Coal miners working at the Zeche Zollverein in Germany.

Germany. Zeche Zollverein: Diamonds are Forever

16.10.2014

Events above the pit-web

The actual pit may have been shut down decades ago, but the lifeblood of Zeche Zollverein, one of Europe’s largest industrial monuments, is pulsating powerfully through its veins to this day. Bestowing upon it a new purpose by turning its extraordinary properties into an event location seemed a brilliant idea, whereby the challenge lies in simultaneously complying with the constraints a recognised UNESCO world heritage site has to bow to. The venue shakes up an impressive cocktail of modern industrial architecture corroborated by the moving history of a legendary colliery – and has rightly become a much-regarded landmark – and a meaningful symbol for the Ruhrgebiet region. Zeche Zollverein is the indisputable epitome of coal mining activities in Germany.

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The Cliffs of Moher - Ireland's most spectacular scenery

Virtual excursions in Ireland

13.10.2014

Forty Shades of Green on Google Street View

Not only the number of meeting variants is constantly growing, their degree of creativity increases as well. Ranging from the regular office get-together to the classical congress, popular in-between solutions like BarCamps, Open Spaces, casual World Cafés, Brownbag Sessions and whatnot, have been sprouting in mushroom-like fashion, only to be accompanied – or replaced – by the next unconventional novelty at the wink of an eye. But what if there isn’t time for an exchange face-to-face and/or the cost for it is unwarranted? In that case, one might want to opt for a virtual meeting instead. And, for the sake of the concept’s purity: Why not enhance it with a stressless, equally virtual „fringe programme“? An „excursion“ to the Cliffs of Moher on Ireland’s west coast could be a rewarding experience.

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A jumble of cables: Frankfurt is the world's largest internet exchange point.

Internet Exchange Point Frankfurt

10.10.2014

A gigantic digital hub

In fact, Frankfurt is the world’s largest Internet exchange node with more than 3.2 terabits per second peak traffic; the leading Internet exchange for Central and Eastern Europe; has the world’s largest and most advanced Ethernet-based platform, DE-CIX Apollon – delivering high-availability peering with full 100G Ethernet capabilities, about 600 participants at the peering platform and more than 10 terabits of connected customer capacity (Public Peering) …
You are not an IT expert and all of this is absolutely Greek to you? Well, welcome to the club!

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USA/Florida: A Dolphin’s Fingerprint

8.10.2014

The 10,000 Island Dolphin Project

Naples, Marco Island & the Everglades are known as Florida’s Paradise Coast. In 2014, the destination facing the Gulf of Mexico, was assigned theTripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Islands Award, as being the Top Island in the US of A – and the fourth on the prime list worldwide. Local dedication to a special mission may well have influenced the jury’s decision.

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Playing cards for cyber-magic tricks

TED Talk: Cyber-magic card tricks

30.09.2014

Do you know what a “cyber illusionist” is? Those who thought that “cyber” automatically meant “illusion” are right, of course – and, in this case, oh so wrong. The expansion of the internet and social media provides unknown opportunities for digital illusions and ways of interacting with audiences. Marco Tempest expertly combines “regular” magic with cutting-edge technology and: poof! creates a lyrical tale while dealing cards in a virtuoso manner. Via the augmented reality goggles he straps on, his entranced onlookers learn that suits, numbers and colors in a deck of cards actually correspond to our calendar and astonishes them with many an unexpected magic trick. View this video to witness top-notch hocus-pocus.

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