No more summer fun?: Weekly market before privatization - Münstersche Zeitung - great, just ruin the highlights of Münster, then it will soon be as boring here as in the hollow heads of the planners ...
muenster
Aasee (Münster) – Wikipedia - "Swimming in Aasee is currently prohibited and, due to poor water quality, especially during hot summer months, not recommended. However, there are efforts to improve the water quality. The main problems are blue-green algae, which multiply massively due to over-fertilization, as well as coliform bacteria. Contact with Aasee water in the summer can cause skin irritation, and ingestion can lead to life-threatening illnesses. Additionally, safety is compromised by the shallow water depth, which is further limited in some areas by bicycles lying on the bottom." - some things just have to be left uncommented ...
State Secretary Hanning retired - then August might have more time again to play chess in Nordwalde ...
City ranking: Munich in the lead, Herne at the bottom - and Münster in second place ...
Kunst-Trifft-Kohl.de :: Sculptures in Allotments - Münster Kinderhaus Culture - if you're in Münster (until September), go and see it. I like such exhibition concepts - public space as exhibition space and integration of life and art. Much more fun than walking around in sterile museum halls.
"Skulptur Projekte Münster 07" - finally it's starting. I like the Skulpturprojekte - the integration of art and normal space is simply the right way. Museums are always so stiff.
"Münstersche Zeitung": Publisher puts entire editorial staff on furlough - yes yes, the Münster local press. The MZ was at least somewhat usable - at least compared to the Westfälische Zeitung, which only passed on DPA reports and whose local editorial staff was simply terrible. And now the MZ has simply fired the entire local editorial staff, because you don't need such things. The difficult market situation? Well, that was simply the stupidity of management. As everywhere in the field. The arrogance and stupidity of the store is one reason why I never subscribed to the paper - the "better than Westfälische Nachrichten" is just a relative quality statement ...
Ball gegen Bahn: 1 to 0 - or also "hit, sunk".
Shooting at School in Emsdetten - Detten? School shooter? What's going on here?
Sale of NRW University Hospitals? - oh yes, privatization. Alleged panacea of our time. In reality, just as much quackery as snake oil.
Former BND spy implicates Hanning | tagesschau.de - hey, August, this is not a good picture that you are presenting of Nordwalde. I already thought that you had to play the role of the top spy was a mess, but this here ...
Show the flag against Nazis
The Netreaper reminds me that there is a counter-action to the Nazi march in Münster on February 18th. So actually even several counter-actions.
Online aerial images of Germany
Ok, I officially admit, I am impressed! Honestly, the idea of simply linking an address to a point on the map is great. Even if our area is only available with rather sparse resolution again. Great web application, big praise to the developers.
Did RWE know about defects in power pylons? - since the Spiegel article will soon disappear behind the paywall, here are the most important facts in the Tagesschau report.
The Failure of RWE
In times of crisis, you can fully rely on the fact that these overpriced energy suppliers can only do one thing: rip people off and exploit monopolies wherever they can. From the news:
Meanwhile, RWE has begun to assess and partially repair the damage. However, the power is expected to remain out in Steinfurt, Laer, Metelen, Horstmar, and Ochtrup until Monday.
How generous of them to finally start assessing the damage. How about at least restoring power to communication facilities? The phone service to Nordwalde still doesn't work - this is not just a total failure of Deutsche Telekom (which also has its share of blame), but also of the power suppliers. And how can it be that the power suppliers are unable to restore power supply in the district town? These are conditions like in the USA - only here no tornado has passed through, but just a slightly heavier snowfall.
Why these idiots and failures constantly think they need to raise prices when they can't even maintain something as basic as power operations, I just don't understand. The whole thing is an absolute failure and a total disgrace for RWE.
A snowflake falls ...
... and Münster is plunged into chaos. Buses with delays of 20-30 minutes, 20 kilometers of traffic jams on the highway in the evening that doesn't clear, and people needing to be supplied with blankets, tea, and gasoline by emergency services (where the locals didn't leave a path, so the emergency services had to drive over the fields ...) and no trains heading north at the station, with 50 travelers having to spend the night in the shelter bunker under the station.
It's always fascinating to witness how unprepared the city of Münster and many of its residents are for something as unusual as snow that actually stays for a moment. Suddenly, absolutely nothing works anymore. And people's minds freeze up just as quickly. Bunker - we have a bunch of hotels in Münster. If the train company can't transport their passengers, they should at least have the courage to offer them hotel rooms instead of sticking them in bunkers.
Oh, and in the Steinfurt district, numerous places are without power (20 according to the latest reports). Nordwalde is among them - so my parents and my sister's family are now sitting in the dark and cold. Hopefully, the power will be back there soon. Incidents like these always remind one how dependent we are on the power supply (and how good it is that in Münster the power comes underground - earthquakes are much rarer here than heavy snowfalls).
Family Update
Everything is fine in Nordwalde, my father was luckily back from the Sauerland very early on Friday and the power was also back on today at 11:00 - only the telephone took its time until 20:00 ...
Walk along the canal
Walking along the canal and captured a few impressions:
von Galen, his blessedness and his resistance
The WDR has a very good text about Cardinal von Galen online: Clemens August von Galen - a resistance fighter?.
The "Lion of Münster" roared well, if he did roar. He never questioned war and dictatorship as such, unless it concerned church affairs. He never found a word about the persecution of the Jews. While he feared the ideological "destruction of Christianity," the actual destruction of Judaism went unnoticed.
The article is really worth reading because it deals with the critical points about von Galen - it was about the church, the freedoms of the church. Not about democracy or freedom for all. His resistance also did not arise from him alone; he had people who urged him on. And he was a nationalist - beyond the borders, perhaps with the evil Bolsheviks, one could kill without hesitation.
The only part of his resistance that was probably really motivated by personal disgust and feeling, and not to be regarded as an attempt to protect the church, was his clear stance against euthanasia. Therefore, he was still a bit more of a resistor than most church leaders. At least that part of him can be acknowledged.
However, the way the Catholic Church now celebrates Cardinal von Galen is embarrassing. As a great symbol of resistance, he really cannot serve - if what he achieved is the best the Catholic Church can show from the Nazi regime, then they should better remain silent in shame. This is in no way proof of the incompatibility of the cross and the swastika. Rather, it is proof that the Catholic Church was at most concerned about its own power, but had little interest in preventing this abominable regime.
Night of Museums in Münster
As every year, the long night of museums in Münster took place again. However, something must have happened compared to last year. Last year, the interest was indeed great, but it could still be described as quite bearable. In the museums, one could move through the rooms - albeit with more visitors than usual. Only the Picasso Museum was already overcrowded last year and was only allowed to enter in groups.
This time, that was unthinkable - the State Museum of Art and Culture is not exactly small. Nevertheless, one could no longer get into some rooms because of the sheer number of people - who then, with guided tours, turned into real visitor traffic jams, making entire parts of the museum inaccessible.
Absolutely crazy the whole thing. Real hordes of people moved through the city and blew the collective attack on the museums. Somehow slightly surreal the whole thing
Montgolfiade in Münster
Montgolfiade in Münster
There were some of these today when I looked out the window. But it wasn't just that - after I had looked out for a bit, there were whole swarms of them to be seen. It looked pretty cool.
The pictures aren't particularly good, they were quick shots without much planning - even though balloons aren't really fast, when you see them in a herd like that, you realize that they do change position quite quickly.
And yes, there really were a few bottles of Potts, a cola bottle, and an ice cream cone flying around in the sky ...
Geocaching in Münsterland
Now that I have a Garmin Geko 201, I naturally have to take a look at the information about Geocaching. Does anyone have a good link to Geocaching activists in Münster and the surrounding area? That would be something for our upcoming vacation. Jutta always complains that she doesn't know the Münsterland well enough, so checking out Geocaches would be the ideal method to explore the area.
As a first starting point, I will take a look at the entries on geocaching.de for Ruhrpott and Emsland - we are neither Ruhrpott nor Emsland, but close enough to be included in both.
In addition, I now have a good reason to tell Jutta why I bought the thing.
And when I look at instructions like those for Vaders Stein, it will even be perfect for Jutta - she loves puzzle games. Hey, it could easily become a new hobby ...
Satellite photo of Münster
Google Maps are really quite funny - even if the images are sometimes unfortunately a bit thin in resolution. Here is the satellite image of Münster. The long blue blob is the Aasee - an artificial reservoir of the Münsteraner Aa created by Hermann Landois. The strange green ring in the city is the Promenade - a remnant of the old city fortifications and one of the main traffic routes for cyclists in Münster. The green outgrowth on the ring to the left, above the Aasee, is the Schlosspark. The blue strip from top to bottom in the right area of the image is the Dortmund-Ems Canal - the widening in the upper area is the lock system and the branch to the left into the city is the Stadthafen.
And as usual, I realize that a) I take too few photos of Münster and its surroundings and b) Wikipedia contains impressively many things.
Tuition Fees in NRW
Since summer 2006:
It was a rather uncontroversial meeting two weeks ago: In just three hours, the major topic of "education" was dealt with. Result of the harmonious coalition round of CDU and FDP: The "fastest possible" introduction of tuition fees, possibly as early as summer 2006.
Ripping off can be done very quickly, and freeing up studies from the bothersome working-class children for the sons and daughters of citizens again goes even faster for bourgeois parties. Although it is an absolute audacity in NRW with its extremely high proportion of workers, but what does that matter to Zerrüttgers and his ilk. They will ruin the country faster than the SPD ever could have ...
Black-Yellow breaks election promises even before the formation of the government
GEW criticizes Schwarz-Gelb's plans for elementary school policy:
The unionist's conclusion: "Anything that costs money: no sign of it." The points announced before the election - e.g. more teacher positions, smaller classes, teaching guarantee - are no longer a topic, instead "old conservative educational policy patterns are being served."
Track 22 voted best music club in Germany
Gleis 22 has been voted the best music club in Germany for the second time - and I found out a) from the Goslarer Zeitung and b) have never been there.
Somehow, for me, Gleis 22 was always associated with the JIB as a youth facility (with a bicycle workshop and photo lab), and the fact that the music club is normal for everyone and also offers music that could definitely interest me (punk, indie, alternative) somehow escaped me. And the place is also within absolute walking distance of our apartment.
Man, I'm an idiot. I've only lived in Münster for 13 years ...
This is Münster too
This is also Münster
In memory of the liberation of the concentration camps 60 years ago.
Contax sale
For the Münster locals: Köster near the train station is selling Contax N1 equipment (bodies, lenses) at quite good prices. These are likely remainder stock from the dissolution of Contax Germany. Since Kyocera is exiting the photography business and thus Contax is at an end for now, this could be the last opportunity to acquire one or the other lens. The lenses are manufactured by Zeiss and also serviced by Zeiss...
Graffiti and Art
Graffiti and Art - 1
The Skaters Palace is sprayed with graffiti and is a beautiful splash of color in an otherwise bleak area. If you continue from there to Agravis, you walk along a wall full of graffiti.
Graffiti and Art - 2
Here too, the colors are a wonderful contrast to the rather bleak industrial area. Even the plants in the area seem rather depressed - only the colors of the wall stand out. If you walk further to the canal and look at the Agravis silo, you will then be presented with the art.
Graffiti and Art - 3
Somehow I have the impression that the company would rather have spent the money on a decent, safe scaffolding and colors for the sprayers - the result would interest me far more than the colorful rags that were nailed to the silo ...
Sometimes Wikipedia surprises me with things that are actually quite obvious. For example, the very nice descriptions of the Münsterland and of course Münster itself.
Vesper Against Expansion of FMO
Translation
Anyone who has ever taken off or landed at FMO knows that State Building Minister Vesper is right in assessing that extending the runway is nonsense - because I don't know of any other airport as dead as the one in Münster and Osnabrück. It's simply a wasteland. And a longer runway won't help with that - nor will the fancy terminal expansion. Now the terminal where nothing happens is simply bigger than before. And with the longer runway, larger aircraft could land and take off.
Film Foundation Honors Artists and Cinemas
In Münster, Cinema and Schlosstheater each won a prize (20,000 and 15,000 euros). Congratulations to them! After all, these are our last bastions of independent cinemas - Cinema has existed since my school days with long cinema nights and lard sandwiches during intermission.
At WDR.de you can find the original article.
Couple could hardly be separated
Yeah, those Dülmen folks have always seemed suspicious to me
Münster is the world's most livable city
Absolutely crazy. Münster is nice and all - but I definitely wouldn't call this provincial dump the most livable city. Seems like some people had rose-tinted glasses on when making their voting decision...
You can find the original article at WDR.de.
Münster: Tillmann remains mayor
Well, unfortunately the people here in Münster are just too lazy to go out and show that guy where his politics belong. So the Union together with the FDP will be allowed to muddle through Münster for another 5 years with the gigantic majority of the mayor's vote.
At least this stupid hole in the roundabout has been averted. But unfortunately there are still far too many stupid ideas that can occur to them. But maybe the other city councilors will be unusually united enough to at least spit in the Union's soup where necessary.
At WDR.de there is the original article.
Well, there is still something positive sometimes ...
From the WDR Münster ticker (unfortunately neither RSS nor permalinks): The CDU in Münster has abandoned its plans for a parking garage at the Ludgeri roundabout. With this, the party drew consequences from Sunday's election. It became clear that the CDU would not find a majority with the parking garage. The incumbent CDU mayor Berthold Tillmann just missed the 50 percent hurdle in the municipal election and must now go to a runoff.
OK, what they didn't quite reveal: the Union+FDP has no majority in the council, but rather has equal votes with the others. Only if they get their candidate through in the mayoral runoff do they have - but only with the mayor's vote! - a voting majority. Could well be that something like that pressed their decision button a bit.
Regardless of why and how, the main thing is that this idiotic hole - in landscape and city coffers - doesn't come ...
The usual economic hand-wringing crowd - summarized in our Münster Business Initiative - of course immediately started complaining. And immediately got pushback: The Münster Business Initiative reacted irritably to the CDU's decision to abandon plans for a parking garage at the Ludgeri roundabout. It was a fatal knee-jerk reaction that would harm the city. Sparkasse Münsterland Ost, on the other hand, reacted calmly. The shopping center that Sparkasse is currently building in the city center will flourish even without these parking spaces.
This business initiative, by the way, has an impressive homepage - if you search for them, you only find cases for the Under Construction Club. Well, they're getting nervous too, I think: the retail trade is for the most part not in agreement with their position - all the merchants around the Ludgeri roundabout have anti-parking garage signs hanging in their windows.
And if anyone wonders why they pulled it off the table so quickly: on 10/10 there's a runoff for the mayor and the opposing candidate is running his campaign mainly on the hole at the Ludgeri roundabout. So don't just believe that the Union suddenly discovered its heart for the citizens, they're just nervous that they might lose the runoff and then lack a majority in the council to do anything. Even so it will be exciting enough - just takes one Union council member or FDP council member to get sick and there's trouble ...
Municipal Elections Münster
So the mayoral election unfortunately turned out much as expected. However, Tillmann apparently didn't manage 50 percent, so it looks like we'll be going to the polls again on 10.10. Unfortunately, the mayoral election results don't give me much hope that it will be better then. With the council election it's exciting. Extremely close for Union+FDP. But I fear that won't stop them from continuing their reckless nonsense, even if together they only just scrape over 50 percent. Presumably these nutcases will now bury our tax money under the Ludgeri Circle and destroy the promenade in that area through clear-cutting in the name of upgrading it - as they call it. Fantastic. Particularly annoying: in part this will probably be due to the idiots who didn't vote as a protest against government policy and would normally have voted SPD. No, the municipal election is not the right place to protest federal politics, you blunderers. In municipal elections it's about what happens on your doorstep - and that's exactly where a completely pointless and overpriced parking garage will now probably be built instead of a green space with old trees. Thanks to you too.
However, the district elections for Mitte district are at least encouraging in the results. A strong advantage for Red+Green. That's how I would have preferred it for all of Münster.
SZOn - "Sammlung Cremer" goes to Münster
The painting "Monochrome bleu" by Yves Klein and the "Cremer Collection" with more than 180 works of Nouveau Réalisme and the Fluxus movement will now be on view in Münster. - so if you're looking for a reason to visit Münster, this stuff is hanging in the Landesmuseum
Storms flood parts of North Rhine-Westphalia
Sure. And here? Of course only scorching heat.
(I live on the second floor and the house is on a hill, so storms only affect me through the puddle at the house entrance)
At WDR.de you can find the original article.
Former Cultural Capital Candidate Without Cultural Alderman?
The city council does not want to renew the contract with the current cultural affairs director - who belongs to the Greens. But they also don't have their own candidate because the one they had lined up simply turned them down. Now the office is supposed to remain vacant for months until they find a suitable candidate for the job. Isn't that amusing? With such an organizational disaster, they seriously wanted to apply to be cultural capital ...
Cologne, Essen or Münster?
Münster it didn't become. And no, Münster is not a normal case in cultural policy. At least I hope that a disaster case like Münster is not the norm ...
Tillmann's blather can be thrown in the bin anyway - as usual. Pure hypocrisy. The only true statement was "Cultural policy in Münster remains a citizens' movement" - exactly. Citizens, not a politicians' movement. The politicians in Münster at best demonetize cultural institutions and projects - the city council hasn't actually built anything.
At WDR.de there's the original article.
Beautiful on Father's Day, eerie on the weekend
Cool. The boozers have good weather today, but at the weekend during the city festival there's a wet and cold ass? Well, we'll see. But if the city festival falls through, I wouldn't like that at all ...
At WDR.de you can find the original article.
30-meter spruce for Easter bonfire
This Easter bonfire nonsense is getting on my nerves big time. The whole area stinks like a cold ashtray. Disgusting. And every farm thinks it has to burn its own Easter fire. Nothing but pyromaniacs around here ...
At WDR.de you can find the original article.
Cycling
Münster the most bicycle-friendly city? The ADFC has lost their minds. Sorry, but anyone who's ever cycled in Münster knows how mediocre the bike paths are - with a road bike you get your rims destroyed. Sure, as a cyclist you don't have to follow any traffic rules in Münster (at least most cyclists in Münster believe that - as a pedestrian you can often only choose whether you'd rather be run over by a car or a bicycle), but the city really isn't that bicycle-friendly. The entire city center is designed with large patches of cobblestones aimed at rim destruction, proper bike racks (ones that don't bend your rims) only exist in a few places, and you rarely see usable poles to chain bikes to. And if we hadn't accidentally had a red-green council once in a while, we wouldn't even have the bicycle parking garage (and probably not the park-and-ride area with bike boxes either).
At Fundsachen there's the original article.
Textile chain Boecker is bankrupt
Oops. Not only did I not know that there was a chain behind it, I also didn't know they had problems.
At WDR.de there is the original article.
No Interest in Critical Consumers
That sucks. And then the Karstadt right in front of my door too. Couldn't something like that happen somewhere else, so I could keep the illusion that there's still someone around here with a bit of sense? But apparently the managers at Karstadt have, in good Münsterland tradition, kept the only brain in the bottle ...
At Der Rollberg you can find the original article.