Andreas Loppnow

A German in a german restaurant

October 28th, 2011

My Wife and i visited Schulte & Herr today. It is a german Restaurant in Downtown Portland, ME.

It was really neat. It is funny to see other People react when they tasted food the first time, you had all your life. My Wife had Bratwurst and Sauerkraut. Born and raised in [[Thuringia]] i have to say: our Bratwurst is better but my Wife loved hers 😉

I had Goulash which was pretty good.

The place itself could need a little more Interior Design but I’m pretty sure that will come in the Future.

We will be back there to check out the Breakfast Menu 😉
Steve Jobs

October 6th, 2011

I have never met or even been close to Steve Jobs. He still had a huge Impact on my Life. I truly believe that this man could see the future (at least the technology future) for the next 5 years.

His Lifestory from founding Apple, getting fired, founding Next, Pixar. Coming back to Apple is inspiring and moving.

This man changed Industries, yes it is a plural. The Computer industry, Music Industry, Film Industry and Phones. All won’t be the same without him.

And he made that Speech:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
(Steve Jobs)

Thank you Steve Jobs
My new Workhorse

September 29th, 2011

After my Laptop got stolen i had to find a new Workhorse for every Day use. I liked my old 14 inch HP Pavilion, so why not look at the successor.

So here it is. MY new HP Pavilon dm4. It has a DVD Drive now but i’m not sure if i will ever use it ;-).

I even started the preinstalled Windows 7 once (had to remove all the Crap Software that comes with it), just to shrink the Windows Partition to make some Space for Linux.

Right now i’m running Ubuntu 11.10 which is still just a Beta Release (and you see it on some Edges). It took a while to get all the Software i need, installed. At this occasion i stopped working with [[xampp]] and started to work with the LAMPP Stack that comes with Ubuntu.

But back to the Laptop, the Battery Life is very good for me, you can work more than half a day away from the Cord. It has all standard Ports (USB, HDMI, Cardreader). It also has a Fingerprint Reader which is a funny Gimmick but i don’t think that i will use it a lot.

The Laptop has a Downside: It’s case feels very good to touch but boy it loves Fingerprints ;-). I don’t really care about it but after one week this Laptop has more fingerprints than the average Crime Scene ;-).

For me it is a very neat Laptop to work with every Day. And finally here are the Pictures:

2011-09-Laptop
My Blog got a new Outfit

August 22nd, 2011

You don’t see it yet?

Then you are not using a mobile device ;-). I just installed a Plugin called MobilePress. This Plugin detects if you visit the Website from a Mobile Device and changes the Theme automatically. Pretty Neat.
Google+

July 19th, 2011

Thanks to Calvin Gilbert i got an invitation to Googles newest attempt to create a Social Network. After Google Wave and Google Buzz, i think Google+ is a big thing.

The only downside right now is the Limitation of User registration but that should be no problem once Google decides that Google+ is ready for the World. For now only Geeks are on Google+ 😉

Everything else looks very good, very well integrated with other Google Services and beautifull animated. With the limited users it feels a bit like [[Facebook]] for adults. No game and not so many Spam messages, just Status Updates that are actually worth reading.

Of Course when Google starts a Social Network you have consider that Google knows a lot, all your Search History, Mails, Pictures and other Things depending which Google Services you use. But at the End, you decide what you publish and what People know about you. You are the Designer of your Online Profil.

The smart Approach that you have different Friend Circles and you can decide what you post to which group and to make this Feature easy accassable is a huge plus ( small Joke 😉 )

Bottomline: Google+ had a good Start, we will see how it develops. I think for the next years Facebook is safe just because virtually everybody has a Facebook Account but the Example [[Myspace]] shows us that people can move from one to another Social Network really Quick. The Future of Google+ will be interesting.
Windsurfing

July 8th, 2011

Since i had a one week windsurfing camp in Germany during my time at the university, i always wanted to own a board and sail.

Now the time is here. I didn’t had the time to try it on the water yet but that is how the sail looks, when it is rigged.

From Sailing

Update:

Now i had the Time to try it out and it is awesome. Pictures are in this Picasa Gallery
Say Hello to our new Family Member

June 12th, 2011

Her name is Winter and she is an [[American Eskimo]].
You know that you live in Maine when

May 12th, 2011

your local newspaper warns you not to feed birds in order to attract Bears who come out their Winter Rest.

The biggest animal I did meet here in Maine (and there was NO Fence between us) was a Moose on the Street. I’m not quite sure if I’m looking forward to meet a Bear.
My new Hobby: Brewing my own Beer

April 30th, 2011

It is all my Wifes Fault.

For my 30th Birthday, she gave me a Beer Machine as Present. The Beer Machine is a sealed plastic container (once it is completely assembled) . You just pour Water, the Beer Mix (a dry Powder) in it and the add the Yeast. After 1 night the airlock shows activity and is bubbling like crazy.that is the primary Fermentation, that is done after 3-5 days and then you can move the Beer Machine in the Fridge. Another 10 Days waiting and you can tap your own beer ;-).

That is pretty neat and i brewed Lager and Pilsner already. I tried to brew Wheatbeer in the Beer Machine but after brewing it wasn’t carbonated at all, so i bottles it and waited a little more and i turned out to be great Wheatbeer 😉

I hope i can take it to the next level soon, with a more complex Beer Kit. I want to brew German Wheatbeer and bottle it. But we will se when that will happen.

Here are some Pictures :

2011-02-16-Brewing
Bookreview : Daniel Domscheit-Berg “Inside Wikileaks”

February 25th, 2011

I just finished the book “Inside Wikileaks” from [[Daniel Domscheit-Berg]]. And i must say i liked the book very much. It gives a good inside view of [[Wikileaks]]. The author was the spokesman from Wikileaks for a couple of years. He and the Wikileaks Founder [[Julian Assange]] had some differences and Domscheit-Berg left Wikileaks at the End of 2010 and he started his own Whistleblower Platform [[Openleaks]].

Domscheit-Berg describes it very good how it feels to work for an organization that became so famous as Wikileaks. How it is to mess with big organizations like Banks and Governments. You can almost feel the thrill he had publishing secret informations about a bank in Switzerland or about the war in Afghanistan. The author was part of Wikileaks since the early days, he did a lot of work together with the Wikileaks founder Assange. He describes how Wikileaks became famous and how differences with Assange became fights which led to his suspension and his leaving of Wikileaks at the end of 2010.
From his point of view he gives a good impression of Julian Assange, the famous face of Wikileaks. They lived together for some months and spend more time together at conferences or in Iceland.

Bottom line: A must read for anybody interested in the topic of Wikileaks or actual developments around the Whistleblower Platform.