University of Not-Bielefeld – The Blog About Fog

Disdainability

Finally created using ChatGPT from an initial prompt of "I need a photorealistic image of a furniture flea market in a European university setting. The furniture on offer should be ugly office furniture from the 1970s. Above the market, there should be a banner with the words "Sustainability market" on it. However, it should be clear that these words have been quickly added to the banner and are covering up the original words of "Cheap junk". The whole picture should be in widescreen format." In the public domain.

As I’ve mentioned more than too many times in this blog, the University of Not-Bielefeld has taken to increasingly bludgeoning us with its new-found environmental conscience. The latest foray here is in promoting the existence of numerous “sustainability markets” on campus. Now to those of us lacking spin doctorates, these markets are nothing more thanContinue reading “Disdainability”

Un-vital signs 09.01.2026

It’s finally happened! After literally years of being promised that the appropriate signs would be coming “very soon” or told that such signs were not necessary in the first place, the University of Not-Bielefeld finally put up signs on my campus late last year indicating that all dogs must be on a leash. Ok, signsContinue reading “Un-vital signs 09.01.2026”

Un-vital signs 02.10.2025

A few weeks ago, the following sign popped up on the garbage bin on campus that I pop my dog’s poop down every morning forbidding this practice in the future. Someone in Not-Bielefeld must be very proud of themselves. They need to work on their punctuation a little but did manage to use the genitiveContinue reading “Un-vital signs 02.10.2025”

Orna-mental health

Created by ChatGPT using the prompt " Create a photorealistic picture of a group-therapy session. The room should be large and featureless. The participants should be sitting in a circle and making flowery ornaments." In the public domain.

World Mental Health Day is on the horizon (October 10th), something that, quite frankly, is stressing me out a little. Not the day itself, of course, just the attempts of the University of Not-Bielefeld to capitalize on it. The background to this is a survey that the University recently conducted asking how its employees evaluatedContinue reading “Orna-mental health”

BCD 10.09.2025

As happens every couple of weeks or so, I got barked at again today for letting my dog walk off-leash at the University. The person complaining was new, but much of the conversation wasn’t. What was new, however, is that he volunteered the reason why all dogs on campus should be on a leash withoutContinue reading “BCD 10.09.2025”

Un-vital signs 05.09.2025

A hallmark of the University of Not-Bielefeld is how invested it is in teaching. Not in real teaching, of course, because that costs real money and if you want to build 1.4 million Euros worth of bike racks, something’s got to give, right? Instead, the University’s emphasis here lies much more on promoting its commitmentContinue reading “Un-vital signs 05.09.2025”

Implausible inactivity

Generated by the Jetpack AI using the prompt "A picture of a middle-aged person in a business suit asleep with their head on the steering wheel on a bright sunny day on a university campus."

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”

Two-factor abomination

Generated by the Jetpack AI based on the content of the entire blog entry. In the public domain.

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

Generated using the Jetpack AI using the prompt "A gloomy picture of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, with the horsemen being represented by insects and not humans." In the public domain.

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”

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”