Monthly Archives: September 2009
reader!
So, I’m sitting here at my desk at Die Welt a few minutes ago and my neighbor’s phone rings. This happens often. But then I notice that she’s leaning over, looking at my phone, and reading off my phone number. She … Continue reading
typepad for journalists
Back in the fall, when the media world started feeling the drop in advertising and laying off lots of people, the blog hosting people at Typepad came up with a nice little program: Typepad for Journalists. They’d give you a … Continue reading
culture shock
You know the rules in elevators. You get in, you push the button, you turn and face the front, you watch the numbers. There is no eye contact. There is no chit-chat. In Germany, they have DIFFERENT RULES. You say hello … Continue reading
German lesson of the day
Fascinating German fact of the day: the word for “birth control pill” is apparently Antibabypille. Well, it’s descriptive, isn’t it? I’m reading an article in Die Welt about a woman who was taking birth control pills and died of a pulmonary embolism – … Continue reading
more quizzes
One of my funnier recent efforts, if I do say so myself: The Nose Quiz. All about Cloning. Neptune is now the farthest planet from the sun. The Yeti quiz includes a reference to an article by a friend of … Continue reading
oktoberfest starts in september
This weekend the Burns Fellows had our official almost-end-of-fellowship meeting in Munich (or, if you prefer, München). There’s this little festival you may have heard of in Munich. Happens once a year? Lots of beer and lederhosen? Yeah, Oktoberfest, that’s … Continue reading
making the world more colorful
For today’s Welt I wrote about colorblind monkeys – scientists cured them of their colorblindness with gene therapy. “Cured” is kind of a silly word in this case. The males of this species naturally don’t see red and green, so … Continue reading
oh zaz!
One of the manz interesting things about living in foreign countries is adapting to new computer kezboards. Iäm tzping on mz work computer right now. Have zou guessed which two kezs are switched on a German kezboard? Thatäs right, itäs Y and … Continue reading
american in chengdu
A friend of mine who prefers to remain nameless on the internet moved to China at the end of August, and she’s started a blog. So we can all follow along! She’s a fellow science writer who is trying out … Continue reading
dread potato disease
For today’s paper, I wrote about late blight – you may know it better as potato blight, the disease that caused the Irish Potato Famine. It’s still a huge problem for potato and tomato farmers, so a bunch of scientists … Continue reading