Another week, another example of environmental pseudo-do-goodery on the part of the University of Not-Bielefeld. This time around, the plan is to enlist volunteers from the university community to plant a Tiny Forest (their capitalization, not mine) on the grounds of the university according to the Miyawaki method. Through this action, the hope is toContinue reading “Can’t see the wood for the needs”
Author Archives: fogBlogger
A two-tiered tax system
The longer I live in Germany, the more I’ve come to realize that the country has a two-tiered income-tax system. And not just the default one for rich people vs. poor people present everywhere else. Instead, there seem to be distinctly different sets of rules depending on whether you’re the one paying the taxes orContinue reading “A two-tiered tax system”
Un-vital signs 14.11.2024
Over the past few weeks, any number of the following signs have been sprouting up on the grounds of the University of Not-Bielefeld. The literal, word-for-word translation of the sign is: I am an insect-friendly flower and wild meadow! This all is, of course, complete nonsense in oh-so-many ways. First, it’s a sign and notContinue reading “Un-vital signs 14.11.2024”
An apology. Sort of …
In a recent post of mine about AI, I took some potshots at the new AI features that WordPress had rolled out through its Jetpack plugin. A couple of blog posts later and the AI still hates the way that I write and I still hate its suggestions for titles for my blogs. So, we’llContinue reading “An apology. Sort of …”
A tale of two kiddies
Over the past few years, a number of women in my lab group have welcomed children to the world, the most recent being just a month ago. And, it got me to thinking just how much things have changed through the years regarding how pregnancy is viewed and especially how admin wants to spread theContinue reading “A tale of two kiddies”
Acute advertising
Right. An e-mail came around from my Faculty here at the University of Not-Bielefeld this past week that I still have no idea what to really make of. Apparently the question was raised at a recent faculty committee meeting as to what rights the teaching staff have to deal with “acute disruptions” during their classes.Continue reading “Acute advertising”
Of paint, posts, and personholes
As I’ve mentioned before, my wife is Croatian and still lives and works in Zagreb, meaning that I spend a good portion of the year down there to be together with her. (And before all the usual civil-servant jokes start surfacing, I want to point out two things. First, as nice as Zagreb is, itContinue reading “Of paint, posts, and personholes”
BCD 12.09.2024
Important news coming out of the business world this week, with the stunning announcement that the Campbell’s Soup Company is changing its name after 155 years to simply the Campbell’s Company. It’s all still subject to stakeholder approval, but you can feel the tremors on Wall Street from here. But, let’s let the CEO ofContinue reading “BCD 12.09.2024”
BCD 06.09.2024
Right. Time to get a little more controversial than usual as well as to return this BCD subtext to its origins. I originally launched this subtext—bonehead comment of the day—to fill the then current lull in admin stupidity with quotes from people who should have known better. Although there have been a few of those,Continue reading “BCD 06.09.2024”
A first-class problem
Ah, the many, many existential problems of the airline industry post-pandemic. Over the weekend, news came in that Swiss International Air Lines (aka SWISS) is being forced to retrofit many of their aircraft as part of the process of modernizing their fleet. In this day and age, you’d hope that all this effort would beContinue reading “A first-class problem”
The Blog About Fog 