So, here are Norbert's personals, the Inside Story on The Astronomical Pocket Diary and other ramblings ...

I (Norbert) was born in ol' foggy town (on some island off Europe) in the sixties and was raised in a rather liberal environment in West Germany. A comparably good school only made a small mess of my education and allowed for a multitude of hobbies, some of which made it into an ongoing occupation.

Since 1985 I live in New Zealand, mainly because I like it. Recently New Zealand is become more and more "U.S.-americanised" so things are getting worse. Anyway ...

My No 1 project, The Astronomical Pocket Diary was started in 1989, when I was again appaled at the quality of commercially available diaries. It transpired that the diary which gives the most facts about the future would be the most desirable, since the knowledge of events to come is the cornerstone of successful planning. And that is what a diary is supposed to do.

Naturally there should be a lot of space to take notes, but when one looks at the diaries one has kept over the years, there are a lot of empty pages left. And it shall be small, so that it can be a real Vade Mecum (Latin: go with me). It shouldn't be overfilled with non-calendar-related information... thats what real book, or better even computers and the internet are for. Unsurpassed as an organiser, the pocket-calendar also shall provide inspiration. And be it only to have somehting to read on the loo (try it!).

The Astronomical Pocket Diary is also the source for the most charming reasons to make a party. The daily trivia mentioned is carefully selected as to puzzle or amuse the educated and suggest further research to the open-minded person. This fits well with the notion of observing the heavens, probably the one occupation which gave rise to civilisations.

I work on the multitude of new editions for more than half the year, and that full-time. Most of the other time is spent on improving and investigating, much of it on the computer. In a monetary sense I am not rich, the diary barely pays for itself. In particular the printing and postal charges are exorbitant, but being born as a western white male, live is not difficult, a fact which I think bears more responsibility than one assumes. Being raised in Germany raises the issue of guilt for the past, a thought which the western world faces in view of the destruction of our little blue island in the vastness of space.

Currently I travel between the hemispheres and enjoy two summers every year. In May til December I am in Europe and from December to May I am in New Zealand, what I call "home". But the air-pollution problem has reached the southern hemisphere, where in the large cities the problem is as bad as anywhere in the northern hemisphere. So this travelling between hemispheres has sharpened my eye to magnitude of the problem, and I constantly see my views confirmed by the most eminent scientists of the field. But really it is an old hat. The september 1969 edition of National Geographic features an article on the future of transport, and there it says that electric vehicles will be wide-spread in 1979 because of the unbearable problem of air pollution.

Being scientifically minded I tried to figure a scenario in which the problem is solved. In my considerable research I have come to the conclusion that the only reasonable way to go, is to change the worlds private transport to electric vehicles in a very short time. Because nobody wants to give up their car, and cars are now responsible for more like 50% of global air-pollution, the wonderfully working electric car is the number one option. In the beginning of 1996 I heard a shortwave radio science programme on Radio Australia in which Maria Skyllas-Kazacos was interviewed on her Vanadium Battery invention. If the world's car manufacturers would make "the vanadium car" (fuel-stop: exchanging electrically charged liquids)  and the politicians would legislate the "vanadium gas-station" infrastructure, the turnaround is sure to be accomplished. Who would want a stinker if the elegant, refuelable electric car is here. I bet it even would be dirt-cheap to make.

I just bought myself a little CASIO QV10 camera, and since I am a technician I can handle the battery problems and the computer-download disaster, so I can make use of this little gimmick rather well. One of my favourite photos so far is here .

Now I have a Olympus C-840L camera. Its Photos and more older slides are here.

to be continued...