15 highlights from our mind-blowing Switzerland vacations
1. Being with friends
dqdev.net |
An archive of my life |
The latest book I read on professional road cycling is called “Rough Ride” and it is written by former pro cyclist (and currently sports journalist), Paul Kimmage.
The first week of 2011, dqdev.net arranged a Special Contributors’ week, inviting its readers to write a short post on a subject of their choice. The response and involvement were impressive and I am grateful. A big ‘Thank you’ to all.
Below are listed all contributions by day.
Saturday 2011-01-01: Mrs K’s post
Sunday 2011-01-02: IKE’s post
Monday 2011-01-03: Maarten’s post
Tuesday 2011-01-04: Nikou’s post
Wednesday 2011-01-05: Phil’s post
Thurday 2011-01-06: MrBengt’s post
Friday 2011-01-07: Magnus’ post
Saturday 2011-01-08: Giulia's post
Personally, I found all of them very interesting and I enjoyed reading and sharing them. The visitors of dqdev.net seem to share this opinion, since the amount of unique visitors clearly increased by approximately 100% during this last week.
‘Contributors’ week’ was an excellent idea, and dqdev.net gained from it in every aspect. In the near future I plan to host more ‘Invited Posts’ from followers of dqdev.net. If you have an idea, do not hesitate to contact me. 
Once more, thank you!
Last, but definitely not least, is my dear friend Giulia. I met Giulia in Graz while she was -literally- testing human brain tissue specimen in tensile machines. Since then I have never objected to her...
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Climbing with a sled.
Next contributor is Magnus.
Magnus is a life-aficionado, always preaching the ‘difference between merely existing and actually living’. Furthermore, he is a Conqueror of the Pyrenees.
In the following -truly amazing- photographs Magnus shows how he manages to combine two of his greatest passions, road cycling and long-distance ice-skating.
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Magnus, el sufrido modelo de la imagien, sólo queria dar una vueltecita en bici, pero claro, en pleno invierno eso es mucho pedir en la zona de los lagos interiores de Suecia. Al final acaba practicando una nueva disciplina: patinaje con la bici al hombro.
Next post comes from MrBengt, THE Aerospace Engineer I want one day become. In his free time, MrBengt plays the drums for probably the coolest band around, DrBobandMrBengt.
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You never can tell.
Today's post comes from the other side of Atlantic, and in particular from my friend Phil.
Phil is a Californian expert on Ancient Roman Concrete (?), an embassador of the benefits of eating broccoli, and a scholar of the 'hook-shot'-Art.
The following is Literature at its finest! Enjoy.
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This was a couple of years ago, but on a New Year's eve party. At the beach, definitively. Before or after New Year's? I can't be sure - I'm not used to paying attention to the time once it gets dark. It seems not to matter. I usually just check the time whenever the night comes lurching to a halt - though sometimes it just disappears - and then sometimes send a message to somebody to say "look at me, I stayed up until THIS LATE", along with whatever else the message has to say for itself. I started when I met the girl by the fire. It did not begin promisingly. She kept coughing. As soon as I would start to say something, often times something quite witty and crucial to that particular moment, a cough charged forth. It was as though she was allergic to my observations, which I must again emphasize were witty and crucial in their particular moments, although instead of sneezing or abruptly ceasing to be able to breathe, she coughed. Nothing tuberculin or whooping about it, but still extremely problematic to the task(s) at hand. She swore up and down that she wasn't sick. So I issued an ultimatum: either she stop coughing or I would requisition a pipe from one of my friends who had stopped smoking them but still had some tobacco and light it and smoke it and blow smokerings in her face it would give her a reason to cough, I said. It is good to watch people's faces when you give them ultimatums, and so I can tell you that her face grew more and more displeased with each stipulation, so that when I got to the part about her face, it was aghast, as though the smokerings would make her age disproportionately, like a boom-and-bust-rain-and-dust tree or something (the coughs made me think of her as an environmentalist). And she stopped coughing. And she said you had better get that pipe, just to be sure. And she tackled me as I was walking with schemes in my head to steal the pipe. And that is why, whenever I think of her now, I check behind my ears to see if the sand is still there.
The next contributor is a friend back from the NTUA-days. His talents range from Managerial Logistics to Magic: The Gathering.
Before keeping on reading, please bare in mind that I do not edit the contributions, I just post them.
WARNING: The following post contains nudity.
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There was once, a man with vision,
(editor's note: To non-greek speakers, the statue behind is of Aristotle Onassis).
Next up is my good friend from Belgium, Maarten, who seems to know a thing or two about music.
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My CD top 10 of 2010
1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
My favorite band ever since I heard their song 'No Cars Go' back in 2005, and they easily stay on number one with this great cd. 
Favorite song: Modern Man.
Today's contributor is IKE, creator of robotpig.net and erripman.com, and author of the UAVs blog. Enjoy the submission's caustic text and incredible visualizations.
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In the olden times our host, dq, visualized a concept prior to the legendary Red Bull gravity car abandoned project. The project was inspired by the completely irrelevant Otto Lilienthal biography. Until today nobody knows why (dq included).
After all these years it is time for this surrealistic concept to attract the attention it deserved (or maybe not, you decide).
Aerospace engineer with a passion for cycling
