(für die deutsche version bitte auf “more” klicken.)

more stuff from my studies:

oops, wrong link. has now been fixed. thanks john.

this is a report i wrote last summer. it’s about myricaria germanica, the german tamarisk.
myricaria germanica is a very specialized species of plant that grows on freshly accumulated, unsettled riverbanks. since there are hardly any wild rivers left in europe (and consequently not a lot of natural riverbanks), it’s facing extinction.
the paper includes information on the plant itself, its habitat, range, utilization, associated plant communities, endangerment and conservation status, and a list of further reading.
AND - again, some pretty pictures for those of you who don’t understand german. ;)
 

related post: myricaria germanica photos

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today was the second time i received the following email within two weeks:

Die Firma Ericsson verteilt Handys. und das gratis übers Internet, um der Marke Nokia entgegen zu wirken, welche dasselbe macht. Ericsson will sich damit bekannter machen. Deshalb verteilt das Unternehmen jetzt gratis das neue WAP-Handy. Alles was zu tun ist, ist diese Mail an acht Leute zu schicken. In etwa zwei Wochen erhält man dann ein Ericsson T 18. Wenn die Nachricht an 20 oder mehr Personen verschickt wird, erhält man sogar ein Ericsson R320 WAP-Phone.

the main message of this chain email: forward the email to at least 8 of your friends and receive an ericsson t18. forward it to 20 or more, and receive a free ericsson r320.

i find it stunning that the hoax has prevailed for so long, and is still very active. especially considering that the r320 was released in 1999! also, note how it says “ericsson” instead of “sony ericsson”.
both of these cellphones had monochrome displays (naturally), the t18 one only had two lines. you’d probably get some money along with it if you decided to take one. :-)
 

life would be a much better place if people did an internet search before forwarding this crap.
on the other hand, this particular one made me reminisce about the old days, when internet connections were dial-up and expensive as hell…