Audi back from repair

Got my car back from the garage yesterday. It took quite some time due to delivery problems of the new hood but now everything is fine. The boys from 'Auto Reckendorfer' did a good job.



It's just great to have a good looking car again. It was a really poor picture with the bent hood and the broken headlight. But the dent on the co-driver's door even pissed me off a lot more. I hate it when people are too stupid for parking or driving and hit your car and drive off without even leaving a message!



Today I also put in a new airfilter and exchanged the air-flow sensor because it felt like the car didn't have the full power it should have and I read on MOTOR-TALK.de that this could be because of a defective sensor. I guess they were right.
Before the exchange of the sensor it seemed like it was just working fine up to 160 km/h and then it was a bit tough to reach 180 km/h.
On a short test drive on the highway, with the new sensor, the car accelerated constantly until I quit at 190 km/h (about 118 miles per hour) - and that was in the uphill direction. :-)

Websites: Auto Reckendorfer & Motor-Talk

Earthquake in Wiener Neustadt

Just heard on the Radio that there was a little earthquake here in the area of Wiener Neustadt, Austria, tonight at 2:37 am (cest). I guess nearly nobody felt it, because of it's very low magnitude of 2.6 on the Richter scale. Don't know what it was on the Mercalli intensity - would guess a II.

As I surf through the web I just saw that ther was one on Monday at 5:07 am (cest) too. That one was even an 3.5 and woke some people up. I didn't notice it anyway.

In our area earthquake aren't to seldom but they are most times not even really perceptible. The average rate for perceptible ones in Austria is 16 per year.
I am very gratefull for that low rate!

Richter and Mercalli Earthquake Scale

• The Richter scale was created in 1935 by the American seismologist Charles F. Richter. It measures how much the ground shakes 60 miles from the earthquakes epicenter. Richter magnitudes increase logarithmically, meaning the energy increases 10 times for each magnitude number.

• Mercalli intensity is based upon observations of the resulting damage and not actually measured on instruments. Invented by Italian seismologist Giuseppe Mercalli.
  

Website: Recent Earthquakes

'The Black Cat' by Edgar Allan Poe

When I still was in school we read 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and I loved it. I even had this topic for my final exam in English.
The language Poe uses is very picturing and full of metaphors.
There was only one other story by Poe I knew by now - 'The Raven' - and I knew it only by some adoptions on TV - like on The Simpsons for example, so I had to get some of his other stories. A few years ago I saw this book with 18 of his stories.
'The Black Cat' is the first story in this book.

The story is about a man haunted by a cat which was once his best friend but was murdered by the man later. It's content is cruel and the conveyed feelings are very dark.

It is not as fascinating as 'The Tell-Tale Heart' because here are no metaphors used. But besides that it's very good!










Websites: Biography and Works & E.A.Poe Museum

Colin McRae MBE , 1968 - 2007

Tragedies happen just too fast!

As I just read on a friend's blog that Colin McRae, Rally World Champion of 1995, died on Saturday, September 15th.

It's a terrible loss for his family and friends and the world of Motorsports.

Cause of his death was a helicopter crash at Jerviswood, Lanark. Along with him died his 5 year old son Johnny and Graeme Duncan, a friend of Colin, and Johnny's friend Ben Porcelli (6).

What caused the crash is unknown yet.
Colin McRae often took his helicopter to get from one point to another just as others take their cars. That way he wanted to save time so he could be more with his family.

Colin was very much an inspiration and role model to motorsport fans all around the globe.

My heart is with the families!

Website: Colin McRae

'Angels and Demons' by Dan Brown

Just finished this great work by Dan Brown.
It's the second book from Dan Brown I've read so far - first was 'Deception Point'.
'Deception Point' was great too but to be honest I liked 'Angels and Demons' much more. Maybe because 'Angels and Demons' is more about ancient myths and religious conspiracies - which I enjoy more then political plots like in 'Deception Point'.

The next book is already on my desk. 'Digital Fortress' again by Dan Brown. :-)

The plot:

When a world renowed CERN scientist is found brutally murdered, a Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, is summoned to identify the mysterious symbol seared onto the dead man's chest. His conclusion: It is the work of a secret brotherhood presumed extinct for nearly four hundret years - the Illuminati - now reborn to continue their bitter vendetta against their sworn enemy, the Catholic Church.

In Rome, the college of cardinals assembles to elect a new pope. Yet somewhere within the walls of the Vatican, an unstoppable bomb of terrifying power relentlessly counts down to oblivion.
While the minutes tick away, Langdon joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to decipher the labyrithine trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome to the long-forgotten Illuminati lair - a secret refuge wherein lies the only hope for the Vatican.

But with each revelation comes another twist, another turn in the plot which leaves Langdon and Vetra reeling and at the mercy of a seemingly invincible enemy.

Websites: Dan Brown , Angels and Demons

9/11 - six years afterwards

September 11th 2001 - a day that changed the world. - Did it?

Well, I would say yes. Whether it was an act of terror by some organization that's pissed of by the U.S. government or a conspiracy by the government itself to get a cause for going on war, it did change the world.

Plenty of innocent people lost their lives. Children lost mothers and fathers. Many heroes of the F.D.N.Y. gave their lives trying to rescue the victims.
The result of 9/11 is one of the most screwed-up reactions politics and military had ever taken.
You should think the U.S. government learned from Vietnam but that's not the case.
President Bush kept on sending more and more soldiers to the Iraq like feeding a meat grinder and many of them gave their live for reasons they didn't understand just because it was explained to them as the necessary fight for freedom.

Yeah, the United States have always been the world's only hope for peace and freedom.

Even if it was an act of terror you can't just go to a country and shoot everthing that's moving. And count the killed innocent ones as collateral damage.

My heart is with the families of those that lost their live in the WTC-Drama and in 'The War for Freedom' (both sides U.S. and Iraq families).

We are all human! Why can't we live together and respect each other?

When someone does wrong you can't go to his country and try to completely erase it from the world's surface! Just get the ones who do wrong and let the others live in peace.

This entry is not written against the people of the U.S. - who are already fed up with the bullshit the government tries to sell them as right - but it's meant to shake up the minds of the persons in charge! - both sides again!

Peace to all!

The Last Legion

Just saw 'The Last Legion' at the cinema.
I didn't expect much because I had seen only the german trailer once and didn't know much about it. Good so - if I had seen the original trailer I would have expected a lot more.
It's a good movie, not a must see but a good one. The story (legend) on which the movie is based is great, the conversion is nice.
The story about Ceasar's sword - now known as King Arthur's Excalibur - is fascinating; I didn't know that it was originally forged for Julius Caesar.
I am not sure if Excalibur was really 'The Sword in the Stone'. There is a version of that legend where Arthur breaks the sword that made him King in a fight with King Pellinore and then receives Excalibur from 'The Lady of the Lake'.
I guess I will check on that legend for further information.

Website: The Last Legion

Mazda 3 - first 10.000 km

Yesterday Julia's Mazda 3 finished its first 10.000 km.



Websites: Mazda (at) & Mazda (com)