Having moved into a Munich 4th story penthouse with a view to the Alps, I tried for months to get a proper pictures of them. On a somewhat cloudy day my compact Sony DSC-HX90 ultrazoom was hopeless, the color and brightness resolution just wasn’t there. I posted some smartphone snapshots on Twitter but those were … Continue reading “Alpine Panorama”
Martin Luther’s Bible Translation
In my last post on Really Old German from the book Sternstunden I remarked in closing that the chapter on Martin Luther shouldn’t bring any big surprises. Turns out I was wrong. I expected some excerpts from his famous translation of the New Testament but instead this chapter contains Luther’s comments on his translation, cited … Continue reading “Martin Luther’s Bible Translation”
Really Old German
If you’re interested highlights of historical German literature there is one very excellent book,“Sternstunden: Große Texte deutscher Sprache,” by Josef Kraus and Walter Krämer, IFB Verlag Deutsche Sprache GmbH, ISBN 978-3-942409-74-2. Most of it covers relatively modern German texts but the most interesting parts, as far as I am concerned, are the two most ancient … Continue reading “Really Old German”
Star Chess 2.1 for Swing Released
Version 2.1.0 of Star Chess, my free mini space conquest game built to demonstrate a multiplayer turn prediction algorithm, is now available for download. As with previous updates to MIME Browser and Tektosyne, the big change is again due to the removal of JavaFX from Oracle’s Java SE distributions: Star Chess is now based on … Continue reading “Star Chess 2.1 for Swing Released”
Botanic Garden Butterflies
Munich’s botanic garden at Nymphenburg palace is currently showing off live tropical butterflies in one of its rooms. So naturally I got my macro lens and see what I could shoot, also adding some orchids (and turtles) from another room. I should say that I don’t actually have a clue about any of these subjects, … Continue reading “Botanic Garden Butterflies”
Moon Shot Shootout
Ever since I got my Sony DSC-HX90 with its 720 mm optical zoom range (albeit restricted to an equivalent f/37.4 at the high end due to the small sensor) I wondered if heavy expensive long lenses on my full-frame Sony Alpha 7R II were any use at all, given that I generally only use them … Continue reading “Moon Shot Shootout”
Greatest Hits in 2019
Total Kynosarges page views as determined by Google Analytics shrank rapidly year-over-year on both weblog and website, and would be worse if not for two surprisingly popular posts that have nothing to do with programming. The reasons are as usual: my traditionally most popular subjects – Windows DPI scaling, .NET/WPF and JavaFX development – are … Continue reading “Greatest Hits in 2019”
Programmer’s Guide to Theory
The Programmer’s Guide to Theory by Mike James (IO Press 2019, ISBN 978-1-871-9624-37) is intended for programmers who haven’t studied computer science but are planning to, or are simply interested in the ideas taught there. Mike James is an editor and frequent contributor at I Programmer who has a PhD in computer science. I cannot … Continue reading “Programmer’s Guide to Theory”
The Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe’s History by Peter H. Wilson (Penguin Books 2017, ISBN 978-0-141-04747-8) is an astonishing thousand-page tome of which about 300 pages are devoted to maps, color plates, family trees, chronology, glossary, and an enormous index. I’m not aware of anyone doubting the thoroughness or scholarly quality of … Continue reading “The Holy Roman Empire”
The Rats of Nationalism
Brandon Adamson has recently published a new book, The Rats of Nationalism, concerning the Internet (mostly really Twitter) presence of alternative right movements in America. Everyone who sees the title is bound to be confused. It’s not about calling nationalists “rats” in a derogatory sense, nor really about nationalists ratting out on each other, though … Continue reading “The Rats of Nationalism”