comments - 15 Dec 2011, 16:55
I did not notice I had specified the wrong folder for comments, so it did not work. Which explains why no one commented before. Obviously not because of lack of people wanting to ...
right?

open source cookies and overly friendly doctors - 22 Dec 2011, 19:29
Christmas is coming and had been coming for quite sometime in the hospital, which basically meant that I always enjoyed gingerbread cookies with my coffee. On one of my many refill-trips to the lunch room I noticed that the cookie box had the receipt of the cookies printed on them. Open source cookies!
I pointed it out to my colleague to whom I then explained the advantages of open source with the examples of cookies (eating some in the process, of course). I came up with following arguments:
It is unlikely that more people are going to bake the cookies themselves, there are several other gingerbread receipts out there and people still buy cookies.
Consumers might trust the product more if they know what is inside (especially with food)
People who like to bake can experiment with the receipt and maybe change or improve it. If they relate their experience on the companies messageboard it is free product development.
The opposite of the open source cookies is this:

This is a recipe for real American style soft cookies - great for 4th July celebrations.

This recipe comes with an urban myth: A woman in New York met a friend at a small coffee shop, where they ordered drinks and cookies. They liked the cookies so much that she asked for the recipe. The owner of the coffee shop said that she could have the recipe, but she would have to pay something for it. The woman agreed, and paid for the coffee, cookies and the recipe on her credit card. When she got her next credit card statement, she realised that she had been charged a massive $200 for the recipe. She was furious! She called the restaurant, which refused to refund the money, saying that it was a fair price for the recipe. The woman said that, for that price, she must have bought the copyright for the recipe and she would send it out worldwide. She passed the recipe on to everyone she knew, and asked them to do the same.

So here it is; pass it on!
Ingredients

100g (4 oz) porridge oats
125g (5 oz) plain flour
2.5ml (½ teaspoon) bicarbonate of soda
2.5ml (½ teaspoon) baking powder
2.5ml (½ teaspoon) salt
50g (2oz) bar milk chocolate, grated
100g (4 oz) butter at room temperature
100g (4 oz) soft dark brown sugar
100g (4oz) caster sugar
1 large egg
2.5ml (½ teaspoon) vanilla extract/essence
115g (4½ oz) chocolate chips

---------

Another thing that happened on my last working days is that I got a new patient. A very pretty one, but that is not the point of this story. On the referral note of the doctor was the following sentence:
<div class=quote>Væri þér þakklætur að líta á þennan sjúkling fyrir mig </div>
it translates to:
<div class=quote>I would be grateful if you had a look on the following patient for me </div>
usually the referral not only consists of a short patient history, such as: has backpain since Friday. But I like it when people are grateful for me doing my job.

a confession - 22 Dec 2011, 12:31
There are certain aspects of dutch society that I admire.

There, I said it, after all my bitching about the obsession for planning and process by the Dutch and obviously growing up with jokes about their language, I have to admit that if I were to create the perfect country, it would be possible to find dutch elements in it.
The train system for one. In my countless travels from Amsterdam to Germany, I was only delayed twice. Once because of construction work (and that was only half an hour delay and buses were provided, which departure was timed according to train departure and arrival.

Another thing I enjoy, especially after coming from Iceland is the generally agreed upon multiculturalism. Obviously the comparison with Iceland is unfair, as the Netherlands used to be a colonial state, just like England, and therefore have a much longer history of importing foreign cultures. But I do sometimes wish, that instead of following the danish in their paranoid fear of anything not blond and blue eyed Iceland would maybe just look a few kilometers to the west. Not to say that the Netherlands do not have happily joined in with the paranoia after 9/11.

Related to that, i have to say that I admire the patience with which the dutch people I meet suffer my "dutch". I was never fluent, and my dutch always had been more of a throaty German, but ordering a coffee or buying a train ticket did not use to be problem, while now it is a mix of German, English and Icelandic spoken with a throat infection. And I still get understood. I guess years of practice of communicating with people like me help.

The ticket inspector just came by and reminded me of another thing, language related. i like the ending -jes. Something that is definitely missing both in English and Icelandic. It is a way to make things smaller, just like -chen in German. So instead of asking for "kaarts" (tickets) the inspector asked for "kaartjes" basically cute and little tickets, whats not to love?

Icelandic alcohol import restrictions... - 24 Dec 2011, 12:47
...are strange. According to tollur.is

*1l vodka, 1l wine, 6l beer
*1l vodka, 0l wine, 9l beer
*0l vodka, 1.5l wine, 9l beer
*0l vodka, 3l wine, 6l beer
*0l vodka, 0l wine, 12l beer

I have 0.5l vodka and want to bring at least 2 bottles 1.5l wine. My question is, can I still buy beer at the fríhöfn? And if yes how much? It should be possible to make some sort of calculation with this, such as:

*1l vodka + 1l wine + 6l beer =
*1l vodka + 0l wine + 9l beer =
*0l vodka + 1.5l wine + 9l beer =
*0l vodka + 3l wine + 6l beer =
*0l vodka + 0l wine + 12l beer =
*0.5l vodka + 1.5l wine + ? beer

but even if I can calculate the amount of beer I might be allowed to take with this the Icelandic customs are not a very logical institution and I'm afraid if I asked will they take my alcohol from me.

I also have to mention, that I'm planning to buy Icelandic beer in the fríhöfn, which considering I'm German and am coming from Germany is a big compliment to Icelandic beer.



certified toilets - 1 Jan 2012, 12:16
I'm definitely in Germany. At the rest-stop on the way to Berlin the toilets were certified by the TüV, an organisation which evaluates machinery according to security standards. I wonder if toilets without the TüV certificate eats its users...
To be fair, the toilet was no ordinary toilet, but high tech, with an automatic toilet seat cleaner, which caused me to stare at it in amazement when it started. I've lived too long on a little Island, I guess....