blatant nonsense

The "Cross Anytime" group used a abrute-force approach to find the cheats using crosswalk buttons at intersections at any time. These codes are usually used by the police to get a free road. It must have taken ages to get all these codes. Does there exist anything like this for Berlin? :)

Uf...more than one month that I didn't write anything on my blog. Sorry for that, but the weather in Berlin was so fantastic that I spent most of the nights outside (Barbecue rules :). Moreover, I've been to two matches of the Confederation Cup: Brazil vs. Mexico and the semi final match Argentina vs. Mexico. This was really a good test for the world cup next year. The atmosphere in the stadium (both matches took place in Hannover) was really excellent. The only things which which have been annoying were the streakers and the security checks in front of the stadium (it took 45 minutes to get into the stadium). In the end everything went as expected: Brazil won the cup :) However, Mexico was my favorite of the cup. They won against Brazil, unlucky lost against Argentina by penalty shootout and did a great match against Germany.

The only bad news is that Congo lost against Burkina Faso. So I doubt that they will qualify, which means that I might not get any tickets for the World Cup 2006 :(

I just read at BikeBiz.com about the "iconic design poll". You can vote for your favourite piece of British design from 1986 to 2005. At the moment the Moulton bike is on first place. The bike has been nominated by James Dyson. His justification is the following:

"Looking at his intriguing bicycles you can see that Alex Moulton questions every part of the design. His aim is clear: to make lighter, safer and more comfortable bikes whilst improving speed. Good design is about how something works, not just how it looks, which is why I like the Moulton bike so much."

I totally agree with this. The Moulton is the best designed bike I have seen so far...unfortunately it is f*cking expensive :(

The poll ends on June 29th.

Two weeks ago I modified my birdy a bit. My birdy has now a Brooks Team Professional saddle and after two weeks I can say that it's really worth the money!

Moreover, I installed a bike computer. I had to make a decision whether or not to buy a wired or wireless computer. The advantage of a wireless device is of course that you have no problem with fiddling around with the cable. However, you need to change the battery of the sender quite frequently. Moreover, I was not sure if a wireless computer does really work properly on the birdy since the distance from the steering bar to the wheel is quite big (However, I read that some devices work). So I went for a wired device and the Sigma BC 1200 bike computer was my choice. The cable which ships with the device is not long enough. I had to buy an additional longer one. Of course this costs extra :(

After 1500 km I had to change the chain...actually I should have done this weeks before. The Rohloff Caliber 2 is a good tool for measuring the chain and although it is quite expensive, it is really worth the money.

And the best at the end: I joined the break people! Yes! I now have Magura HS 33 hydraulic brakes. These break are really really great and the breaking power is frightening. I always wanted to have those breaks, but since they are so expensive I was a bit afraid that they got stolen. With the birdy this is no problem. It's foldable so I can take it with me wherever I go. The installation is straight forward. Since the standard lines are not recommended by R&M and Magura, I went for the "Stahlflex". My experience with the brakes so far are good. First of all the braking power improved; the standard birdy brakes are quite noisy on bad roads (there are a lot of cobblestone streets in Berlin); and the folding behaviour of the birdy is better.
Take a look at the pictures of Detlef Beyer black birdy with Magura brakes.

Are you afraid to walk along a dark and empty street? You don't like to carry a weapon or don't want to learn some bizarre Asian fighting technique? Well here is a possible solution for you: The fully automatic fighting hamster. Trained to kill :)

Damn! There is a voting to find a name for the new Wembley stadium bridge. German football fans tried to put Didi Hamanns name on the list, but unfortunately they failed. The organisers of the voting have banned him as a possible name. Sounds like censorship...

Without mathematics most of the past and forthcoming blockbusters, e.g. Matrix, wouldn't be possible, since most of the special effects are done on the computer using mathematical models. In fact there is a whole mathematical community working in this field and this community is growing rapidly. However, the mathematics is not visible for the general audience since they just see the results. Thus, math is involved in an implicit way.

In some movies math is involved in a more active way in the sense that actors are using mathematical terms. But in most cases the math is used in an improper or even wrong. For most of the viewers this doesn't matter, but for an expert in the audience this is really annoying. And this is not only true for mathematics. The abuse of inaccurate scientific statements is a pain for every expert in the field. But now there is help: Hollywood Math.
A quote from the web site:

Hollywood Math and Science Film Consulting will ensure that the technical details and jargon in your script sound believable, whether they be mathematical, scientific, or medical.

So now there is no excuse for the improper use of science in Hollywood movies :-)

I had no luck in the first phase of the world cup 2006 ticket lottery. But in the second phase I managed to get a TST-6 for Congo DR. Keep your fingers crossed, that Congo DR make it through the world cup qualification round. It doesn't look too bad, but they have to win the next matches.

Go Congo DR! :-)

Last week German MP Hans-Christian Ströbele's bycicle was stolen in front of the Bundestag, despite the presence of security cameras and police. He did not lock it. How stupid! Now people found the bike on a flea market and bought it for 20 EUR. You can find the full story here. It's fun to read it. Especially if you now Ströbele...

I just changed the layout of my blog...Any suggestions or comments?