-A-Rama.
But, No Bathroom Breaks Dave White and Alonso Duralde posed this math problem yesterday on Dave's blog If The Proclaimers left Los Angeles on foot to walk 500 miles at 6 mph heading east and Vanessa Carlton left Las Vegas on foot to walk 1000 miles at 4 mph heading west, when would they collide? Bonus points for calculating the exact amount of hours walked by Vanessa before she drowned in the Pacific Ocean. Go 'head. Run and get yourself a pencil and paper. I'll wait. Clearly Dave knows, but he's not telling the answer. So I'll give mine below.If Answers There Be The problem would be easier if The Proclaimers and Vanessa Carlton could fly as I always hear Sheryl Crowe flies. But Dave and Alonso specified that they are all walking. I assume that they are walking along roads but avoiding the most major highways where possible in the interest of safety. (However, much of the distance being travelled is sparsely populated desert and none of them seems to have a very detailed map. Therefore they will choose to walk some major highways.) Finally since Dave and Alonso neglect to specify exact starting addresses I have decided to assume that the Proclaimers are setting out on their journey from Ann B. Davis' star on Hollywood Boulevard and Vanessa Carlton is leaving from the Elvis-A-Rama Museum and Giftshop on Industrial Boulevard in Las Vegas. If the Proclaimers were walking at a steady rate of 6 miles per hour and Vanessa Carlton were walking the same route (in reverse) at a steady 4 miles per hour then they would collide along Highway 15 somewhere between Barstow and Baker (but closer to Barstow than Baker) after walking 1 day 3 hours and 43.2 minutes. Vanessa would have walked just 114.88 miles while The Proclaimers would have walked 57.44 more than Vanessa.
WE ARE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES No updates recently because of hardware problems. First a manager with our landlord's firm here at work decided to demonstrate the emergency cut-off switch to some touring big-wigs. So he shut off the power to all our computer systems ... that includes the passenger tracking and departure control system for the Unique Z�rich Airport (which apparantly wasn't so unique yesterday since several airports around the world were manually checking in passengers). Actually the apocryphal story of what really happens is even a little better ... maybe I'll tell it later.
How does this effect you? Well he power went out for our network at the very moment I was submitting yesterday's daily update. See, it's not my fault you missed the exciting news ... Now today the DB and DNS servers at Blogger appear to be down ... still NOT my fault. Repeat: Nothing is ever Steve's fault. Monday, May 13, 2002
U.S. Army Set to Invade ... Amsterdam? Adam Clymer reported today in The International Herald Tribune (see: Key House panel targets international tribunal) that ... [w]ith strong administration support, an important House committee has voted authorization for the president to use force to rescue any American held by the new International Criminal Court. Let's forget issues like the fact that it's hard to tell the difference between retoric from U.S. President Bush and rhetoric from the war-crazed ex-Yugoslav president Milosevik. Let's also forget that the U.S. was instrumental in bribing the Yugoslavian government to hand Milosevik over for trial in a similar court to the one the U.S. is protesting now. Forget that 139 nations (including most democratic nations) have signed themselves on to establish an international "rule of law" with this court. Forget all of that, just remember the court is to be established in The Hague - which means the president of the U.S. president would be sending commandos to storm Holland! As the IHT reports:After demonstrating that some committee members did not know the court would be in The Hague, [David] Obey [D-Wisconson] asked if [Tom] DeLay [R-Texas]understood that under the rescue provision, "We would be sending our troops to invade the Netherlands." DeLay said he did not consider that a serious question. Um. I guess some of those head high knee-jerk reactions are causing some pretty red-necks.But, Do We Really Want an International Court? Oh sure, the idea of a world-wide court raises serious questions (though we already have precedents for one which the US has participated in); issues should well be debated - as always. Bush, of all people, understands that impartial courts can be politically motivated to make dumb decisions. (Just ask Bush about U.S. Supreme Court Justices who owing their jobs to past Republican presidents handed Bush his.) It is important to understand (repeat) "Courts are political enities." But people, come on! Aren't Americans also always whining about accountability and "rule of law". Apparantly, only when we can say "it's my and football I'm going home". But, the U.S. Army is Set to Invade Amsterdam? Well? Sunday, May 12, 2002
Gertie and Me Apparently Gertrude Stein said ... "I really do not know that anything has ever seen more exciting than diagramming sentences." And today, I almost couldn't agree more. Luckily I've been able to find some good internet sites to help me brush up on my diagramming skill. My English grammar has gotten quite rusty since my 9th Grade days with Mr. Pritchart and his Grammar Squad. (Oh, how kind of you to say you hadn't noticed.)Read More About It If you want to read more about the fine art of sentance diagramming ... The Basics of Sentence Diagramming
-linked from The Basics of Sentence Diagramming Saturday, May 11, 2002
For Now That's all. The day is nice. The stores are open. I'm getting out of the house and onto my bike.
Doing the Time Warp Again Twenty years ago on every Saturday night - almost as soon as the rest of the family went to bed - I used to pull out my old brown overstuffed vinyl bean-bag and haul it to the living room. I would turn on the TV. Then almost trembling with anticipation I would thrill to hear that electro sound of the intro music for my all time favorite show - Dr. Who. Imported to me from the BBC in England, it was the story of a young-looking 850 year-old timelord who roamed all of space and time in a dimensionally transcendental blue English police telephone booth. The timelord was only called the Doctor - though he wished to be only a traveller he was found weekly trying to put right some wrong, or thwart some scheme for galactic conquest. Somehow the imagination of the storytellers caught me out from behind the low-budget sets and rubber-masked space aliens and for the rest of the week I would travel all space and time with the Doctor in my mind.
BBC Prime has reached back into its vaults to re-air the popular and quirky sci-fi hit series. It's broadcast too early in the day for me to pull out my bean bag chair after the house has gone to sleep, but it is broadcast in more or less the original Saturday afternoon timeslot that almost all British kids tuned-in for. Now the show seems slightly musty with age, but it's probably my age not the Doctor's. As the series winds down again (there are only about 10 stories left in the vault before the BeebPrime reaches the series end again) the BBC is showing some of pretty funky (and fairly avant garde) episodes. I never got to see these last episodes imported to the US. Which makes it all the more fun to pull up a spot and wait for an episode to begin again. Unfortunately in these last years of the show, the producers missed as many times as they hit in an episode - though I think you can blame the misses on the final seasons' miniscule budgets and not on the imagination of the storytellers themselves (usually). Today's episodes from Dragonfire seem to be Dr. Who meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show, even so they left a smile on my face. And I feel that old familiar race of imagination which might call me away from my mundane chores in the next days to again travel time an space in a transdimensional police box in my mind.
The Media Room
...on my turn table... Robbie William's Swing When You're Winning lambchop is a woman (and one from the diva) Amy Grant Lead Me On ...in my DVD player ... David Lynch's Mullholland Drive ...on my TV ... Dr. Who : Dragonfire
A New Look Amy Grant started a journal (we'd call it a blog now) on her "under construction" web-site almost two years ago. Unfortunately, she only ever wrote two entries. Well, she was really busy in the last years. After a two year wait her "new" site - www.amygrant.com - is complete. Wow. It's a very big - very complete - site. Amy might take awhile, but she doesn't do anything half-way it seems. You know I can't resist talking about Amy Grant.
To celebrate Amy's new site and new CD (release May 25), you can see I've released version .01 of my own Züri G'schnatzletts redesign. I hope you like it. More to come ... Friday, May 10, 2002
BUT, WHERE'S CINDERELLA'S CASTLE?
Credit where credit is due: I am providing these beautiful castle images by linking to the very interesting Castles of the World Tours site. Give these folks a visit!
ANOTHER CHECK OFF MY LIST: Yesterday the Z�ri G'chnatzlets and I took a Swiss public holiday to celebrate Christi Himmel Fahrt (Christ's Ascension Day). Of course, I wanted to get out of Z�rich for a day, so I took the chance to tic another country off my list of countries to visit. Yesterday I saw (and rode a bus through) the entire country of Liechtenstein (with the exception of one village up in the alps). The weather was warm and sunny, the local Liechtensteiner wine was good, and the food was delightful. Oh and the alpine view from the little principality was a fairy-tale.
THE 3 HOUR TOUR: Planning a visit? Want to know what to do? Plan to arrive by train in Buchs, Switzerland (from Z�rich, Bregenz, or Vienna - naturally I came from Z�rich). Take the Liechtensteiner Bus to the capitol city of Vaduz. It's about a 15 minute ride (fare 2.40 CHF). Once in Vaduz, don't miss the "street car" tour of the city. It costs 8 CHF and takes 35 minutes. (The driver is entertaining and speaks the Texas dialect of English since the Prince of Liechtenstein used to own a farm in Silver Springs, (East) Texas. Apparantly the Prince employeed young Lichtensteiner boys and girls - including our driver nat'ch - in a workfare abroad program there.) After that, wander around the city. Buy some local wine at the Migros grocery store in the town center of Vaduz. Stop at one of the sidewalk cafes for a nice dinner. Be sure to take the bus back to the Sargans, Switzerland train station (not Buch) because the view along that route is spectacular. It's a 20-30 minute ride (fare 2.80 CHF). Now you've crossed the entire country and spent a nice few hours in a fairy-tale. Just like I did yesterday. On my next trip I plan to take my bicycle (in the train) and ride along the flat green Liechtensteiner valley formed by the Rhein River. Also with a few more hours next time, I want take the bus and cable car up to the Alpine region of the country. Wednesday, May 08, 2002
AN INSIDE JOKE: ... for people who find Anabaptist AND Swiss humor punny. Oh wait, I'm the only one. Well this one's (as usual) for my own entertainment.
Now that the Amish use mobile phones they often sing that classic Anabaptist/Swiss hymn ... So nimm denn meine Handy
BUT LEAVE IT TO SWISS INNOVATION: Here's a guest G'schatzlet I lifted from a cool blog with a boring name - E-MEDIA TIDBITS: A GROUP WEBLOG.
AND THEN MARCIA SAID ...: "Oh Great! Just what we need is another way for men to avoid talking to each other." She was talking about the ubiquitous SMS (Short Messaging Service) we all have on our handy's (that's denglish or swenglish - Deutsch English or Swiss English - for mobile phone). Maybe you know it. You use the your thumbs alot to type out short sentances using a telephone keypad. Tap the number 2 three times for the letter C (press * to make it a small c). Tap the number 8 two times for the letter U. Anyway, get on a bus here in Zurich and see everyone heads down thumb tapping madly away on their handy's. Yes, of course it would be easier to communicate by just dialing the phone and talking ... as ever-apt Marcia observed. Tuesday, May 07, 2002
CHECK BACK TOMORROW: ... and every day. 'Cause I'll be back with more thinly-sliced news. Do you know what Dave White knows? You can read all about it every day at davewhiteknows.blogspot.com. He's my friend. He started a nifty diary of his life in L.A. Now he puts it on a blog. He usually gets paid to write - you get a bargain 'cause the blog is free.
ME AND ELLEN - WHO'S THE FREAK AND WHO'S THE GEEK: In response to the deluge of emails, telephone calls and in-person queries the Z�ri G'Schnatzlets blog has returned to the daily schedule! I took a little break, but now that I've heard from all five of you regular readers I decided that it was high time to get back on the keyboard. Oh, there's no great and mysterious reason I was gone. Unless, ... maybe it's like those TV shows on the US networks ... You know those good ones like Ellen (her first show more so than the current one) and Freaks and Geeks and especially Twin Peaks. Seems like the networks decides to start mysteriously dropping these shows with I.Q.'s slightly higher than Celebrity Fear Factor from the schedule - without notice - for weeks on end. Yeah, my absence could be just like the Blog equivalent of that. Well, it could!
HOME - More Tasty goodness in the
ARCHIVES
March 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 January 2006 February 2006 
I've attempted to leave this blog in the state it was in early 2006 as a historical artifact, but Google broke my original Archive page. What you see above is a quick reconstruction to rebuild some archive functionality
without altering the original blog layout (or researching too deeply into Blogspot).
Original Contents Copyright 2002 - J. Stephen Holyer. All Rights Reserved.
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