wissel.net

Category After hours
Happy independence day to everybody in the US. The Declaration of Independence is a remarkable document. Its preample sums it up: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness ". Read it twice: "pursuit of Happiness". A common critique of today's United States is that "happiness" gets confused with "property". Common wisdom says "You can't buy happiness" (while Garfield thinks you rent it). But what is happiness? Since it is mentioned as a fundamental right equal to Life and Liberty it is worth to have a look. Luckily there are sufficient words to explain the different aspects (while in German we only have one word "Glück"). Lets have a look and start with Søren Kierkegaard who is attributed with "The unhappy person is never present to themself because they always live in the past or the future". This is in line with The Buddha's teachings: "Here and Now" or the advice from the peaceful warrior: "Whenever attention wanders to regrets or anxieties, come back to the present with this reminder: Here and now, breathe and relax.". Being in the here and now you can recognise five types of happiness (in no particular order):

• Community: Love, relationships, being with family, friends, kids and loved ones. Appreciate, foster, procreate
• Serendipity: Opportunities, funny encounters, the lottery ticket that wins, the coin on the street. See, encounter, enjoy
• Pleasure: The piece of chocolate, the new car, the cool beer in the hot afternoon (small doses work better than more of it). Take your time, sense, indulge
• Flow: Challenge yourself, leave your comfort zone. Flow, grow
• Bliss: Beauty of nature, the unexpected smile, connected to the creator. Endure the silence, experience nature, be - don't act (the Chinese would say 无为 - Wu Wei)

(adopted from Glück kommt selten allein .. by Eckart von Hirschhausen).
Serendipity is the most unreliable, pleasure the easiest to achieve and the first to turn shallow, flow the gate to bliss and community the foundation and goal. The Buddha for a reason offers refuge to "Buddha, Dharma, Sangha" (The Enlightened One, the teachings and the community).

Happy independence day!

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 8:45 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (2) |      

Category After hours
Nice summary why it is so easy to believe in something.

(found here)

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 6:15 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours Linux
Thanks to an article in the OMG Ubuntu blog I'm using the Real-time Sunlight Wallpaper. It updates my screen background every 30 minutes with a current satellite picture. Casually glancing at the background I saw this (around 1500GMT):

Hagrid would say "There's a storm coming, Harry" and if I'm not very wrong in my geography that one is heading toward Hawaii.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 1:20 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
Photo frame meets DECT phone:

Do I want one - maybe the manual will tell?

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 3:50 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours

I will need a foot massage after this.
Update: My impressions:

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 10:28 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
The biggest man made environmental catastrophy in the US brings out irony even in US based companies (I suspect they have foreign talent in their ranks)

We're bringing oil to American shores.
While we are on it, how do you like this tag line: "Have a blast" (would apply to them too)

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 6:32 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
Segway is soooo yesterday (you can tell, they even put up shop in Singapore. The new kid in town is called Orbis Urban Mobility Vehicle

The big differences to the Segway: only one wheel and it is light and foldable.

Now if that one would come in Yellow!
(via Yanko Design

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 11:57 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (2) |      

Category After hours
A mechanical, an electrical, a chemical and a civil engineer fell into an argument what kind of engineer god would be. Using man, the crown of god's creation as an example each of the engineers argued his case. The mechanical engineer explained: "Look at the skeleton, the joints, the spine and the delicate balance it is capable of. God must be a mechanical engineer". "Wait a second" replied the electrical engineer. "Look at the nervous system, the eyes and the brain, that is electrical engineering at its best. God must be an electrical engineer". The chemical engineer stated: "The digestive system, the blood circulation, the liver, the lungs and the intestines are the best of the best in chemical engineering. God must be a chemical engineer". The civil engineer smiled: "You are all wrong. Of course god is a civil engineer". Astonished the other engineers demanded him to explain.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 12:21 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
The good Movie Bag is loosing shape and SWMBO insists on replacement. SoI had a look at Varier:

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 7:16 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (3) |      

Category After hours
A collection of quotes I like:

• Thomas T. Nagle:
  Sustainable cost advantages are realized not by constant belt tightening,
  but by the efficient use of resources
• Edsger Dijkstra
  It is never enough to satisfy your own intellect (since it will be laid in your grave with you), but one must teach others, to use their mind.
  The more one focuses on these two tasks, the faster one realized that they are the two sides of one coin:
  Who teaches himself, discovers what can be taught
• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  • If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders.
    Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.
  • As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it
  • You know you've achieved perfection in design,
    not when you have nothing more to add,
    but when you have nothing more to take away
  • It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.
    What is essential is invisible to the eye.
• Anonymous
  For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong
• Nathaniel Borenstein
  The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents
• Alan Cooper
  Most people know more about how the Vatican works than what programmers do.
• Albus Dumbledore
  You have to choose between what is right and what is easy, ... because what is easy is often not right.
• Derek Bok (a former President of Harvard)
  If you think education is expensive - try ignorance
• Linus Thorwald during the Lotus Devcon 1999
  If you love somebody - set them free
• CenterGate Research Group, LLC
  Technology so advanced, even we don't understand it!
• Leonardo da Vinci
  Poor is the pupil who does not surpass their Master.
• Soren Kierkegaard
  The unhappy person is never present to themself because they always live in the past or the future.
• The Koran
  They deserve paradise who make their companions laugh.
• Lao Tzu
  • As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
    The next best, the people honor and praise.
    The next, the people fear, and the next the people hate.
    When the best leader's work is done, the people say, 'We did it ourselves'
  • A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step
• Shi Quin
  When you gaze at the cloudless sky, you either see the emptiness of the sky (xu1kong1) or the emptiness of your heart
• Hugh MacLeod
  Choosing an easy live rarely ends up with much of either.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 12:47 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
It is a public holiday here in Singapore, so I can catch up with blog reading while the gentlemen are busy to collect hong bao (red packets). The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is on with a lot of new toys:

The Samsung I8520 Halo running on Android with an integrated projector

Sony Ericsson X10/X10pro
More coverage at Heise (German), Engadget and elsewhere

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 3:56 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
Amazing visualisation of hyper reality. Something to look forward to or to be scared of. It's in the eye of the beholder.

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

Via TheNextWeb

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 1:17 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
Walking military vehicles were a novelty in the earlier Starwars® and I always wondered what are they good for other than stumble over rebel wires.

Now Boston Dynamics is actually building them (and they are much smarter than me, so they know what they are good for):




Boston Dynamics has a wide range of really kewl robots and it probably is fun to work there, even if some of the robots are outright creepy and really small.

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 11:48 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
I want one:

It is part of the Lego Mindstorms Universe and comes with instructions and plenty of inspirations. Since Robotics is a CCA I have the perfect excuse to buy.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 11:12 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
I want one

Update: fixed the picture, yes comes with vouchers for ambulance, sample wills and divorce lawyers

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 4:31 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (6) |      

Category After hours
I want one:

It flies via your iPhone. Remember that old Bond movie where he drives with a phone as wireless steering? Driving a car with a Nokia 9300i seems lame in comparison.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 10:59 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
The next stop on our XMas Europe tour is Adelboden in Switzerland. If you are into Ski World Cup, you might know Adelboden for their world cup races. The next one being in 9/10 January 2010. We stay at a private guest house Adelbed. The owners Angelika and Ruedi go a great length to make us feel like family. A highly recommended place to stay. Of course our main attraction is skiing. Since is is new to Anthony and Ernest and has been 20 years for me, we started with some ski lessons. Robert and Jakob our ski trainers yesterday and today did an excellent job and we had tons of fun.

Skiing in the cold weather makes hungry and we enjoy Swiss specialties like Rivella, Kaesspatzen, Roesti, Trockenfleisch and tons of Swiss Cheese.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 12:50 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
Web designers are from Mars, customers are from Venus. There is a hilarious Singlish take on this. Enjoy.

Of course there is more to customer relations

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 2:55 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
The gentlemen are having a good time. We had our first sledge ride after a 1.5 hour climb up to the Drehhütte which is run by one of my relatives. Downhill was a little faster (about 20 minutes)

To travel around we rented a car from Hertz in Munich. The sales assistant at the Hauptbahnhof was very helpful and we got a Opel Zafira (a car that won't make it onto my favourite list any time). The guys at the service station weren't. It turned out, that there weren't any winter tires mounted as promised (which I figured only after we starting sliding on a snowy road). When I called the hotline the lady wasn't helpful at all. "I can't do anything about it, are you sure the tires are wrong" and so on. Finally she patched me through to the Hertz station in Füssen. This station is run by Mr. Braun and his wife. He was the exact opposite to the hotline. We exchanged phone numbers and within a short while he called back with a solution. He helped me to find a gas station instead of charging the day-robbery Hertz refill fee and made sure I feel comfortably at any time. Highly recommended customer service.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 4:01 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours Software
I see customers a lot. Business people, IT people, sales people and sane people. Since I'm not an IT graduate small talk often turns to the source of my knowledge. "Study hard, play hard" is the opener I usually use. While the internet has taken over as dominant source, I still fancy books and have collected some over the past few years. When I moved to Singapore 10 years ago, I left most of them behind, so I had to rebuild my library. In the section "Computer and Internet" I have currently 64 items which you are welcome to review.
I'll add other books about business and leisure some time in the future. So stay tuned.

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 9:08 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
As seen on Geek and Poke.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 11:54 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
Do I want one?

While announced in January you now can actually see the watch in shopping windows (I had to stare at it at Hong Kong Airport's Duty Free mall). It looks much better in black and it isn't oversized (at leat not for my wrist). Interestingly the main LG site does not know about the GD910 while results on Google are plenty and colorful. The irony of the LG wrist watch? The knock offs (with things like dual SIM support) were in the market first. Now if they had SyncML or ActiveSync.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 5:20 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (2) |      

Category After hours
I want one:

If only drivers here would be less reckless.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 5:09 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours Technology
Currently I'm participating in IBM leadership training. Naturally leadership is a hotly discussed topic during the training (which is an interesting mix of online and physical meeting). I'm a big fan of the DaoDeChing and its advice on leadership (verse 17 and verse 66):

The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
The next best are loved and praised;
The next are feared;
The next despised:
They have no faith in their people,
And their people become unfaithful to them.

When the best rulers achieve their purpose
Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.

For IT people there is a translation into our reality (part of The Unix Power Classics):

The greatest project leaders hardly make their presence known.
Next best are those who are loved and honoured.
Next come those who are feared.
Next the PHBs^*, who are despised.
The demand to be trusted is not enough; indeed, it finds no trust.

The true leader shuts up and shows us the code.

Then when the tasks are accomplished,
  and the project is complete,
  all the contributors say,
  "We did it ourselves."

Subscribe to updates to the UPC (Unix Power Classics)
^* = Pointy Haired Boss

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 10:53 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
I knew you couldn't trust those sausages

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 2:42 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (2) |      

Category After hours
With the help of Richard and Tony I found out, that the material I'm looking for is called hardwood plywood (the image shows 10 layers). Now I had to design the table. This is what I came up with (using Google SketchUp:

I'd like to keep things simple, so the plywood sheets would be just waxed or clear painted and wall mounted using metal triangles (you can see one sticking out on the left). The sheets would have a nice finish at the edges like the picture below.


Now I need to find a carpenter who can do that. My kitchen guy unfortunately doesn't have the quality of wood I'm looking for (other than that: he did a real good job in our kitchen).
Update: As Nick suggested - Rubber Wood would work too!

Update: It seems rubber wood is used for kitchen table tops and only comes up to 65cm wide. I would consider rearranging the layout to have a 10cm stripe of something else at the back (maybe a stripe of perforated sheet or ?). When you look at the edges of the wood, you can see, that the edges are not 90 degree, but rounded. Makes it more pleasant when resting one's arm on them. There are three potential forms which are listedt in the sequence of my preference:

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 12:54 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (2) |      

Category After hours
My study is equipped with two Ikea Jerker computer desks. The Jerkers were great as long as SWMBO and I were the only constant users. However now "The Gentlemen" use the equiment increasingly often, so the Jerkers have to go and make space to a bespoke solution. Being a carpenter's brother I have direct access to good advice (unfortunately too far away for actual work). We decided on make and material. Then I hit the wall: What is the correct English translation of "Multiplex Platte"? It is a layered plywood panel, but I only got a blank look from the local carpenter I asked here. So I have tow questions: What is the correct English translation and (for my Singapore readers): where can you get them in Singapore?

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 3:41 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (4) |      

Category After hours
Over the weekend I took a stroll over Singapore's premier consumer electronics and IT fair Comex 2009. Besides the usual suspects like all the big brands in PCs, printers, cameras and TVs one can find curiosities and strange things. One of them was the "Mini Sun Power Saver" aggressively marketed by the H2H group. The flyer claims it can reduce domestic power consumption by 30% and stabilise your power supply. The strange part here is, that you just plug the device into a socket. So it sits in parallel to other consumers. The sellers claim the savings effect is due to the stabilisation of the power flow weeding out spikes and irregularities. The picture they use shows a zigzag line which isn't entirely accurate for AC, which is a sinus wave. Also the label reads "German's technology" which is at least a grammatical error. So out the question to the lazy web: Can anyone explain how exactly such a device would work (some complicated formulas are OK for me) and/or if it is just a repackaged snake-oil variant?
Update: CASE (our SG consumer watchdog) thinks it is Snakeoil.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 11:38 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (4) |      

Category After hours
Christmas season is coming, the mobile contract is up for renewal. So I'm device hunting. This looks promising (full Linux):

On the other hand. My favorite China-fake-phone-chipset supplier has recently published a Android capable chipset and once you get used to TV and dual sim card the phones are actually nice:

(did I mention that I'm used to use beta quality software only).

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 2:00 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (3) |      

Category After hours
I like movies. My family and I go to the cinema quite often (a movie is only half the fun without the coke and the popcorn) and we own quite a number of VCDs and DVDs. What p****s me off more and more: in every movie I get a advertisement about how bad "burning movies" is. Every DVD starts with an FBI warning telling me: "Hey you spend your money with us, but we tell you you probably are a thug". Grab any DVD from a Bangkok street vendor and you are not bothered by advertisement you can't skip or a warning about your obvious criminal intend. I don't mind to pay for media I watch, but I very much mind being called a potential criminal after I actually paid due to greed (?) of the media industry. Economy of abundance anyone?

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 1:47 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (2) |      

Category After hours
Bud Caddell likes bubbles just like me. He has a very compelling view How to be happy in business. It makes rounds and is available in German already. I love the graphic, I jusr didn't like the colors, so here you go:

(Click on the image for a highres version)

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 1:04 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours

When you look in the wrong direction, you don't see it coming! (Original picture here)

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 3:20 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (3) |      

Category After hours
After exploring Kuantan and Sungei Lembing we continued our personal Discover Malaysia trip to Genting Highlands Theme Park. After having seen the orginal a number of times it was obvious where Genting's inspiration came from (Wasn't there something with "flattery"). They have to practice with their website however. With NoScript active you don't see a thing. The theme park is divided into an indoor and an outdoor area (tribute to the weather here) with the indoor area actually containing a number of rides including a ferries wheel and a roller coaster. After the beach and nature in Kuantan that felt a bit creepy. But it operates well. SWMBO went - what Genting is all about - gambling and won the family dinner last night. One of my favorites are animal pictures. The body of a snake (a must have accessory over here) is muscle pure - quite a stretch target for my gym exercise.

Of course the main attraction of any theme park are the rides. Genting has a number of them: The Corkscrew, Space Shot, Sky Venture (a body flying tower, very cool, Flying Coaster, Snow World (the only way to see snow in the tropics) and more. All of them are pretty new and feature impressive structures.

However when you embark on a ride on the Cyclops you enjoy Malaysia's first roller coaster ever,

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 6:35 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (3) |      

Category After hours
Germany is well know for its Garden Dwarft culture. Now I discovered, that the Chinese too have them!

There was more to see in that monastery garden. A collection of statues (I need to find out what they mean) that invite to contemplate.

* Garden Dwarfs.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 7:46 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
Near Kuantan in Malaysia is the old mining town Sungei Lembing where Anthony's and Ernest's grandparents were born. The mines went out of business in the 1980ties, but the shafts are still there. Of course it is strictly forbidden and dangerous to explore them.

When you translate "strictly forbidden and dangerous" into the languge of 2 nine year olds it awfully sounds like "fun and excitement".
The gentleman in green is Ernest Jian Long, the one in purple Anthony Bau Long.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 7:27 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours

She is married and has 2 kids.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 7:25 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
Imitation is the strongest form of flattery. So a successful brand (or more accurate: excellent execution of a great idea: providing a 3rd place besides home) attracts imitators. Today at Xi'an's airport I was spotting a familiar sign, only on the second look it was quite different.

While SPR shamelessly borrowed typeface, colour, style ideas (lights, seating or counter) and charming girls in green, they added their own style. There is full service at your table and you get a wide selection of Asian food. The coffee is good, but the late is not even close to the original.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 2:13 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
Over the weekend Anthony and I tried to figure out why his latest Math test results didn't match his grasp of Mathematics (nice way to say: he did badly and had a lot of "slips of the pen"). He loves to jump right into the calculation skipping the "Due diligence" part. So we came up with a mind map to outline the steps he needs to take. It turns out, that this map serves as a general guideline to problem solving (admitting high level). Here you go:

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 12:56 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
There has never been an international planned terrorist attack in Germany (we had our share of domestic terrorism). But now it became clear that Germany is housing 82 million terrorists, at least when you gauge it by the level of observation these 82 million are subjected to. See for yourself:

Du bist Terrorist (You are a Terrorist) English subtitles from lexela on Vimeo.

Via vowe

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 12:49 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
This one:

Actually: I had one when I was wearing a younger man's cloth. With the driving style in Singapore I don't see me on a motorbike any time soon.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 12:22 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
The designers run wild now that foldable or even textile displays are a not so distant possibility. Yanko design has a really nice one.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 3:31 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours

It is just 8 month to Christmas. The thing is called Kyocera EOS and is the current hype.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 10:31 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
I wake up. It is Shangri-La
Not that mystical place of my dreams
but a well run hotel. Carefully
maintained beauty, flawless service.
I'm connected, my social graph is with me,
posts, tweets and sweaks try to lull me
into the illusion of closeness.
Another day, professional excellence is expected.
The keyboard has a precise pressure point,
but I'm longing for a human touch.
I loath to join the club of lonely hearts
convening at the hotel bar every night.
Memories tell me travel was exiting, ready like
a minute man heading to the airport.
Gone. The call of duty remains. I watch
in the cafes happy chatter
in languages I don't understand.
I'm the professional Traveller,
ready to go where I'm needed,
all by myself.
Loneliness my faithful companion.
What city is this?

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 8:56 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (4) |      

Category After hours

Create your own at Mr. Picasso Head

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 12:42 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
It is April fools day and we are waiting for the stories to come in. But what makes a good Aprils' fool? The story needs:

• Within the bounds of regular reporting: This is easy for general newspapers, a little more challenging for technical publications/technical blogs
• Plausible: A reader must think: yes that is possible
• Disguised: Best mixed with facts, so facts and fiction melt together
• Falsifiable: With a little effort it should become obvious (most cases: nobody else reports it)

I'm blogging for a number of years now and had more or less successful entries:

• 2006: Microsoft Exchange for DB/2
• 2007: The future of Java in the Enterprise 
• 2008: Domino next++
• 2009: My new role in IBM

Of course: Funniness is in the eye of the beholder

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 11:43 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
From the "the-world-is-still-not-flat-department":
I just returned from Cambridge (MA) to Singapore. Cambridge is home both to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Both are without doubt world class, top standard educational institutes. On my way back home on SQ21 I read in Singapore's premier newspaper about an incident in the National University of Singapore (NUS). Students had a naked run (probably fueled by sufficient intake of socially accepted intoxicating substances) between two buildings on the campus. and are now expelled from the hostel and risk being expelled from the university too.
Switch to Harvard: Every year the night before the exams Harvard students gather at the campus at night, run around the centre court screaming at the top of their lounges - completely naked (quite a task with late winter temperatures). To participate is a question of honour.
Flat world anyone?

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 7:09 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
The gentlemen have a new favorite game: Khet. After 10 minutes you understand the rules, but it will take you years to master it. For a reason Mensa (The club of really smart people) loves it. In a nutshell: you have a laser beam that you can redirect by 90 degrees using a mirror play piece:

You either can move or turn one of your pieces per turn.

Once any beam hits a pharao the game is over and the owner of the remaining pharao has won. (Download the rules)
You can buy it from Khet or Amazon or ThinkGeek
Happy playing!

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 3:37 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
This weekend the son of an old friend is visiting us. He came back from an ANZ trip and will explore South East Asia for a while. Since he has deep roots in the German coffee culture, he is wondering if he should visit Java or Vietnam first.
So we created a little presentation and he will see important people on his trip. If you are looking for high quality coffee in Germany, look for this logo:

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 1:11 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
This arrived in my inbox today:

Hi ,

I work for Linkstar Media, a leading broker of online advertising, dealing with many thousands of independent webmasters worldwide. We currently have a client in the Telecoms industry for whom we are looking to acquire advertising from quality websites.

We've had a look at Wissel.net and think that it would be a good match for our client, whose target demographic is similar to your own.

We would be interested in purchasing advertising in the form of a text-based link on your site. To reduce unnecessary admin and hassle, we prefer to pay a fixed annual upfront fee for such advertisements. Once the ad has been placed, payment can be made quickly by PayPal or money bookers.

If you are interested, please get back to me with your rates etc. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,
Jill Green


There was some more stuff below the fold, might be a disclaimer or so, but I never bothered to scroll further down. Feels fishy. Anybody knows who they are?

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 7:21 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (4) |      

Category After hours
The "Buy American" provisions of the US stimulus package has caused quite a stir. The Economist likened them to the raise of long buried zombies. However there seems still the voice of reason available in all that madness. A broad coalition of US and multi-national organizations has formed expressing their concern to the president and the senate leaders. The list reads like the who is who in business: ABB, The ACE Group of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Aerojet, Aerospace Supply, Chain Solutions, LLC, Alcatel-Lucent USA, Alticor, Inc., AgustaWestland North America Inc., Avaya Inc., Axcelis Technologies, Inc., BAE Systems, Inc., BASF Corporation, Boston Scientific Corp., Case New Holland Inc., Caterpillar Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Citibank N.A., Cummins Inc., Dassault Falcon Jet, Diageo PLC, The Dow Chemical Company, ESIS, Inc., EMC, Eastman Kodak Company, Finmeccanica North America, Inc., Freescale, Forsberg International Logistics, LLC, Fujitsu, General Electric Company, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM Corporation, International Bancshares Corporation, International Bank of Commerce, ITT Corporation, John Deere, Lexmark International, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Manitowoc Company Inc., The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., McKesson Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, NEC Corporation of America, Nestl?? USA, Nestl?? Waters North America, Nestl?? Purina Petcare, ldcastle Inc., Oracle Corporation, Panasonic Corporation of North America, PCS VacDry USA LLC, Philips Electronics North America, Pinkerton Government Services, Inc., Plantronics, Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company, SAP America, Siemens Corporation, Sony, Spirit Electronics, Inc., Stone Construction Equipment, Inc., Sumitomo Corporation, Symantec, TEREX, TIGHITCO, Inc., Teradyne, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Transact Technologies, Trimble Navigation Limited, Unilever United States, United Technologies Corporation, US Trading & Investment Company, Volvo Group North America, Windings, Inc., XOCECO USA, Xerox Corporation, The Advanced Medical Technology Association, Aerospace Industries Association, American Business Conference, American Chemistry Council, American Council of Engineering Companies, American Meat Institute, Associated Builders & Contractors, Associated Equipment Distributors, Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, Inc., Business Roundtable, The Associated General Contractors of America, The Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Brazil-U.S. Business Council, Business Software Alliance, California Chamber of Commerce, Canadian American Business Council, The Coalition for Government Procurement, Coalition of Service Industries, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Computing Technology Industry Association, Consumer Electronics Association, Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition, Emergency Committee for American Trade, European-American Business Council, European Council of American Chambers of Commerce, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Hong Kong-U.S. Business Council, Information Technology Industry Council, International Wood Product Association, Middle East Council of American Chambers of Commerce, National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones, National Association of Manufacturers, National Defense Industrial Association, National Electronic Distributors Association, National Foreign Trade Council, Ohio Alliance for International Trade, Organization for International Investment, Retail Industry Leaders Association, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International
Semiconductor Industry Association, Software & Information Industry Association, Technology Association of America (formerly AeA and ITAA), Technology CEO Council, Telecommunications Industry Association, United States Council for International Business, US-ASEAN Business Council, U.S.-Bahrain Business Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, US-China Business Council, U.S.-India Business Council, U.S.-Korea Business Council, U.S.-Pakistan Business Council, U.S.-UAE Business Council, Washington Council on International Trade.
The RIAA is absent, but that is hardly surprising.

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 12:00 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (2) |      

Category After hours
"Dire warnings of impending economic doom started being heard above the euphoric shouts of the million who had recently vaulted into the middle and upper classes. Suggestions to balance budgets and limit credit at all levels of the economy were ignored. Instead, creative effort was expended to come up with one way after another of putting more spending power in the hands of a populace that had forgotten how to say 'wait', much less 'no' to itself.
The global stock market began to sputter in January ... and there were predictions of a coming crash. But to most humans spread around the Earth ... the concept of such a crash was beyond comprehension. After all, the world economy had been expanding for over nine years, the last two at a rate unparalleled in the previous two centuries. World leaders insisted that they had finally found the mechanism that could  truly inhibit the downturns of the capitalistic cycles. And the people believed them - until early May ... three of the largest international banks announced that they were insolvent because of bad loans."
Question to the audience: Where was this published?

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 5:48 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours

You Were an Inspired Kid

When you were a kid, you tended to see things from a unique, inventive perspective. In class, you were either asking lots of questions or getting lost in a daydream. You excelled at brainstorming. People were always amazed with what you came up with. You didn't do as well with structured activities. Giving you freedom was the only way to make you shine.

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 1:57 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
The Guardian is running an excellent story to explain the Global Financial Crisis. In a nutshell:
(Amount of Money) * (Velocity of transfer) = (Price of goods) * (Economic Output).
The velocity of transfer is slowing down much faster than the amount of money can be increased. While $1.9 trillion stimulus looks big compared to the $3.9 trillion cash in circulation, it is merely a drop in the ocean of the 290 trillion "great asset bubble" (the whole global GDP was $55 trillion only). Go read the full article.

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 12:45 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
All over the planet government are throwing (more or less) money into their economies to get them back on track. Throwing money is easy, everybody does it. In the US president elect Obama thinks a little ahead: he realizes that a working infrastructure is bitterly needed. After all rolling power outages are an indicator of a 3rd world country. Looking towards Germany that won't work. The infrastructure is pretty good and Germany surely won't need Japanese bridges going nowhere. Some more creativity is needed. Home ownership im Germany is still low. One reason are the cost of building a house which are much higher than in countries with similar climate like Denmark or the Netherlands. A major reason are the myriads of laws, regulations and bylaws. Same applies to starting a business. So here comes my unsolicited advice:

• Take the German tax code, pile it high and put a match to it (what a bonfire that would be). Visit smaller countries like Slovenia, Switzerland or Singapore and buy their tax laws (allow for some adjustment to fit the German federal structure, the Swiss approach looks appealing). Set the tax rates so this would be result neutral. A strong signal is send to all Citizens that this is serious, borrowing a line from the US: Change is possible. (Unfortunately public servants and tax consultants have a strong lobby and are over-represented in parliament, so it is a pipe dream)
• Take all the public servants you don't need anymore in the ministry of finance and redeploy them. Part would take the building code and eliminate all regulations that don't have a proven track record or equivalents in other countries. Stop only once 95% of the regulations are gone. Retrain the rest to become teachers and trainers and boost the education level of just everyone who has any single of the five senses still working. After all Germans value education very highly (at least it used to be so).
• Once the building code is cleansed take on the business regulations. Wear your Teflon underwear and carry a big stick, there are many fiefdoms who will resist you.
• While you are on it: clean out the rest of over-regulations and re-establish a firm rule of the principle of subsidiarity (German Version)
• In a little deviation from simplifying the tax code: give a tax break to anybody who participated in education or health improving activities (Yoga, Tai Chi and Sports in General)
• Make it mandatory that at the end of each visit to a doctor the patient gets handed out a printed bill. While here in Singapore you have to settle the bill immediately (mayor credit cards accepted) you could still keep the settlement system you have in place. Just make it 100% clear in black and white to the patient
• Publish all public finances on a website with business analysis tools, so they can be scrutinized for efficiency. Put a process in place for review (you have all the surplus people from the ministry of finance).

That would boost the economy with a big lever.

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 5:11 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 2:19 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 2:13 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours

This time strictly for the kids. I had my stab at Elektromann. And I still remember its slogan: "Alles baut Elektromann was man mit Strom betreiben kann!"

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 6:39 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (2) |      

Category After hours
And I thought the only vehicles the Danish were good at were Viking battle ships.

For the record: I don't own a car.

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 12:43 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
Just watching the ZEN like concentration of Anthony playing the guitar is worth it!

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 2:12 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours

I couldn't resist.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 11:14 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours

What do I tacitly acknowledge here?

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 4:29 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (4) |      

Category After hours

Even if it is the tacit admission, that I need to get back in shape

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 12:27 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours

The analysis indicates that the author of http://www.wissel.net is of the type:

INTJ - The Scientists

The long-range thinking and individualistic type. They are especially good at looking at almost anything and figuring out a way of improving it - often with a highly creative and imaginative touch. They are intellectually curious and daring, but might be pshysically hesitant to try new things.

The Scientists enjoy theoretical work that allows them to use their strong minds and bold creativity. Since they tend to be so abstract and theoretical in their communication they often have a problem communcating their visions to other people and need to learn patience and use conrete examples. Since they are extremly good at concentrating they often have no trouble working alone.


Check your own Blog at Typalizer

Posted by Stephan H. Wissel At 9:45 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy, Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae have been nationalized, but in world. Seems like the financial crisis will stay with us for a while. Forclosures seem to become a hot US election topic. How many of them can be avoided if morgage payments get substantially lower. But how? Socialism anyone. If the government would own your house it could lower your payments. But wait... they do own it now and I might have been almost right, except it's not about additional consumption, but basic capital service.

The old Chinese curse holds true: "May you live in interesting times"

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 11:13 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours Twins
Anthony told me: "Ernest has a girl friend now". Both have visited the Singapore Science Center multiple times to mavel at the sequence how new babies grow in a mother womb. So I felt it is time to sort a few things out with them along the lines: daddy explains how the world works. Before diving into the biological details (which I think would be a bit early) I felt explaining the confusion of feelings and finding a vocabulary would be important. I found a good starting point in the book Raising Boys: Why Boys Are Different - And How to Help Them Become Happy and Well-Balanced Men which talks about the difference between, Like, Lust and Love. So it put that into a picture.

We agreed that Like and Love is easy and that the grown-ups make a big huh-hah around everything remotely connected to Lust and that each of these three feelings has a place in the body. We also agreed that since the grown-ups make all this huh-hah it can't be that big a deal and that we will do more research into that topic when they are older. Also the three feelings are very different in nature. Like can exist on it's own, while Love mostly builds on Like (unless you got a broken heart). I didn't emphasis on "Lust can stand alone" that would be subject to later research. And once you find someone where you feel all three strongly, you want to be with that person for a very long time. "Is this why you stay with Momy?" Ernest asked. "Yes my son, this is why" I answered and with a smile Ernest went to sleep.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 6:06 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 75% The Flash 65% Spider-Man 60% Robin 55% Superman 45% Iron Man 45% Wonder Woman 40% Supergirl 40% Hulk 30% Catwoman 25% Batman 20%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 11:09 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours

You Are a Crocodile

You are incredibly wise and knowledgeable. In fact, your wisdom is so deep that it sometimes consumes you. People are intrigued by you, but you find few people intriguing. You are not a very social creature. You are cunning. You enjoy deceiving people a little. You are able to find balance in your life, and you can survive anything.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 1:16 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
My style to explore a city is to vaguely set a goal (e.g. a famous road or landmark), use public transport and let me drift through the city. So this evening I set my eye on 天安门广场. I didn't go to the Forbidden City, just stand outside, since they are closed after working hours (mental note: come back as tourist). I walked down Chan'an Avenue, well equipped with an umbrella taking in Beijing's vibes. I ended up at the Silk Street Pearl Market (That is about 3-4km distance).
It is a six story building divided in endless 2-10 square meter stores selling everything from textiles, shoes, bags, leather ware, toys, (fake) watches, jewelry, pearls and art. The sales girls on the textile floors try to trump each other in attracting customers by luring them with English as it is broken to look at stuff. If you are prepared for it, it is hilariously funny. Equipped with a calculator they invite you to bargain for their wares. Of course their initial price it at least 3 times the real sales value (more rather 4-5 times). They even assure you, that you are a nice guy and therefore didn't get another ridiculous price. I'm not very good at bargaining, but that shop could become my training ground. Once I mentioned, that my wife is Chinese (without explaining Singapore-Chinese vs. Chinese-Chinese) all prices instantly dropped by 40-50%. After buying a few things I think I learned a few lessons: even if you get 80% discount from the starting price it is very likely that you overpaid. Being a Caucasian male doubles the starting price. It seems to be a code of honor between the sales girls, that once you started to bargain, that they have to close the deal. So when you start making moves to leave prices drop again. Then the biggest lesson: it is a 1005 buyers market. I actually don't need any of the items (skipping 2 fancy dinners instead would save me more money), but the sales girls must sell. That's their reason for existence. So you can change the game from: she tells her price, you tell your price and you meet in the middle to: you set your price and it is deal or no deal. Of course for the sake of the ritual you give in once or twice, meaning the price you set mentally would be slightly higher that was your first statement is. The bargaining is a ritual and it is important for the girls to look like they are actually driving a hard bargain. But once you reach your price you actually will get it (at least if you are soft like me and set it way to high). Great fun to be on the power side of the bargain. Next time I'll bring the camera.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 12:45 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
Surprisingly they agreed. The Nintendo DS will stay home together with the laptop. While the hotel claims to have Internet access Ernest, Anthony, SWMBO and I decided it doesn't fit to bring high-tech to a jungle holiday. We will fly to Kota Kinabalu with Silk Air and continue our trip to Mulu on a Fokker 50. I'm looking forward to a lot of activities like: bat caves, canopy skywalks, long boar river cruise and plainly doing nothing. Ida likes to have proper accommodation and wasn't exited about sleeping in tent and hammock. Luckily all these activites are within reach of civilized places.

Have a look, you might spot us at the pool.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 2:42 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
I have a weakness for beauty. And there are beautiful things around:



via Smashing

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 1:05 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category After hours
This is surly not for the faint of heart:

I wouldn't mind giving it a spin.

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 2:11 AM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
See for yourself ....

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 1:02 PM Location Singapore | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category After hours
The 3rd of Clarke's laws states:
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
(While Ponder Stibbons of DiskWorld fame muses "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. ").

Catching up on my blog reading I found a sinister addenum to Occam's razor and its cousin Hanlon's razor( "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."):

"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice. "

(via raganwald'07)

Posted by Stephan H Wissel At 8:03 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) |