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I'm Andrew Hammel. I
live in Düsseldorf, Germany. My last name is, in fact, German.
It's a means "wether" in English. A wether is a castrated ram or
sheep. If that weren't enough, Hammel, in German, is also an
old-fashioned word for a clumsy or slow person; think "oaf" or "dunce."
Sometimes when I write my name on the blackboard at the beginning of my
class, my German students chuckle. It's all fun and games until I
grade the exams, I tell them. That shuts them up.
Though I live in Germany, I'm not German. I'm an American.
I was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1968, and grew up mainly in Houston,
Texas. I am a lawyer, and I teach law. I am single, never
married, no children. I have plenty of interests and projects to
keep me busy. You can read about them on this website, if you're
interested.
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Some laugh at Germans because they seem to have a philosophy about everything.
I'm not one of them. In fact, I sort of admire the German way of
thinking things through before you begin them, though, as we all know,
this tendency can be taken to unpleasant world-historical extremes.
So here's my philosophy. A personal website should:
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Highlight things you know a lot about, so that others may profit
from whatever interests or talents you've acquired.
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Concern mainly things that might interest a lot of other people.
This means no family snapshots, descriptions of your last visit to the
oncologist, etc.
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Be as simple as possible, so people can
reach the good stuff
quickly.
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Be as stylish and amusing as your talents allow.
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Avoid political opinions.
Paul Valéry once said that in the world of the
polemic, "by a trick of inverted lights, friends see each other as
enemies, fools look impressive to the intelligent, who in turn see
themselves as very tiny indeed." The older I get, the more I
agree. When's the last time you heard an original or profound
political opinion? What makes you think yours are any different?
Perhaps you have experience or specialized knowledge that
gives your opinions some weight (see #1).
But always remember people are much more likely to be interested in the
experience or knowledge than in whatever conclusions you draw from it.
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