About me

Hello everybody and welcome to my homepage! My name is Roman Domel and I live in the more than 1000 years old town Meissen , in Germany’s Free State of Saxony. In German orthography the town is written as „Meißen“. Every human has a special characteristic. One may have a talent to play piano, be a great painter or an inventor. My major talents are a very good technical understanding, the ability to work successfully on very complex tasks and rich visual thinking. And friends say my patience is „limitless“. Through these characteristics I am very interested in technical things and computer technology. When I started to work with cheating systems for consoles- or RAM-editing for PC-games, I did this in a time without internet and was one of the first people to found communities, when the first

connections became available for private users. If you browse my references you can go back to the early time of home electronic and enjoy memories of its infancy. It is my intention to provide you with my website as mix of references and a timeline because I am aware that you may be past the most important developments of home electronic and its progress, with major changes for the everyday life, too. I am very proud that I was a part of the early community founders and online-teachers, with my tutorials and elaborations, and hope that you enjoy my little journey through time. Besides history I like hiking and American Cars. According the latter topic I was one of the members of the former „US-Car-Stammtisch“ when it was turned into the free US-Car-Team „ Sundaycruiser “, in 2005. My own American Car which I’ve driven since 1999 and I have been members in this group since 2001. Next in line of recreational options is hiking through our very impressive Schlösserland (country of castles). The nearby „Elbsandsteingebirge“ and „Erzgebirge“ are two mountain ranges with a lot of beautiful landscapes and tour options. Please note our state´s slogan: „Saxony, the state of castles, fortifications and fortresses“. I gain most of the energy for my work when I am in nature with my family and to every visitor of our local places I highly recommend a round trip through our history and landscape. „Meissen“ My hometown Meissen is also known as the „cradle of Saxony“ and applies as the „Eldorado“ for fans of history. Our cathedrals’ construction began in 1260 on the same hill as the „Albrechtsburg castle“ and applies as one of the purest examples of Gothic architecture. Besides these impressive landmarks many old buildings were restored and give the city an incomparable charm. The town Dresden is located next to us and easily accessible. Within one hour you can reach the Elbsandsteingebirge, including passing Dresden, by train or car.

„Meißner Wein“ (Wine of Meissen) As in many parts of Germany, wine growing in Saxony dates back to the early Middle Ages. Meissen has been officially documented as wine growing region since 1161 A.D.. But as always in history, the reality seems to go back even further. The chronicle of „ Thietmar von Merseburg “ says, that when the troops of „ Henry I. ” entered the „ Gau Nisan ”, they found wine stocks. But in the history of our local wine growing that’s not all. After the German reunification, in 1990, some wine estates found their way back into private hands and the old industrial GDR – „Meissen wine production” turned into high quality wine estates. Today, „Meißner Wein” (Wine of Meissen) is highly valued internationally and known for its

class quality. So if you visit our great area around Meißen and Dresden, please do not miss our region’s wines. A little insider tip: If you want to taste one of our best wines, please visit „ Weingut Schloss Proschwitz ” and enjoy „Schloss Proschwitz, Prinz zur Lippe” - wines. These have won a lot of prices and are called „Premium wines”. We buy them regularly because we appreciate them very much.

„Meißner Porzellan®“ (Meissen Porcelain®) Meissen Porcelain® is known worldwide as the first European hard- paste porcelain. Its production started in 1710 and up from 1720 it is known with its mark of the crossed swords, which is one of the oldest trademarks in existence. Sometimes very old examples of Meissen Porcelain® are branded with “AR”, for “Augustus Rex”, the monogram of the King Augustus II of Poland or K.P.M., for “ Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur ” (Royal Porcelain Manufactory). The story behind this porcelain is simple. Johann Friedrich Böttger Boettger) pretended he had solved the secret to produce gold from worthless materials. However, these bold words got him into protective custody by King Augustus II of Poland and he requested of him to produce gold. But Böttger was unsuccessful, who would have guessed it. Another alchemist, Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus , experimented with the manufacture of Porcelain at the same time and supervised Böttger. In 1707 he first reluctantly started to help him. After the death of Tschirnhaus, Böttger announced to the King that he could make Porcelain. The King placed Böttger´s laboratory at Albrechtsburg Castle and established the Royal-Polish and Electoral- Saxon Porcelain Manufactory (Königlich-Polnische und Kurfürstlich-Sächsische Porzellan-Manufaktur). The production officially started in 1710. A short note: The roots of the Porcelain are in China and presumably reaches back to the time 100-200 A.D., the time of the late Han dynasty. Chinese Porcelain was very precious and was mastered in its production long time before the west became aware of it. Mostly provided over the Silk Road and the Dutch East India Company , porcelain from China was exported and in the west represented importance and wealth. All attempts of the west to produce their own porcelain failed. When Böttger officially started the production in Meissen´s porcelain manufacture in the Albrechtsburg Castle, he got extremely hard red stoneware, called as “Böttgersteinzeug”. The secret behind the hard- paste white porcelain was first solved in 1713 and rapidly increased the possibilities of decors. This was the beginning of the classical Meissen® porcelain. The understanding of hard-paste white porcelain, which was in its form nearly equal to Gold, gave it the name “white Gold” and allowed Böttger to make his former lie almost true. Until today the Meissen porcelain manufacture produces highly valued handmade porcelain and regularly opens its doors for public viewings (open-door day).

„Meissner Schwerter“ Beer In Meissen, many things have something to do with history. This applies to our brewery too. The „ Meissner Schwerter “ brewery is Saxony´s oldest private brewery and was first mentioned in 1460. Like our wine, the beer has been regularly winning prices for its exclusive quality too. Brewing a beer is not a technical thing, its the care and experience of the brewmaster, they say. And that´s true. The beer is very great and all ingredients are consistently locally grown. A few beer varieties have a relationship to local history and are called similarly in some way. Actual sorts: - Meißner Schwerter Privat Pils - Meißner Schwerter St. Afra Dunkel - Meißner Schwerter Lager Rubin - Meißner Schwerter Bennator Bockbier - Meißner Schwerter Elbsommer - Meißner Schwerter Maibock - Meißner Schwerter Urhell - Meißner Schwerter UrBräu

„Meissner Fummel“ This is indeed a very interesting story, although the „ Meissner Fummel “ is just a hollow body, made of thin dough and looks like a balloon. Its volume is around 2 litres (similar to a handball). It is made of rolled out simple dough, which is brushed with egg yolk, so it doesn’t stick. After folding up, the interior will be slightly inflated and baked. It is very brittle and fragile and has no considerable nutritional value. Maybe you are wondering now, why this biscuit was made. The history said that in 1747 „August der Starke“ (Augustus the Strong) gave the order to create a delicate biscuit because the couriers who regularly carried Meissner Porcelain between Meissen and Dresden often ended up drunk and broke the valuable porcelain. His command was now to not just deliver the unharmed porcelain but also the „Fummel“. The punishment was 30 hits with a stick on the naked butt if it was damaged. The name „Meissner Fummel©“ has a protected designation of origin.

„Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann“ Hahnemann is another very important Meissner, born in 1755. He is the creator of alternative medicine, called homeopathy. His complete story is very interesting and I highly recommend reading the very good articles on Wikipedia or one of the other media which cover themes around homeopathy. He died 1843 in Paris and his grave has become a pilgrimage site until today.

„Freiwillige Feuerwehr (Volunteer Firefighter)“ In Germany mostly firefighters are volunteers. In 2016 the Meissner volunteer firefighters celebrated their 175 th anniversary and this event was something special. Because they are the first volunteer firefighters in Germany, the oldest ones of our country. Founded on July 17., 1841.