Hey all.
It was good talking to you last night, JP and H.

Just wondering what you guys think of the controversy around the cartoon depictions of Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper last fall.

Riots and calls for boycotts of Danish products have been in the news this week.

Wikipedia has an article about the whole thing here, including the cartoons in question.

It's a tension between freedom of speech and whether or not a Danish newspaper has to follow Islamic law, which bans depiction of anyone considered a prophet (including Mohammed, Jesus, etc.).

I personally come down on the 'freedom of speech' side. I don't want pictures of Jesus, or Mohammad, or anyone else, banned, because it's not allowed under some interpretations of Islamic law...
C

UPDATE: Here's a link to the Mohammed Image Archive. Its author notes that images of Mohammed have been created for hundreds of years - it's only recently that this has become controversial.

Here's a 'Support Denmark' page...
where you can show your support for freedom of speech and the press...

UPDATE2: Here's one cartoonist's take on the whole thing:

- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/31/2006 12:18:00 PM

 
I have another post below this one, in response to all of your posts, but I had to comment on this:

Eighteen months after the Chicago City Council torpedoed a South Side Wal-Mart, 24,500 Chicagoans applied for 325 jobs at a Wal-Mart opening Friday in south suburban Evergreen Park, one block outside the city limits.

The new Wal-Mart at 2500 W. 95th is one block west of Western Avenue, the city boundary.

Of 25,000 job applicants, all but 500 listed Chicago addresses, said John Bisio, regional manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart.

25,000 people applying for 325 jobs? That's only a 1.3% acceptance rate! Wow! That is nuts! Wal-Mart has a bad rap in some circles these days, but boy do people want to work there!
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/26/2006 05:14:00 PM

 
Well, I'm finally posting news - I guess I'm H's 'almost everyone!'

I've been running home from work 2 days a week now. That's 46 blocks north and about 6 1/2 avenues west. I run through Central Park, and it's nice that I can take so many different routes if I get bored. I could go all the way up Park Avenue to 96th and then go west, or across town to Times Square and then up Broadway. (Or anything in between!)
I'm still in the early 'run until you get tired, then walk for a little bit' phase, but I should be running all the way home soon.
I'm also eating a lot of the Raisin Bran / Cheerios for my meals, and all of it is starting to have a positive effect - I'm starting to slim down a bit.

JP - don't get burned out on the translation part of the job - try to mix it up as much as you can. In the EvE game, I'm trying to make money in the lawless, dangerous, parts of the game, and it is fun! Still learning though - I got blown up again last night (by NPCs) and last week was blown up and 'podded' by another player - complete death and had to activate a clone... But I knew the risks and therefore the cost was minimal. When you join up, I can get you some sweet ships, and a nice chunk of start-up money - it really makes the early days in the game easier if you have some cash in your account. A veteran player gave me a nice chunk of cash, and some ships, this week.

Dad - maybe you should talk to some of your old Navy colleagues. Most people mature with age, and maybe you could start a new friendship with someone you worked with 40 years ago....

Will post more, soon!

C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/26/2006 02:39:00 PM

 
good to hear news from everyone...almost everyone. I am at work right now as well, had a busy last couple of days. Flew to Indy Monday night. We sat in the terminal with the plane waiting for us at the gate for 30 minutes after the scheduled take-off time, due to, quote from guy at counter, "air traffic." aka philly airport not being organized. Once all 12 passengers got on the plane, it was a bigger one than necessary with approx. 100 seats so everyone got to spread out. it was noticably cold in the plane. sitting sitting sitting at the gate with no movement. Finally the captain came on and said that one of the engines wasn't starting through his prompts from inside the cockpit, but it's not a danger, they just need to have machines start the engine from the outside, which don't happen to be available at this moment. After a few minutes we hear a roar and the engines all start. we eventually start taxiing, but have to wait another 15 minutes on the tarmac in the "penalty box" as it is called, to let the engine heat up enough so we can fly. plus, only once the engines are heated up does the cabin get heat, so it would have gotten quite cold in there at 10,000 ft.

we got in 1 hour late to indy, so it wasn't so bad. still annoying though. luckily Liz, my coworker was there with sushi that she got for me at our favorite restaurant.
it's always something when flying.
the flight back the next night made up for it though: arrived in philly early, plus some exciting bumps going through the clouds during descent.

the week should quiet down a bit more now. no more trips till feb. 6th when we go back to Indy for our 8th session. And sushi!

C, how is the raisen bran working? Dad, how is your non-smoking doing? JP, I keep meaning to call you and suck for not doing so.

love to all,
H
- posted by H @ 1/25/2006 02:50:00 PM

 
Hello all,

Just got back from a little trip for work. Nothing major, just some families in the Baltimore/DC area. Drove down thursday morning, and back friday morning. Am racking up the rental car and hotel points. Some day I might be able to bathe in the lap of free room luxury...

Not much to report here, similar to dad's post. Gavin and I are working on several house things right now. Almost all of the wallpaper is off the bricks downstairs, BUT we will be redoing the kitchen and all that stuff is going to be thrown downstairs and the future "school" area is the only place to put all that stuff while the kitchen is being worked on. We will be getting new everything, really. New sink, fridge, we will put some new floor down on top of the ugly lenolium (we decided it will be too tedious to take the rotten stuff off, as attempts to do this has unveiled a very thick glue layer on the original wood floor that will be annoying to get rid of). New counter space, a dishwasher THAT WE GOT FOR FREE. that's the only way I would take one, dad, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in the "dishwasher" respect. I don't think they're necessary. but gavin's friend Bob was getting rid of the one that was in the house that he just bought. it's basically new: only a few months old. We were just going to get a few new cabinets for the annoying corner areas of the kitchen, and then use the ones we have, but newly painted. Gavin's dad said that it wouldn't look right and volunteered to buy us the cabinets for the kitchen so we wouldn't be "mixing" the old and the new. Gavin and I don't care either way, if we have new or old cabinets, but his dad seems to be bothered by old and new together. Gavin tried to get him to buy us something else with that money (like windows), and just leave the old cabinets be, but apparently that didn't go over so well. Now I am not relaying this info as hint to Dad to buy us something. or am I? hehe.just kidding. merely talking a little about what's going on.

Things will look really nice when they're done. Sort of like the complete transformation that occured in the bathroom (seriously, I wish i had taken pictures).

Am enjoying the warmish weather. Riding your bike around is nice when there is no frigid wind. Dad, and C, any thoughts on a family New York visit? just a thought.

love to all,
H
- posted by H @ 1/20/2006 04:08:00 PM

 
France is not messing around:

"France said on Thursday it would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state that carried out a terrorist attack against it..."

Wow. If you are responsible for a terrorist attack in France, France may nuke you. The fallout, literal and political, from this would be interesting to observe.

Hopefully, it doesn't come to that...

UPDATE:
I don't know anything about this blog, but I found it on technorati.com and the headline cracked me up: "France Reattaches Nads"
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/19/2006 10:36:00 AM

 
JP - (and Dad and H):
If you guys are looking for a cool online game that requires a bit more maturity than most online games, you should try out EvE, which I have been playing since early December. It's a space-based game, where you can explore over 5000 solar systems, fight other players one-on-one or in massive wars, or build and defend a trade empire.
MMORPG.com (MMORPG = Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) just announced the winners of its 2005 MMORPG Readers' Choice Awards.

There is stiff competition in the MMORPG world - World of Warcraft (a.k.a. WoW) has over 5 million subscribers, to EvE's 100,000 subscribers.

EvE won in the following categories:
Favorite Company - CCP, the company that created and runs EvE, is a small, independent Icelandic outfit, with great customer service. EvE won with 44% of the vote.
Best Graphics - EvE won with 51% of the vote, an absolute majority! Even though the game is almost 3 years old! Space is beautiful!
Best PvP (Player versus Player) - Eve won a run-off with 55% of the vote, in a category in which it was not originally nominated!
The PvP is fun because being killed has real consequences, unlike the other games. You lose your ship, all your equipment, the goods in your cargo hold... Plus, there's the potential of being attacked at any time (however, the game has many high security sectors, where the in-game police would instantly destroy your attacker).

And finally,

Best Game - EvE wins with 40% of the vote! The WoW players are upset - you can read their whining in the comments at MMORPG. But this victory is even sweeter when you consider that the player base for WoW is fifty times bigger than EvE's. But EvE is the best game!
As EvE players would say, "CCP 4tw!" Translated to: "CCP for the win!" (They usually say '4tw' to indicate what it was that finally turned things in their favor in a fight...)

Check out the game! You can play a free trial for 14 days, and if you like the game, you can convert this character into a paying account (it's $15/month).

P.S. H - I'll take a look at those materials this week!
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/18/2006 11:23:00 AM

 
Christoph: I hope you got the email I sent you a while ago with my Penn access code for the libraries, and that you have looked into at least one or two things. Please look at the Penn program for science and history: Ivy League baby!

Work isn't too busy right now, so I have been poking around looking for stuff that might interest you...here are some links:
Journal of Memetics
You might be able to find some good stuff in there and some researchers who are doing interesting stuff, whose trails you can follow back to potential programs of interest.
Here is link to some papers on memes.
History of Science society.

Remember, the time is now!

Dad, hope your non-smoking is going well.
JP, give me a call some time for a chat.
love to all,
H
- posted by H @ 1/13/2006 10:46:00 AM

 
I don't know if you guys have read this piece by Mark Steyn in the WSJ, but it really, truly is a must-read.
It's called It's the demography, stupid, subtitled The real reason the West is in danger of extinction.

Steyn starts off saying:

Most people reading this have strong stomachs, so let me lay it out as baldly as I can: Much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive this century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most Western European countries.

The simple explanation is:

When it comes to forecasting the future, the birthrate is the nearest thing to hard numbers. If only a million babies are born in 2006, it's hard to have two million adults enter the workforce in 2026. ...
There is no "population bomb." There never was. Birthrates are declining all over the world--eventually every couple on the planet may decide to opt for the Western yuppie model of one designer baby at the age of 39. But demographics is a game of last man standing. The groups that succumb to demographic apathy last will have a huge advantage.

The Muslim populations in Europe have a high birth-rate, and so will be in the majority in many European countries in our lifetimes. Of course, this isn't to say this is a bad thing. As Steyn continues:

What will Europe be like at the end of this process? Who knows? On the one hand, there's something to be said for the notion that America will find an Islamified Europe more straightforward to deal with than M. Chirac, Herr Schroeder & Co. On the other hand, given Europe's track record, getting there could be very bloody. But either way this is the real battlefield. The al Qaeda nutters can never find enough suicidal pilots to fly enough planes into enough skyscrapers to topple America. But unlike us, the Islamists think long-term, and, given their demographic advantage in Europe and the tone of the emerging Muslim lobby groups there, much of what they're flying planes into buildings for they're likely to wind up with just by waiting a few more years. The skyscrapers will be theirs; why knock 'em over?

I personally do think the Western world gives its citizens more liberty and prosperity than other cultures, and therefore is worth preserving, at least to some degree. The debate in some countries is not whether gay people should be allowed to marry each other, the debate is whether gay people should be (a) hung by a rope; or (b) thrown from the top of a building. James Lileks has an excellent reaction to Steyn's piece here, and I like these paragraphs the most:

I know, I know: I am a hopeless reactionary. I believe in judging a culture on the liberties and prosperity it affords to its people. I believe that the West is an anomaly in human history, and that it is a rare thing to have what we have: information without boundaries, freedom unimagined by those who have gone before, women’s equality instead of the black Hefty-trash-bag dress, respect for gays instead of death-by-stone-walls, and all the other remarkable accomplishments like space probes and plumbing and overnight delivery of Omaha Steaks (track the UPS code in your browser, if you wish.) But it didn’t just happen. As Felix Under said to Oscar Madison: you have to make gravy. It doesn’t just come.

So maybe the virtues outweigh the flaws. Maybe the enemies of Today, so fastened on the utopia of Tomorrow, ought to stop insisting that Yesterday is naught but a long black smear we must disown and disparage. But that would require them to understand what Yesterday was really like, and that sort of retrospection eludes many.

As they say, Read the Whole Thing!

And let me know what you think...

C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/11/2006 02:54:00 PM

 
ahh, C, always asking for precision (body dimensions of 'roommate' in JP's story) ...I love it. I am slowly getting back into the swing of things here. I had a fun bout of toilet worshiping yesterday, starting at work. all of a sudden my body no longer wished to retain any edible or potable substances and dispensed of them in both directions. went home at noon and slept. then I was on the phone most of the night talking to friends and family about the engagement, while watching American Psycho, which balanced everything well. otherwise things are better healthwise today, am feeling a little weak but everything is being retained in the proper way.

C, I think we should do a family weekend at Dad's sometime soon. or maybe we could all visit NYC, and go to MOMA and Hallo Berlin? I do have to give you your Costa Rica Imperial beer shirt... give it some thought. you can see the Imperial beer logo by clicking here
I think it's right up your alley. Same for you, JP. Once I opened the shirt packages I realized that I had gotten you both the same shirt, just different colors. JP's is red, C's is a grey-ish blue. Good colors for both.

All from me for now, am about to leave work.
love to all,
H
- posted by H @ 1/10/2006 04:39:00 PM

 
Dad - it's good to hear you are quitting smoking! As long as I can remember - I wanted you to do that. You quit once in the early 1980s - we were burning a small fire between the cement slab by the stream and the bridge, and you threw your filter in the fire, as a symbol of your quitting smoking. The next day, I poked through the ashes to find the little metal ring that was on the filter, as a symbol of your quitting. I don't remember if I ever found the little ring, but I do remember looking for it. I was about 10 years old.

I think your doctor said it best: "You have great genes, which got you this far, but the smoking will get to you eventually."

Like I said, I'm glad you are quitting!

JP - Is 225 lbs a lot, or a little? I have trouble gauging these things. When I look at everyone else I categorize them "shorter than me" or "taller than me". (taller than I, Dad, I know!) So a 6'0" person is about the same as a 5'6" person - shorter than me...
Same thing with weight.
Speaking of which - I've started my new plan, which is to mostly eat cereal at work (breakfast and lunch) to try to cut down on calories and get a lot of fiber (Raisin Bran!). Also, I started running home from work, which I plan on doing about twice a week. Last night, I ran about 1/3 of the way, walked the rest (alternating running and walking). But that will improve with time, I know...

JP - there is a solution to your salary puzzle, you know - Step 1: make yourself indispensable, and then Step 2: start making noises about your unhappiness with your pay. If you do it right, and you really achieved Step 1, they'll pay you more!

JP - Any chance you can tell us the website for your new job?

Word,
C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/10/2006 03:58:00 PM

 
Hey, all. I'm back from Texas - Dallas, in case I didn't mention where I was going.

I have a cold - when we landed on Thursday, my ears didn't pop from the plane ride, and that's when I realized it was more than the pressure changes. Same thing on the trip back. So I can't hear much out of my left ear, and can hear about 75% out of my right one.

A funny moment - we had a lay-over in Atlanta on the way back, and as the plane was landing, my phone started ringing. When I checked the voice-mail, it was Hannah saying she was landing in Charlotte (N.C.). So, I called her right back to tell her I had just landed in Atlanta. Kind of funny that we both landed in airports in the South at almost the same time, and didn't know it.

The Texas trip was good - we accomplished a lot and met the people with whom we will working on this matter. Dallas is OK, but Houston and Austin were much cooler when I was there in 1998. We rented a PT Cruiser, which was a lot of fun to drive! Plus, it had exactly 6 miles on it when we picked it up - new car smell! And it cost only $15 per day! That was probably a Bear rate though...

We stayed at the Crescent Court, which is very nice, and checked out the local scene. We had trouble finding a place that wasn't empty - most were. But many bars have bar shuffleboard - so we played that for hours!

We walked by the Book Depository and the Grassy Knoll, but it was at night and I don't have any pictures...

All-in-all a fun trip, and we may be back later this year!

Hope all of you are doing well!

C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/09/2006 12:00:00 PM

 
Dear family,

Greetings from Costa Rica! I just wanted to post a short update blog to let you all know that i continue to be safe, having fun in CR. Too much has been happening to really go into it now, while on a computer in an internet cafe in the beach town of Jaco (pron. Hako). Jaco is a major beach tourist town, being the closest to San Jose, attracting many San Jose Ticos (costa ricans are called Ticos), with a few gringos here and there. we are here for the surf though. it is my third day surfing and I have been having a lot of fun getting my balance and catching waves in to the beach. I am on a long board, which is 8'4''. shorter boards can be as short as 4'. longer ones are more balanced and give you a more relaxed ride, whereas shorter ones are faster and you have to work harder to stay on the wave. watching short boarders on waves can look like skateboarders zooming around in empty swimming pools.

the weather is awesome, 90 F everyday. Ticos are friendly and I am trying to soak up enough spanish to be able to kind of get by. we have been going down the coast, staying in random places.
will bring presents for all.
will be back in the US on Saturday, getting back to philly in the early evening.
I love you all,
H
- posted by H @ 1/03/2006 08:52:00 PM

 
Happy New Year, all!

Dad - could you rephrase your question a little? Are you trying to make an offline copy of this blog, which you could print? A good idea...
You can edit an individual post, but you should probably make a note that you edited it. Things disappear down the memory hole otherwise...

Steph is a girl I went out with a few times in the summer/fall of 2001. She's one of the New York (now L.A.) actress/bartender/gym instructor types. We've been pretty good friends since we met. Her boyfriend does exist, J.P. - I've seen him - but he seems to have moved to Chicago...

J.P. could you please USE PARAGRAPHS when you post? Friggin hard to read your stuff, otherwise.

Things are quiet here, except I may be going to Texas for work later this week... Bout time I travelled for work, like JP and H have been.

Had a quiet New Year - hope you all are doing well!
C

UPDATE - Dad, you can edit individual posts, as I am doing now.
JP - Don't forget to include the http:// in your links - your original link to the WGA website was busted because without the http:// tag, the link was to valtam.blogspot.com/www.wga.org, which doesn't work.
I fixed it, btw...
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/03/2006 05:23:00 PM