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World’s Greatest Smile

News / Blog
Archiv 2010

 

12/28/2010, Tuesday, 02:12, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Ok, even if Christmas is already done... Joy, you can still come ...
The world might be ready for you now... Worth a try...?
(... bit grinchy ... maybe more Christmas spirit for me next year ... but I liked the decoration...)

 

12/22/2010,Wednesday,00:54, Meike, Enger,North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

Went for a long walk to think some things through...

... -10°C (even colder if you consider the wind chill) ...
... got some fog...
... and one of the good things about snow is that it stops you before you fall - because of the fog - into the moats on both sides of the way ...
And it even makes the effort if you already got wet feet because the snow crept into your boots and melts down your ankles.

Besides snow I like hot showers, hot tea and hot water bottles...

 

12/19/2010, Sunday, 01:39, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Did I mention before that I like snow...?

 

12/14/2010, Tuesday, 00:07, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

If you usually complain about the snow...

... Try some ice rain. Maybe you like that better.

This is not wet, it’s a solid ice “coat”, felt like a bumpy armour.

 

12/07/2010, Tuesday, 02:23, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Lana, 1997 - 2010
One of the few wise beings who judge others on what they purely are.

 

11/26/2010, Friday, 20:19, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

First snow

Today we got the first snow of the season! I love snow! It makes the world a bit brighter, quieter and softer – and I like all of that... Lana is excited, too.

 

11/21/2010, Sunday, 02:18, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Drive carefully...

...because here play stick-figures and a huge snail...

... which can even convert into a cat...

 

11/10/2010,Wednesday,00:59, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.”
Albert Camus

 

10/31/2010, Sunday, 23:32, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Weather, yes, we had some..., Part IV...             Happy Halloween!

Had some fog today again...
Here are some pictures I took this evening on our walk-the-dog. The air didn’t feel really breathable, but Andreas had some fun playing in the fog.
I didn’t work on the pictures except scaling them down.

 

10/28/2010, Thursday, 11:12, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

I didn’t introduce you to my little local happy place so far?

Sheep and goats seem to live together very peacefully... I like to watch them interact. And to hear everyone has it’s own very unique “baa” is very nice, too!

(I took these pictures some time ago - but it’s still my local happy place.)

 

10/20/2010, Wednesday,11:12, Meike, Enger,North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

20 ways to answer the question “Did I crash into that truck...?!”

Today I met a very fortunate lady.
I have been first-aider today after finding an elderly woman stuck in a chunk of metal and glass formerly known as her car. She managed somehow to get it ‘under’ a truck and did it so effectively that only her head, shoulders and hands were visible.
Even if there was blood coming out of her mouth the few things I could do was to keep her calm and to stop her trying to get out because there was no chance for her getting out and I didn’t want her to get hurt even more. Oh and to answer the question “Did I crash into that truck...?!” every few moments. I tried to put as much comfort in my answers as possible... “Yes, and luckily you did it with the right side of your car.” The passenger’s side was squeezed even flatter than her side...
There were 12 cars stopping and people getting out to watch, lots of people coming out of their houses to take pictures (!) and two men and me trying to help... Just for the statistics...

 

10/16/2010, Saturday, 01:54, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Geese
I wonder what they have seen and think about the world watching us down here. Probably they have a good overview from above.

 

10/08/2010, Friday, 22:53, Meike, Enger,North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

 

Nobel Peace Prize 2010

Today the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 was awarded to Liu Xiaobo for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

Read more here:
"The Nobel Peace Prize 2010". Nobelprize.org. 8 Oct  2010

 

10/06/2010,Wednesday, Meike, Enger,North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

20:39
Update - Rabies, oh really...?!

After one of our dear Canadian friends (Thank you, Barb!) contacted us last night and asked if Andreas was checked for rabies we did some quick research on the Internet and learned that there was just a little time frame for an anti-rabies inoculation after an incident had happened. And rabies can be passed on even by bloodless scratches.
And since Andreas had bloody scratches on one arm, the other hand and both legs we called the local hospital to ask what they would suggest to do. And they told us to come around immediately - at 3:30 am!
So we spent the rest of the night in the emergency room where he got the first two of six anti-rabies inoculations...
We can almost already laugh about it now. Everything is fine. And if you want some fluffy pictures for the back of your head now, too - here we go:
www.cuteoverload.com

 

00:54
I hereby declare Andreas my hero of the day

We have been on our walk the dog this evening when I heard some fast movement towards us in the far distance. And before I finished the sentence “There is something coming!” the something turned out to be an extremely aggressive dog being all over Lana biting her. She was on leash and yipping in panic. And she wouldn’t fight back anyway... So Andreas grabbed her and uphold her high.
Since there was no owner in sight and the dog was continuously aggressively jumping up on them trying to bite I really got scared.

We were both yelling as loud as we could and told him to go away - but he continued his massive attacks. So we communicated very quickly that we have to get out of there and tumbled along the street - even crossed another street. The dog still trying to bite. At some point Andreas started to attack the dog (as carefully as possible not to seriously hurt him) but intense enough to make him stop biting.

So we had a pretty clear task sharing. Andreas holding up Lana, fighting the dog, and continuously trying to put himself between the dog and me. And me searching for a protected place where I could direct us to (but there was not even a fence) to hide, scare away the dog by yelling as much as I could, and announcing loudly to Andreas where the dog would probably bite next. It was horrible. At some point Lana gave up all body tension what made Andreas think she might be in some trouble.

Even if we were still yelling loudly and it went on for several minutes and we slowly covered quite some distance and passed several houses no one showed up on a window to offer help. There was light in all houses and people must have heard us because we were so loud. There was a cyclist coming our direction and I had the hope that we could use the bike as a shield, but he as soon as he saw what was happening he drove away.
I didn’t directly call for help because I didn’t want to be responsible for someone coming out and get hurt. But there was obviously a dog attack going on and people were involved and it was going on for several minutes and passed several houses. So I would have expected someone calling from a window if we need help or someone open a door to give us a possibility to get something between us and the dog.

After quite a while Andreas managed to fight the dog away, even if he followed us and started two more attacks. I was very shocked when I saw Lana just hanging in Andreas’ arms without moving. When he put her on the ground, we checked her out and she seemed to be fine and in a more or less good mood. I couldn’t believe it. Andreas and I were both intensely out of breath and shaken up, but Lana was all right. I couldn’t stop checking for blood on her but she was fine. Andreas must have hold her very high. And surprisingly we seemed to be unhurt as well.

After we arrived back at the house we checked her again and she was fortunately still ok. We didn’t even thought about checking ourselves. But when Andreas sat down and rolled up his sleeves I spotted some blood everywhere on his arm. When he washed away the blood it turned out to be just lots of scratches. He is a lucky guy!

Even if this incident had a happy end I’m still shocked. I had planed to walk Lana alone because Andreas had hurt his leg before and last minute he decided to join us. If I would have been alone and the dog would have attacked me as intensely as he did it with Andreas I’m pretty much sure that I would have fallen down. And I guess that would have been really uncomfortable.

It was a residential area at half past 7pm. Two people in obvious distress and about to get hurt - and nobody even cared. That really scares me!

I am seriously impressed by Andreas who managed to protect Lana from getting hurt, fighting the dog back, and continuously managed to put his body between the dog and me! I am seriously impressed!

 

10/01/2010, Friday, 01:32, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Ok, summer is done, let’s work on autumn...

 

09/20/2010, Monday, 03:17, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Looked down - found a face
Part VI

Bonuses this time are antennas and even a tail...

 

09/10/2010, Friday, 22:31, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Sludgy equivalent of crop circles

probably one of the messages’ feathered communicative authors

 

09/04/2010, Saturday, 16:51, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Sometimes it seems that sheep are wiser than humans...

 

08/26/2010, Thursday, 16:39, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

New art exhibition opening

Our new exhibit “Genius lasts longer than beauty” is opening today... a portrait series this time...

“Miyuky” by Andreas Lietzow

 

08/22/2010, Tuesday, 02:44, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

No ocean though...

Went to a nightly beach handball tournament. Was nice - no ocean though...

 

08/15/2010, Sunday, 04:04, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The “whatever-this-is” of the day...

Andreas bravely kept still so I could take pictures... Lana was impressed, too.

 

08/13/2010, Friday, 00:27, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

This can’t be the first sign of autumn...?! Can’t be, can’t be.

 

08/09/2010, Monday, 03:14, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Met a new gracious little friend...

Doesn’t it have ravishing eyes...!

 

08/03/2010, Tuesday, 16:40, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

“World Heritage Committee inscribes a total of 21 new sites on UNESCO World Heritage List

The 34th session of the World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia since 25 July today finished its consideration of nominations for the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger.” UNESCO
Read full article.

 

08/01/2010, Sunday, 23:18, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Lots of rain these days...

Even the horses ask for rubber boots...!

 

07/29/2010, Thursday, 19:01, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

My newest art exhibit is opening tomorrow!

And for the first time it’s an exhibition showing some of my favourite photographs! Yay!

All gains of this exhibit will be given to the WGS again!

 

07/28/2010,Wednesday,22:21, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

“General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right

28 July 2010 - Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared today, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million  people worldwide do not have access to clean water.” UN News Centre
Read full article.

 

07/24/2010, Saturday, 02:56, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

I am so proud - and happy - and exhausted - lots of hopping during the last days!

Balls seemed to be the most boring things on earth for Lana...!
Whatever we did with them she was just not interested. And I really wanted to play ball with her because I thought it would be fun and an important extra exercise to keep her healthy and happy. So I read a lot again and watched some dozens educational videos showing how-to-make-your-dog-fetch.
And some methods even seemed to work for the video-dogs but made this particular one give paws, roll on her back, lick my hands, or just look as cute as possible.

So I had to work my own method out. And now - after less than a week of practice - she can:

  • sit by my side (I don’t want to risk hitting her with the ball) while I throw the ball - pure excitement on both sides
  • run like crazy to get it - almost flying
  • bring it back to the thrilled hopping and arms swaying me - I guess the kids staying at our fence are getting jealous
  • jump up and down - looook-what-I-brought-for-you!
  • and give the ball back right into my hand - including a bounteous portion of saliva

And she can even distinguish between her playing ball and Andreas’ juggling balls which she isn’t allowed to touch. This is so much fun for both of us! And she gets some extra exercise and excitement - and maybe I learn to throw a ball sooner or later further or at least more in a direction I want!

...And after playing she still likes to sleep happily on my feet...
...Well, actually she likes to sleep there all the time and both of my feet seem to be very comfortable to sleep on. I should try it myself...
...Didn’t use a flashlight not to wake her up...
I’ll try to take a fetch-a-ball-picture during the next days!

 

07/17/2010, Saturday, 03:04, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Weather? Yes, we had some...! Part IV

Ok, new recipe of the week: Take some dust-dry fields and dirt roads which had over 35°C for several days now and then throw in a suddenly but powerful upcoming thunder storm.
Then just add us in the middle of it - on one of our walk-the-dog...
And what you get is a tremendously delighted Lana...!

...some minutes before the thunderstorm started...

Here is my personal final rating:

  • Starting rain and hail: ok - as long as the hailstones are in a reasonable size compared to my head
  • Furiously blowing storm: visually great! Just the kinesthetic left a lot to desire... The fun stopped a bit when I got some (it felt like a shovelful of) sand in my mouth, eyes and ears and the trees over us started to crack - what is not a very satisfying combination!
    We started to run pretty fast at that point for quite some distance what made Lana even more thrilled! (We do a lot to make her happy... train her, cuddle her, educate her, entertain her, brush her, sandblast her...)
  • Sand twisters over the fields: beautiful to watch! (at that point I didn’t want to take the camera out of the bag any more, cause I needed my hands to cover my head from whatever was falling on it)

Summary: visually definitely recommended, auditory impressing, just the kinesthetic presentation might need to brush up a bit... But at least Lana gave full marks...!

 

07/07/2010,Wednesday,17:28, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

How I spend my nights... Have you ever wondered why I sometimes post in the middle of the night?

Worked late last night to finish the answers for an interview a magazine asked me to give about mental skills ... wanted to take a short break and logged into SL ... ran into an online lecture of a New York university about our international peace project World's Greatest Smile in front of teachers from New York ... was politely asked to say a few words ... gave an impromptu 20 minute talk (by then it was half past two in the morning here) ... had to run then to finish my interview ... and then worked for quite a while on this website...
Well, yes, it was fun indeed – and sleep is overrated anyway!

 

07/03/2010, Saturday, 04:42, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Dog days of summer

Lana with her “It’s toooo warm inside... would you please go for a walk with me... oh wait, it’s warm outside, too... so would you please take an extra big bottle of water for me along? ... and then comfort me for the rest of the day?... please?” - look...:
Yes, I brush her daily...
She amazingly produces two handful fur each and every day! Pretty busy hair deliverer! And it isn’t just seasonal work - she does it all year round! Well, now we know what the Beatles meant with “It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog...”!

 

06/30/2010, Tuesday, 23:41, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Our new art exhibit is opening tomorrow:
Hairy Icosahedrons...?! Oh, come on...!

All gains of this exhibit will be given to the WGS again!

 

06/22/2010, Tuesday, 02:34, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

New Communication tips!

It’s been a while... but since US-President Obama seemed to use my communication tip from 10/09/2007 and won the election...

I added three new useful Communication tips for you!

Enjoy!

Just don’t interrupt...

Thank you
or
Just for the statistics: Would it really hurt that much...?!

 

What do you want to teach your opponent’s children?

06/15/2010,Wednesday,00:42, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

Triangle + bird + triangle + sphere + bird = ? Any theories out there?

 

06/11/2010, Friday, 01:52, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Looked down - found a face
Part V

I wonder what a bodyless - or even headless - cute tiny cheery giraffe does here... Probably searching for some kind of perfection...

 

06/08/2010, Tuesday, 23:09, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The 2010 Global Peace Index rankings are published

The Global Peace Index is an attempt to measure and rank the relative position of nations’ and regions’ peacefulness. This year 149 nations of the world have been ranked.

Read more about the methodology, and the ranking and more on Wikipedia: Global Peace Index

 

06/04/2010, Friday, 22:17, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Hooope!
Scientists find 'hint of life' on Saturn's moon Titan

Scientists have found evidence that there may be some form of life on Saturn's biggest moon Titan.
They have discovered clues that  might show that microscopic aliens are breathing in Titan's atmosphere  and feeding on fuel at the surface.

dailymail.co.uk
Read full article in the
Daily Mail Online

“Come for Dinner” - by Meike Duch

 

05/30/2010, Sunday, 21:43, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

State of the World's Human Rights:
The Amnesty International Report 2010 is published.

Amnesty International's 2010 report documents abuses in 159 countries and shows how powerful governments are blocking advances in  international justice by standing above the law on human rights, shielding allies from criticism and acting only when politically convenient.Amnesty International

You can get your copy of the Annual Report in several languages!
Amnesty International Report 2010

 

05/29/2010, Saturday, 23:02, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

There is beauty everywhere..., Part V

True colours...

 

05/28/2010, Friday, 22:08, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

You really have to work very hard to fail that bad!

What a great chance! You get lots of kids of different religions in one place and can teach them for years how to live together in tolerance, understanding and peace... to make a useful contribution to a peaceful future for them and all of us.

And what do Berlin schools do with this precious opportunity?

“A Muslim high school student will no longer be allowed to pray on school property, following a ruling by the higher administrative court of Berlin. The judgement is the latest step on a legal odyssey that began when the 16-year-old was asked to stop praying in the school hallways in 2007. He was the first student in Germany to demand the right to  conduct his prayers at school.”
Read full article:
Spiegel Online International

The Berlin court says prayers could “disturb school peace”...
Is that the lesson they want your children to learn? Do they have any history books at that school? Not only that they missed this wonderful opportunity to work so easily on a better future - they even turned it around and made the kids learn one of the worst possible lesson from it. Big fail!

 

05/27/2010, Thursday, 23:49, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Quality of Living survey
This year’s global Mercer's Quality of Living survey was just published.

“European cities dominate the top 10 ranking for Quality of living, with Canada, New Zealand and Australia also featuring.
Vienna scores highest for overall quality of living, Baghdad the lowest.
Calgary is the world's top in our Eco-city ranking, followed by Honolulu, with Ottawa and Helsinki in joint 3rd place.”
Mercer's Quality of Living survey

Here is the ranking:
Worldwide top 50 cities: Quality of living ranking
Worldwide top 50 cities: Eco-city ranking

 

05/26/2010, Wednesday,23:18, Meike, Enger,North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

Did I miss something?

After big parts of Great Britain disappeared from Google Maps yesterday I found - after we returned from our swim-with-the-dog - that Canada seemed to grow for some reason today, especially Alberta and Manitoba.

Apart from that that I deeply love Google Maps, the street view in particular!(Drag the little yellow man onto the map. (Ok, yes, that sounds mean, but I’m sure he likes it because he is still smiling.))

 

05/25/2010, Tuesday, 02:11, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

A dragon who spits rainwater instead of fire in the neighbourhood... very nice - and thoughtful!

I wonder what it does in winter, vomiting ice? I guess snow lies heavy on its metal stomach. Maybe some added raspberry syrup would help... anyway it would look beautiful!

 

05/21/2010, Friday, 23:12, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Looked down - found a face
Part IV

Oh and yes, the face’s ear points to a tiny pale upside down reddish (broken?) heart.
Wonder what the story behind that is...

 

05/16/2010, Sunday, 04:08, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Bedtime story

The other night Lana managed to sneak into our sleeping room when I was wandering around the house.
So when I came back I found Andreas and her both being sound asleep - he inside the bed, she in front of his bed. And his blanket crossways over both of them. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen...
Since Andreas doesn’t remember anything about it and Lana didn’t tell how she got half of his blanket I don’t know if she took it or he unconsciously put it over her while sleeping.

Because Andreas was coiling up trying to fit under half of his blanket and still seemed to freeze I put his blanket back over him. And cause Lana looked so cute and was still sleeping (maybe she just pretended to be - but that’s ok) I allowed her to stay as an exception.

I didn’t take a picture at night not to wake someone up
- but this is Lana on her bed in our office...

 

05/10/2010, Monday, 01:43, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Spring has sprung - cuter

I know that it’s a bit hard to see on the picture - but I liked how lovingly this ewe let her ewe lamb try his wings... Very sweet!

 

05/04/2010, Tuesday, 18:20, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Blowing bubbly bubbles in Bielefeld

 

04/30/2010, Friday, 00:59, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Europe, where are you heading to?
I am worried!

Just some months ago Switzerland banned minarets (read article from 11/30/2009) and now Belgium would ban women from wearing the full Islamic face veil in public...?!

“Wearing the burqa in public is not compatible with an open, liberal, tolerant society,”€ Belgian parliamentarian Daniel Bacquelaine has said. So what is it that indicates that open, liberal, tolerant society?

Belgium MPs said that the full face veil was a symbol of the oppression of women. To “save” them they face a fine of 15-25 € or a seven-day jail sentence now - or are trapped in their homes! You cannot be in earnest!
And what about those women who decided to wear the burqa on their own and who are oppressed not to do so any more by Belgian lawmakers?

Exceptions will be made for festivals like carnival.
Carnival...?! Are you serious...?!

Wouldn’t it be much more logic to make a law against anyone compelling women to wear - or not wear - special piece of clothing. Just to start with...

And where is the public outcry...?!
What is coming next? Europe, I am worried about you!

 

04/29/2010, Thursday, 03:52, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Better views now

Andreas got his new glasses now, looks good - in both directions!

In the optician shop where we bought his glasses they had a coffee socket outlet - very handy. And yes, the display says it has to get cleaned - now. Probably nobody has seen it... And maybe a coffee socket outlet is not the cleanest source anyway...

 

04/25/2010, Sunday, 02:46, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Had a beautiful sunset...

 

04/22/2010, Thursday, 04:49, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Shopula rasa...

We decided to have a shopping tour in the next bigger city. Went there, and found... nobody. Literally.
Shops were empty, streets were empty. Did we miss another mysterious holiday again somehow? Did everybody go to Ireland because their hats are greener? Did they miss us for an alien invitation? Oh no!

After a while we found out that all shops are closed for a good reason: It was Wednesday afternoon and shops are closed on Wednesdays afternoons. Sure. How could we not know that?! I guess Monday mornings are great!

vibrant downtown of Spenge

 

04/19/2010, Monday, 04:24, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Almost more than you want to know
Yes, probably you think something like:
And who would do that?!

But I did it and so you get a new
know-more-about-the-world-tip! Do I hear a “Yay”?

Open Wikipedia, then ... is there a verb-form for Wikipedia like “to google”? ... anyway, search in Wikipedia the location you want to know better. And then click on the given coordinates (in most cases on the right side in the box below the maps). And ... ta-dah... you'll be led to a website giving you aaaall kind of information about your location!

Here is Tokyo for example... Starting with lots of maps (street maps, satellite maps, terrain maps, bird’s eye maps...), lots of photo resources and even more other information. Weather, time zones, nearby airports, sunrise and sunset times, even things like nearest gateway for amateur  radio VoIP network and nearby prehistoric sites...!

And you don’t have to stick a long needle through your globes any more! By clicking on the little arrow on the map you get all the information about the antipodes as well! If you click several times on the arrows you get to the page called “The Antipodes of The Antipodes of The Antipodes of The Antipodes of Tokyo...”...
Yes, I know... “And who would do that...?!” Come on, you know me...

 

04/16/2010, Friday, 00:08, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Spring has sprung... more...
like... higher... further... and much more toe loop

 

04/11/2010, Sunday, 21:27, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Wrestling, men and a tiger with tentacles
(so - which pictures do you have in mind now?)

And the good news from Lana’s and my daily train-and-entertain-walk today are: While she makes amazing progress in shapeshifting into an advanced squirrel (see 03/22/2010) I can shapeshift into a tiger!
Today I successfully pushed away a male
Bernese Mountain Dog which had about the same weight I have. He had obviously an immense overdoses of hormones and started to become pretty much uncomfortable for Lana. Not to mention the poodle which was trying to be in the middle of everything which was kind of friendly but made it quite a challenge to keep the balance.
After both dog owners unsuccessfully tried to get their dogs back they stood aside and watched the scene from a save distance, probably talking about the fact that they are not the top dog in their packs. So I shapeshifted into a tiger - well, probably it was more a sort of alien with lots of tentacles, some to keep the balance and some to push the Bernese Mountain Dog - and let him know how to behave in the presence of a lady! Definitely no gentlemen, neither the dogs not their owners.

The positive after all is: Hey, I can successfully wrestle a really, really huge dog! Good to know that for sure! Nobody tries to treat my dog without having her best in his mind without intensely getting to know the serious part of me!

 

04/09/2010, Friday, 03:06, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Spring has sprung... new adventures to discover

 

04/05/2010, Monday, 16:33, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

DoS and DoM - and how to offer sacrifices to the mighty mud

Yesterday we attended a pretty strange rite obviously celebrated by two different groups of cultists more or less peacefully together: the Devotees of Smoke (short: DoS) and the Devotees of Mud (short: DoM).

The DoS had a very simple procedure of rendering homage of whatsoever: basically staying around, some were drinking mind obnubilating liquids (which doesn’t seem to go well with fire) and trying to breath what most of them managed to do. And some of them were holding a canopy over their heads - probably designed to protect against converting to become a DoM. Most of them were wearing black.

The DoM seem to have a more demanding and challenging way to celebrate their ... um ... mud.
Lots of sacrifices were made! The most common sacrificial offering were little rubber container brought to the mud by carrying them on the feet, sticking them into the mud and letting the mud devour it. The act of sacrificial offering went mostly along with screaming and hopping around on one foot (mostly the one with a left rubber container) while the mud took possession of the second rubber.
Usually it wasn’t easy for a DoM to made it’s sacrifice because most of the time a DoS overcame it’s fear of the mighty mud and reclaimed the rubber sacrifice. I guess the mighty mud eventually appreciated the try.

Other sacrificial offering were smaller of bigger sets of cloths - and sometimes even whole bodies were given to the mud. The DoM seem to be really believing with all their hearts!

Sometimes believes turn to become kind of weird after a while of somewhat random development... At least in this case two groups of different believes could manage to celebrate together mostly peacefully.

 

04/01/2010, Thursday, 20:43, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Weather? Yes, we had some...! Part III

Went for our daily entertain-the-dog-walk today. And as the special of the day we had an excursion in a sandblasting unit - consisting of the local nature protection area in impressing hailstorms.
Andreas and I were both covering our heads with our arms and it still hurt - and Lana loved it again. I think the “worse” the weather is the more she likes it... And I’m glad that I was wearing my brand new walk-on-water boots so I had just a little bit of mud in my socks!

After the first hailstorm...

Recovering from the first hailstorm and hailing the next one...

And here it comes...

 

03/29/2010, Monday, 18:31, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

If you bring them a carrot they give you 20% off... Sounds fair!

 

03/26/2010, Friday, 03:16, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Death penalty in Hesse, Germany

According to the Hesse Constitution, Article 21, the death penalty may be imposed for particularly grave crimes.
Although the pertinent passage it is no longer in effect - due to the abolishment of the death penalty at the level of the
Federal constitution - it is still there.

Isn’t it time to delete the death penalty from as many constitutions as possible, even if it is like in this case a symbolic step...?!

 

03/24/2010,Wednesday,01:37, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Yay, and a new exhibit opening again today!
And as always we are pretty excited...!

 

03/22/2010, Monday, 17:03, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Shape shifting into a squirrel

Some days ago we found out that Lana couldn’t climb on trees for some reason. Not even on those which were fallen on the ground. And she seemed to be a bit upset that she had to walk two extra meters while we were able to climb over logs.

So we practised a bit with her and now she suddenly shape shifted into an - also cute - squirrel.

She is very proud and happy about her new skills and climbs on each tree log she can find - always with that “Oh, look what I can do!” look on her smiling face.

 

First I always wanted to secure her a bit (cause she seemed to want to climb higher than she was able to do and it was kind of slippery after all the rain) but she got really talented ...
... so she wanted to hop up and down till she was exhausted and we decided to crawl into exciting caves for the rest of the day... Fun as well...

 

03/19/2010, Friday, 21:42, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

R2-D2’s cousins had a tough time

found them in the neighbourhood

 

03/17/2010,Wednesday,21:31, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Sport news...
Yes, here, really... Even two... And both are -lympic...

1. News about one of our Very-Important-Participants in the World’s Greatest Smile Day we thought you should know

“German doctors say a hereditary anomaly was responsible for the abnormal blood levels that led to multiple Olympic speedskating medallist  Claudia Pechstein being suspended for doping.”
Source:
Yahoo Canada News
 

2. Back to the roots -  or  - In which direction (and how) will humankind move?

I have studied pedagogic for physically handicapped, mentally challenged and deaf children. So of course I was and still am interested in the Paralympics. I hoped I would maybe see one of those children compete there one day...

“The Paralympics started after World War II as a showcase for British war veterans with spinal injuries. The Netherlands joined four years later. The first Olympic-scale version was held in 1960 in Rome.”
“During the 2006 Turin Games, two of the 60-plus athletes vying for the  U.S. were military veterans. In the current Games, 10 per cent of the U.S. athletes have a military background. By 2012, the number is  expected to grow to 15 per cent.”
Source:
Toronto Star

We will have to learn to see the Paralympics Medal Count from another point of view...

 

03/15/2010, Monday, 15:59, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Hi...!

Yesterday we had the second largest number of blog readers of this blog of all times!

I don’t know where you all come from linkwise or googlewise - our current art exhibit, Pi - Day, Albert Einstein’s birthday, something completely different happened? Anyway... Hi!

I’malmostgettingabitshyhere... Nahnotreally... Yeswellabitmaybe... Justkidding... Okyesreallyatinybit... But... hey... I’m sure it’s fun to get used to all the attention...!

And as long as Lana still looks at me as if I would be nothing more or less than her personal puppy hero...! That’s worth quite some effort! And it helps to stay focussed on the important things of being as well!

 

03/13/2010, Saturday, 20:40, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Haaa! We were placed on rank 3 out of 635!

To put it mildly we were excited by the number of visitors our new art exhibit already had. And not to put it mildly: There were hundreds within two days! Literally hundreds within two days! Hundreds...! And we even got encouraging mails from VIPs!

And now we found out one reason for the huge number of visitors:
The “Showcase” put us on rank 3 of 635 of all categories!
And rank 1 in the category “Art”!
That is sooo coool!

They wrote our exhibit “... Showcases new artwork by Yeti Bing [aka me] and Yoa Ogee [aka Andreas], who aren't ashamed to flaunt their Surrealist and Dadaist influences through colorful sculpture, painting, and other artwork.”

We are working intensely on our new website showing our artwork!
Stay tuned!

Ha! Rank 3! We are very happy these days!

“The Key” by Meike Duch

 

03/12/2010, Friday, 21:22, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Cyber Censorship

Today is World Day Against Cyber Censorship!

“Reporters Without Borders celebrates World Day Against Cyber Censorship on 12 March. This event is intended to rally everyone in support of a  single Internet that is unrestricted and accessible to all. It is also  meant to draw attention to the fact that, by creating new spaces for exchanging ideas and information, the Internet is a force for freedom.  However, more and more governments have realised this and are reacting  by trying to control the Internet.” Reporters Without Borders
Read more...

 

03/11/2010, Thursday, 17:17, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Been busy before...

 

03/07/2010, Sunday, 04:06, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Weather? Yes, we had some...! Part II

Almost as if it tried to cover the aftermath of the last storm it started to snow again...

And today (oh ’yesterday’ since it is already after midnight again) we almost got lost in a view blocking snow storm... It was awesome!
Lana loved it...
Andreas loved it with one ear more than with the other...
Well, and I bought some new winter boots in the hope of more snow now!

 

03/04/2010, Thursday, 04:17, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Weather? Yes, we had some...!

In some rooms it sounded exactly like it does in a plane - pretty cool! Apart from all the damage - I really liked it...!

Oh and someone generously and spontaneously decided to flood this meadow for great dog entertainment! (Or something like that.) Isn’t that nice?

 

02/18/2010, Thursday, 21:43, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Looked down - found a face
Part III

Yes, there! The head of the giant-flat-cold squirrel!
(You always wanted a picture of a giant-flat-cold squirrel somewhere in the back of your head, right?)

And this is even a friendly smiling one...

 

02/06/2010, Saturday, 19:40, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

TV in Canada, Iceland and Germany -
I gave up watching TV in Germany! Really, I did!

Watching TV in Germany is a very odd experience. Especially synchronized films are very “funny” - even if they are not supposed to be cheerful. Somehow all synchronised films appear like a sitcom to me. I watched a few minutes of “North and South” which I found curiously channel-hopping. I had to laugh so hard that even Orry Main and George Hazard looked a bit confused. And even I considered it as inappropriate and hoped on.

The advantage of German TV are the lots and lots of documentary films which I really like. But on the other hand if you have the luck to catch some of the original tone and hear some words in a language you understand you will find out that very often the translation into German has not much in common with what the person originally said. So if I watch a documentation I want to know what the expert has to say and not what the German editor or translator thinks about what would fit better.
And there are much better educational videos in the internet!

One of the other disadvantages of German TV is the visual and auditive mixing of the end titles of films with advertising of the next programme. For people like me who dive into films if I really watch them that is like buying cookies in a cesspit. The film is maybe great just the aftertaste is is kind of, um, unpleasant.

our TV in Ottawa
I don’t know why I took this picture, maybe because I take pictures of almost everything? Could be.

Another big difference between Canadian/US-, Icelandic- and German TV are the commercials. On Canadian/US-TV there are many very short commercial breaks - too short to go to the washroom or grab a snack if you are not very well organized.
Icelandic TV had extremely few commercial breaks, often none at all and it is pretty much usual to show 30 minutes of music before the next film started - well, at least the music was good and sometimes a good alternative to Christmas films end of February. But I have to state that they show really a lot of very good films on Iceland’s TV - even in English with Icelandic subtitles!

On German TV there are less commercial breaks than on Canadian/US-TV but they are looonger! You can easily prepare a meal - or paint your living room - while waiting for your program to continue. And you have even more time because sometimes they show you the last couple of scenes a second time just for the case you forgot everything during the ages of commercials. And it appears to me that the responsible persons of German commercials assume their audience has “a slightly lower” - ok, let’s face it: much lower (!) - intelligence than everyone else. Moreover that applies to most entertainment shows, too.

So, if you want to watch educational shows: Canadian/US-TV (there are so many, just pick a good one),
prefer at least one nice film per day without caring too much about deciding which one: Iceland-TV (I can’t say anything about the quality of the program in Icelandic),
need a couple of minutes for your bathroom breaks and don’t care about correctness of your knowledge: German TV

After all I’m very, very glad to have the internet!


From our link-tips:
Worlds Wide Internet TeleVision:
thousands of TV channels from all over the world:
www.wwitv.com

 

01/28/2010, Thursday, 23:31, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The Pi, an eye and an elephant

We had a new art exhibit opening yesterday. And a pink elephant is quite a challenge to handle on an art exhibition, not to mention the number of Pi...

 

01/25/2010, Monday, 00:35, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

We wish you all a

Happy 6th

World’s Greatest Smile - Day!

May the next year be more peaceful and save!

We dedicate this year’s World’s Greatest Smile-Day
to our dear and best friend Rudy
who died on the first World’s Greatest Smile-Day five years ago.

He was and is an inspiration for us and everybody who knew him.
We still love and miss him so much!

Rudy juggling three balls at an age of 80

 

01/20/2010, Wednesday, 21:44, Meike, Enger,North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

8 seconds...?!
“Yyyes, I did it!” ... “Are you kidding me...?!” ... “Eeeight seconds...?!”

Ok, sometimes I can be a bit competitive - in the best way and for the best reasons of course.
And so I really did want to sell the first picture of our current exhibition! Thus I was almost exclaiming in delight when I sold my first one pretty soon - hopping, swirling arms, the whole program, you know me...

And then - still being overjoyed by my success - I found out that Andreas has sold one before I did - 8 seconds previous to me, to be precise! Same minute, and 8 tiny seconds earlier...

Well, at least I was pretty fast, too. And considering all sales it was our most successful exhibit so far! That’s a very good comfort!

first sold picture from our current exhibit:
"the visibility of the hidden shape" by Andreas Lietzow

 

01/15/2010, Friday, 21:13, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Art exhibition opening again!

Today is the first day of our new art-exhibition "Cubes and Elements"!
We are pretty exited because for the first time we included some of our 2D art as well! YAY!

And again 100% of the gains are given to the international peace project "World's Greatest Smile"!

 

01/12/2010, Tuesday, 21:57, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Well, finally...

It seems that finally I am one of the cool kids with a brandnew facebook account now...

After overcoming some challenges like “How do I change the display window of my thumbnail?!” it seems to be fun and interesting! I didn’t even know that I have a display window of my thumbnail - or that I can edit my thumbnail(s?) by using a mouse (which brings very strange pictures up to my mind)...
And I guessed that just very close friends would recognise me by this one:
Besides that I can’t believe that I really checked this box:
Show my sex in my profile?! Never wanted to be that close to the public...! But since it is “face”book, almost everybody thinks that I’m male when reading my name, and the moose nose didn’t really help with that...

Anyway here you can see my nose as well..

 

01/10/2010, Sunday, 23:51, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

News now: New snow...!

 

01/08/2010, Friday, 21:07, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Probably you have already noticed...

... that due to some reorganisation of the WGS we won’t publish any VIP participation in the WGS-Day this year.

 

01/03/2010, Sunday, 04:01, Meike, Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

 

January 3rd

14 years of Meike & Andreas

We won.

 

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