The history of the twentieth century is largely stories of one failed experiment with socialism after another. Why would we want to repeat the experience in this century?
Month: May 2020
Aufhören
I was reading German on the Web. I encountered this paragraph: Wladimir Klitschko ist ein sehr bekannter Boxer. Er ist viele Jahre Welt-Meister gewesen. Jetzt hat er gesagt: Ich höre auf. Klitschko ist 41 Jahre alt. I wanted to make sure that I understood the meaning of “aufhören.” I found an article that provided this…
Wenn die Sonne der Kultur niedrig steht
“Wenn die Sonne der Kultur niedrig steht, werfen selbst Zwergeeinen langen Schatten.” — Karl Kraus Roughly: “When the sun hangs low in the sky, even dwarves cast long shadows.” An Austrian, Kraus criticized the political culture of the 1920s and 1930s.
Ich will diese Tag mit dir leben.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who called upon other clergy tooppose Germany’s National Socialist government. During the last daysof 1944, he wrote a poem that was later set to music. Translated into many languages, it has become a popular hymn around the world. Bonhoeffer was in prison when he wrote his poem. “By the…
Blumenkranz (Flower Wreath)
A colleague gave me a small book of poems. Here is what I found on the first pages of that book. I have copied first the German and then mytranslation into English. Blumenkranz: gewunden unter dem Kreuze unseres Herrn ein poetischer Versuch von P. Ilgen 1887 Gedruckt bei Lauer u. Yoft, 265-275 Woodland Ave. Cleveland,…
Wir alle wollen benötigt sein
Wir alle wollen benötigt sein. Edgar ist ein Kurzfilm, nur 12 Minuten lang. Edgar ist ein alter Mann. Ein Witwer, lebt er allein. Er ist im Ruhestand. Er arbeite nicht mehr. Mit ohne Termine und ohne Chef, er scheint gut zu essen and eine schöne Wohnung haben. Man muss dass Leben ist bequem denken. Aber,…
Run so that you may win your prize
“Wißt ihr nicht, daß die, die in der Kampfbahn laufen, die laufenalle, aber einer empfängt den Siegespreis? Lauft so, daß ihr ihnerlangt.” (Do you not know that everyone who runs in a race runs to win theprize? Run so that you may win your prize.) —Saint Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 9, Verse…
Das Nachdenken und die Selbstachtung
I found a German movie in our library this week and watched it last night. “Marx und Coca-Cola” tells the story of a romance in the year after Germany’s reunification. A real-estate developer from the west is eager to find opportunities in the newly opened east. The young woman he encounters in the east is…
01: What is special about C?
Evolution of programming languages first high level language was FORTRAN in 1954-1956 FORTRAN = “FORmula TRANslation”, created at IBM procedural languages (1960s) — FORTRAN, BASIC, COBOL, PL/I arithmetic and logical expressions, variables, assignment statements statements that define loops (repeated actions) statements that allow decisions (conditionally executed actions) short variable names (2 characters in early version…
00: Getting started, how to succeed
How to succeed Always write for 2 audiences! people clients, customers teammates team leader, supervisor, project manager colleagues working on documentation, quality assurance, marketing, training your future self the computer First, do nothing well! Work in small steps. Check yourself at every stage. Get a working example from someone else, then type it yourself—learn through…