Like languagehat, from whom I got this, I don’t usually do memes, but I will do this one.

You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

I gather from Wikipedia that people in Fahrenheit 451 each memorize a book for after the books have been destroyed. I think if I were in a situation where this was necessary it would be something like The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus vol. 1, or Pete and Dud’s Dagenham Dialogues.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

No comment.

The last book you bought is?

Günter Stössel, Nürnberg bei Fürth. Stössel collects quotes and from 1007 to the present he explains why Nurembergers, especially taxi drivers, are so snotty about Fürth. Every time I have to listen to this, I have wondered why the inhabitants of the bigger and more famous town could get so hot under the collar about the other. I have got to the point where the newer railway is deliberately deviated past Fürth.

What are you currently reading?

Nürnberg bei Fürth, see above. I was re-reading I, Claudius and Claudius the God, but I’ve abandoned the latter (after eight chapters) as it was more boring than I remembered it. The Times London History Atlas, edited by Hugh Clout. Brandwood, Davison and Slaughter, Licensed to Sell. The History and Heritage of the Public House. This is for reasons of family history research. I promised a friend I’d read Dan Brown, Angels and Demons, and see if I could finish it, but I haven’t started yet. Parry & Clark, The Law of Succession (tenth ed.), for work reasons. Wolfram von Eschenbach, Willehalm (Middle High German).

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

I prefer to read novels, but one wouldn’t be enough, and might be disappointing.
1. A very full anthology of English or German poetry, from Old English/Old High German to the present day.
2. A very fully illustrated history of world art.
3. The OED, although I am afraid it would have to be the one with a magnifying glass.
4. Seymour’s Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency or something similar.
5. A history or collection of historical texts on philosophy. Maybe The Oxford Companion to Philosophy would be OK.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

I’m not either. But if Trevor, Des or Mark Liberman wants to, let them, because I would be interested in their lists.

Bekanntlich hat die BBC am 1. April 1957 einen Film über die Spaghetti-Ernte in der Schweiz gezeigt. Als Video bei der BBC zu sehen.

Link to the BBC’s successful 1957 spaghetti harvest hoax on Panorama.

Alexander von Obert hat an seine (sehr nützliche) Webseite für technische Redakteure und Übersetzer ein Wiki gelinkt.

Es wäre gut gewesen, das Ganze an Wikipedia anzuhängen.

Die literarischen Übersetzer haben eifrig angefangen. Es handelt sich um Übersetzung ins Deutsche übrigens. Hier ein Auszug aus einem Eintrag zum Problem “das Mädchen – schreibe ich immer ‘es’ oder auch ‘sie’?”

bq. Hier noch ein Zeugnis aus erlauchtem Munde: “Bei einem bärtigen Anarchisten würde ich die ganze Strenge des Gesetzes fordern, ganz anders aber sähe es aus, wäre es ein hübsches junges Mädchen, DIE die Hand gegen mich höbe.” Sagte Kaiser Wilhelm II auf die Frage, wie er mit eventuellen AttentäterInnen umzugehen gedächte. Erstauntlicherweise wirkt dieses Zitat selbst beim verstocktesten Lektorat, das vorher auch über mehrere Sätze hinweg, wenn irgendwo ein Mädchen vorkam, immer “das” und “es” sehen will!

Man kann am Wiki mitarbeiten.

Problem gelöst – mein Name wurde entfernt.

I received a nice email from Kelly Search apologizing for the delay and saying they had removed my details from their website.

As I said in the comments, after I had posted on this topic, I had a vague sense of déjà vu – I think my details were originally taken by an offshoot of Kelly Search in an Asian language using the Roman alphabet. They had me down as a seller of tables and curtains. But my communication with them was hampered by misspelling.

So all is well – unless I suddenly see a more interesting future in selling tables and curtains and have to kick myself.

I wrote this when I had more time. Hope it makes sense now.

EFTA Court in Luxembourg

The EFTA Court fulfils the judicial function within the EFTA system, interpreting the Agreement on the European Economic Area with regard to the EFTA States party to the Agreement. At present those EFTA States are Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

They seem to use English.

The links of the week at the Juristisches Internetprojekt Saarbrücken have recently showcased:

Liechtensteiner Gesetze (Portal der liechtensteinischen Landesverwaltung)

including a link to the Geodata of Liechtenstein (PDF)

and Legilux (French), the portal of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

An article in the Neue Züricher Zeitung about the extent to which Swiss courts take account of EU law:

bq. Der Nachvollzug von Europarecht ist in der Schweiz, wie Baudenbacher betonte, bereits seit 17 Jahren, seit dem Nachvollzugsprogramm des Bundesrats von 1988, Realität. Seither muss in jeder Botschaft des Bundesrats ein Absatz über die Kompatibilität des vorliegenden Gesetzesentwurfs mit europäischem Recht enthalten sein. 1993 hätten Bundesrat und Parlament nach dem EWR-Nein mit dem bilateralen Weg und der Annahme des Swisslex-Pakets auf den Weg des Nachvollzugs – anstatt auf den Wettbewerb der Systeme – gesetzt.

Kantonsgericht Graubünden – via Handakte WebLAWg.

Actually there is a lot more Swiss material online, but this is where my steam ran out.