With lots of spare time this weekend because Easter means that everything here in Not-Bielefeld is either closed or illegal (including, of course, public viewing of the morally questionable 1974 Japanese anime production of Heidi, Girl of the Alps), my thoughts wandered back to the question of why Jesus seems to die on a differentContinue reading “Good Friday Disagreements”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
BCD 03.04.2023
With increasing political polarization marching seemingly uncontested across the globe, it was time for some good news on the political front and CNN, as well as many other news outlets, promptly delivered. This is a victory for local democracy. Finally! After being under threat for so long and from so many different corners, democracy gotContinue reading “BCD 03.04.2023”
AdminGPT
You know that it had to be done, right? With all the excitement, coverage, and concern about AI these days, I was simply curious if ChatGPT could do a better job at admin than real admin types could. (And by “better”, I mean better for us as the end users. After all, the real pointContinue reading “AdminGPT”
BCD 08.03.2023
Over the last decade of so, the University of Not-Bielefeld has increasingly targeted international students in a bid to become a more global player on the university scene. One “crucial” step in this direction over the past two years or so is having e-mails from central admin (including the President’s Office) in two languages: GermanContinue reading “BCD 08.03.2023”
BCD 07.03.2023
Those of you out there who, like me, are too cheap to pay to remove the ads from their mobile apps know all about this: the commercials for other apps that “challenge” your ego by saying (without any data, evidence, science, or apparently conscience) that “only 5% of people can solve this” or by showingContinue reading “BCD 07.03.2023”
Easter charade
The longer I think about it, the more convinced I become that Easter originated as an invention by historical admin types to “improve” our life quality. Think about it … We’re talking about one of the most important religious celebrations / holidays of the year (except perhaps in North America where John Oliver summed EasterContinue reading “Easter charade”
Going through the motions: conspiring while hiring
At the end of last year, my lab manager went into extended, part-time maternity leave for all of 2023 so that I needed to find a temporary replacement for her for the afternoons. The historical, first step in such cases was always to ask around the department to see if there was someone else whoContinue reading “Going through the motions: conspiring while hiring”
BCD 31.01.2023
When I first came up with the acronym BCD (bonehead comment of the day), I never realized that it would be so versatile. Or at least the C in it. Today, it again revolves not so much around a comment as it does a command. Yesterday evening, the University of Not-Bielefeld followed the provincial decreeContinue reading “BCD 31.01.2023”
BCD 23.01.2023
Not so much of a bonehead comment this time around as of a bonehead contraction … I’ve written a couple of times about how the Germans like their laws and about how they like referring to their overly long names with sometimes rather cryptic abbreviations. Today, I discovered perhaps one of the most unfortunate abbreviationsContinue reading “BCD 23.01.2023”
Spitting tacks
Last year was a year to remember. The war in the Ukraine. The death of Queen Elizabeth II. Deadly human-rights protests in Iran. Corona finally beginning to loosen its grasp. And earth-shaking tax reform in Germany. Well, maybe not earth-shaking, but at least earthy insofar as it had to do with property … The backstoryContinue reading “Spitting tacks”
The Blog About Fog 