Without a Traceroute

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The DDR, Surveilance, and Informational Self-Determination

February 3rd, 2009 · Free software, Germany, Photos, Travel

On Saturday, I went to see the DDR Museum in Berlin (a terrible example of an historical abbreviation striking mental miscues). I had originally been planning on seeing the Deutsches Technikmuseum instead, but it occurred to me that I’ve seen a couple other technical museums on this trip (most notably in Zagreb). While the one in Berlin is reportedly very nice, it probably doesn’t offer anything unique. The DDR Museum, on the other hand, is the only one of its kind and explores a subject particular to East Germany.

The museum, for its part, turned out to be pretty interesting. So many museums are focused on “important” things: epoch-shaping wars, timeless art, science−it was cool to see one devoted simply to daily life in the DDR. The tone of the museum reminded me a little bit of the charming comedy Good Bye, Lenin, a sort of bemused appreciation for communist kitsch, but with recognition of the negative aspects as well. I learned a bunch of things I never knew about East Germany.

Living room in the DDR

Living room in the DDR

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Fifteen hour bus ride = travel fail

February 4th, 2009 · Austria, Travel

I’m in Vienna right now. I had a lot of ideas for decent, interesting blog posts I was going to write. I still want to write about Christiania, the automated train system in Copenhagen and some stuff for Berlin.

But yeah, I just spent 15 hours on a bus. It wasn’t Greyhound-level terrible. (Note to Europeans thinking of touring the USA by bus: Don’t. Just don’t.) They had a bathroom that was mostly usable, and you could get tea and coffee for not-insane prices, but still, spending 15 hours on a bus is always pretty miserable and I’m totally burnt out.

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A lot of horror movies start this way…

February 6th, 2009 · Austria, Photos, Slovenia, Travel

Hitchhiking is kind of a strange thing, it’s basically the only activity I can think of that consists primarily of standing in one place and listening to an mp3 player yet is somehow edgy, cool and exciting.

No, I didn't start hitching in front of the opera in downtown Vienna.

No, I didn't start flying a sign for Graz in front of the opera in downtown Vienna.


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Remembering France Prešeren

February 8th, 2009 · Slovenia, Travel

I think I may have mentioned him briefly before, but today is the anniversary of the death of France Prešeren and a national holiday here in Slovenia. Prešeren was a 19th Century Romantic poet, the father of Slovene literature, and a major national hero.

France Prešeren statue in Ljubljana

France Prešeren statue in Ljubljana. The figure above Prešeren is his great unrequited love and poetic muse, Julija Primic.

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Party like it’s 1234567890!

February 9th, 2009 · Geeky

In case you happen to be looking for a reason to party this weekend that doesn’t involve pre-fab romance or talking vaginas, I’m here to tell you that you have the opportunity to experience a once-in-a-lifetime epochal event.

As some readers are probably aware, many computer systems (basically all UNIX or UNIX-like systems, including Mac OSX) keep time internally by counting the number of seconds (excepting leap seconds) elapsed since midnight UTC on January 1, 1970. This count is known as Unix time.

This Friday, at exactly 11:31:30 PM UTC (which is not quite the same as GMT), Unix time will reach 1,234,567,890 seconds. Many people celebrated the new millennium back in 2000 (or 2001 for the sticklers), but new millennia come along every thousand years or so. Barring some sort of 2038 disaster, Unix time will never be 1234567890 again. So really, this isn’t just a once-in-a-lifetime event, it’s a once-in-time event.

For those of you in the United States, the important time is 5:31:30 PM Central/6 Eastern (take that, TV!). There’s a nifty little site with a countdown(up) clock here. I imagine that site might get really bogged down once the time gets close, so you could also reprogram your left-over Y2K or Bush Presidency countdown clocks (there’s probably instructions for how to do this on the back).

Happy 1234567890, everyone!

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