The Canadian multi-law-student weblog Law is Cool has discovered Leoben prison – already mentioned.

Since it was opened in March 2005 it has often been in the press, and has led to indignation among non-inmates.

The blogger, Lawrence Gridin, is restricted to online machine translation and invites comments from German speakers on this page. I quote the original German of the Kronen Zeitung from here.

Angeboten wird auch ein “Langzeitbesuch” – wobei sich ein Häftling maximal 24 Stunden lang mit Partner oder Familie in einem Raum ungestört aufhalten kann – was bereits für heiße Diskussionen sorgte.

Also a “long-term visit” is offered – whereby a prisoner can be maximally 24 hours long with partner or family in an area unimpaired – which already provided for hot discussions.

Von den Lebensumständen, die die Fotos vermitteln, kann das Gros der Bevölkerung wohl nur träumen: Ein Wuzzler im Aufenthaltsraum neben einem großen Fernseher, eine herrliche Sporthalle, ein piekfeiner Trainingsraum mit glänzenden Fitnessgeräten – und ein verträumter Blick in die grüne Landschaft neben Korbsessel und Palme. Die Luft ist allerdings “gesiebt”.

Of the life circumstances, which obtain the photos, the majority of the population can probably only dream: A Wuzzler in the lounge beside a large television, a wonderful sport-resounds, a piekfeiner training area with shining Fitnessgeräten – and a verträumter view into the green landscape beside basket armchair and palm. Air is however “gesiebt”.

Actually, the main drift comes over quite well.

As usual, if one had an MT program oneself, one could tell it that Manfred Gieß is a name, and then it would not write ‘Manfred pour’.

Unknown words are not translated. Hence the strained joke about ‘at least the air is filtered before it is allowed in’ is omitted. HÄf’n (slang for prison) and Wuzzler (table football) are terms that would need to be fed in.

I am surprised at ‘sport-resounds’ for Sporthalle.

Justizanstalt Leoben website (German)

Thanks to Ed. at Blawg Review for the tip-off.

Seen in Stadtpark today – it was a bit too dark to get a sharp shot of this fast-moving creature, the hero of all squirrel comparisons:

It’s Lovely! I’ll Take It! is a website subtitled A collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate listings. With love.

(Via Volker Weber)

Mouse soap from yeduo in Taiwan.

Via Gizmodo.de

At Obiter Dictum, Christian Säfken recently dipped a few toes in the murky waters of terms for German lawyers:

Anwalt ist nicht gleich Anwalt

He discusses: Jurist, Stud. iur., Cand. iur., Wirtschaftsjurist, Rechtskundiger, geprüfter Rechtskandidat, Diplom-Jurist, Volljurist, Rechtsanwalt, Patentanwalt, Syndikus, Justiziar, Fachanwalt. Keen commenters wish to add Assessor, Probericht, Sozius.

We might add Notar and Anwaltsnotar, Staatsanwalt, Amtsanwalt, Rechtspfleger, Rechtsbeistand, Verteidiger.

We could add the Swiss Advokat, Fürsprecher and Fürsprech.

It’s a curious fact about the red squirrel, quite common in Germany, that some of them are black. Here’s a Wikimedia picture:

They are sometimes much blacker than that, but the same size as the red squirrel and obviously similar.

Now recently it has come to the attention of Germans that the UK is overrun with immigrant US grey squirrels – sciurus carolinensis. This is not exactly news, but the Guardian did recommend them as the ultimate ethical meal.

Somehow the local paper has got it into its head that sciurus carolinensis is black, and it is quick to report – with photo – that not every black squirrel is bad:

Das rote Eichhörnchen ist uns vertraut und jedem schon einmal über den Weg gelaufen. Und jetzt sollen, so heißt es, seine Tage gezählt sein. Das ist glücklicherweise nur ein Gerücht. Im Süden Englands haben sich allerdings die ausgewilderten und fast doppelt so großen schwarzen Eichhörnchen stark vermehrt. Die typischen rotfarbenen europäischen Eichhörnchen wurden mittlerweile in den Norden Englands verdrängt. Nicht jedes schwarze Eichhörnchen ist aber ein Nachfahre der amerikanischen Tiere. Das hier abgebildete Exemplar aus dem Landkreis Fürth ist einfach nur eine Farbvariante des uns vertrauten fuchsfarbenen Eichhörnchens. Sein Vorkommen beschränkt sich jedoch auf den süddeutschen Raum und ist auch dort nicht so häufig anzutreffen wie seine roten Vettern.

I’m not too sure that the grey squirrel should be described as ‘ausgewildert’, as if it had been a mink that escaped from a mink farm. Anyway, here is one of the nasty creatures photographed by myself in the south of England:

They have rather nice silvery tails, but I suppose that won’t do them any good if they’re not integrated.

LATER NOTE: I have obviously missed out on the ‘mutant’ black squirrel, which is a variant of the grey.

It has already taken over in parts of England and appears to be spreading.
Its rise means the greys now have serious competition for the first time since they were introduced to Britain from America in the 1870s.
The black squirrel is also likely to make life even harder for our native red squirrels.
A study by Cambridge scientists shows that black squirrels now make up half the squirrel population in some parts of the UK.
The upstarts are genetic mutations of greys, but have a darker fur and higher levels of the male sex hormone testosterone – making them more aggressive and more successful.

Well, I’d give them some peanuts if I met them.