The world according to Sven-S. Porst
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- Visited my family to say goodbye to my brother. Had a large barbecue there with loads of food.
- Germany is a pork eating nation. I still consider this a bad idea. Very had to get a nice steak.
- Tried to do a bit of record shopping while in Bremen but wasn't too successful. Most things they had I either already owned or didn't know at all.
- They had Stereo Total's old Oh-ah CD on offer, so I got myself that one as a consolation prize.
- My parents traded their old Encyclopædia Britannica for the latest edition, which apparently is the very last that will be available in print. Very sad. While they may have had the cleanest computer edition that ran in a web browser half a decade ago, the CD edition they gave us for free with the books is a painfully slow mess in Java.
- Considering that they claim they'll stop making printed editions this is more than just an annoyance but a large chunk of particularly useful and usually reliable information becoming harder to access. What I always wanted was having the two index volumes as a CD. That way you could do all the annoying research on the computer and then do and even enjoy the reading in the printed books.
- Apparently going to the U.S. is quite tricky. You need to prove you've got all sorts of funds and insurances. Everything seems to be working out fine for my brother, though. Any helpful hints for my brother how to find a good place to stay in San Diego and a not-too-dodgy used car are welcome.
- My suspicion is that the Schengen countries have a similarly horrible scheme if you want a long-term visum (yeah, people say visa for the singular in English – I never quite understood why).
- Interesting observations about how you shouldn't be too serious about sticking to laws at times at The Register: Taking the GPL for a walk in the park.
- While there, be sure to read the newest installment of the BOFH.
- I am on another – thankfully air-conditioned – train now to Hamburg to see Richard in a moment, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs tonight and Martin tomorrow before returning to Göttingen.
Visited my family to say goodbye to my brother. Had a large barbecue there with loads of food. Germany is a pork eating nation. I still consider this a...
August 12, 2003, 18:20
Comment by d.w.: ¶
I had to look up Schengen. Fascinating idea. Your brother might have some luck going through one of the apartment search companies. Landlords list their available properties with these services and pay them a commission when someone signs a lease. The nice thing about doing it this way is that the renter can provide a list of parameters (desired rent, geographical area, pets/no pets, smoking/non-smoking, etc.) and the service returns a list of properties that meet your qualifications. As for cars, depending on how much money he has to spend, your best deals are usually on lease turn-ins. These will generally have fairly low mileage, and the dealership will have checked them out and refurbed them before offering them for resale.
August 13, 2003, 18:02
Comment by ssp: ¶
The Schengen thing is quite handy, I guess. Perhaps naming it after the little place where they made the treaty wasn’t the wisest move PR-wise… You’ll normally see it when filling out the visa form… and you only need one visa for all those countries.
Let’s hope my brother works those things out.
August 14, 2003, 11:51
