4. August 2022 – Good-bye Twitter

Yesterday, I abandoned my personal account at twitter. I will, there is no hurry, also abandon my longboarding diary at twitter. Hopefully, I can transfer at least some of the content.

Hate speech, conspiracy activism, outright lies and a manipulative opportunism – all reasons for a bad gut feeling in the past. With the war in Ukraine and the suicide of Austrian doctor Lisa-Maria Kellermayr, the level has deteriorated further and it is now what it is. Time to go.

What remains is a longing for dignity and decency, for truth and clarity, which will probably have to seek other forms of expression.

People are group beings and community can only function through public spirit. In this respect, the easy-to-use social media are charming and lead to new forms of networking. At the same time, they lead individuals to only loose temporary networks and avoid people having to justify their opinions in communities. So you no longer have to campaign to be heard, and you don’t have to face a best-person selection, as you do in formal social groups such as a club or a political party.

Ultimately, this leads to a cacophony in the social media.

You don’t have to do that to yourself, and in my opinion it’s justified not just to withdraw, but to use other forms of social networking.

Maybe it’s just utopia, but if enough people joined in, Twitter would become the medium for the dullards, Instagram the medium for the narcissists, and the majority would simply leave it alone…

Because what you can’t change, you just have to leave out, isolate and leave behind.

WSC’s Danceable Semester Playlist WS 2021-22

At the start of the new winter semester at Hochschule Heilbronn I publish my personal semester playlist. Have fun with it!

https://music.apple.com/de/playlist/wscs-danceable-semester-playlist-ws2021-22/pl.u-kPMJCaAK8zg

https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/7HQ1ecUDlV1qcAzi2CIpvb

  1. We start in the cradle of mankind Africa, more precisely in Tamanrasset, Algeria, Sahara with Irmahan and their song of the same name. Guitars and rhythm – so old school. But, the hypnotic lead guitar and the rapid Arabic-influenced tone sequences of the melodic song result, as I said, with a lot of rhythm in a really danceable sound. https://imarhan.lnk.to/imarhan , https://music.apple.com/de/album/imarhan/1280417051?i=1280417303 https://open.spotify.com/track/1Ye2lpUppaahUYUyFiI9vW?si=854ebbc897f24f10
  2. I appreciate Mory Kanté from Guinea very much as a musician, because he not only delivered dance floor smashes, but as a griot singer and ballaphone player he had an enormously wide spectrum, even folk music. Unfortunately he died much too early in 2020. Here, not his super hit Yeke Yeke, but the song Mogo Djolo – even more rhythm… https://music.apple.com/de/album/mogo-djolo/1443712814?i=1443712833 https://open.spotify.com/track/2BU2yzujk7JsBuBd21CnWE?si=fb261f8cef6f4add
  3. Attention style break! Blue Monday 88 by New Order. Dance beat song of my youth, may not know everyone. Brit Pop of the 80s was once „top of the pops“, as it was called then … https://music.apple.com/de/album/blue-monday-88/42029668?i=42029703 https://open.spotify.com/track/31MOjWj3CT3dCQsMV2b8Wu?si=91ef4600b5cd4ade
  4. How about a musical now? Musical?!? A musical. Idina Menzel has a typical musical voice, many ornaments, but in this spiced up version helps to overcome gravity – Defying Gravity… https://music.apple.com/de/album/defying-gravity-tracy-youngs-flying-monkeys-radio-edit/253329976?i=253329980 https://open.spotify.com/track/6w9FwcNjOhcispHsDlzv5Q?si=ccaee2e1704945bd
  5. Well, if you were a child of the New German Wave / Neue Deutsche Welle … you had to listen to a lot of shallow junk ( da da da, Treetboot in Seenot u.v.m. ). With the song Dreiklangdimensionen from Rheingold, I still appreciate the cool undercooled style. It’s hardly ever played, so that’s a clear argument for its placement here… https://music.apple.com/de/album/dreiklangsdimensionen-clubmix/275210311?i=275210337 https://open.spotify.com/track/6ng1rv2P24h2wly30Jbnz7?si=436b30bb4d014a80
  6. Devil in me by Purple Disco Machine – when can you ever tame him? https://music.apple.com/de/album/devil-in-me-feat-joe-killington-duane-harden/1291936794?i=1291937234 https://open.spotify.com/track/41rOnZXVg3cLacziEBgkpW?si=4b15a05042c344fd
  7. Blood, sweat & tears have rightly their place in music history with their innovative crossover sounds in jazz rock at the end of the 60s. Painfully, then, it was to see the band’s long and agonizing descent. From the late period comes this dirty Nuclear Blues, which was interpreted here super funky – not so bad after all … https://music.apple.com/de/album/nuclear-blues/1202362701?i=1202362969 https://open.spotify.com/track/0ZaaQINtAMy2rjM2qijzYj?si=a57a7b61ed6e4134
  8. Some record covers make you smile, so this was here first with Breakbot – and the text is also not meant quite seriously (?). But the music is very groovy: Baby I’m Yours! https://music.apple.com/de/album/baby-im-yours-feat-irfane/353570909?i=353570939 https://open.spotify.com/track/5jr6pG3khBcBXZRm8NogSe?si=4abd1a5e02664eb4
  9. Now it gets really old – French works IMHO well as a pop language. But was a one hit wonder only as far as I know. The inspiration comes from a Eberhofer crime movie. Which one I just can’t think of right now. https://music.apple.com/de/album/%C3%A7a-plane-pour-moi-original-1977-version/78609238?i=78609231 https://open.spotify.com/track/7bx4zW72qdZKBb8p6g80jb?si=95517b0929ec47a4
  10. And we remain in the year 1977. The Sonics, hard, rough, fast rock n roll … https://music.apple.com/de/album/shot-down/626202316?i=626202625
  11. Students only want one thing! Were we different back then? Let them: here is a contribution from Fanta4 – no further comments on this … https://music.apple.com/de/album/saft/948650755?i=948650762
  12. I confess! Well done girlie pop catches my ear, like Daya looking for a real bad bad girl. I discovered this at AFN The Eagle … https://music.apple.com/de/album/bad-girl/1548680484?i=1548680486 https://open.spotify.com/track/3n1HsYVwX6qMvihf5uZDKs?si=1a2af0a791da42b2
  13. Dance music does not need words at all. So here are two instrumentals, as it used to be called. I got to know the Munich Indy Band Pollyester once at an open air, good electronic sound like here at the trance triggering cover song of Russ Ballard’s Voices … https://music.apple.com/de/album/voices-pional-remix/501846638?i=501846851 https://open.spotify.com/track/0kpfgHU7auDEXKOSJm25aR?si=ddeb4b66b2194873
  14. Vertigo – film music from the last movie Night Life, which I was allowed to see, before the Corona spectacle. Music top, movie quite OK … https://music.apple.com/de/album/vertigo/1501564941?i=1501564942 https://open.spotify.com/track/169r6LqqLzMSFr08RkSglc?si=213e5a01e09f48e6
  15. Who still knows Gladys Knight? Gap in education – definitely close it! https://music.apple.com/de/album/ive-got-to-use-my-imagination/307294566?i=307294626 https://open.spotify.com/track/5r3q5qzU1LoxfORgwuvLCa?si=a65744efbc2c48da
  16. The bouncer today is a somewhat quieter number by a really likeable artist: Garland Jeffrey’s Hail Hail Rock n Roll – rarely played on the radio, but cool sound. https://music.apple.com/de/album/hail-hail-rock-n-roll/440229455?i=440229479 https://open.spotify.com/track/6dtiPdmZXVPW8s4kh5RDP5?si=85e7366298394d44

That’s it for this semester. Admittedly a wild mix, but for sure it had some surprises and new discoveries for you, and what’s on the radio everyone knows anyway. More next summer. Then with a different musical topic…

If you are looking for a thesis or you want to learn about my teaching and research activities?
It could be worthwhile to look at my personal homepage at Hochschule Heilbronn.
Research profiles at Google Scholar and ResearchGate.

20. August – Day 134 at the District Office of Heilbronn County

  • Infected (cum.): 1052
  • Deceased: 42

According to Ministry of Social Affairs as of 19. August 2020

There has been silence for a long time in this blog. It was simply too much to do.

On the one hand the students‘ requirements during the summer semester had to be respected as good as possible, and also the Covid-19 work at the District Office of Heilbronn County was challenging.

The result of the latter activity was the implementation of a new open source case management software: SORMAS.

Here is what the local press reported on this:

Press coverage:

Radio coverage: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/heilbronn/meldung-corona-fall-management-100.html

Press Release of Heilbronn University: http://wsc-blog.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/HHN-erarbeitet-digitales-Covid-19-Fall-Management.pdf

More to follow…

8. April 2020 – Day One at the District Office of Heilbronn County

District Office of Heilbronn County
  • Infected (cum.): 579
  • Deceased: 11

According to Ministry of Social Affairs

7:55 am. How do you enter the building? All entrances are closed. A phone call to the secretary says employees use a side entrance next to the parking garage. Otherwise there is another entrance, but only for clients with a pre-arranged appointment. The office has barricaded itself in view of the immense new tasks in the fight against COVID-19. Apparently this has never been done before.

Then, appointment in the personnel department. This is quick for civil servants, three statements on data protection, loyalty to the constitution and the use of official cars of the office. And not to forget the chip for the time recording. That is all there is to it.

The Health Department is located in a side wing. The first impression: „How many people work here?“. It’s like in a dovecote. Altogether it seems to be well over 80 people. Most of them are busy with the official orders circling around the containment of the coronavirus.

Four case investigation teams work in parallel. After the first stormy weeks, new structures are now being created, into which I am to be integrated. Many employees have joined from other departments. One team leader was previously with the water department, others were employed in the fine department. These are colourful teams, but all of them are united by the ability and the will to work together. It’s fascinating to see how directly communication is lived. But the exhaustion is also evident. A lot of work is done here, but the constant occupation with new challenges is demanding.

The first day is hell, so many names and faces you meet and an incredible amount of paper to read. The general decree of the district, the announcements of the Robert Koch Institute, the forms and so on.

A small secretariat is the starting point for all activities. Most e-mails and incoming faxes are processed centrally here. Flipchart sheets on the wall show the positive test reports on the corona virus that have been received so far. Here it becomes visible that behind every number there is an affected person who is very real. It is also clear that nobody is allowed in this room without a reason.

The day is going by like nothing. The outcome of the first day: a flow chart summarising the discharge criteria of the Robert Koch Institute.