Fürth sites/Fürther Webseiten

I seem to have missed the Kantinenblogger, who posts photos of his canteen meals every day, mainly from Fürth, but also from Nuremberg, Munich and Auburn Hills (I assume the large proportion of sweetcorn kernels is a matter of choice).

(Discovered from print edition of Fürther Nachrichten)

Another site that has started is about the natural surroundings: www.natuerlich-fuerth.de

In the Stadtzeitung, the Oberbürgermeister reports on how many birds have been seen along the railway line: the black stork (Schwarzstorch), nightingale (Nachtigall), green-footed moorhens (Grünfüßige Teichhühner), the golden oriole (Pirol) and the curlew (Großer Brachvogel).

I wasn’t hopeful of seeing nightingales, a search for the black stork has failed so far – have seen a kingfisher though – I doubt the curlew will be strolling around close, but I was interested by the green-footed moorhen – until I realized that all moorhens are green-footed.

Here is a juvenile moorhen hiding its feet:

and here a muskrat (they must have heard there is no price on their heads at the moment):

Eisenberg on Sick/Eisenberg über Sick

A Deutschlandfunk interview with Peter Eisenberg, mainly on Bastian Sick, the Lynne Truss of Der Spiegel:

Eisenberg: … Es wird den Deutschen ja oft vorgehalten, dass sie ein gebrochenes Verhältnis zu ihrer Sprache haben, dass sie ihrer Sprache nicht loyal genug gegenüber sind. Das stimmt im allgemeinen nicht. Die Deutschen haben ihre Sprache eigentlich ganz gern. Ich glaube nur nicht, dass sich das darin ausdrückt, dass sie Herrn Sick nachlaufen. Es drückt sich zum Beispiel darin aus, dass sie eine vom Staat verordnete Orthographie-Reform nicht akzeptieren. Da hat wirklich das Volk gesprochen und gesagt nein, das wollen wir nicht. Das ist ein Eingriff in unsere Sprache. Das nehmen wir nicht hin vom Staat. An so etwas zeigt sich die Sprachloyalität der Deutschen, aber nicht darin, dass sie nun zu Herrn Sick oder zu anderen Entertainern laufen.

It’s a mystery why this topic was chosen, but a relief to read the discussion.

(Via Bremer Sprachblog)

Interviews with Supreme Court Justices/Video-Interviews mit US Supreme-Court-Richtern

At LawProse, Inc.

In 2006-2007, Bryan Garner interviewed eight of the nine Justices about legal writing and advocacy. These are the complete interviews. Because the files are large, the videos may take a few moments to start playing.

LawProse is making these interviews available as a public service. Anyone may freely use these videos for educational purposes, with appropriate attribution to Bryan Garner or LawProse.

(Via The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog)

Best literary translations of 2007 / Beste Literaturübersetzungen ins Englische 2007

three percent, a ‘Resource for international literature at the University of Rochester’ (links, weblog, translation program), has published a longlist of the best literary translations in 2007. Not much German, but Der Gehilfe by Robert Walser could be fun.

Here’s the analysis.

Twenty-one languages are represented on the list, with French (11 books or 22%) being the most, Spanish (10, 20%) in second, and German (4), Russian (4), and Japanese (3) rounding out the top five. Two titles from both Arabic and Hebrew made the list, and the following languages each had one title: Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Flemish, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Nepali, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Romanian, and Turkish. Overall, a pretty nice balance.

(Thanks to Trevor)

Dewey & LeBoeuf raspberry via Blackberry / Aber wie war die deutsche Übersetzung?

Above the law reports this exchange by Blackberry at Dewey & Leboeuf:

From: Ralph C. Ferrara
To: DL All Attorneys – US
Cc: Ferrara, Ralph C.
Sent: Mon Dec 17 11:00:29 2007
Subject: German Translation – Completed

Dear All,

Thank you for your many quick responses [to a request for translation of a German document]. The translation has been completed.

Regards, Ralph
______________

From: Stephen A. Best
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 11:02 AM
To: Ferrara, Ralph C.; DL All Attorneys – US
Subject: Re: German Translation – Completed

Zieg Heil!!!!!!

Sent from my Blackberry Wireless Handheld

This led to great excitement in the comments both there and on The Volokh Conspiracy.

Interesting that you write to all attorneys to get a German translation.

Thanks to Ed. at Blawg Review for the tipoff)