O.K., here are some links. Links to interesting web sites and hobbies:

Human Rights
How to act against unfair political trials and help prisoners being threatened by the death penalty? Please check out Amnesty International!Here you can subscribe to the mailing list for immediate action! It is a good way to use the new media directly for a very good purpose!
One of the most important features there is the Immediate Action.

Politics and International Relations
How the Institutions of the European Union caught up with the Information Society you can see in Brussels.

Trying to resolve International Conflicts and to help in the hardest stricken regions of the world: The United Nations.
If you are interested in International Relations, have a look at the interesting simulation of the University of Michigan.

Immigration / Green Card questions
For those interested in the regulations how to get a working and residence permit in the US, the so called Green Card, have a look at the site of the State Department.
Watch out: there are a lot of people trying to get money by selling people the information about the so called "Green Card Lottery". That's a scam! Do not pay anything to nobody!
Have a look for the next round of the "Diversity Program", the official name of this program. The program for 2005 starts in December 2003. For the first time submissions are only allowed electronically. If you are interested to get notified once the subscription period starts, drop me a line.

Techie links
Not just globally, but planetary ...and even further is a site in Switzerland. There you can find some interesting links to Astronomy including very cool screen-savers!

For all the Germans suffering by the deregulated phone-market a very good orientation, which provider is the cheapest at a certain time of day: "Billiger Telefonieren"

Language doesn't seem to be a problem anymore, if you have an electronic translation system. Unbelievable but true: Machine Translation Babelfish at Altavista. A MUST, have a look! It is very amusing translating a text from one language into another and backwards: better than "Stille Post"!
If you are looking for a Professional Translation tool that works perfectly, have a look to the site of our friends of TRADOS. They furnished the European Institutions with their "workbench", the best translation tool on the market. And don't forget: the European Union has to deal with eleven different languages of member-states - vice-versa!

Those, who would like to see their airplane flying in real time above the USA, should have a look at The Trip.com. The international version you will find at RLM. Very cool.

What do all these links have in common? They are linking you with certain web sites. Web sites are windows into the world, we are trying to get a better grip on what is going on out there.
Trying to understand is the driving force behind a lot of research and trade. A mean to better understand, to develop and test models are simulations. You have them in Political and Social Sciences as well as in all the Engineering Sciences.
One fascinating example is Microsoft's Flight Simulator. A lot of bang for the buck. But once you start 'the real thing', you even forget the simulator!

But even more fascinating for me is flying itself! There is a whole lot of information at your fingertips if you want to fly in the internet. Here are some pictures about my flying lessons (with German text).

Personal stuff

One of the most interesting German speaking poets was Erich Fried. Check out some of his poems. He died much to early in 1988. In the English speaking world he also got known by his translation of Bertold Brecht poems into English.