THE HARD, COLD TRUTH
Something has come to my attention I must make known to the public - we've all heard the story about how German almost became the official language of the U.S. - and lost out to English by only one vote, right? I've told it myself to many people many times. Well, today I was shocked to find out that the story is an urban legend, a myth...NOT true at all! There never was such a vote, in fact, the U.S. never voted in any "official language" at all. Also, the percentage of Germans in the U.S. was never more than around 10%, so even if there HAD been a vote, it never would have been close for any language other than English!!
Read the shocking, disturbing disillusionment here, if you are strong enough to take it.

OK, real quick cool link to an article about Janet Jackson and her effect on violence in computer games...right here. Cool thoughts - the gist of it is that parents, not the government need to be the ones deciding what their kids are allowed to play and what not.
Here's a great quote from it:

It's the parent's job to decide what's appropriate for their children – not the government's. If your kid buys and plays something that seems inappropriate, pop the eject button on the console, put it back in the box, and march your son or daughter back to the store and demand a refund. Should the store absolutely refuse, destroy the game and teach your child an expensive lesson: You don't buy games of this nature without my approval.

Sure, this will result in all sorts of shouting and pouting, but it's not like kids won't act much the same way about many other decisions they feel are unfair.

There's no arguing that any of these bills has its heart in the right place. Young players should not play certain video games. But the ultimate responsibility for ensuring kids aren't exposed to something they shouldn't be starts and ends at home.

So true!!!! I wish this column would make its way to some German papers - I feel that more often than not, the "ultimate responsibility" for deciding what German kids are allowed to play and watch starts with the German government and ends at home, sometimes...

Hi!
Stephi was at the doctor's today for a high-resolution ultrasound. Her doctor had said that the baby's body was too small in proportion to its head, and had wanted a close-up check.
Well, it turns out everything is basically fine - after taking another look at her notes and papers and stuff, Stephi thinks her doctor probably got the baby's week (29th) wrong by a week or two. Anyways, one good thing came out of it all: We got a cool picture of him (yes, it most DEFINITELY is a "he", after the high-resolution ultrasound, we know for certain... :). Here it is, check it out: CLICK Oh, for those who don't know what to look for (like me, it took a bit): It's a picture of his profile, his face is facing up, and is at the right of the picture. His shoulders/tummy go off towards the left. Pretty cool, eh?
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Hi Leute!
Stephi war heute zur Feindiagnostik beim Arzt. Ihre Ärztin hatte gesagt, dass der Körper des Babys ein wenig zu klein aussah im Vergleich zum Kopf, und wollte eine Feindiagnostik machen lassen.
So wie's jetzt aussieht, ist alles OK - nachdem Stephi sich die Unterlagen und zeugs ein wenig genauer angesehen hat, denkt sie, dass die Ärztin wohl sich in der Woche (29.) um ein paar vertan hat. Jedenfalls ist da was gutes bei rausgekommen: Wir haben eine cooles Bild von ihm gekriegt (ja, es ist 100%ig ein "er", nach der Feindiagnostik besteht definitiv kein Zweifel daran. :) Hier ist das Bild: CLICK Für die, die nicht wissen, was da zu sehen ist (wie ich, hat ne Weile gedauert): Ist ein Bild seines Profils, sein Gesicht schaut nach oben und ist rechts im Bild zu sehen. Seine Schultern/Bauch gehen dann nach links rüber. Cool, oder?

OK, that does it - everyone go buy themselves a headset for like 5 Euros, then go download Skype - a free Internet telephone program. It's just so awesome how well it works, and it's free!
I just got off Skyping a three-way conference with my Mom in Dortmund and my Dad in Amsterdam - for free!
The quality is absolutely incredible, so long as you're not downloading something on the side or as long as you're not sharing your connection with a bunch of people.
And did I mention it's free?
Once you have it, add johnstephi (one word) to your contacts, and skype us!

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Auf gut Deutsch: wer sich Skype (kostenloses Internet-Telefonieren in unglaublich genialer Qualität) nicht holt ist dämlich. :)

This is awesome: Some terrorist group posted a picture of a soldier they said they had taken hostage, but actually it turns out it was a fake, and - get this - that they used an American toy solider miniature to take the picture. Terrorists may be evil and all, but whoever came up with this idea was creative...and stupid. :)
Here's the link. Click.

Here's a funny little story I laughed at which probably none of you will: A Romanian tabloid printed a story that a couple named their baby "Yahoo" because they had met at a Yahoo dating service web page. It turned out this was just a prank.
What I laughed at was the East European directness of the editor-in-chief:

"It was the reporter's child's birth certificate, which he modified," said Simona Ionescu, Libertatea's deputy editor-in-chief. "We fired him."

:-) Yeah, I know, I have weird humor. I just love the care-free sound of "We fired him".
She then goes on to say: "If it were real, it would have been a good story indeed".

But it wasn't...so [Russian accent]we fired him[/Russian accent]. :D

Here's a short transcript from Bush's inaugural speech yesterday:

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant. And that is the force of human freedom.

[...] The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

Awww...inspiring isn't it? Well, it's wrong, too.
The only force of history that can do that is the love of Jesus Christ. Sorry, but human freedom is NOT the fix-it-all. Humans, given freedom, will NOT automatically go to peace together. That'd be nice, but it just won't happen. The problem is that Bush is apparently assuming humans are actually peaceful by nature, and so just give them enough freedom, and there'll be peace.
Don't get me wrong, freedom is definetly necessary for peace, but that's not what Bush is saying - he's going beyond that, putting human political freedom up as salvation for mankind. And that's what's wrong.

Woohoo!!!
I just found out that I got a 1.0 on my Bachelor
thesis!!! That's definetly better than I had expected!
All in all, that puts me at an end grade of 2.0, which is awesome! Thanks for all your prayers and support! Gotta get back to work now... :)
P.S. On Friday, February 11th is my official graduation, where I get my degree and all of that good stuff - as many of you out there as can make it, I'd love to have you there!
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Juhuuu!!!
Hab gerade rausgefunden, dass ich eine 1,0 für meine Bachelor-Arbeit bekommen habe!!! Weit besser, als ich erwartet hatte!
Alles in allem habe ich also eine Abschlussnote von 2,0, was klasse ist! Danke für eure Gebete und für eure Unterstützung! So, jetzt sollte ich mal wieder an die Arbeit... :)
P.S. Am Freitag, dem 11. Februar findet während der Semesterabschlussfeier die offizielle Zeugnisübergabe statt - wer auch immer von euch da sein kann, ich würd mich echt freuen euch dabei zu haben!

Watched "The Incredibles" yesterday. That is one awesome movie I definetly want on DVD. Once again, Pixar (makers of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, etc.) blows away everybody.
I know you'll laugh at me for this, but whatever: Something I found very thought-provoking was the line Dash (the little boy) says some time early in the movie: "Yeah, I know: Everyone's special - which is just another way of saying noone is."
That, ladies and gentlemen, has got to be one of the deepest lines ever spoken in a cartoon. Check out this article in the New York Times for a deeper look at that thought.
I'll leave it at that, my thoughts go a lot further (think "predestination"), but would take too long (and could be misunderstood too easily) to go into them. ;)
Anyways, the movie gets a 9.50 from me - in fact, I'd be up for watching it again at the theaters, I'll have to see if I can get Stephi to do that (she loved it, too, BTW)...

Here are some lyrics that have really challenged me lately - it's so easy to lose this mentality...and to become OK with "OK".

"More than fine" by Switchfoot

When I wake in the morning

I want to blow into pieces

I want more than just okay, more than just okay



When I'm up with the sunshine

I want more than just a good time

I want more than just okay, more than just okay



I'm not givin' up, givin' up now

I'm not givin' up, not backing down



More than fine, more than bent on getting by

More than fine, more than just okay



When I'm lit with sunrise

I want more than just the blue skies

I want more than just okay, more than okay



More than oceans away from the dawn

More than oceans away from who we are

More than oceans, more than oceans,

More than fine