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Sarah Jones, in her TED talk,  gives a great demonstration on switching identities. When held a (funny) mirror we get a chance to reflect (that’s what a mirror helps to do, right?) on what we do in real life.

Mostly we switch identities without consciously controlling it. When the cop stops us we might go into the little-innocent-boy identity, or when the kid is annoying too much, we play the big nasty bully. Sarah Jones reminded me that this switching of identities can indeed be controlled. I had an early experience with this when a well knows show host and comedian went over a map of Germany and gave a weather report for all the different areas in the appropriate dialect for the area – and there are quite a few for such a small country.

This impressed me so much that I was able to mimic some of the dialects and mannerisms. By doing this for myself I learned that I had to become a person from that area and then it was actually very simple to be credible. I did not get all the dialect-specific words right and probably missed some of the nuances of the dialects but as long as I was a person from that area it worked.

Sarah Jones is definitely a master at that – here she is…

What a beautiful song – so take five, relax and enjoy!

Never forget what this is all about – it’s not running after fame and fortune, it’s about enjoying the “Right NOW” where all the rest of the world can handle its own affairs for a little while…

Growing up in Germany, restrictions of gun ownership was just a way of life – you did not really consider owning one of those dangerous things.

That actually is not quite true in my case. I had once been beaten up by some drunken thugs, with a great danger that they would also do something nasty to  my littel sister being with me in my car (fortunately nothing happend in this department). At this time I had the thought of how good it would have been had I had the chance of self defense, instead of just waiting till they were done with me and then put a cold compresse on my swollen eyes.

My thoughts went even a bit further. One of the baddies had actually been apprehended right away and went to the slammer for a while, and I was worried that he would hold a grudge because I had been the one who identified him.

So, I actually did file an application for a hand gun license with the local police. To my surprise a cop actually showed up at my house and interviewed me. I must have flunked that badly because I never heard from them again. By the way, the baddie never actually showed up at my door to beat me up again.

About a decade later the situation was remedied by the fact that I moved to the US and one of my first actions was to arm myself. Since then things here in the US have gotten a lot more restrictive and I had to give up my rocket launcher – - – just kidding!

But I kept an eye on all things connected with self defense and gun restrictions. One of the countries with very strict laws against self defense is, as far as I know, the United Kingdom. There you actually become a criminal when you defend yourself with deadly force.

Therefore I was surprised when I got a link request from a British company – Farlows – that caters to shooters. In its website it actually has keywords like Men’s and Women’s Shooting Jackets and Shooting Accessories. So there is a gun culture in Great Britain!

Even though this is all about sports it is still comforting that the Brits have not allowed their masters to totally disarm them. Once all this turns around you will be able to buy rocket lauchers in the finer shopping areas of London.

Finally a good way to explain to your 9 or 10 year old how this all works – with all technical details…

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.

Here is finally somebody explaining the unilateral phase detractor and  explains how cardinal grammeters can be synchronized – something all of you engineers are capable of enjoying. Is there somebody who could transcribe this whole training session so that I can add it to this article in order for others to read along and not miss the tiniest nugget of engineering wisdom.

Before this video did you ever fully understand modio interaction of magneto reluctance and capacitance directives -  now you do!

We all have heard, and hopefully understand, that men and women do not speak the same language, even though they might use the same words and passed the same SAT.

A good treatize is to be found in the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray, Ph.D. – but sometimes you need some quick crash course and this is where this article comes in.

Once you know these nine essential female words you are all set – - – mostly…

1. Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
2. Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
3. Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
4. Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!
5. Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)
6. That’s Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
7. Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here – This is true, unless she says ‘Thanks a lot’ – that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say ‘you’re welcome’. that will bring on a ‘whatever’).
8. Whatever: Is a woman’s way of saying F— YOU!
9. Don’t worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking ‘What’s wrong?’ For the woman’s response refer to # 3.