Aus Seeberger, Schamlose Neugier, Integral München, 2012, S.213:

Es gibt Menschen deren Weltbild gleicht einem Anwesen, bei dem man “eine Mauer um sich herum baut, diese mit Stacheldraht und Glassplittern versieht und Patrouillen ausschickt, um eingebildete oder echte Bedrohungen zu verjagen” wie der Schriftsteller Göran Tunström einmal schrieb. Während bei anderen die Weltanschauung wie “ein großer Hof ohne Mauer und Zaun ist, wo die tagsüber frei umherstreunden Ansichten abends ruhig nach Hause trotten, um Seite an Seite einzuschlafen”.

There is no ultimate solution to avoid the white phase when switching pages in the browser.

Here is a rather simple strategy using embedded pictures. This is usually not recommended as the necessary base64 encoding includes quite some overhead. It influences, however, the browser rendering by basically blocking the download of the remaining page which is probably the anti-flickering effect.

echo '<img src="data:image/png;base64,';
echo base64_encode(file_get_contents($file));
echo '"/>';

Works mostly, but not always. Another interesting approach has been suggested by another user, eg decreasing page loading time by async loading before switching between pages. I didn’t like that so much as it keeps the pages in your browser piling up.

So finally I did a small page only with a large iframe that is covered by a black div and removed only after loading the iframe content. Works on all tested browsers.

<style>
#preload {
background:black;
width:100%;
height:100%;
z-index:2;
top:0px;
left:0px;
position:absolute;
}
</style>

<script>
$(function(){
   $('#iframe').load(function(){
    $(this).show();
    $('#preload').fadeOut();
  });
});
</script>

<div id="preload">loading...</div>

<iframe src="http://external.url.de" id="iframe">
</iframe>

These are some pictures that I took roughly two years ago on twin meeting in Austria. Twin studies give us some unique opportunities like in this recent paper

We performed a genome-wide study to investigate differences in (i) DNA methylation (using a custom tiled four-plex array containing tiled 50-mers 19,084 randomly chosen methylation sites), (ii) copy number variation (CNV) (with a chip including markers derived from the 1000 Genomes Project, all three HapMap phases, and recently published studies), and/or (iii) gene expression (by whole-genome expression arrays). Based on the results obtained from these three approaches we utilized quantitative PCR to compare the expression of candidate genes. Importantly, our data support consistent differences in discordant twins and siblings for the (i) methylation profiles of 60 gene regions, (ii) CNV of 10 genes, and (iii) the expression of 2 interferon-dependent genes.

I found it hard to change the layout of the tagline in my WordPress Twentyfourteen child theme as the element sits in a different hierarchy. But fortunately we can add text also from the CSS stylesheet (which is not visible in the sourceode!) using the content tag. It does not accept standard HTML while the special formatting is shown on stackoverflow.

.site-title :after {
	font-size: 25px;
    content: "\00000aBut let your communication be Yea, yea;\00000aNay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil";
    white-space: pre;
}

The reason for that? Just a quick fix.

Life, as we find it, is too hard for us; it brings us too many pains, disappointments and impossible tasks. In order to bear it we cannot dispense with palliative measures. ‘We cannot do without auxiliary constructions’, as Theodor Fontane tells us in his novel Effi Briest.

Sigmund Freud Religion as a mass delusion. Civilization and its Discontents (1931). The photo was taken in Vienna 1985, Burggasse not Berggasse…

Continue reading We cannot dispense with palliative measures (Freud) →

Firstmonday has an interesting article about crowdfunding academic research. While I think this is a valuable option for some add-on studies, it is certainly nothing to fund a large academic center. Continue reading Crowdfunding academic research →