cologne – Page 18 – Christian Frank

Hatsune Miku

Yesterday we went to a concert by Hatsune Miku, a quite famous Japanese singer; she’s on her first tour in Europe and it was her first concert in Germany. Luckily for us, she chose the LANXESS Arena in Cologne as the venue, which made it quite easy for us.

Hatsune came with a couple of her friends for support, Kaito, Meiko, Megurine Luka and the Kagamine twins.

Almost everybody in the arena had her signature Glowsticks, so the colors from stage spread throughout – very special.

The concert itself was great, wonderful song selection and a stellar stage show – I really hope she’ll come back to Cologne soon!

Needless to say that she made a very nice attempt to welcome us in German . Smile

Black Friday

The concept of Black Friday does not really work if the Thursday is not a big, or perhaps the biggest, family holiday of the year; same for Cyber Monday. My personal black Friday used to be the Friday after Weiberfastnacht, the official start of street Carnival in Cologne .

But, as Halloween has spread across the world, so do Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

And who doesn’t like a good deal?

This year my spending was quite subdued, but I used the ever-present rebates to get a toner cartridge at 15% off.

And for next year, as we’re in the process of incorporating Halloween into our culture anyway, maybe we could add Dia de Muertos as well? And make All Saints a joyous occasion rather than a solemn one? Me gusta mucho!

Weekend 11/9 – 11/11

A weekend full of extreme contrasts, for me at least – and I’m not done with it yet

Friday, 11/9

marks the 80^th anniversary of the “Reichsprogromnacht” or “Kristallnacht” that signaled the begin of the industrial annihilation of 6 Million people and a whole culture. To date, this is the most heinous crime against humanity ever committed, and the enormous loss and guilt will be felt for generations to come. Being born into the country of perpetrators for me is a responsibility to ensure that such crime will never occur again, and I thus have zero understanding for neo-Nazis, alt-rights, AfDler, white supremacists or whatever they might call themselves – never again!
is also my birthday, and I had a very good evening out with friends to celebrate (with a slight pang of guilt)

Sunday, 11/11

“Armistice Day” or “Remembrance Day” marks the 100 year anniversary of the end of the first World War, the great seminal catastrophe of last century, where again millions of lives were lost at the whim of the German Emperor, for a totally pointless cause – lest we forget!
All around us, this is a rather solemn affair, not so at home – here, 11/11 at 11:11 marks the beginning of Carnival and is a rambunctious party on all public places and streets

Oh well. Quiet day for me.

Call for Papers

The Call for Papers is now open for the KubeCologne Conference 2019.

If you’re interested in Kubernetes and Cloud Native software development, and want to present something – this event is for you!

Submit you abstract now!

The conference will take place from February 6^th to 8^th in Cologne, Germany; the event will be held in the KOMED convention center, which is centrally located in Cologne’s Media Park.