An Exercise in Avoiding Boredom

Dirk Riehle’s ramblings on life, the universe, and everything

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Entries from March 2008

Don’t Buy a Cheap Kettle

March 30th, 2008 · No Comments

This morning, I discovered rust marks inside a Copco kettle that I had bought less than 6 months ago. I had thought this was a quality brand, but obviously I had been fooled. Yikes!

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Tags: Living in America · Not so funny

Shopping at Draeger’s: $40, Having the Choice: Priceless

March 30th, 2008 · No Comments

I think I haven’t complained about the cost of living in Northern California for a while, so it is about time to do it again. Look at the photo below and make a guess how much these everyday shopping items cost me.

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Tags: Food · Living in America · Not so funny · Something funny

Wo3 Jiao3 Dirk Desu!

March 28th, 2008 · No Comments

What do you get when you are taking Chinese lessons during the day and watch (subtitled) Japanese television at night?
Yesterday, I heard myself think: wo3 jiao3 Dirk desu! (Basically, a dripping double whopper of “my name is Dirk”, combining Chinese and Japanese.)
Ouch! I wished Chinese television was more interesting so I could switch from Japanese [...]

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Tags: Learning Chinese · Something funny · The Japanese

Three Days Awake in Berlin

March 24th, 2008 · No Comments

From the YouTube “lost and found” department, a video from Berlin. I’ll spare you the lyrics—you can probably imagine what they are…

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Tags: Something funny · Straight from Germany

Self Defense By Axe

March 23rd, 2008 · No Comments

According to dannychoo.com, the picture below teaches Japanese school girls how to self-defend using an axe. Ah, Japan, might as well be on a different planet. Certainly not a politically correct one.

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Tags: Something funny · The Japanese

Fail Blog

March 21st, 2008 · No Comments

Maybe it is already too late for a clear thought, but this is the most hysterically funny collection of photos I have seen in a while. It is the Fail Blog.

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Tags: Something funny

Privacy? Get Over It

March 21st, 2008 · No Comments

Today, Markus Völter interviewed me for his Software Engineering Radio podcast show. Thus, a couple of months from now my name will be tied to some piece of audio on the internet. Already today, when you use Google’s image search, you can find a picture of me. With audio search some time in the [...]

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Tags: Living in America · Not so funny · Technology

A Perfect California Sunday…

March 9th, 2008 · No Comments

Today was a perfect California Sunday, the first of many to come this year, I presume: Warm and sunny, shorts and sandals, and plenty of fruits and nuts running around.

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Tags: Living in America · Something funny

What’s a Transistor?

March 9th, 2008 · No Comments

According to NPR this morning, a transistor is a priest who wears women’s clothes.

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Tags: Living in America · Something funny · Technology

The Onion Has Done It Again—I’m ROTFL

March 4th, 2008 · No Comments

The Onion: Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 08 Election

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Tags: Living in America · Something funny