Today we are all Palestinian. The events of this morning have shaken a whole world. I am of course thinking about the brutal overtaking of the international transport of aid for Gaza, the Flotilla of Freedom as it is dubbed. When the Flotilla was recruiting, I was thrilled and dreamy-eyed. In another situation I might […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Murmle' Category
May 31
Dec 11
Ecosia
Ecosia is a new (as of december 2009) eco-friendly search engine. The choice of a search provider may not seem like the biggest one you are making in the course of a day, but imagine the hellofalot of searches you do in a year – even a small difference in, say, energy consumption or investment […]
Read the rest of this entry »Nov 25
The Compulsory Gift
Whether you celebrate the change of seasons or a teenage mum giving birth under possibly unusual circumstances, the gift giving tradition can be a headache. There’s all sorts of requirements for this ritual exchange of stuff. The present should be personal and unique, sustainable, not too much but not skimpy (though where the line between […]
Read the rest of this entry »Nov 04
Getting Started
The hardest part of this work might be the timing. Undergrad lab courses have all been tightly time-controlled (do this-then do that-go for lunch-come back just in time for x while y is cooling-etc etc). Now how to plan all this? What to do when your one reaction lasts 2 hours, the other one is […]
Read the rest of this entry »Oct 24
Master’s Project
It happened ad detours. The project assignment process was recently reorganized to ensure fairness. Still, in the allotment of projects it seems that making everyone happy/evading complaints is more important than fairness. The result is a ratrace like before where the demanding students choose first, only now covertly and unpredictably. As a qualified and less-noisy […]
Read the rest of this entry »Sep 16
Number 13
As I was skimming through an article while waiting for my friend at a brown-ish cafe today, an elderly man approached me real close, tried to catch my eye and started reciting poetry in a calm, comforting voice. It was a gray, sobering text about the struggles of the working people in a time not […]
Read the rest of this entry »Aug 22
Report from Full City
The South Norwegian coastline is one of the most wondrous places I know. The latest Ice Age did a good job on it, neatly polishing the bedrock into friendly rounds that get nice and warm in the sun. Due to straight-edged protectionism much of it is still public although strong financial forces call for privatization. […]
Read the rest of this entry »Jul 06
Tanzania I: Summing up
Bagamoyo is a small town on the coast of Tanzania, an hours drive north of Dar. As the president’s mother lives in Bagamoyo, the road is very good. We were going to learn that the government is rather person focused – but grim as this may seem to us, Tanzania is a comparably well-governed and […]
Read the rest of this entry »Jun 30
Double landmark
As I know you were expecting a different post in this spot, I’ll make this short: Post no. 50 concludes Murmeldyr’s first year of existence. Quality over quantity! The marmot promises to keep posting wry reflections, overuse adverbs and stay different.
Read the rest of this entry »Jun 11
On life and responsibility
A young girl was buried today. As I happened to know her, this revoked all sorts of reactions and set off many slumbering thoughts, some of which worth sending down the Tubes. I always found it strange how suicide is looked upon as weak, immoral and/or foolish, and I get upset whenever someone characterises it […]
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