Hi Mark,first of all I hope that you arrived safely in Berlin and that you will enjoy your stay. I think in one of your last posts, you got a typo, cause there was something like you getting me a drink ? Did I miss something? You are the guy doing all the hard work, like the research, talks, managing the blog and travelling the whole world on your own. We, the readers and listeners, should be the one buying you the drink. Ever heart about the “Beerware License”? You should run your blog on this license and never worry about beeing soberly again Don’t worry about me tapping you on the shoulder at all, I don’t want you scare away To tell the truth I’m far from the 24C3 right now, but I would love talking to you in person in the future. Btw. the streaming team at the 24C3 is doing a good job so far and recordings are released on an average of one day afer the event, so your talk will be available soon on a few sites.The good old days A few years ago – actually, if I’m honest to myself quite many years ago – I had the chance of growing up in a place a lot like yours, but far more (about 3 miles) away from the next major city and highways, in a village with about 20 houses. We, the kids, could play, screem and run around for days in the woods without seeing a place again, disturbing anyone or ever have to fear coming across traffic in any kind. Coming across nature was nothing we have to plan, like most families in cities have to do, we were living in nature and enjoyed it, when building small wood barraks or barrages on our own. If I remember correctly most of them cracked down moments after we finished them, so in a matter of speaking its a good thing, that I’m not an architect today,… ok nevermind the last part. I still remember some farming lands we frequently visit to get some pears and apples for *free* so to speak and I remember running like all hell broke loose, if someone saws us. Sledging in the winter was not an option, it was mandatory even for our parents. Seeing deers, foxes or even a hedgehog was only a matter of timing and silence not a matter of our local zoo having these animals. After a long day at school and out there in our backyard – or the so called nature – back at home, we didn’t want to watch TV, we didn’t scream or argue with our parents about anything, we just wanted a hot shower and after that go straight to be bed. A few months ago I revisited the place again and over the years a few things have changed: The rivers were straightened, they broadened the roads, a few more houses and a few more fences and there is only one big farmer left, but everthing concluded, its pretty much the same and there is nothing that would prevent having kids the same time that we had back in the days, at least not at this place.Why the heck I’m telling these things, I had a good past and so on, why not leave it at this? Just give me a minute, I try to explain. After I grew up leaving my home town and visiting other families living in big cities, I come across the big city childhood. Often families live there in a 3-4 room apartment with up to 4 persons, without having enough room and only a few possibilites left to avoid each other for a couple of hours. Without question this situation must be exhausting to an absolute limit and produces a lot of tention, particularly if you have a low income to spend for other activities.A few weeks ago I read an article about some new methods of making public places in big cities more peacefull, sounds good doesn’t it? But how they are going to accomplish this? More video taping, more security, banning more cars from the streets or constrict the air traffic? Far from this! They are going to treat specific public places like schoolyard after school with a “supersonic weapon device” called |