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Leading Books | ReadingSocial | LivingSocial

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:49:38 GMT

http://readers.livingsocial.com/

aNobii: Create, Share, and Explore booklists

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:38:55 GMT

https://www.anobii.com/

Flycheapo.com

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:19:34 GMT

http://www.flycheapo.com/

Flight Deals - Compare International and Domestic Flights - Wego.com

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:04:01 GMT

http://www.wego.com/

All about 2012

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:03:05 GMT

http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm

Got a first glimpse of the Himalayas yesterday in Sarangkot.

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:30:41 GMT

Got a first glimpse of the Himalayas yesterday in Sarangkot.

:: BRAC International ::

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:19:30 GMT

http://www.brac.net/international.htm

Hands on Disaster Response Bangladesh

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:18:36 GMT

http://www.hodr.org/index.php/category/bangladesh

Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:12:55 GMT

http://www.habitatbangladesh.org/

Just got offered a job in Vienna, damn recruiters...

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:37:59 GMT

Just got offered a job in Vienna, damn recruiters...

Sueninos.org - In jedem Kind steckt ein Traum

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:32:41 GMT

How I became relegated to being man #2

Sun, 25 May 2008 12:51:30 GMT

Time for some random musings on India…

Austr(i|ali)a: Let’s face it, nobody knows Austria. It usually goes like this: “Where are you from?” – (Oh no, not again…) Austria.” – “Ah, Australia. Good country! Cricket!” – “Uhm, yes. Australia’s a good country, but I’m from Austria.” – “Yes, Australia. Good!” – But then, only a few days ago, it seems as if the word “Austria” suddenly registers with my conversation partner, he concentrates deeply for a
moment, smiles and then asks: “Arnold country?” – There is no god.

Buckets: Indian hotels led to my newfound admiration for buckets, the most useful tool mankind ever invented! Why? Because they are incredibly versatile. You can wash your clothes in them, use them as showers, puke into them, sweep floors with the water inside them, turn them around and use them as chairs or to catch cockroaches, the possibilities are almost endless. In bucket we trust!

Cricket: India is cricket country, full stop. The sport is everywhere, and although I fully agree that aliens must have brought it to our planet (who am I to argue with Douglas Adams?), I lately feel a
strange attraction to it, watching quite a bit of the new Indian Twenty20 league together with good old Spyro. In our defense, it is a lot more interesting to watch than test cricket, and – as an
Australian guy explained to us yesterday – it’s as close to backyard cricket as you can get. Wait, backyard cricket? We’re in! Because playing cricket is even more fun than watching it. Especially when you play barefoot with a bunch of Indians on dirty streets, where you are out after one bounce and a boundary doesn’t get you 4 or 6 points, but evil looks from everybody around ‘cause you just lost the ball…

Transport: Auto-rickshaw – done. Bicycle-rickshaw – done. Non-AC bus for 15+ hours on horrible roads – done. Sitting on the floor in an overcrowded train next to an open door – done. Riding on top of a
truck to the amusement of the Indians around us – done.

Movies: Indians are crazy about their cinema. And Indian cinema is crazy. In fact, it’s crazy enough to let bums like Spyro and me play business men in a Tamil movie. Yes, business men! We got casted (“You guys wanna be in a movie tomorrow?” – “Hm, why not…” – “Can you maybe shave?” – “No!” – “Ok”) in our lovely Mahabalipuram and went to the movie shot in Chennai the next day (and yes, they paid our ride there, which was quite handy since we needed to catch a bus from there anyway), arrived at the set around 9:30, got great food and then…sat around for a while. After a couple of hours we got more great food and were told “Relax over there in the shade”. Relax? Sure, we are good at that. Anyway, eventually they made us wear suits (it’s good that there are no pics, Spy looked like a 16 year old forced to wear a suit for some relative’s wedding or something), and gave us our great lines. Originally I was supposed to be Man#1, who had an impressive 15 words of text (“Okay, Mr. Krishna. We have decided to start three new companies in association with you.”), but after we told the producers that we couldn’t make it back to Chennai ten days later, the stuttering
African guy got promoted and I was relegated to become Man#2 (“You have to make them the best companies!”). Spyro starred as Man#3 (“Not only the best, but also number one!”), but later managed to sneak another sentence in. Overall a very cool experience, the male lead and the other guys were all really nice and funny, we got delicious food and 500 rupees. The movie will start in South Indian cinemas around August 2008, but if things keep going at the current rate, we’ll be living in Hollywood by then. I wonder if the food is as good there…

Travels: After the last big update (sent from Bangalore) we went on to Pondicherry (nice, but a bit boring) including a day-trip to Auroville (according to Wikipedia it’s an “experimental township”, according to us it’s…weird), Mahabalipuram (a relaxed backpacker town), Chennai (from here to fame) and Rameswaram (impressing temple, great food and close to an eerie post-Tsunami ghost-town). Last stop in Tamil Nadu was Kanyakumari, where the Arabian Sea meets the Indian Ocean and the
Bay of Bengal, and where the food is terrible. Right now we are in Kerala, a state ruled by the first democratically elected communist government in the world. We spent a couple of hours in the state capital Trivandrum, before coming to Varkala (another very backpackery town) where we are
currently hanging around like a bad smell (literally). Our future plans are – as always – tentative at best, so if you have any suggestions or want to meet up somewhere, shoot me a message!

Lots of love and licks to body parts of your choice,
M

Bangladesh NGO Non Government Organizations

Sat, 24 May 2008 08:24:43 GMT

Tags: volunteering bangladesh

Yacht Crew Jobs

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:18:00 GMT

Tags: jobs sailing travel

Awake since roughly 38 hours, but having a great time! Keep randomly bumping ...

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:12:22 GMT

Awake since roughly 38 hours, but having a great time! Keep randomly bumping into friends who drag me along and met some cool new people in the process. Also got a free ticket for the international film festival here in Istanbul where I just watched a bunch of shorts and "Man On The Moon" with Jim Carey. And I found out that Agnostic Front are playing here tomorrow night. I love this place! İyi geceler!

"I've got the scars to remind me I've watched the clocks go around I've walk..."

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:44:46 GMT

I've got the scars to remind me I've watched the clocks go around I've walked myself through some days That have put me where I am In another time in another place All things might have been in place But for now I'm finding myself Up here standing on a rooftop screaming: "Hey world are you listening? Listening to me? I'm here and i'm hurting to begin again" It's another time it's another place And we are making more old days But for now I'm finding myself Out here standing on my doorstep screaming: "Hey world are you listening? Are you listening to me I'm here and I'm hurting to begin again Hey world I'm ready to listen And learn something new I'm here and I'm willing To get myself through –Rooftops - Hot Water Music

"It's not where you come fromIt's more where you're goingAnd knowing the going..."

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:30:11 GMT

It's not where you come from It's more where you're going And knowing the going might get strange The world's greatest writers Are all drunks and fighters Get going, that isn't going to change Will you still wager on the egg? Is it the egg or are you chicken? There's an outside possibility Your life might start to kick in Your heart will start to race Will you chase or set the pace? Brace yourself The plot's about to thicken It's not where you come from It's more where you're going And knowing the going might get strange The world's greatest writers Are all drunks and fighters Get going, that isn't going to change It's been a thousand years or two And still the seconds keep on clicking Clogging cogs and greasing gears Still you can't stop the clock from ticking It's time that's overrated And being great's become outdated The apples, oranges? Not worth picking It's not where you come from It's more where you're going And knowing the going might get strange The world's greatest writers Are all drunks and fighters Get going, that isn't going to change Where is it we're going? Who was it who said it? Which stones are worth throwing? Who will we discredit? A pathetic aesthetic In a world less poetic It's not where you come from It's going, go get it –Where You Come From - Mighty Mighty Bosstones

At home sick, but having çiğ köfte for breakfast, so I still consider this a ...

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:28:44 GMT

At home sick, but having çiğ köfte for breakfast, so I still consider this a good day. Raw meat for the win!

Great weekend: a friend visiting me in Istanbul, free hugs, pillow fight and ...

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:10:17 GMT

Great weekend: a friend visiting me in Istanbul, free hugs, pillow fight and an awesome photo exhibition. Çok yorgunum, ama çok şanslıyım!

Yes, still in Istanbul...

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:58:17 GMT

Since I get the same questions over and over again, I decided to do this update in the form of a little Q&A session:

Q: How long will you be traveling for?
A: Don’t know. Until I’m done I guess. I don’t really want to go back to Austria before summer 2009 though…

Q: So you got stuck in Istanbul. What’s her name?
A: No girl involved, honestly. For once I’m doing something stupid out of my own free will.

Q: Do you speak any Turkish yet?
A: Well, I picked up some random words and phrases in the last month, but since I want to learn quicker I’m now taking a course (12 lessons a week).

Q: Is Istanbul safe?
A: Yup, definitely, at least if you have some form of common sense (e.g. showing huge amounts of foreign currency in dark side streets at 2am is probably not a smart move and the random guy who starts a nice conversation in Sultanahmet will at one point try to sell you a carpet). People here seem to be really afraid of terrorism though, so you see loads of armed cops and have to pass metal detectors every time you want to go on a subway or in a mall (or other public building/sight). And since they don’t have trash cans in the city center because somebody could hide a bomb in them, I came to detest all kinds of wrappings.

Q: How’s public transport?
A: Okayish. There’s busses, ferries, trams, dolmuş (minibus taxis) and subways. Of course the subway lines don’t meet, so changing between them is not an easy feat. The busses however go all over the city (if they manage to go at all because of the insane traffic), but whoever designed the bus stops here must be a strong believer in Darwinism and the survival of the fittest. Why? Because it can be damn hard to find out which busses leave at any given stop and where they are headed.
Schedules are unheard of (well, they can be looked up online, but that’s almost like believing in the tooth fairy) and intermediate stops don’t get announced on the busses. So once you figure out how to go to a place, you make that knowledge your best kept family secret, because at one point it may turn out to be a competitive advantage (‘My kids know how to get to the university!’). Ok, it’s not always that bad and people are actually very helpful, but on several occasions walking was way faster and less annoying than being stuck in a traffic jam on an overcrowded bus.

Q: How are the people in Istanbul?
A: Awesome! Their hospitality puts us all to shame and the young people are well educated and very interested in topics like world politics, religion etc. Of course my perspective probably is a little
skewed because I mostly hang out with students, but I fırmly believe that if everybody in Austria would be so welcoming and helpful to foreigners as people are here, that country of ours would be a much nicer place.

There’s some more questions, but I can’t really be bothered answering them right now, so I’ll save them for a future update.

Görüşürüz.

Found a nice room in Istanbul with a cool flatmate and started to learn Turki...

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:41:03 GMT

Found a nice room in Istanbul with a cool flatmate and started to learn Turkish. Further travels delayed for a couple of month.

Istanfool

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:51:06 GMT

Here we go for part two of my “amazing” adventures. And despite Istanbul being only the second stop on my trip, it seems like I’ll already throw my plans overboard here. In theory I will board a plane on Monday morning and go to Muscat (Oman), from where I’d head to Mumbai on the 29th. My friend Josiah already expects me there and we
have a road trip to Goa and Bangalore planned.

The only problem is, I don’t see myself leaving Istanbul right now, and I don’t even really know why. Sure, there are some pretty amazing sights, but that’s definitely not what fascinates me. Plus I’ve already been to a lot of them (Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi palace, Galata Tower, the Basilica Cistern and so on). It’s more about the whole Asia meets Europe and tradition meets modernity thing I guess. And the fact that I never before stayed in a city which seems to exactly have my pace.

So? Honestly, I don’t know. The current idea is to find a cheap room in a shared flat and stay there till end of April/end of May and learn as much Turkish as possible in that time. In all likelihood India will still be there in a couple of month and my visa is valid till mid-July, so this part of my travels can easily be postponed.

Hope all of you are doing fine, keep me updated on what you are up to!

Went to a cool private party last night and saw the Fenerbahce vs Genclerbir...

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:10:52 GMT

Went to a cool private party last night and saw the Fenerbahce vs Genclerbirligi game today. And I got my ticket for free! :)

Just came home from a pretty cool dub/jungle party. Ben İstanbul’u seviyorum!

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:58:07 GMT

Just came home from a pretty cool dub/jungle party. Ben İstanbul’u seviyorum!

Cool CouchSurfing moments: getting a Cuban cigar from a Basque in Turkey.

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:16:31 GMT

Cool CouchSurfing moments: getting a Cuban cigar from a Basque in Turkey.

One thing I like about Istanbul: taking a ferry from Europe to Asia to meet a...

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:15:05 GMT

One thing I like about Istanbul: taking a ferry from Europe to Asia to meet a friend for coffee. Two continents within a couple hours...

Enjoying life's simple pleasures: drinking çay, smoking nargile and playing t...

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:33:28 GMT

Enjoying life's simple pleasures: drinking çay, smoking nargile and playing tavla.

Awesome first night in istanbul! And it's good to see Jeff again. Looking for...

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:26:26 GMT

Awesome first night in istanbul! And it's good to see Jeff again. Looking forward to the next 2 weeks!

Finished "Meine Reisen mit Herodot" by Ryszard Kapuscinski. A really good boo...

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:02:05 GMT

Finished "Meine Reisen mit Herodot" by Ryszard Kapuscinski. A really good book about traveling, highly recommended!

Just bought a flight to Oman. Will go from Istanbul to Muscat on Feb 18th for...

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:02:15 GMT

Just bought a flight to Oman. Will go from Istanbul to Muscat on Feb 18th for 120 Euro. Go Air Arabia winter sale!

Athens is a riot!

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:17:25 GMT

After quitting my job and my apartment I finally left Austria last Friday. Since I found a really cheap flight with Sky Europe (22 Euro), I made Athens my first destination. For the first 4 nights I stayed at Kostas’ place in Kipseli and we had loads of fun! Among the highlights were eating in tradtional taverns, going out in Psiiri (pretty cool drum’n’bass party on the first night), drinking my first Rakomelo at the CouchSurfing meeting before watching anarchists attacking police with molotows in Exarcheia, going to a party till 7.15am the next morning (and going back home in a way too crowded car), playing Go at cafes and other places, having Suvlaki on the roof of a house on the way up to Acropolis overlooking the city and smoking shisha and drinking Raki in a small Turkish bar.

On Tuesday I moved to Natalia’s and Dinos’ place, where we had a really fun game evening accompanied by quite some Rakomelo (I love this drink by the way, Christmas markets in Austria better sell this once I get back!). Yesterday I finally did some touristy stuff and went to the Acropolis. To be honest the 12 Euro admission fee seems a bit much, but the stunning views over the city make up for it. After that I bumped into an Italian guy who seems to be a pretty well known scammer in the area. He is trying to lure tourists into a somewhat dodgy place called “Love Pub”. Although my ingenious plan to use his own weapons against him so he would pay for my drink didn’t work out, a good Ouzo and his disappointed face when I left without buying any drinks for him and the prosti…girls we “met” at this bar were definitely worth the 45 minutes I invested. There’s another CS meeting tomorrow and I guess it will become a late night out again. I’m glad my flight to Istanbul isn’t before 7pm on Saturday!

Anyway, Athens is a kickass place, with good nightlife, awesome food (go eat the Tandoori chicken wraps with freshly baked bread the Indian guy in Exarcheia sells!) and attractive people in every possible demographic group you might be interested in! I’ve only been here for a week, but I already know that I’m going to miss this place…

Hanging out in the anarchist part of athens. Just saw a riot with molotows, p...

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:30:53 GMT

Hanging out in the anarchist part of athens. Just saw a riot with molotows, police tear gassed the place.

No job, no apartment, no contracts. I'm free!

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:53:49 GMT

No job, no apartment, no contracts. I'm free!

(Image)

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:48:50 GMT

Reposted from fab34 via cygenb0ck

Retro-gamer cupcakes OM NOM NOM NOM - Boing Boing

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:45:29 GMT

Retro-gamer cupcakes OM NOM NOM NOM - Boing Boing

Reposted from jesse via oneup

nothing exists but empty space and you. but you are just a thought.

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:38:18 GMT

nothing exists but empty space and you. but you are just a thought.

Reposted from oneup

Overflo's "Dick" dilemma

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:39:46 GMT

Naja, die Eltern taufen ihre Kinder ja eh Richard, keine Ahnung warum Dick dafür die gängige Abkürzung ist.

"<Scotty> Und er brachte ne Packung Kondome zur Kassiererin. <Sc..."

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:44:37 GMT

Und er brachte ne Packung Kondome zur Kassiererin. Sie hat die Kondome eingescannt und dann tat er so, als hätte er zu wenig Geld und ging zurück in den Laden. Dann kam er mit ner Tüte Gummibändern und Frischhaltefolie zurück. Das Gesicht der Kassiererin werde ich nie vergessen xD –German-bash.org - Quotes - Zitat #157172

Reposted from overflo

DDR_survivor maxx|REFLExx|

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:13:10 GMT

DDR_survivor maxx|REFLExx|

An meine Viren.

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:47:03 GMT

Werte Passagiere,
Danke dass Sie sich für eine Reise an Board der overflo entschieden haben.

Die aktuelle Körpertemperatur beträgt 38.2°C
Lungenschleim und Durchfall sind ausreichend vorhanden.
Antibiotika und Schmerzmittel entnehmen Sie bitte dem Blutkreislauf.
Wir wünschen eine angenehme Erkrankung.

Reposted from overflo