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Why I love LaTeX

Felix — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:44:45 +0000

I am not tied to an operating system; it works everywhere.

I can use my favorite text editor to write, namely vim or gedit.

I can use other powerful tools that I am already familiar with, e.g., grep and wc.

I can structure my document into different files and folders, as many as I want.

I can easily put my files under source control, experiment and collaborate with others.

I will still be able to read the files in 30 years time. After all, LaTeX files are just flat text files.

I can focus on content instead of presentation and use semantic markup.

I can stand on the shoulders of giants when I need to create, e.g., a glossary.

I can rely on the insights of far more able typesetters but am still able to control the details if it is necessary.

I can write once and compile to PDF, DVI or whatever I feel like that day.

I can automate tasks by integrating LaTeX into scripts or build tools.

I may even be able to recompile the document in 30 years time.

I do not even have to pay for it.

I love it.

Tomorrow, you won’t find me at my desk

Felix — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:44:26 +0000

It feels good to know that tomorrow, when I wake up, I can diverge from the daily routine of the last few months. I won’t be sitting at the desk in my room, a cup of coffee and a text editor being my only company. I won’t ask myself the question whether the last three sentences are good enough. And most certainly, I won’t worry which chapters still require some refinement. Why is that?, you ask.

Well, I handed in my master’s thesis today. Consequently, this new year’s eve does not only represent the end of 2011, but also the end of my studies of Information Systems at the Otto-Friedrich-University of Bamberg. I still have to defend my thesis in a colloquium on January 18th and could fail in theory, yet it feels as if everything were already over.

The chapter Life and Studies in Bamberg closes. A few more pages, a few more paragraphs and there will be a new heading. What will it be?

I am excited to find out.

cowsay moo

Felix — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Today, I came across cowsay, another weird Linux command. So what does it do? Well, what do you think? Yep, it prints an ASCII cow:

The cowsay manpage documents some nifty options that allow to customize the eyes, the tongue or, lo and behold!, the whole cow. What an over-engineered easteregg.

Now back to the other tab.

Smart Phones

Felix — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:06:26 +0000

Why do we call them phones if we use them only five percent of the time for talking?

The Frames, Hamburg

Felix — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:10:05 +0000

This weekend, I went all the way to Hamburg in order to see the only gig by The Frames in Germany. Let me tell you, every single kilometre was absolutely worth it: Glen and the boys played about two hours of awesome, hand-made, emotional rock music. Fitzcarraldo, Revelate, God Bless Mom, Lay Me Down, Seven Day Mile, What Happens When The Heart Just Stops… you name it, they played it (unexpected: Kraftwerk’s Autobahn). And I finally got my hands on their rather obscure, finally re-released debut album Another Love Song. Gee, I wish I could go to Dublin and see one of the four gigs they play in their hometown (1x Olympia Theatre, 1x Vicar Street, 2x Whelan’s); they are all sold-out, though.

Here are some musical impressions:

The Frames – Seven Day Mile:

The Frames – Revelate:

Opening act was Duke Special from Belfast – I was impressed.
Duke Special – Mockingbird Wish Me Luck:

Fun Fact: the venue had the ubercool German name Übel & Gefährlich, which translates roughly to Evil & Dangerous.

Famous out of the TV

Felix — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:04:13 +0000

German’s best Wiener Schnitzel. The original. Famous out of the TV. Ouch!

Boyz n the Hood

Felix — Fri, 21 May 2010 07:00:33 +0000

If you had told me a year ago about one of the professors at the University of Bamberg referencing John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood, a ghetto drama set in South Central L.A. starring Ice Cube and Cuba Gooding Jr., in a lecture on IT Strategy, I would probably have laughed at and ridiculed you. Believe it or not: it happened a few days ago.

What’s wrong with the canteen?

Felix — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:52:05 +0000

Today, we ate steaks in the canteen. Monkey gland steaks. And that wasn’t just the name of the dish: there was actually a steak on my plate. And it was tasty. Woohoo!
Whom do I have to bribe in order to have that every week?

Ronnie James Dio

Felix — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:45:39 +0000

Yesterday, Ronnie James Dio passed away. What a bad day for rock’n'roll. Here are three highlights of his legacy:

Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell (Album: Heaven and Hell)

Rainbow – Stargazer (Album: Rising)

(This live version is with his own band called Dio)

Dio – Rainbow in the Dark (Album: Holy Diver)

Attention to detail

Felix — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:31:38 +0000

Come on, show some effort!