Congratulations to Felix Baumgartner on his amazing skydive yesterday.

Here is a very excellent 1:350 scale re-enactment:

Kitties below the fold!

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Dies ist die Burg Hohenzollern, einer der definitiven Höhepunkte unserer Reise nach Deutschland im August.  Wir fuhren vom Rheintal in den Schwarzwald nach Hechingen, am Rande der Schwäbische Alb. Wenn man sich der Burg nähert, werden die Straßen schmaler und steiler, bis die Burg direkt üher dem Besucher im Wald aufragt. Dort parkt man das Auto und klettert den letzten Kilometer den Hügel hinauf bis an das Haupttor. Burg Hohenzollern ist der Stammsitz des Hauses Hohenzollern, die Preußen und Rumänien als Könige und das Deutsche Reich als Kaiser regiert. Weitere Fotos:

(zum vergrössern aufs Foto klicken)

Bitte hier weiterlesen …

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This is Hohenzollern Castle, one of the definite highlights of our trip to Germany earlier this month. We drove from the Rhine valley across the Black Forest to Hechingen, at the edge of the Schwaebische Alb. As you approach the castle, the roads become narrower and steeper, until the castle looms overhead in the forest. There, you get out of the car and climb up the hill for 30 Minutes until you reach the main gate, where you pay admission. Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the House of Hohenzollern, which ruled Prussia and Romania as Kings and the German Reich as Emperors.   More photos:

(click on any photo to enlarge and start the slide show)

Another castle with a nice view we visited was Liechtenstein Castle near Honau in Germany, owned by the Dukes or Urach. This is the view from an overlook near the castle. Later that evening we had a very lovely dinner of local trout and local, wild boar at a restaurant in the village below.

Speaking of Liechtenstein, we also visited the more famous Liechtenstein Castle in the Principality of Liechtenstein. Also privately owned, this was the only old castle that had a big “No Trespassing” sign, as it is still the residence of the (very rich) Prince of Liechtenstein. Of course it too, has a very nice view.

None of us had ever been to Liechtenstein, so now we can cross out on our to-do lists: visited all four German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein). Visited the fourth-smallest country in Europe and sixth-smallest country in the world (Only Vatican City, Nauru, Tuvalu, San Marino and Monaco are smaller).

At 2,962 m (9,718 ft), the summit of the Zugspitze was the highest-altitude highlight of our trip, but sadly also the lowest-visibility one.

Even though the weather was quite nice everywhere else, a stubborn cloud shrouded Germany’s highest alpine summit all day. We took the cable car to the glacier station about 1000 feet lower and we had a much nicer view of some of the surrounding mountains.  Still, for the kids the real highlight of that day was to be able to go sledding. In August.

More Photos:

Our tour through my old stomping grounds – the Baden/Alsace region – yielded several more highlights with a nice view. The castle Haut-Kœnigsbourg (or Hohkönigsburg) in Orschwiler in Alsace features a spectacular view of the Vosges mountains, across the Rhine valley and all the way to the Black Forest. This castle is interesting because it was carefully restored in 1900, and not just rebuilt according to some romanticized idea of the middle ages. So it really gives visitors an pretty good idea what a medieval castle looked and felt like. The German Emperor Wilhelm II had it restored as a monument to the German heritage in Alsace and to claim a link to previous German rulers – the Stauffers and the Habsburgs in particular.
 

From there we proceeded on to Strasbourg, where we visited the Cathedral.

The old city of Strasbourg with its medieval cityscape of timber-framed buildings is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The (mostly) Gothic sandstone Cathedral towers over the old city. At a height of 142 m (466 ft), it’s north tower was the world’s tallest building from 1647 until 1874, eclipsing the Great Pyramid of Giza by just a couple meters. We climbed up to the platform at 66m (217 feet) and enjoyed a great view across the city and the Rhine valley.

More photos:

Finally, the next day on the other side of the Rhine, we visited Freiburg and also climbed up on that city’s  cathedral, the Freiburger Münster (pictured here with the spire in scaffolding).

The minster’s 116m (380ft) tower was completed in 1330 and the choir was consecrated in 1513 – it took over 300 years to complete this church. Only in 1827, did the Freiburg Minster become the seat of a bishop. The oldest bell in the tower dates back to the year 1258 and it is called “Hosanna”. During the bombing raids in 1944, all the buildings around the church were destroyed, but the church remained unscathed. The view from the platform on the tower, right beneath the spire, was fantastic. The Black forest on one side, the Rhine valley was spread out all the way to the Vosges mountains.

More to be posted soon …

(updated 8/22 with more photos) (updated 8/25 with some dates about Freiburg Minster)

On the July 4th holiday, Laura and Julia went horseback riding in the morning. I had hurt my back at work, so I stayed home. They had been gone for a while, when Laura called me and explained that Cleo had a serious cut in her leg and I should call the vet while they load her and haul her over there. Luckily they were only about a 10-Min drive away from the vet hospital. So I called the vet’s on-call emergency number and then I drove out there, too.

Cleo’s cut was pretty bad – a 3-inch (10-12 cm) long gash in her right hind leg, down to the muscle tissue, with blood all over her leg. The vet tranquilized her, cleaned the wound and stitched her leg back up. After that, Cleo had to be on “stall rest” for two weeks, and so we fixed up their run-in shelter as an improvised stall. We had already set up a nice fan in the shelter and Wally and Cleo often spent the hot part of the day next to the fan. So they did not seem to mind too much having to stay in there. Julia spent a lot of time taking care of Cleo, cleaning her wound and walking her.

(truck trouble below …) Read the rest of this entry »

Ghana’s President, John Atta Mills died today at age 68. Mills narrowly won the presidency in 2009 and was reportedly planning to run for a second term in December. According to the BBC, mills died of throat cancer.

John Dramani Mahama, his vice-president, has been sworn in as his replacement in a ceremony in the capital.

Our heartfelt condolences to the people of Ghana.

Today, on the way home, this Google streetview car (on the right) turned into our neighborhood and followed us for a couple of blocks. When we got home, Julia and I ran inside and go a couple of masks and then came back outside to wait for the Streetview car to prank them, but we were too late (I think). Or maybe they did not map the entire neighborhood. I guess we’ll see when they update Streetview.

Today marks the sixth consecutive day (July 3rd – 8th) of 100 degrees or higher here in the Triangle and that sets a new record. The previous record was five consecutive days set last Summer from July 20 to July 24, 2011. Today’s 105 degree temperature also sets a new record for this day (previous was 103 in 1977) and ties the all-time record temperature at RDU airport set on June 30. (source)

Thanks to Suzanne Unger Young for the photos in this post

The 2012 Doughman race was another great success for team @Overheight When Flashing@ – sponsored by 11foot8.com. We finished in 8th place, again, out of 82 teams this year – so again, like last year,  a top-ten-percent performance for our team at this unique and challenging race.

Just like last year, the 2012 Doughman had 5 legs. Each leg starts with an eating challenge before the athlete goes on to run or bike. Upon return, the next teammate is tagged and he/she eats and then races on. This is how we divided up the legs:

leg 1 – fluffernutter sandwich + 8-mile bike race ……….Craig Young
leg 2  –  veggie taco + 1.9 mile run + water activity ……. Gordon Keeler
leg 3 – fried green tomato sandwich + 2-mile run ……… Jurgen Henn
leg 4 – cuban slider + 2.3-mile run ………………………… Bill Copeland

leg 5 dessert + team sprint
…… Jurgen …….. Raspberry Coconut Popsicle
…… Bill ………. Strawberry Cupcake with Almond Buttercream Icing
…… Craig ……… Chocolate Walnut Whopper Cookie
…… Gordon …… Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream

Our team worked like a well-tuned machine this year. We put forth a solid performance on both the eating and the athletic contest – firing on all four cylinders, if you will. We raised around $400 and got a 2-Min. headstart. 8 teams got a 5-Min headstart for raising more than a $1,000 and another 18 (or so) got a 2-Min. headstart (incl us). And yes – I ran my 2-mile leg barefoot again this year. Most importantly, though, we had a great time, and raised a bunch of dough for a really great cause.

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When the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last December, it caused an uproar among those paying attention. The NDAA expanded the authority of the US military to detain and deprive of any due process anyone the US Government suspects of being involved with a terrorist organization in any way, shape or form.  Yesterday, the newly-appointed federal district judge Katherine Forrest of the Southern District of New York ruled to preliminarily enjoin enforcement of the controversial “indefinite detentions” provisions in the NDAA. More details from Glenn Greenwald at Salon …

Auf Deutsch hier …

During spring break we took Wally and Cleo on their first over night trip with us. We loaded  them on their trailer and hauled them 100 miles South, to a horse farm near Southern Pines. The weather was great – dry and sunny and in the 60s – so not too hot for some vigorous cantering on the forest trails in the Sandhills.

The only problem we encountered was our mare going into heat as soon as she got off the trailer. The area around Southern Pines is North Carolina’s horse country and there are many breeding stables around … with many breeding stallions. Cleo immediately picked up that scent and went a bit crazy. One morning, a nearby forest fire covered the area in smoke and during that time Cleo was fine because she could not smell anything. As soon as the smoke lifted, she got all excited again.

Wally, our gelding, was fine. He seemed to enjoy the exercise and the change in scenery. I know we definitely did. In the pasture next to our guys were three Tennessee Walker geldings and Cleo and Wally had some friendly “social” contact as well. And we got to talk shop with some other TWH owners – which was interesting, since most of our friends with horses ride quarter horses or other breeds.

Our rig worked our pretty well, too. I had to buy new tires for the trailer before the trip, though. I had my tire guys check them, because two of the tires were real old and showed signs of dry rot. Turns out the tires on the trailer were just regular 4-ply car tires with nowhere near the correct weight rating. So I bought nice D-rated trailer tires. You can’t be careful enough with a horse trailer. A blowout on the highway can be a real disaster.

I also learned to avoid towns as much as possible because stop-and-go with a 10,000 pound rig kills the fuel mileage. On the way back we stayed on the highways and used less fuel even though that route was 20 miles longer. I estimate that we got about 10 miles/Gallon with the loaded trailer. On homebrew biodiesel, of course.

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Happy Earth Day! Today I made biodiesel batch no. 82.* It is still in the processor right now.

Today was a rainy, cool day. It rained all day, and that’s great, because we really need the water. Yesterday I cleaned my two 250 Gal (1000 Liter) rainwater containers. One of them was already 1/3 full late this afternoon.

[Edit: *) that’s 82 batches since Aug. 2006]

“A well designed product does not require decorations”

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche gave us one of the most beautiful cars, and one of the most enduring automotive legacies – the Porsche 911.

He passed away today at the age of 76.

Spring is in full swing this morning. It’s warm and a bit breezy, and the forest is bursting back to life.

Noch ein paar Fruhlingsbilder hier …

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März ist Ausnahmezustand hier in NCAA Country – March Madness steckt alle hier an. Besonders hier in North Carolina, wo wir dieses Jahr 4 Basketball teams in der nationalen Hochschulmeisterschaft hatten. Vor ein paar Minuten hat es UNC  in das regionale Endspiel geschafft. Das heisst das Team ist eins von 8 Teams die noch von 68 Teams in diesem K.O. Turnier übrig sind. Die anderen North Carolina Teams waren Duke University (UNC’s Erzrivale) und UNC Asheville – beide sind in der ersten Runde ausgeschieden, und North Carolina State University die heute abend gegen einen der Top-favoriten des Turniers antreten (Kansas U).

Duke, UNC und NC State sind alle super College Basketball Teams und die sind alle hier in 20 KM Radius von einander. Das heisst sie sind auch grosse Rivalen. Insbesondere Duke und UNC, deren homecourts nur 15 Min Fahrtzeit von einander entfernt sind (Duke hier in Durham, UNC in Chapel Hill). Ich muss hier wohl erwähnen dass ich meinen Uni Abschluss bei UNC gemacht habe und jetzt bei Duke arbeite (Wie viele meiner Kollegen).

Drei Wochenende im März sind wir hier alle vom Basketballfieber ergriffen. Ja – naturlich ist es “nur” College Basketball – und nicht NBA – aber die Spiele sind spannend  und die NBA ist sowieso vom Kommerz dominiert. Und so viele Leute hier sind auf die eine oder andere Weise mit einer oder anderen Universität verbunden und habe damit ein Interesse wie ihr ihr Team bei dem Turnier abschneidet.

Und deshalb geht es hier rund, jedes Jahr im März – in NCAA Country.

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Today, Joachim Gauck was elected the 11th President of the Federal Republic of Germany. The non-partisan consensus candidate of the five mainstream parties (SPD, Green Party, CDU, CSU and FDP) was elected by a majority of 991 votes out of 1228 votes cast in the Federal Convention.

In the previous Federal Convention in 2010, Joachim Gauck (72) was the candidate of the center-left coalition of the Greens and the Social Democrats. In 2010, Gauck lost narrowly to Christian Wulff who became the 10th President of Germany. In February, Wulff resigned after only 2 years (out of a 5-year term) amidst allegations of corruption during his time as Prime Minister of the state of Lower Saxony.

With President Gauck and Chancellor Merkel, two of Germany’s top Government positions are now occupied by devout Lutherans who grew up in the East Germany and were active in the anti-communist opposition under the Communist regime there.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Herr Gauck!

Last week the starter on my truck died. I had had some problems starting the truck, but I blamed the old batteries. I installed new(er) batteries, and all seemed fine. Until last week. The starter was dead – not even a “click” – nothing. I was just lucky that we made it home. At the grocery store it almost did not start. Finally at home it was done.

When I added up the cost of towing the truck to a shop, plus a +$200 part plus an hour or so of labor, I became really interested in trying to fix it myself. Even if I could just save the towing and labor and replace it myself. After some research, I figured out that the Dodge RAM trucks come with a very nice Denso OEM starter. A new Denso starter is almost $400. And these starters are actually fairly easy to repair.

A YT video that explains how to get out that starter, got me started on this project. I got the starter out and replaced the  solenoid contacts and plunger. Now the solenoid engaged properly again, but the motor was still not moving. Only smoking. So I took the motor apart as well and god! what a mess!It was full of sticky, oily dirt and could just not move. I cleaned it carefully, but one of the ground wires had come off the brush plate (probably when I took it apart). I used a butt splice to temporarily reconnect it and put it all back together. When I connected the starter to my emergency battery I got the thing to turn. So I ordered a new brush plate from LarryB’s because the brushes were worn down almost all the way. Installing the brush plate was not trivial because the wires are massive, and you have to solder them on to the old contacts. And it was ACC tournament weekend. And I hate soldering. Finally, Laura helped me with the soldering and we got the brush plate installed. last night I put it all together and this morning, I installed the starter, and … it worked!!

See below the fold for more pics and details.

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Raffi Khatchadourian’s in-depth account of the BP DeepWater Horizon oil spill cleanup effort provides an interesting perspective on one of the largest responses ever mounted to a man-made environmental disaster. He uses many war analogies and the whole story has a bit of an “embedded reporter” feel to it. It’s a very sincere account of a reporter who clearly spent a lot of time with the responders at and on the Gulf of Mexico. There are many accounts of how the responders were caught between politics, public opinion and mother nature. Just like in a war.

Personally, I am very much inclined to lay the blame for this disaster squarely at BP’s feet. Their sloppy safety caused this. But based on Khatchadourian’s account, I understand now also that BP did make a good-faith effort at containing the spill and mitigating its effects. I also better understand the choices that were made regarding the use of dispersants. There is just no simple “good guy” – “bad guy” picture when it comes to the containment and cleanup effort.

It has become conventional wisdom that the BP-funded response to the spill was a chaotic and mismanaged affair, driven by corporate avarice, lacking in urgency, and at times willfully negligent of the problem’s scope—the idea being that any organization that had caused such a catastrophe, and that was so clearly unprepared for it, could not in good faith clean up the scene of the disaster. The evidence for this is much like the imagery of heavy oiling: vivid and convincing upon first consideration, but also fragmentary, anecdotal. At the peak of the cleanup effort, forty-seven thousand people were fighting the oil, a community equivalent in size to Annapolis, or the workforce of G.M.—as one federal scientist called it, “a company built in the middle of the night.” In just half a year, the response expended nearly sixty million man-hours, roughly nine times what it took to build the Empire State Building. After the well ruptured, BP accepted help from competing oil companies, and hired the world’s leading oil-pollution specialists to run key operations. The logistical demands on the effort, which spanned the entire Gulf coast—a region of varied geography and political culture—were immense. President Obama was not exaggerating when he announced in June, “This is the largest response to an environmental disaster of this kind in the history of our country.”

Read more in the New Yorker

I am taking welding lessons Wednesday nights at the local Community College, and so I spent three hours last night welding with a stick welder. At 2 AM, I woke up and I felt like my eyes had burning sand in them. That condition is called flash burn, or arc eye, and it is essentially a “sunburn” on your cornea from the intense UV radiation the welding arc emits. It was painful enough to keep me awake for hours. I took a bunch of Ibuprofen and had a couple of beers to ease the pain. Apparently, raw potato slices are one way to treat this condition, or at least to ease the symptoms. I found that ice cubes on my closed eyelids really ease the pain, too. So this weekend I’ll go to the welding supply store and get an auto-darkening welding helmet. That should take care of the problem.

DEUTSCH hier …

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Spring is here – and so is the Doughman! 9 days ago we had snow, but for the last few days the weather has been warm and spring-ish. And on Sunday I got my team registered for the Doughman race! So it’s definitely time for spring. Sunday I managed to guess correctly the restaurants involved in the 2012 Doughman race and showed up at the right time at the right place (Dain’s Place, of course) for the guerrilla registration process.

Well, OK … so I got the Cuban restaurant wrong, at first. But I figured it out, and I was early enough to run over to the Old Havana, get the required picture and make it before the registration window was done. I had to hustle , but I did it! So my team will be competing in the Doughman, again this year!