An e-mail came around from the Vice President for Studying and Teaching here at the University of Not-Bielefeld the other week informing us about the increasing number of student reports reaching her office about examinations, and final exams in particular, being scheduled during the 14-week lecture periods instead of immediately after them like they shouldContinue reading “Implausible inactivity”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Two-factor abomination
We all know that the internet is a dangerous place, with lots of bad actors trying to scam us, spam us, doxx us, phish us, and troll us. And then there’s Facebook. In many ways, however, the real cyberthreat comes instead from all the IT people ostensibly trying to keep us safe. It all startedContinue reading “Two-factor abomination”
Debugging biodiversity
Listen. Can we just make up our minds here? I heard on the radio yesterday afternoon that experts are predicting that this summer will see an insect plague in Germany, especially when it comes to ticks and tiger mosquitoes. Now, I can’t find any real support for this statement on the internet apart from allContinue reading “Debugging biodiversity”
Leergang
As a prof, you quickly learn to deal with half-filled classrooms. I can, of course, understand student absenteeism to a certain extent. I mean, did I faithfully attend all my university classes? (Ok, I did. But then I’m a nerd. But also a prof. So there …) (And just to further support my nerdiness, IContinue reading “Leergang”
Un-vital signs 22.05.2025
Sometimes, you just gotta ask yourself, what the hell? During a recent trip to more southerly German climes (Bonn), I noticed a lot of the following signs while taking a stroll one evening: Despite their different wordings, shapes, styles, and colours, the basic message in all the signs was identical: don’t block the driveway. MyContinue reading “Un-vital signs 22.05.2025”
The highway to oh-well
I’ve written previously about how the city of Not-Bielefeld is continuously trying to live up to its reputation as a bicycle-friendly city. Noteworthy efforts here, if only because they miss the mark completely, include the city testing out a gangrene wave for bikes and the University of Not-Bielefeld proudly installing the most expensive bike racksContinue reading “The highway to oh-well”
BCD 06.04.2025
Last year I wrote about how my private health-insurance company was holding out providing us, its customers, with any form of physical healthcare card, ostensibly with the motivation to save us money because of the cost of developing such a cutting-edge system. This all, of course, is a load of crap. First off, saving usContinue reading “BCD 06.04.2025”
Staying grounded
In its never-ending quest to be at the bleeding edge of self-promoting lip service, the University of Not-Bielefeld introduced its new environmentally-friendly travel policy at the start of this year. After what must have been countless collective person-hours in at least the high single-digit range, the following was foisted upon University members for all theirContinue reading “Staying grounded”
Goodbye …
A key, if underappreciated, skill in life is learning when it’s time to let go, be it from life itself or some of your various endeavours while living it. And so, I think that it’s only fitting to do this with The Blog About Fog, especially with this my 100th blog entry. In helping meContinue reading “Goodbye …”
X marks the Spott
The University of Not-Bielefeld recently wrapped up its biennial exercise in democracy by holding elections for both the Senate as well as the Boards for each of its six faculties. (And, no, that isn’t a typo in the title but a bilingual play on words. Spot does exist in German and pretty much means theContinue reading “X marks the Spott”
The Blog About Fog 