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Thrust faults on the moon

It’s nice that there is always something new to be learnt: the moon is covered with quite a lot of thrust faults, some of which could be “relatively young” (approx. 800 to 1000 million years). They are probably a result of a slight shrinking of the moon due to cooling.

I’ve found this at Bad Astronomy, who has a nice post about it.

Survey design

I’ve bought a “Bavaria Ticket Single1 online. Afterwards, I was asked to take part in a little survey. Having time and being in a friendly mood, I agreed. But then, this rather weird questions pops up:

Translation:

Are you traveling with the Bavaria Ticket Single alone or with several people?

  • alone
  • group of two
  • group of three
  • group of four
  • group of five

In case I didn’t answer “alone”, would the Online Conductor visit me and make me pay the 40€ elevated transport fee2?


  1. You can travel with all local and regional public transport in Bavaria for one day for 20€. There’s also the “normal” Bavaria Ticket which is valid for up to five people. []
  2. This is the nice official expression for the fine for traveling without a valid ticket. []

Paramount educational goals

Being just a ordinary person, I sadly don’t look deep into the legal foundations of life.1 Thus, I’ve only recently found out from a blog post on Astrodicticum simplex that Article 131, paragraph 2 of the Bavarian Constitution contains these paramount educational goals:

The paramount educational goals are reverence for God, respect for religious persuasion and the dignity of man, selfcontrol, the recognition of and readiness to undertake responsibility, helpfulness, receptiveness to everything which is beautiful, good and true, as well as a sense of responsibility for the natural world and the environment.

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  1. And this despite Article 188 of the Bavarian Constitution, which states that “Every schoolchild shall receive a copy of this Constitution before the end of his compulsory education.” – and I indeed have such a copy lying around in my old home in the Allgäu. []

Where on Google Earth #207

Quite exactly half a year after my last WoGE win, I finally managed to find one again: in the last WoGE, Simon (hosted by Jeromes Blog) has shown the mountain Tronfjell, a nice gabbro intrusion in the Norwegian Caledonides. I’d like to present a rather younger feature:

Where on Google Earth #207.

Where on Google Earth #207.

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Now translated: nice fold in southern Bavaria

This is just a pointer to an old post about a nice fold which I finally managed to translate.

Fold at Riedberg Pass, detail view.  Stick measure for scale, length 1 m.

Fold at Riedberg Pass, detail view. Stick measure for scale, length 1 m.

Follow this link or click on the image to find out more…

Touch bragging

Yeah, I feel fast now:

74 words

Typing Speed Test

And, opposed to German, I even didn’t mistype anything; but I’m slower in English. Still, I rank 17535 of 252337, with 393 characters per minute.

Oh, sometimes the internet is full of pointless things. ;-)

Graphical symbol search for LATEX

Sometimes, for some equation in LATEX, you need an obscure symbol; but you don’t know how it’s called. Might happen with over 5900 symbols to choose from. ;-) Without a name, searching the Comprehensive LATEX Symbol List can get a bit tedious.

In an older article (German only) at TEX and friends, I’ve found a useful website:

Detexify² LATEX handwritten symbol recognition by Daniel Kirsch

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The case of the Ark and the missing dinosaurs

…has now been solved:

Ark Theory.

(By Bizarro; found at Pharyngula the other day.)

I’m quite happy that I didn’t yet have to discuss with students the creationst crap the cartoon makes fun of.

POTD: better than an advent calendar

Unlike an advent calendar, this one is for the whole year. And it doesn’t cause weight gain, because there’s no chocolate in it, but (mostly) ravenous parasites:

Parasite of the Day

Cymothoa Exigua replaces a fish's tongue. (Photo from Parasite of the Day)

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First results of the geoblog survey 2009

I’ve waited so long for this, and now I’ve almost missed it: there are some first results from the geoblog survey 2009. Lutz Geißler presents a summary on geoberg.de (and a shorter German version on geonetzwerk.org). Also, there’s going to be a publication about it in a not-yet-known journal.

It’s interesting (similar to the first survey) that in Germany, geoblogs are limited to the east and north. Is there nobody who likes to write about e.g. the Alps?

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