Don't call me doctor, and other oddities

If you are in Germany and have a PhD, you can be charged with a criminal offence for calling yourself "doctor", according to The Great Beyond. Apparently seven scientists from the country's most prestigious academic organisation, the Max Planck Society, are facing charges of impersonation. As Daniel Cressey, Great Beyond blogger, points out, Italians planning to holiday in Germany should exercise special caution, as there, the title "Dottore" is frequently given to people who hold mere undergraduate degrees.

Via Frank Wilson at Books, Inq., here is a hilarious account of Karen Heller's terrible life. "My story is especially compelling as a former gang member, not only of the Bloods in Los Angeles...but also Baader-Meinhof in West Germany and Shining Path in Peru. Name a group of thugs, I ran with them. Against my will, mind you, but I ran." Read on, read on. As Frank writes, to think he sat next to Karen for so many years, and never knew a thing.

John Battelle (king of search) links to a TV download of The True Story of the Internet, a documentary by John Heileman. The series is "about a revolution -- the technological, cultural, commercial and social revolution that has radically changed our lives. And for the first time on television, we hear how it happened from the men and women who made it possible." If you prefer book form, I can recommend A Brief History of the Internet: Origins of the Future, by John Naughton, whose approach is probably more historical than the TV programme (which I haven't seen).

And finally, for this post, how many hours a week do you work? Female Science Professor asks how "we accomplish anything (or, at least, enough) in a job that could take infinite time, even if we didn't do anything else"? Among other points, she writes about her "family system (instituted when the offspring appeared) in which I get 3 nights/week to do whatever I want (work, not work, do errands, sit in a cafe and compose haiku, make cat videos for posting on YouTube etc.), and my husband gets 3 nights/week to do whatever he wants (work)." 

Comments

[Henry Gee]

Hi Maxine - I've just dropped in after a few days away to find you've come over all stylish and sans-serif :)

[Maxine]

Yes, Henry, it is the work of a nanosecond as it is one of Typepad's standard templates. I couldn't use it before because I had a banner created for me by Jenny -- which meant I had to have a customised blog from a limited menu of options, and could not use a predigested template. She's said that she thinks the banner could do with a rest for a while, so we are trying out some girly redesigns...maybe even pink next!

[Clare D]

Yes, I noticed this a few days ago and forgot to say very posh... I really like the blue.

Also about the doctor thing in Germany, I remember hearing that if you were a doctor's wife you could call yourself doctor too, which made me wonder if you were a female doctor married to a doctor would that mean you could call yourself doctor doctor. Wondering about this sort of thing can keep me amused for hours...