| evertop entry |
[Jan. 1st, 2020|12:00 pm]
Ralf
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I thought some links should be in order here. And since I've still a free account and at any rate no clue about styles and stuff, so here's the thing...
LJ Update
My 6 Userpics
if you're not  derralf then go here
I decided to use this as sort of a mailbox. Any comments to the evertop post are screened. Only I can read them. |
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| lesser of two evils |
[Nov. 9th, 2016|10:30 am]
Ralf
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congratulations america. its not what you deserve, but you've earned it. |
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| dreamlog |
[Oct. 20th, 2016|11:44 am]
Ralf
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Although my dreams are crazy at times, with a bit of thinking I can connect them to the real life topics I have been confronted with. Such as the last dream which was a mashup of Groundhog Day meets Zombie Apocalypse meets US-elections. It all makes sense given that I watched the new Ghostbusters movie the day before.
The first zombie attack hit us on the top level of a sky scraper. Jumping out of the window we had to fight the zombies in the air even as we fell towards the ground. After impact the scenario was reset to the top floor of the building. This time my wife had a Hillary campaign t-shirt and the zombies were all cheering for Hillary and voted her into the office. the end. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 6th, 2015|11:37 am]
Ralf
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Maya and I stopped talking when we heard whistling noises from another room. Yup Milo took up whistling. He also says that he will have a beard when he is a grown up, i.e. five years old. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 15th, 2014|04:44 pm]
Ralf
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Tomorrow is the funeral of my grandmother. She died three weeks ago at the age of 89. After a hospital stay last month she couldn't or didn't want to eat anymore. I spent the day at the care center and was at her side when she took her last breath. The last day must have been like running a marathon, fighting for each breath. And then, exhausted she stopped. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 30th, 2014|01:23 pm]
Ralf
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When my alarm chimed this morning Milo's first exclamation of the day was "Telephone! Train! Boat! Toooot!". |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 17th, 2014|02:36 pm]
Ralf
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I am so sleep deprived. To give you the context, I feel refreshed after ten hours of sleep. I can function with eight hours, if need to be and without interruption seven hours a day. Milo, 2 years old next month, has always been sleeping in our bedroom. When going to bed and when he wakes up at night he gets the breast and is a happy puppy. Turns out he is totally addicted to it. If breastfeeding becomes painful or otherwise unbearable before he sleeps again he is cut off of course. And this is when recently a whole different kind of pain starts : screaming, chocking on his own snot and kicking for hours at a time. Usually around 4 to 5am and sometimes in the evening before sleeping, as well. I mean really, this is how I imagine drug addicts become going cold turkey. Maya is also under alot of stress, bored out of her mind and not adapting well to Germany. Me working all week until late is not helpful either. There are a few positive things to be said, as well. Actual Milo is a constant source of surprise and happiness, except when he is not (see above). There are a couple of children books that I have read so often now, that I can cite them entirely, which is really helpful in many situations. I have almost mastered Dr. Seuss' Oh The Place You'll Go. Only that I am too impatient to learn The Waiting Place completely. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 7th, 2013|10:23 am]
Ralf
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by the way, if Milo is not inclined, changing clothes is like trying to nail a pudding to the wall. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 6th, 2013|10:37 pm]
Ralf
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In my dream I was living on a peach. A drop of water in the peach's dimple was a huge lake and on the ridge around the dimple I and all the other animals (?!) were having some kind of singing/dancing competition. That is until a giant farmer came who dipped his finger in the lake, thus draining it, and declared the peach to be ripe for harvest. Then there was some huge exodus and I woke up.
Milo (now 20) is picking up words left and right. It's about 80% Japanese and the rest German and English. He says "Dankyou" :). Helicopter is "Chopter". Unfortunately he has become addicted to Curious George episodes on youtube. He can't play alone but I am out to work 8:30h-18:30h and so there is not much choice without Kindergarden. Curious George is great stuff though. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 16th, 2013|09:38 am]
Ralf
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most has been taken care of. sort of. not going to talk much about it.
instead - idea of a child-folding-buggy :
shape shifting stroller device that takes a kicking, limp or rigid child body (basically unwilling to be driven away from some place) and brings it into a sitting buckled up position through a series of mild pressure point stimulations. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 24th, 2013|11:02 pm]
Ralf
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After sixteen hours flight from Salt Lake City via Dallas to London, I am stuck here. British Airways had to cancel all flights between 9am and 4pm due to an emergency landing (probably bird related). The staff told everybody to "go home" and that all flights for the next few days were fully booked. Maybe I was a little bit too impatient but after spending two hours in line I ran off to buy train tickets to Berlin. Unfortunately the Eurostar which is normally quite expensive already was also completely booked for today and tomorrow I am going as a business executive to Brussels while tonight I am staying in a small but expensive hotel. I mean for 200 Euro there is a continental breakfast but you have to pay another 10 quid to get internet connection. And now I am a little bit worried that British Airways will not reimburse most of it. Funny though, how many Germans are running around London with red or yellow scarfs. Tomorrow's German-German Champions' League finale is going to be legendary. But I will be working on my laptop somewhere between Cologne and Berlin by the time of the Kick-off. *sigh*
By the way, Dallas Airport is HUGE! Is everything in Texas this big? ;-)
And I had a nice view of Chicago when we crossed it last night.
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 24th, 2013|04:26 pm]
Ralf
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This morning I had an argument with my son concerning the nature of a depicted animal. The picture was a drawing of a white animal which to my opinion was sheep. Milo disagreed, liking it more to the canine variety. The discussion went somewhat like this
Milo : Wah Wah.
I : Bah.
Milo : Wah Wah!
I : Bah Baa.
Milo *starts slapping me* WAH WAH WAH |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 2nd, 2013|10:55 am]
Ralf
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Milo is discovering means of expressing disagreement, other than crying. I'd say his rebellious phase started and I expect it to last until age 21. Have to be quick taking something away from him or down goes his face and you have sharp tiny teeth in your hand. If you try to put him down somewhere he doesn't like or take him away from his ten minutes of youtube in the evening he's throws back his head, kicks and claws at your face. By the way this youtube channel KidsTV123 is amazingly good and moreover apparently very sucessful with nigh a billion views. We watch the brushing teeth song and a couple more. I love the Easy Little Song with the giant blue bird and the Solar System Song.
But he is also getting vocal. Dogs are 'wan'. A fart is commented with 'boo'. He likes hide and seek and his book collection. He points at the things he wants and calls them 'mama'. And at the right moment in the Easy Little Song he starts singing 'lalala'. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 1st, 2013|08:53 am]
Ralf
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Maya and I had a fight as a result of which I forgot to check the temperature of Milo's baby tea. The water was from the thermos I fill up every morning with boiling water. He didn't get any injuries (pediatrician checked) but cried bitterly, broke into a sweat and fell into a deep sleep after prolonged breast feeding. He is such an innocent and cheerful little boy and I broke down from the thought that my fault inflicted him such pain. After waking up, he was all laughter and cooing again, but we went to the doctor anyway. |
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| star wars ... again ... still |
[Feb. 7th, 2013|06:49 am]
Ralf
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direct quote from IMDB : Yesterday, The Walt Disney Co. unveiled plans to make a number of spin-off movies set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away — in addition to the post-Return of the Jedi trilogy that had already been announced
in conclusion, george lucas is a prostitute |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 15th, 2013|09:44 pm]
Ralf
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file-sharing is risky. don't let them catch you. or else
in your perception :
Zebras are
white with black stripes !
4(100.0%)
black with white stripes !
0(0.0%)
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 11th, 2012|12:25 pm]
Ralf
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I was wondering why Star Wars has recently been marketed so aggressively to children as young as age 6. You can buy everything Star Wars themed for even the youngest school children and I have heard some of them singing the imperial march. Until I learned, from South Park actually, that George Lukas has sold the franchise to Disney. And I thought it couldn't get any worse. Speaking of selling out. Jar-Jar Adams has done it again : Teen-ship Enterprise in an all new give-a-damn about Star-Trek, planet destroying romp. In theaters 2013. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 26th, 2012|09:29 pm]
Ralf
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Milo (8 months now) can say Papabababa and Mama. Started to say these words at the same day. My efforts of pointing and repeating Papa, Mama, Milo seem to have fruited. To some degree. Still he ignores his name if he choses to and laughs when I say Papa too often. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 17th, 2012|09:48 am]
Ralf
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My father was offended, probably rightfully so, because I didn't contact him for two months after I returned from Japan. To my defense, I started work the week after my arrival and immediately had to teach courses and look for an apartment. When I say, I was busy, it is really so and not a lame excuse. But he behaves like a girl that has not been asked to the prom. Everything is taken so personally. Yesterday my father invited me and Maya out for dinner. When I tried to ask him, not to call my parents in law by their first names, which is embarrassingly familiar in the Japanese culture, I used the word impolite and he just exploded into my face that I should not talk to him from above about being impolite. The rest of the dinner was an exercise in eating silently and avoiding each other's eyes, which was very, very uncomfortable, especially to Maya. I really want to give my father a big donkey hat for Christmas. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 7th, 2012|06:28 pm]
Ralf
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Stumbled by chance on the topic of Wicca, an esotherik movement but the people involved like to call it a religion. well, it's hard to read the wikipedia pages in English as well as German with a straight face. 60 years ago a single guy pulled the whole thing out of his ass hat and suddenly thousands of people believed in horned gods and goddesses. But seriously, the same is true for mormons, founded some 200 years ago by an epileptic with creative writing skills, and now its the fastest growing religion cult in the world |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 13th, 2012|08:10 pm]
Ralf
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this is just in :
 |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 19th, 2012|12:50 pm]
Ralf
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babies have a well defined contract with the universe which clearly evolves around them at its center : The universe feeds, cleans and entertains them and in return it is rewarded with happiness. If it fails on one or more account it is chastised with righteous rage. |
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| micro 2 macro |
[Jul. 5th, 2012|08:01 am]
Ralf
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most animals exhibit chirality, that is, a break of reflection symmetry : The heart of mammals, for instance, is asymmetric and always located nearer to the left chest. This break of symmetry occurs in the early stages of embryonic development. The left-handedness of proteins on earth results in cilia which rotate in a preferred direction. A carpet of cilia on the surface of cells can generate a flow of molecules which differentiates the cells at the origin of the flow from the cells at its destination. The break of symmetry in our body plans is therefore a direct expression of the symmetry break at molecular level. |
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| Snow White and the Huntsman in 10 lines |
[Jun. 15th, 2012|11:21 pm]
Ralf
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Queen: Mirror mirror on the wall, who is fairest among them all?
Mirror: Well it has come to my attention than someone came of age today who is fairer than you. no offense.
Queen: No way!
Mirror: Yes way. And also, she just escaped your dungeon.
Queen: Hunt her down and bring me her heart!
Huntsman: And what if I refuse?
(awkward)
8(!) dwarfs, a couple of elves and a white spirit stag later
Snow White: That bitch killed my Father. I want to kill her back! Who is with me?
Prince William calls shotgun on Snow White but the Huntsman kisses her anyway. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 29th, 2012|06:16 pm]
Ralf
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Opening hours of the tax-office : Mondays and Fridays 8:00-13:00h, Thursdays 11:00-18:00h. The rest of the week they're probably busy collecting boogers. But I am Zen about it because I have signed a lease today for a nice apartment. So I can pick up Maya and Milo at the end of June. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 9th, 2012|08:50 pm]
Ralf
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My Russian/former Sovjet Russian colleagues, of which I have plenty now, reminded me that today is an important holiday in their countries. It's the day Nazi Germany admitted defeat to Russia. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 2nd, 2012|05:21 am]
Ralf
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April fool's idea : iBath the baby bath thermometer app for iphone. by exploiting the cpu's hidden heat controller function it is possible to calibrate apple devices to measure the temperature of a surrounding medium with high heat capacity (such as liquids). After the device is wrapped in plastic foil and submerged into the water it can use WiFi to display or email the data to your PC. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 30th, 2012|07:29 am]
Ralf
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busy busy busy. Last Monday I went back to Germany where I continue postdocing in my former institute at the University of Potsdam. Job starts April 1st and I have been frequenting city offices and such for the last days. I am bemoaning the crass difference to Japanese administration efficiency. The opening hours for public offices are ridiculous. The registrar's office I went to today is opened Mondays and Tuesdays 8:30-13:00h and Thursdays from 13:00-18:00h but only upon appointment, which I didn't have. They told me the next appointment was possible in May. I'd like to think my charm got me an extraordinary appointment on the spot today as city office workers without exception seem to be women around fifty.
Maya and Milo are still in Japan. Have to get an apartment soon.... |
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| consummatum est |
[Feb. 22nd, 2012|11:59 pm]
Ralf
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If ten seasons of Friends has taught us anything then, that apart from all the blood, the pain and the screaming, today's birth was as perfect as it can get. Last night we took a taxi to the hospital, this morning Maya was hooked to a drip to induce the contractions and just after six in the evening our healthy son was born. Since then he's been sleeping most of the time. Sometimes he jerks as if surprised in a dream. Of what do newborn babies dream? So, there I say it : now I am a doctor and a daddy. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 22nd, 2012|03:06 am]
Ralf
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things got real. will orbit around the hospital during the next days. cross your fingers for us! |
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