Happy Birthday Ela!

祝你生日快樂!

child : orphan :: parent : ?

Just read something in the AWAD newsletter:

we have a name for a child who has lost a parent -- orphan; 'widow' describes a woman whose husband has died, and widower for the male counterpart. But there is no term to describe a parent who has lost a child -- there are no words adequate for that pain.

And it's true; there's no word for that—nor in German, either, for that matter.

Hier ist das Erste Deutsche Fernsehen mit der tagesschau

I was just thinking the other day about the status of the tagesschau in Germany: a daily news programme by ARD (state-sponsored Channel 1). They have several programmes a day, but the one I'm talking about is the one from 20:00–20:15.

This has become somewhat of a fixed part of German culture: Stella said that she wouldn't call older people during that time since they would, most likely, be watching the news then. And when children have a certain age, they're allowed to stay up until tagesschau is over, but no later.

And it had a big influence on private television companies as well: even if they do not have news at that hour, the main film of the evening begins at quarter past eight. Apparently, some channels tried to start the evening at eight or half-past seven or so, but they never got enough viewers since the timeslot from eight to quarter past eight is "sacred" for many viewers, who'll switch to the tagesschau even if they don't watch state-sponsored TV the rest of the day—and if that would interrupt the feature film or cause them to miss the first bit, they'd rather watch something else instead that doesn't start until tagesschau is over.

It's possible that the tagesschau doesn't have the market share it used to, but things still start at 20:15 in nearly all channels.

[meme] Friends list survey

Friends list survey from easwaran via catamorphism.

• Number on friends list: 120 (four of them are my own journal plus three shared journals of mine, one's deleted, thirteen are secondary journals belonging to others on my friends list, so 102 for real)
• Spoken on the phone with: 4
• Met: 10 (including one of the above)
• Met twice or more: 6
• Visited their dwelling (that is, visited where they lived at some point when they lived there, not necessarily where they live now): 1
• Visited mine: 1
• Whose location I know: not that many I could even say the town correctly without looking. I shan't count.
• Whose full name I know (at least first+last): 63 (though some of them I'd have to think about it a little before it would occur to me; and one or two more I could find out the name by looking in my LiveJournal memories but I don't have it in my head; I'm surprised the number is this high, actually)
• Who I have known for more than three years ("knowing" online counts): 9, I think (most of whom are in the "Met" list: people I got to know through YAPC::Europe)
• With whom I have lived: 1
• To whose LJ I am addicted: none
• People with whom I share no friends: 9 (and a number of users with whom I share only one friend, or only very few—say, three or fewer)

And an icon meme from itchyfidget via sparkofcreation: Pick your favorite icon belonging to each of the people on your friends list. Post 'em in your LJ.

( cut for length and images )