Spreewald Canoe

It’s so great and it’s so easy. It’s the perfect getaway for a sunday and the right mix between relaxation and activity: going around in Spreewald’s little natural canals in a canoe. Here’s how you do it.

Take the train from Berlin Alexanderplatz, Hauptbahnhof or Ostbahnhof to Lübbenau. From the trainstation in Lübbenau it’s a 15 min walk to the next boat rental. I can recommend Bootsverleih Hannemann. They will give you a canoe for two, paddles and a map and explain the way you can go in three or four hours. And off you are! In the middle of the greatest nature, in less than 1,5h hours from Berlin. I was truly amazed that it is so easy.

Here’s a map of Lübbenau.

And all of sudden you’re here.
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No ones’s around.
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Just many, many midges, bring spray!
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Imagine to live here! The canal is the only way to your house.
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I wonder what’s inside these strawy hills.
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Rest and have a drink.
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There are watergates around you have to manage yourself.
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I was proud I understood how it works (it’s not difficult, anyway)
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Kochshow III – Spargelsalat mit gegrilltem Lachs

Kochen mit Musik, Folge 03 Lachs mit Spargelsalat

Dieses Mal geht es etwas zackiger zu. Ein schnelles, temperamentvolles, aber dennoch raffiniertes Sommergericht. Wir machen einen Spargelsalat aus grünem und weißem Spargel, mit Champions und Avodaco, mit einem Limetten-Sesamöldressing, dazu einen Lachs aus dem Ofen, gegrillt in einer aufregenden asiatischen Soße aus Chili, Frühlingszwiebeln, Sojasauce, Sesamöl, Limetten und Koriander. Viel Spaß!

Die Musik ist “Mais Um” von Souleance

Testing Traktor for iPad

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Finally, Native Instruments released an app for the ipad called “Traktor DJ“. Since Traktor is the widest used DJ software and the ipad has so much to offer to manipulate music with its interface the expectations were extremely high. And they didn’t fail. The price of 18 EUR is ok for what you get and after reading the first reviews and I instantly had to download and try it.

I spent a nice long ride on the train with figuring out the thing and produce a little mix. The app runs smoothly and is very intuitive, it comes with effects like looping, delays, flangers and filters or freezes. The freeze function is certainly the most innovative. While in a loop, you can touch certain parts of the loop and play it, like single drums or sounds. While playing, mixing or skipping, it never gets out of synch, and combined with a soundcard you can send different sound signals to master and prelistening. So this is actually a serious alternative for a gig in a bar, maybe not in a club.

So here it is, enjoy 30 minutes of bass music with Benga, Kryptic Minds, Redrum and Fused Forces.

The mixes can be recorded directly within the app. I was a bit annoyed at first because I could not find a way to export it. But with a little help from the NI support I found the way. This is how you export and save a recording from the Traktor app for iPad:

“In order to export your recorded mix you need to sync (connect) your iPad to a desktop computer, then open iTunes and click on the iPad tab. Select the “APPS” tab and then scroll down to the section “File Sharing”. You will see TraktorDJ in the file sharing apps list. click on it, it will show you the recorded files which you can save now with the “SAVE TO” button to a location on your harddrive.”

Here is the official promotion video with Richie Hawtin preparing a set in the taxi:

How to prepare a tortilla

Here is a tutorial with many pictures about how to prepare a typical spanish tortilla. I did this for an interesting market and innovation research for Phillips who wanted to find out how people in Europe eat and cook in their everyday life. A very well done project, thanks to Funky Projects for inviting me! I learned the recipe from my flatmate Juan, here is another video with him showing how to prepare a delicious pasta. Unfortunately German users are not allowed to see it because of the music in it 🙁

The slideshow describes the steps: Ingredients potatoe, onions, garlic, spices, olive oil. Cut the potatoes in cubes, the onions and the garlic and heat up oil well in a pan. Frie potatoes, onions and garlic at hot temperature for about 7 minutes. Meanwhile stir the eggs with salt and peppar, about 2 eggs per person. Put the eggmass to the potatoes and turn down the temperature immediately to the lowest level. Cover the mass and let it cook for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile you can prepare a simple tomatoe salad with basil, oil, vinegar, honey, salt and peppar and cut ham and salsicha as side dishes. Uncover the pan and make sure the egg mass has become solid. Now be brave! Cover the pan with a big plate and turn around fast. Put the tortilla which is almost done back in the pan for another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it slow down for another minute. The tortilla is now ready to be served and can be cut like a cake. Eat with salad, cheese, ham and bread. Beer goes along well also.

Iphone wordpress app test

Just a test of the iPhone wordpress app – still iphone word recommendation is really a pain but that’s not the (the=thw- wtf?!) fault of the app..

Took a picture but I guess it means work to adjust it nicely to the design. We’ll see..

Next task: Disable this autocorrect thing.

Party on top of Berlin

Week End Berlin roofI talked about the club Week-end Berlin here already several times, especially this post has gained some attention. Now, after opening another room in the 15th floor of the same skyscraper, they did their masterpiece by turning the roof of one Berlin’s highest buildings into a club area. You have an amazing view over the city from there and it’s a perfect place to watch the sunset and listen to some housy beats.

So be sure to come early, not only for the sunset but for not paying 10€ after 22h. And bring a jacket or a sweater. Although it might be warm down in the streets, in the 17th floor there is quite some wind going on. Here are some pictures I took, after the break.
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Rave for a better world

Pic by Magsen from the G8 Flickr PoolShame on me: Da hatte ich schon vor mehr als einer Woche Konzerte an der Ostsee im Rahmen des G8Protests (Protest, ich weiß nicht, irgendwie scheue ich mich dieses Wort zu benutzen, wie wärs mit: Alternative?) angekündigt. Und keiner hat’s gemerkt, dass das ja viel zu früh war. Anyway. Das Treffen beginnt erst in diesen Tagen am Mittwoch und vorgestern gab es Krawall in Rostock.

Keiner weiß genau, was passiert ist, Staatsgewalt und Opposition schieben sich die Schuld zu, es ist hässlich. Und auch ich muss mir wohl eingestehen, dass meine Hoffnung, es gäbe lediglich ein buntes Festivaltreiben um den vermaledeiten Zaun, zumindest vorerst gescheitert ist. Man kann nur hoffen, dass Leute wie die Hedonistische Internationale mit friedlichem Weltverbesserung-Rave (Donnerstag, am Strand) das Bild des Protests von schwarz-vermummt wieder auf bunt schalten.
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Advanced Second Life building strategies

SL building movieYes, building stuff in Second Life can be a complex issue.

“To make this, I used PDFs from our architects as a base to trace all the walls on 11 layers in an Adobe Illustrator file, then exported each floor as an XML-based Scalable Vector Graphics file, each of which I ran through a PHP script to extract the object info and convert it to something I could paste in a notecard. Then I made 11 objects (the little cubes in front of me in the video) that scoot themselves off to a predetermined location, spew out prims based on the notecards, and send them to their appropriate positions. The next step, is to rez this on the ground, terraform, and then texture-bake every single prim…”
Watch Kisa Naumova model her working place in Second Life with a perfect fitting Daft Punk soundtrack.