Home → Archives → by month → September 2004
One for the day
Click to enlarge
COMPANY: Unknown
Industry: Unknown
Location: Wilhelmstal
Photo taken: September 2004
Current status: Unchanged
Permanent link :: 
Tell a friend :: 
Add to del.icio.us
Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Bye bye, Kilian
Und niemand wollte ihn: Berufssohn und Muster-BWLer Kilian Sauerwald, der so lieb auf meine kleine Anfrage geantwortet hatte, hat in der Herdecker Kommunalwahl dem CDU-Ortsverband satte 8,5% Verlust beschert, während die SPD mit -0,3% stabil und deutlich stärkste Kraft bleibt.
Und man kam noch recht gut weg: Bonn CDU -13,0%, Köln CDU -12,5%, Essen CDU -10,0%, Dortmund CDU -9,0% - kaum eine Stadt oder ein Kreis mit weniger als 6% Verlust, nicht ein einziger Zugewinn für den Streitverein, der bar jeglichem politischem Konzept oder gar gesellschaftlicher Vision schnurstracks zurück in die K-Frage steuert und seinen erbärmlichen Zustand vor der Wähler offenbar sogar trotz medialer Fast-Nichtbeachtung nicht länger verbergen kann.
Nicht, daß man draus lernen würde: man feiert die flächendeckenden Erdrutschverluste lieber als Meilenstein auf dem Weg zum Regierungswechsel in Düsseldorf und übersieht geflissentlich, daß die katastrophalen Verluste, die der SPD vorhergesagt wurden, erneut ausblieben. Womit ich dem Gewinn meiner Wette, das Gerhard Schröder drei Wahlperioden lang Regierungschef sein wird, wieder einen Schritt näher gekommen bin.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Abstieg
Fährt man auf der Suche nach Spuren des Industriezeitalters von Dortmund-Marten über Dortmund-Rahm nach Dortmund-Eving ist das wie Slumtourismus. In Teilen Bochums, Essens, Gelsenkirchens, Duisburgs sieht es nicht anders aus. Wie SBZ ohne Westmilliarden.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
One for the day
Jesus, color photography! - Right. Although I am currently focusing on b/w, something color gives you this extra touch, like in this one:
Click to enlarge
FACILITY: Gas distribution and regulation
Plant: Coke oven battery 4, Hansa coke plant
Location: Dortmund, Germany
Photo taken: September 2004
Current status: unchanged
Note: This is a ca. 1955/58 extension of the plant's core that has been built 1926-1930. Closed down in 1992.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Music TV
Trivia blogging: Why don't put music TV makers the name of the current track and its artist on teletext and/or the web? Having to wait for the three seconds of text overlay is so 1995. Can't link to "buy this song as DRM music or ringtone" either.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Two for the day
Visiting Dortmund-Eving, a worker's quarter in the north of Dortmund, Germany:
COMPANY: Metalhüttenwerke Bruch Ur-Metall
Industry: Aluminum and stannous recycling smelter
Photo taken: September 2004 on Canon G1
Current status: unchanged
COMPANY: Vereinigte Drahtseilwerke GmbH
Industry: Steel wire rope making
Photo taken: March 2004 on Canon S40
Current status: Unchanged
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Back
In the week absent from blogging, I've
- learned a lot about the causes and consequences of mediocrity in middle managament,
- understood far better which kinds of clients and companies I want to work for and which not and
- have become available for new projects again.
Meanwhile,
Back to our regular progamming.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
On assignment
Click to enlarge
On assignment in the catacombs of an iron ore breaking and sifting plant. The one with the hat really needs a shave, doesn't he? Photo: Björn Hühn (left). Stay tuned.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Keine Einflussnahme
Kilian Sauerwald hat auf meine kleine Anfrage geantwortet:
"Mit Ihrer Vermutung hinsichtlich der Verwandschaftsverhältnisse liegen Sie richtig, es handelt sich um meine Eltern, was ebenfalls bei bekannt werden meiner Kandidatur in der Presse stand. Ihre Befürchtung, dass (sic!) 'erscheinende Bild' lasse sich mit meinem Anliegen, dem Filz in Herdecke den Kampf anzusagen nicht vereinbaren kann ich jedoch nicht nachvollziehen. Es bestehen wesentliche Unterschiede darin, ob sich verschiedene Mitglieder bzw. Generationen einer Familie ehrenamtlich für das Gemeinwohl einsetzen - wie auch bei der FDP, den Grünen und der SPD - oder ob in einem Rathaus parteipolitisches Kalkül über die Bürgerinteressen gestellt wird. Letzteres halte ich für Filz und werde diesem entgegenwirken."
Den eigenen Vater als stellvertretenden Fraktionsvorsitzenden der eigenen und dann vermutlich stärksten Partei im Rat der Stadt, der man selbst vorsteht, zu haben, ist da doch ein guter Anfang.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
One for the day
Click preview to enlarge
FACILITY: Gas pipelines
Location: Phoenix blast furnaces works
Company: Hoesch Stahl AG, Dortmund, Germany
Industry: Steelmaking
Photo taken: February 2004
Current status: unchanged
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Rest assured
"Please rest assured that registration and use of the trademark 'HEBIG' by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals will not in any way preclude you from using 'Hebig' as your family name."
Ann Mack, General Counsel, Legal Department of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, in a reply to the other Heiko's question if the company "would still allow us to use our family name in a non-medical context".
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Unearthed
On the net, nothing gets lost. Three links I came across before, wanted to quicklink or bookmark, lost track of and now found again - independently from each other scattered across various sites:
- Fotonotes lets you embed comment metadata on user-defined rectangular areas of a photos into a JPEG file. You can find this tool built into flickr and demos of the flickr-version on this blog.
- Qumana is a "social software company" that wants to build a blogging/microcontent tool with a drag and drop interface. As I consider unresponsive user interfaces a major obstacle in web publishing and am playing around with ideas on drag'n'drop myself, this blog be something to watch. Related: Blogging With AquaMinds NoteTaker.
- Destroypop dTree is a JavaScript tree menu library that comes with quite a useful API (We don't like tree menus, do we? Someday we might need them anyway, so then we should at least use a library that works well.)
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
So what's this site about?
Lukasz Grabun of dwarf's corner puts it better than I could when saying on his blogroll:
"Random thoughts about life, blogging and technology seasoned with breath-taking photos of monstreous abandoned industrial areas."
Thanks Lukasz :-)
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
One for the day
Click preview to enlarge
FACILITY: Power plant
Location: Westfalenhütte mill
Company: Hoesch Stahl AG, Dortmund, Germany
Industry: Steelmaking
Photo taken: February 2004
Current status: unchanged
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Kleine Anfrage
Muster-BWLer Kilian Sauerwald, 31, ist Bürgermeisterkandidat der CDU in meinem Heimatort. Geschickt über die Fotoseite im Wahlprospekt verteilt finden sich aber noch zwei weitere Sauerwalds. Was die wohl miteinander zu tun haben? Eine kleine Anfrage:
Liebe Mitglieder des Herdecker CDU-Ortsverbandes,
mit Interesse las ich heute die September-Ausgabe des "Herdecker Durchblick", insbesondere die Kandidatenliste auf der vierten Seite. Leider besteht nicht zu allen dort abgebildeten Personen die Möglichkeit, ergänzende Informationen über Ämter und Werdegänge auf Ihrer Website abzufragen. So listet das Verzeichnis der Mitglieder in Gremien und Vorständen zwar Ludger und Monika Sauerwald auf, ähnliche biographische Informationen zu Kilian Sauerwald vermisse ich aber (oder warum werden sie in einer PDF-Datei versteckt?). Insbesondere vermisse ich einen klaren und deutlichen Hinweis auf etwaige Verwandschaftsverhältnisse zwischen Ludger, Monika und Kilian Sauerwald. Vermutet man, daß Kilian der gemeinsame Sohn von Ludger und Monika ist, stellt sich die Frage, wie sich das so erscheinende Bild mit der versprochenen Perspektive "weniger Filz" vereinbaren lässt.
Auf eine Antwort freut sich
Haiko Hebig
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Clean
This morning marks one year without smoking. One year ago, I spontaneously made the switch from 50 to zero pieces per day. When has it been most difficult? During the seventh week, at one specific party this spring and - to a much lesser extend - last Tuesday. Taking it to the limits before made the switch much easier than expected. As a heavy smoker, your own daily schedule gets dictated by the drug. Becoming the master of that schedule again is a most enjoyable act of self liberation.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Corporate Architecture
"Was zeigen die Zentralen der Dax-30-Konzerne? Kluge, gewitzte Baukunst oder eher langweiliges, einfältiges Design? manager-magazin.de präsentiert alle 30 Vorstandsresidenzen im Überblick; der Hamburger Stararchitekt Hadi Teherani kommentiert die Fotoauswahl."
Teherani: "Leider wird der Unterschied zwischen einem Stück Bauwerk und einem Stück Architektur von Banken und Investoren selten genug gewürdigt. [...] BMW ist die absolute Ausnahmeerscheinung. Seit Mitte der 70er Jahre arbeitet man dort an einer Philosophie des Unternehmens vom Briefkopf bis zur Architektur. Die Erfolge gehören zu den architektonischen Meilensteinen Deutschlands."
Manager Magazin: DAX30-Architektur >
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Oh so many
A longer while ago I mused into what direction my online photo collection should grow. I have been under the impression that faceted classification plus a nifty facet map visualization engine plus a nifty geo- and mapping engine could solve my problem. Tests in XFML, XUL, Graphviz and other mechanism produced some interesting results but also seeded doubts if a system of the envisioned magnitude is feasible at all. Then, on-the-fly categorization systems, called tagging, surfaced in collaborative too,s like del.ici.ous and flickr. As they seem to work astonishingly well, its time to figure out what of them could make it into my own system.
Addings tags to content items (photos, press excertps, web links) and providing defined metadata queries for structured access to the collection is what one would do both with a simple tagging system and with XFML (what else is it than tagging using a controlled vocabulary?). Given that building a tag query system is way easier than building a XFML query engine (of which none really exists in open source world so far), software complexity could be reduced significantly. Then again, a RDF-based system would be the real thing. Future compatible, and ready for a nifty XUL interface - see Dan Brickley's RDF for self-describing images, An Indexing and Querying System for Online Images and related papers.
Comes in SVG, the holy grail of open source fetish. Unfortunately, I am under the impression that SVG can be really useful for building interactive maps from a XML datasource, but who has an SVG plugin anyway? Automagically building graphs for facet/topic based navigation with Graphviz is interesting, too. Oh so many are the opportunities - until I see land, enjoy the occasional manual addition of a hand build collection of hand edited photos to my collection and to the One for the day section of this blog. If you don't know what XFML is, stay tuned. I've prepared a longer intro article on it before, which for some reason didn't find it into the blog so far, but will so now.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Stealing an election
If you want to make sure your government can push through its agenda, you need a few companies you can trust. So we have Haliburton and its military leg Kellogg Brown and Root for our wargames, and Diebold for our re-election:
"By entering a 2-digit code in a hidden location [into a Diebold electronic voting machine to be used throughout the nation], a second set of votes is created. This set of votes can be changed, so that it no longer matches the correct votes. The voting system will then read the totals from the bogus vote set. It takes only seconds to change the votes, and to date not a single location in the U.S. has implemented security measures to fully mitigate the risks."
Dan Gillmor: Stealing an election >
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
The Wikipedia is beautiful
Tim Bray on the recent Wikipedia controversy:
"Maybe the Wikipedia is a short-lived fad, maybe it’ll get better, maybe it’ll get worse, but I was surprised that nobody pointed this out: The Wikipedia is beautiful. It’s an unexpected and unexplainable triumph of collective creativity and of order over entropy. I hope it lasts a long time, and those who criticize it Just Don’t Get It."
The Wikipedia is beautiful >
In a related note: It keeps astonishing me how many people who don't live on the internet know Wikipedia. While most still ask "so what's a blog?" when coming across the term, many immediately conclude "so that's like your personal Wikipedia?" when I tell them that I keep myself organized using a wiki.
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Two for the day
This is a preview of a larger photo series on this company to come:
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
FACILITY: Mechanical workshops (lathing and milling shops)
Company: VSG Vereinigte Schmiedewerke
Location: Henrichshütte Hattingen, Germany
Industry: Free form forging
Photos taken: October 2003
Current status: Company closed down, machinery auctioned off and dismantled, buildings emptied out and ready for demolition
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Tune of the day
Not exactly revolutionary, but with a nice Rock'n'Roll piano: Leave - Starters Point
Permanent link :: Tell a friend :: Add to del.icio.us
