CB's Web Log

Erkältungen gelten als Zeichen einer schwachen Konstitution - zu Unrecht, sagen Mediziner. Erst ein gesundes Immunsystem ruft die lästigen Symptome hervor.

2010-10-27T20:26:00.000+02:00

Der SPIEGEL Online veröffentlicht aktuelle wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse zur Übertragung von Erkältungen:

die Erkältungssymptome (Schnupfen, Gliederschmerzen, etc.) werden nicht von den Erkältungsviren ausgelöst, sondern von der körpereigenen Abwehr. Sie sind also ein Zeichen dass das Immunsystem arbeitet. Fehlende Erkältungssymptome sind ein Zeichen für ein schwaches Immunsystem.
wenn sich Erkältungssymptome einstellen, sollte man ggf. nicht noch Medikamente schlucken, die die Immunabwehr stimulieren.
Kinder haben öfter Erkältungen als Erwachsene, weil im Laufe des Lebens der Körper zunehmend mehr Antikörper für die insgesamt über 200 Arten von Erkältungsviren bildet.
Immunologen glauben, durch Kälte und Nässe werden Erkältungen nicht direkt ausgelöst. Die Erreger befinden sich vor allem auf Händen, Tastaturen, Türgriffen, Armlehnen im Zug, Müllbehältern in der U-Bahn, Hanteln im Fitnessstudio, auf der TV-Fernbedienung im Hotel, u.s.w, wo sie stundenlang überleben können. Auf Geldscheinen überleben Rhinoviren sogar für Wochen. Übertragen werden sie über Nase und Augen, nicht dagegen über den Mund. In die Augen und Nase gelangen sie durch die Angewohnheit des Menschen, sich immer wieder mit der Hand durchs Gesicht zu streichen und die Augen zu reiben.
Studien haben jüngst die symptomlindernde Wirkung von Hühnersuppe nachgewiesen.

Firesheep

2010-10-27T09:55:00.006+02:00

Eigentlich ein uraltes Problem. Öffentliche WLANs sind gefährlich, das demonstriert Firesheep nun recht drastisch. Die eleganteste Lösung hierfür ist eigentlich ein VPN-Tunnel, dann ist man auch auf Webseiten sicher, die kein HTTPS benutzen.

Mother of all Bubbles

2009-07-14T19:50:00.002+02:00

This article (unfortunately only in German) describes in a brilliant way, why the billions of money which are created at the moment by central banks and governments to end the financial and economic crisis, will ultimately lead to inflation and why the central banks will NOT be able to retract the money quickly by raising the interest rates.

Inflation however does require a second factor which is not mentioned in the article. It does not automatically occur when the amount of money is increased. Large amounts of money deposits in bank accounts do not cause inflation. Prices are created through supply and demand. Only if there is increased demand for something, and supply is short, prices will rise. Labour is not short in supply in today's globalized markets. But natural ressoures are and will spark inflation - someday.

Why Attractive things work better

2009-04-25T12:14:00.002+02:00

Interesting article that explains why beauty and aesthetics are not just eye candy but acutally improve the usability of products.

"the fall of Wall Street is to market fundamentalism what the fall of the Berlin Wall was to communism"

2009-02-03T00:10:00.003+01:00

quoted from NPQ (New Perspectives Quarterly):

"The year 2008 is thus likely to go down in American history as an even more pivotal

moment than 2001, when the 9/11 terrorrist attacks occurred, because the life

of the average American is going to be shaped far more by the consequences.We’re

not talking about the inconvenience of lining up to go through metal detectors at the

airport. We’re talking about the transformation of the American model itself. Joseph

Stiglitz was not exaggerating when he quipped to me earlier this year that “the fall of

Wall Street is to market fundamentalism what the fall of the Berlin Wall was to communism.” Just like that, we’re in a different era. ... Since the 1950s, when Nixon bested Khrushchev in the famous kitchen debate, our answer to the equalized deprivation of socialism has been consumer plenitude beyond compare. Khrushchev may have emptily blustered in those years about burying us, but it was the Communist Chinese, in the end, who gave us enough credit to hang ourselves when our consumer society desired more than we could pay for with our own savings."

Fuel consumption of a new BMW 320d at different speeds

2009-01-03T00:40:00.004+01:00

I drive a BMW 320d, production July 2008, with automatic gear shifting. Using the automatic speed control at different speeds on a relatively empty German highway I discovered the following fuel consumption pattern:

120 km/h: 5.2 litres/100km

140 km/h: 6.5 litres/100km

160 km/h: 7.6 litres/100km

180 km/h: 9.0 litres/100km

200 km/h: 10 litres/100km

Quite interesting...

Prof.Dr. Peter Kruse über Kreativität und Innovation

2008-12-28T20:44:00.002+01:00

Mindset Car

2008-12-13T14:47:00.002+01:00

Electric car from Switzerland, with 100km battery range + 700km conventional fuel range

140km/h max, 0-100 in 7 seconds

Available by end 2009 ...

How does the gospel fit into hindu culture

2008-11-30T11:43:00.003+01:00

Very interesting movie

"Alle großen politischen Verbrechen wurden im Glauben begangen, dass dadurch die Welt besser würde"

2008-11-23T19:30:00.002+01:00

Harald Martenstein schreibt im aktuellen Zeit Magazin:

"Ich beobachte ständig, dass kaum etwas die Menschen so aggressiv macht wie das Gefühl, auf der richtigen Seite zu stehen, im Recht zu sein, Opfer zu sein, für das Gute zu kämpfen. Alle großen politischen Verbrechen wurden im Glauben begangen, dass dadurch die Welt besser würde."

Google Chrome

2008-09-06T19:12:00.003+02:00

I like Google Chrome. It's very fast, faster than FF3. Many innovative, convenient features.

However, it will not yet become my default browser because it does not support single-sign-on, i.e. it does not support using your operating system authentication credentials for logging on to websites, typicall corporate intranet websites. Having to re-type my password each time I access a corporate intranet website is not acceptable.

Just one example for a great Chrome feature: open a web page, and press Ctrl+F and type a search keyword. The window scrollbar on the right will now highligh the areas in the whole document where the search term can be found.

Barack Obama's Speech in Denver

2008-09-01T03:09:00.004+02:00

I think this is a historical speech, no matter who will win the election on Nov 4th.

I was actually a bit irritated by the amount of coverage the upcoming US election got in German news during the past months, but I think now I understand why. Watch this speech and you will too.

Part One
Part Two

Missional vs Missionarisch

2008-08-03T21:01:00.001+02:00

Was wir damals unter "missionarisch" verstanden:
Zieh los um zu reden.
Zieh los um zu lehren.
Zieh los um zu urteilen.
Zieh los um zu retten.
Zieh los mit der eindeutigen Haltung dich selbst zu schützen.
Zieh los um die Leute mit zurück in die Kirche zu bringen.

Was wir heute mit "missional" meinen:
Zieh los um zuzuhören.
Zieh los um zu lernen.
Zieh los um zu empfangen.
Zieh los um gerettet zu werden.
Zieh los mit der offenen Haltung Christi.
Zieh los um Kirche zu sein.

(frei übersetzt von Simon deVries, Quelle: Makeesha Fisher)

The Church

2008-08-03T20:09:00.002+02:00

"In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy.
Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution.
Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture.
And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise."
(Richard Halverson, former Chaplain of the United States Senate)

Warum tötest Du Zaid - 10 Theses about the "Antiterror"-Policy of the West

2008-06-29T19:46:00.006+02:00

Jürgen Todenhöfer traveled to Irak and visited Iraki families and resistence fighters. The central figure is Zaid, a 22 year old young man whose dream is to study and have a big family. After both of his brother have been shot innocently by US army members, he joins the resistance fighters.

The second part of the book contains "10 theses" about the "anti-terror"-policy of the west, and the relationship between the west and the muslim world.

German TV Interview of the author

Gabriela Montero improvisiert

2008-06-17T23:35:00.003+02:00

Gabriela is a piano artist from Venezuela. She's not just playing classical masterpieces in her concerts but improvises based on melodies sung by members of the audience.

This is a short ZDF piece about her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUqhPoA5bIY

JPMCCC 2008

2008-06-15T01:39:00.003+02:00

JPMCCC 2008: 29:30 :-)
JPMCCC 2007: 32:40
JPMCCC 2006: 34:06
JPMCCC 2005: 34:15
JPMCCC 2003: 33:13

"Earth" / "Unsere Erde"

2008-04-19T20:59:00.003+02:00

"Unsere Erde" ("Earth") is a movie playing in cinemas in Germany right now. This movie is based on a BBC TV production from 2006. I have seen quite a few documentary movies showing the beauty of creation before, but this one does really set a new standard. This movie is a heart moving and breath taking celebration of life and nature - and as such indirectly its creator.

The trailer can be seen here.

Erstes Grillfest 2007

2007-05-26T17:44:00.000+02:00

Connecting Data and Voice

2006-06-15T17:04:00.000+02:00

I've writte about connecting data and voice channels in customer interaction call centers a while ago. The www.boooming.com website shows an excellent example how this can be achieved: generate a session-ID in the data application (e.g. a corporate website or customer portal), and then let the customer dial a phone number that contains this session-ID - voila! The corporate ACD system can the detect the session ID, and automatically connect the phone channel and the data channel.

Sales Example: customer tries to configure a complex product (e.g. software product or a car) using the online configurator of the vendor. At some point, the customer has a question and needs support. The website displays a phone number that contains a session ID, e.g. 0800-1234-5678, where 5678 is the session ID. The ACD system routes the call to a sales agent, and the session ID is handed over to the sales agent's CRM system which automatically displays the current product configuration that has been selected by the customer.

Customer Service / Remote Support Example: customer needs help with a certain problem, visits the vendor website and requests remote support. The remote support application is launched from the website. The website also displays a phone number containing a session-ID. The customer calls this phone number. The call is routed by the ACD system to a customer service agent. The agent has a software on his system that connects the session-ID from the phone call to the session-ID of the remote support application, i.e. he automatically sees the screen desktop of the calling customer.

JPMCCC 2006 - 34:06 Minuten

2006-06-07T00:24:00.000+02:00

St. Gallen Symposium

2006-05-25T19:55:00.000+02:00

Some very interesting and inspiring speeches from this year's St. Gallen Symposium with the Theme "Inspiring Europe". 600 invited top leaders and 200 invited top students from all over the world gathering together for three days in May 2006, thinking about the role and future of Europe in a globalized world.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream

2006-05-07T20:27:00.000+02:00

2006-05-06T21:10:00.000+02:00

"We concluded that all great organizations have in common a caring, serving, humanistic purpose and that their leaders not only take care of their direct followers or related contituents, but that they want to leave the world a better place. We concluded that average leaders are "numbers driven", and de facto take care only of themselves. We stated that good leaders are "vision driven" and take care not only of themselves but also others. Our most important conclusion was that great leaders are "mission driven" and not only take care of themselves and others but also want to leave this world a little better.
UBF Asia's journey to greatness

"Why communities? What life have you if you have not life together? There is not life that is not in community."
T.S.Eliot

"To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation."

"Being successful is not about more money, it's about taking care of others and leaving the world a better place."

„Kirche ist nur dann Kirche, wenn sie für andere da ist.“
Dietrich Bonhoefer

“Ein Mensch, der nicht über die engen Grenzen seiner eigenen Existenz hinaus wächst zu den größeren Anliegen der gesamten Menschheit, hat nicht wirklich gelebt.”
Martin Luther King

Movie "Valley of the Wolves"

2006-02-20T02:35:00.000+01:00

Saw this movie tonight. The cinema about half full with approx. 300 mostly turkish young men and quite many women.

The prime minister of the German federal state of Bavaria today demanded to ban this movie. I don't think he actually saw the movie.

Most German newspapers (e.g. www.spiegel.de) said the film is anti-american, anti-jewish, anti-christian, and is bad because it deepens the existing "culture clash" even more.

I don't agree. Well, of course the movie is one-sided. With a single exception the Americans in the movie are unscrupulous, deadheartened and bloodthirsty. They humiliate people of other countries/cultures/religion, don't care about deaths of innocent civilians, maltreat prisoners, etc. Of course most Americans are not like this, but as we know from the pictures and videos from Abu Ghureib and from several other incidents, most of these things did really happen. Why should it be not allowed to show these things in a movie?

One scene remind me strongly of holocaust movies: captives are transported on a long journey in a container on a truck. One guard says to the other: they might suffocate in the container because there is no fresh air supply. The truck stops, the (American) guard gets off the truck and fires with an automatic gun hundrets of bullet-holes into the container and creates a bloodbath among the captives. Well, if a holocaust movie shows German Nazis committing terrible things, I don't object too. Ok, I don't really know if something like this container incident did really happen in Iraq, but we know that many bad enough things did actually happen.

There are interesting scenes e.g. where a sheikh stops some fanatists from executing an american journalist and confronts them with facts why this has nothing to do with Islam, or another one where he discusses with suicide bombers why their plans are wrong.

This movie can help us understand how many turkish, arabic or muslim people feel and think. It is provocative, one-sided, and mixes historic truth with fiction in a questionable way. However isn't that a good starting point for discussing these issues? Sometimes provocation is necessary to get people start talking. First we need to learn to talk about our own feelings. Then we can talk to each other. It's not very healthy if the political correctness keeps telling us to not talk about what we really think and feel just because it could violate other peoples feelings.