TS - The World

Today's inventions of the day are the written letters and nummbers... despite meant in a rather disadvantageous way. Yes, they organize our everyday-life and led to so much progress, BUT: they cause us to write term papers and you to read this stuff here :D

So, just a random message from me today.

Sleep well and stay in touch... whoever reads this... HI! Me... ooh, I'm talking to myself... see, you're still reading and probably thinking "Ooooooooookaaaaaay, whatever" ;)

My watch band was kind of torn apart today. Now I need to replace it, but until I do so (probably next week) I have to put my watch into one of my pockets. How annoying! Always having to search your watch in your pocket and then taking it out. Valuable seconds that are lost in your life in the process!!! Can you believe it?

Well, so this is my invention of the day. Whoever came up with this idea definitely deserves some praise. You can always carry your watch on your arm without having to put it somewhere and then having to search for it again. Just raise your arm shortly and there you have it: the time. And since I'm so forgetful I can just take another look if I forget the time after one second. Usually I forget the time again which is why I can take just another look at the time.

But maybe it would be better if I didn't have a watchband since I would then take a more careful look at my watch when I want to know the time since I wouldn't want to take my watch out of my pocket once more. Oh well... It's still more comfortable.

What? Examination Regulations? Have you gone totally nuts and not just nuts anymore? Why should it be a cool invention? You know, if there actually are ex. reg. (just abbreviate it) then they can be helpful. They might not be to everybody's liking but at least they can help you structure your studies... IF there weren't some stupid teachers/ lecturers who think they are something better.

At our institute for Applied Anglo-American Studies we have such a nice person. You try to tell him that there are regulations and that a certificate for the course has to have a certain layout he comes right back at you stating he doesn't want his seminar to just be a number and that an oral exam is not enough for you. An additional essay would be just fine: you're a lazy student, you're bored anyway, right? What he doesn't understand is that there are ex. reg. YES, THEY EXIST, even at our university, not just in some West German cities like Heidelberg or Münster. And if you don't know what's in there or how to calculate our results you should have a look at them.

But even with idiots like him you still have your ex. reg. Because in case anything goes wrong you can just take it and show that the overly nice teacher must be bored and that you don't need to prove more than you already have to, which is usually A LOT.

Last year we were forced to use Mac(intosh)s at university to create PowerPoint Presentations... so we would "learn" how to use PPT and to make people believe that we just progressed in media competence. First, it was a waste of time because I didn't really learn anything useful (yes, transitions are nice but time suckers and unnecessary) and second, most of those who used it for the first time haven't really used it since because there are other methodological methods to bringing a message across. My PPTs also mostly consist of Text, some pictures and maybe a nice pre-programmed background. But nobody cared to tell us anything about citing picture sources in that seminar. Oh well.

I delivered a "nice" presentation about the Boston Red Sox (at least we could choose our topic) while wearing my Red Sox jersey. However, I created the presentation at home, mainly for two reasons: The darn computers didn't seem to have a proper and working save function and there was NO RIGHT MOUSE CLICK on those Macs... What the hell? Yes, you could kind of force the pop-up menu by pressing the Apple key or something but hey: this process requires another arm!! Just for a simple pop-up menu? No, thanks.

Micro$oft has messed up things for the last couple of years but when Bill Gates really was still in charge there were great innovations, one being this beloved right mouse click (at least I think it comes from these folks). Work just goes so much quicker especially if you copy a lot of stuff from the Internet: just click the right mouse button, then save link as and voilà, another window (usually) pops up asking where you want to save the file. Or click right, copy an image and paste it somewhere else again. It's just a few clicks away. SOOOOOO nice.

So, there you have it: our often-used but way to little-appreciated right mouse klick.

Leave a comment if you (dis)agree or have similar stories ;)

Remember the old times on a typewriter? Once you typed something the ink rested on the paper and there was no way of erasing it, except, of course, crumbling the paper and throwing it away. There were not only a few people who made mistakes on the last line on a page and had to re-type EVERYTHING!! Was I glad when my mom got our first electronic typewriter with a display where you could check every line before it was typed. Now you received a second chance to edit something before it became final. Sure, I still made mistakes and also still make mistakes on computers but at least I have the chance to edit everything before the ink touches a pixel of the page.

Therefore, this is my invention of the day, week, month? Whatever. Any mistakes you made virtually can be corrected and nobody is ever going to see them and you don't waste bazillions of $,€,£ or else on paper and every tree thanks you for that... if they actually could... but maybe they can. But that's not the issue today.

But I can't imagine what I would do without my nice backspace key on my keyboard here. I don't want to know how many mistakes I make every line. Four to six? More? It's also very amazing to me how such things can be programmed to work in the correct way: a computer has absolutely no problems erasing something only to overwrite it again.

Yet, this is not the only area where a backspace or rewind comes in handy. You didn't understand a part of a song or you need to rewind it so your children or students can understand it better? No problem! The solution is only one key or button away. I really don't know what we would do if we didn't have these options.

"I think we all wish we could erase some dark times in our lives. But all of life's experiences, bad and good, make you who you are. Erasing any of life's experiences would be a great mistake." - Luis Miguel

But what if some people don't like who they are or what they have done? Sometimes I, too, wished there was a rewind or backspace button with which you could right at least some of your wrongs. But this will never happen. Yes, Christians would say "But Jesus will right your wrongs if you believe in him". 1st: this only applies to the faithful only and 2nd, the errors or even right things will always stand there - unfazed. Even if you did something right you can not try to go a different way that might have been righter or maybe even the wrong one at that time but better or more exciting in the long run. If you missed the fun at one time in your life and realize it later: guess what! There's no way to change it. Yes, life might be more interesting this way and you have to take your chances when they arrive but anybody show me one person who never wished to correct something in his or her life. I doubt there is anybody who never wished to correct at least one part about his or her life. I would have tons to correct or other ways to at least try out. And if it doesn't work: Just click reload to go back to an earlier save game and leave your life the way it is and you might even realize the real beauty of non-perfection.

Hola, Hello and Willkommen!

So, this is going to be my second attempt to write a blog. What will this one be about?

Wrestling? NAH, I'm over that stuff. It became much too boring to watch. More of the same every week. I don't need that!

It's going to be about what is on my mind: politics, games, funny words or other stuff, sports (e.g. tennis or baseball) and a special section about what I think are the best inventions no one really thinks about.

Have a nice one and enjoy yourself. If you find any spelling, punctuation or grammar mistakes, please let me know. This blog is about me: I want to improve my English by writing more about it