Thorsten Zöller

Running Anki inside Xephyr

2023-02-26

Running Anki inside Xephyr

2023-02-26

Anki is a great tool for memorizing things, like words in a foreign language you want to learn. I am using it for memorizing Vietnamese words in my endeavor to learn Vietnamese.

I am currently running Anki 2.1.16 on OpenBSD 7.1. Unfortunately, quite often Anki freezes after using it for some time, without any advance notice. When this happens, I can no longer do anything except moving the mouse pointer. I cannot switch windows and not even switch to the console in order to forcefully quit Anki. Apparently, it crashes the whole system, and the only way out is a forceful reboot.

I do not know what causes this behavior or if there is any fix for it. It seems that I am not the only one experiencing this, but I have not yet found a solution to this behavior.

I did find a workaround, however: Running Anki inside of Xephyr(1) (a nested X server that runs as an X application and is part of OpenBSD base) seems to prevent it from freezing. The workaround involves three steps:

Launch Xephyr on display :1 (or any other display differing from your main display, which is usually :0).
Launch cwm inside the Xephyr window just created (it is necessary to run a window manager since Anki employs multiple windows in general; of course, any other window manager can be used as well).
Lauch Anki inside the Xephyr window.

For convenience, I have created a small shell script for executing these steps:

Xephyr -br -ac -noreset -screen 1920x1080 :1 &
cwm -c .cwmrc_xephyr -d :1 &
DISPLAY=:1 anki &

Of course, the value of the screen command line parameter of Xephyr needs to be adjusted to your screen size. Also, I run cwm in the Xephyr window with a specific configuration file.

It works well, but strangely, after a while cwm seems to stop running inside Xephyr. This is inconvenient because it makes it impossible to switch between different Anki windows. The solution is to simply restart cwm by manually executing the second line of the script again.

Obviously, this is not a real fix to the problem, but it works. Hopefully, Anki will get more stable in the future so that this workaround will no longer be needed.

The Melancholy of the Day

2023-02-11

The Melancholy of the Day

2023-02-11

A new day begins, in the dark, in silence. Everything is still asleep; there is barely any activity, any motion. It is a state of peace and serenity. There is nothing to accomplish, no hustle and bustle; everything is immersed in stillness.

Then, the sun begins to rise, and slowly the world awakens from its sleep. Not much is happening yet, but the new day is full of potential, full of opportunities. An atmosphere of departure prevails. Everything seems possible, nothing impossible. As the sun continues to rise, a tension develops, as the inactivity of the night wants to release itself into activity.

Around noon, when the sun is highest in the sky, the day is most powerful. Glittering light falls from the outside into the rooms; light which is so strong that it blinds. The day is now bursting with energy. Everything is possible, and no end of this state is conceivable.

But then comes the afternoon, and slowly, very slowly, the sun begins its descent. At first barely visible, it does not take long until it becomes clear that the day cannot maintain its power. First shades emerge, and the light is no longer as glittering as it was before; it is slightly dimmer now than just a short time ago. And it is constantly changing. It becomes ever softer and warmer the deeper the sun is in the sky. It still fills the rooms, but instead of dominating them, it becomes tender. The light immerses everything in dim, warm colors, and the shades become longer and longer. It is a mystical, almost magical atmosphere which now accrues.

But this change of light, of the mood, is accompanied by a certain melancholy, and the melancholy grows the longer the day lasts and the fainter the light becomes. The steady change of light, proceeding faster and faster, leaves no doubt that the end of the day approaches. Some time still remains, but it seeps away quickly, second for second, minute for minute. The time when the day seemed invincible is now long gone; long gone is the time when it seemed that the day would prevail forever. It is absolutely clear now that it will be over soon. It had just brimmed over with power, with self-confidence, with energy–but now it becomes weaker and ever weaker, and very soon it will be history and forever, irretrievably gone.

Michael W Lucas: “Ed Mastery”

2024-09-29

Michael W Lucas: “Ed Mastery”

2024-09-29

The average user may not think a lot about which text editor to use. For us, however, the choice of a text editor is a very serious matter.

I’ll admit it: I have always felt a little proud to be a vi(1) user (I even have a dedicated vi page on my website). After having read Ed Mastery by Michael W Lucas, however, I feel somewhat wimpy about it.

Only recently did I stumble across the book, and I was surprised that a book about ed(1) – “the standard Unix text editor” – even exists. Yet, I knew immediately that I would have to read it. The mere existence of a book about ed(1) was enough to convince me that it will be worth it.

And I was not disappointed (not that I had expected that…). Michael W Lucas’ style of writing is hilarious, and first and foremost, it is simply a pleasure to read.

Admittedly, I never really looked past vi(1) in the history of Unix text editors. I roughly new that ex(1) and ed(1) are predecessors of vi(1) and that they are line editors, but they always seemed a bit too peculiar and exotic to me to justify looking into them in more detail (mostly because they are line editors, stemming from a time when monitors were not yet common or even available – one cannot take a line editor seriously these days, can one?). While I always felt that no real progression has taken place in editor development since the advent of vi(1) (which explicitly includes editors like Vim or Neovim), I always implicitly assumed that vi(1) was in fact a progression from ed(1) and ex(1) (reflecting the progression from line printers to monitors for displaying output). After reading Ed Mastery, though, I am not so certain about it anymore. I thought vi(1) was the pinnacle of simplicity, beauty and efficiency, but maybe I was wrong all along.

A while ago, there was a great post titled Your problem with Vim is that you don’t grok vi. on Stack Overflow (read it if you haven’t yet!). It basically states that many of the features of Vim that are generally considered improvements over vi(1) (Vi IMproved, you know?), making it more “user friendly”, are in fact feature creep (visual mode? why?) and simply exist because users don’t want to take the time to get really familiar and acquainted with vi(1). It is the antidote to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s famous statement “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”¹

I am wondering if something similar could not be said about ed(1) as well: “Your problem with vi is that you don’t grok ed.”

In any event, after reading Ed Mastery, many known features from vi(1) will make more sense. And even though it is rather unlikely that most users will ditch their editor of choice right away in favor of ed(1) after reading the book, I am convinced that it will improve your editing skills (if you use an editor descending from ed(1), that is – otherwise, all hope is lost anyway).

In summary: Experiencing joy while reading the book and learning profound things along the way: What more could you wish for from a book?

Therefore my recommendation: Get the book, read it and grok ed(1), now!

Note: Peter N. M. Hansteen has already written a great review of the book several years ago, and actually I feel that there is not much I could add to it (apart from my casual ranting you spent the last couple of minutes reading). You should definitely read it as well if you haven’t!

I’ll happily admit that I do use Neovim. Have I ever claimed that I live up to my own standards, after all? ↩

How I Use Vim

2025-08-30

How I Use Vim

2025-08-30

First things first: This is a contribution to the first ever Vim Carnival, initiated by Hyde, and it is an honor to be part of it! A big “thank you” to Hyde for coming up with this great idea, organizing the carnival and hosting the first one!

Note: In the whole article, I am mostly using “Vim” as a general term referring to any Vim-like editor (i.e. it encompasses in particular both Vim and Neovim), unless otherwise stated.

My History of Using Vim – A Personal Account

When I first grappled with Linux in the mid-to-late 1990s, I was inevitably confronted with the question of which editor to use. There was a huge amount of editors to choose from, but I quickly learned that there were two editors which were mentioned much more than others, and those two editors obviously were vi and Emacs. I started playing around a little bit with Emacs, but soon I realized that it was not the right editor for me. I was looking for a tool which allowed me to edit text files, and nothing else. And Emacs definitely allows one to do a lot more than just editing text files.

Now it is certainly not my intention to revive one of the most famous holy wars ever. I completely understand if people use Emacs if this is the right editor for them (or any other editor, for that matter). For me, however, vi (or rather Vim at that time) turned out to be the right editor.

Its simplicity and minimalist appearance appealed a lot to me. I liked that the mouse played no role in using it. And I knew that there was no need for me to look any further.

I guess I was drawn to vi for the same reasons I was – albeit many years later – drawn to the OpenBSD operating system: I like things to be minimal. In particular, tools should do one thing only and do it well (the core of the Unix philosophy, by the way).¹

Once I started using Vim, I never felt any desire to switch to another editor, and it is now my editor of choice since more than a quarter of a century (and I am so fond of it that I even maintain a dedicated vi page).

So, How Do I Actually Use Vim?

I do basically all my editing and writing in Vim, from e-mails to my PhD thesis (and, obviously, this very article as well). I also do all of my programming in Vim (no need for fancy IDEs). It is suitable for minor editing tasks just as well as for large writing or programming projects, and it has never failed me. It is fast – really fast –, and plain vi is available on basically every Unix installation out there – no matter what flavor of Unix or what age it is.

I love that it is a modal editor. In contrast to most other editors, pressing a key does not automatically make the corresponding character appear on the screen – it only does if you happen to be in insert mode. Otherwise, it is interpreted as a command. This allows for pretty easy key combinations for most simple and elementary commands (in contrast to non-modal editors, where one always has to escape entering characters, which necessarily leads to more complex key combinations). I also love that commands are very logical in a specific way; one could argue that they form some sort of a language. I will not dive into the details here; that would make for an entire new article (or two or three…). It has been claimed that editing text in Vim is an almost Zen-like experience, and while I feel that this does not really do justice to Zen, I completely get what is meant by that statement.

I do not use any plugins, although there is a huge ecosystem of plugins available for Vim (and Neovim even declares itself a “hyperextensible Vim-based text editor” on its website). I simply do not have any need for them. While there are certainly plugins which aim at improving the editing experience, my impression is that many plugins try to make Vim into something more than an editor. As mentioned earlier, though, that was one of the major reasons for me not to use Emacs. I do not want Vim to be more than an editor. I want to have an editor – no more and no less, period.

Actually, I do not even care much about many of the improvements of Vim over plain vi (Vim is “Vi IMproved”, after all…). For instance, I never use visual mode. While it may be helpful when one is new to Vim² – and in particular when one is used to GUI editors allowing one to mark text –, it is probably not the most efficient way to accomplish most of the things it is used for. In fact, I would argue that it would be a good idea to use plain vi for quite some time before (potentially) moving on to Vim. Many people probably do not even know how to accomplish things in vi without resorting to the improvements Vim offers. Yet, I am convinced that many of those improvements are improvements only in a superficial way. All this is elaborated extremely well in a reply on Stack Overflow, Your problem with Vim is that you don’t grok vi. I suggest reading it to everyone who is using Vim.

So, in a perfect world, I would be using plain vi instead of Vim³, and actually this is what I did for a couple of years.⁴ There are some reasons, though, why I switched to using Neovim for most things. One reason is that multiple levels of “undo” is in fact a real improvement over vi. Besides, I hail from one of those strange countries where people like to draw little dots above the letters, so Unicode support is practically non-negotiable for me. Also, I do use syntax highlighting, though I consider it by no means necessary (contrary to what I used to believe before using plain vi exclusively for a while).

My .vimrc is very simple as well. While I am quite impressed by all the config files one can find on the Internet which are hundreds of lines long, and while I have a tendency myself to tweak config files way too much, I prefer to keep things simple here as well. Setting a few options fully suffices to make Vim behave the way I like.

Now, while one might get that impression, it is certainly not my intention to argue against using Vim and in favor of vi. While I do think that Vim has become rather bloated over time, I use it on a daily basis and am most happy with it. My point is to direct the focus on the beautiful core of Vim – which is pretty close to plain vi in my opinion, yet extends it in certain ways. I sometimes like to compare vi and Vim to C and C++:⁵ There is this beautiful, rather small and well-defined, yet immensely powerful language C. And then there is C++, which extends C by far, adding feature over feature to it. Both are used heavily, and there are certainly reasons for both; but in most cases, I would rather use C instead of C++ (if I used them at all…).

So, coming back to the subject of this article, the question of how I use Vim: I use it mostly the way I would use plain vi, but I also happily make use of those extensions I find useful – which are rather few, though. While I have used Vim for decades, I am sure I only employ a small fraction of the possibilities Vim – or even vi – offers. I might become more efficient by putting work into learning more subtle and intricate features, but I feel no real need for it. I know that, should I need a particular feature, I will most certainly find it – if not in vi, then in Vim. Most of the time, though, I am happy using a select set of commands in a more or less efficient way.

There is so much more to say about Vim (maybe in the context of another Vim Carnival?), but for now, I will close my ramblings about Vim with one last observation: I do not just use Vim – I enjoy using it, a lot.

A Simple E-Mail Reminder System Based on cron and at

2023-02-10

A Simple E-Mail Reminder System Based on cron and at

2023-02-10

Since I cannot keep everything I have to remember in my head, I need a reminder system. While I would prefer an analog system (ideally one that integrates with my system for keeping track of tasks), I have not found a satisfying analog solution so far.

I am not looking for a full-fledged calendar system. If I were, I would be using Remind or calendar.¹ But they offer way more features than I need.

I basically have two requirements for my reminder system:

It has to remind me reliably by e-mail about things a certain time in advance.
It has to be simple and have as few external dependencies as possible.

The solution I have come up with is almost too trivial to share: It employs cron and at to schedule reminders, which are sent as e-mails via a remote SMTP server when they are due.

The Setup

The system depends on the following ingredients:

A machine which is up 24/7 – for scheduling reminders for arbitrary times.² I am using a server hosted on OpenBSD Amsterdam.
smtpd – for relaying e-mails to a remote SMTP server.
cron – for scheduling recurring reminders (like birthdays).
at – for scheduling nonrecurring reminders (like one-time events, or events which recur in irregular intervals).
mail – for sending e-mails non-interactively.

On OpenBSD, all the required software is part of the base system; see smtpd(8), cron(8), at(1), mail(1).

Both cron and at basically take two kinds of data as input: A timestamp which specifies when something is to be done, and an action which specifies what is to be done at the specified time.

Regardless of whether a reminder is recurring or nonrecurring, I want an e-mail to be sent to me at the specified time. Therefore, the action in both cases is sending an e-mail to me reminding me of the given event. Since the e-mail needs to be sent non-interactively when the given time is reached, the mail utility is invoked, and the reminder text is passed to it as the mail subject (since they are usually short, I only specify a subject and leave the body empty; then I don’t even have to open the e-mail).

In order not to have to specify the non-changing details (like the e-mail address) for sending the mail each time, I employ a small script called mailrem which is basically a wrapper around mail which takes the reminder text as its argument:

#!/bin/sh

from="John Doe <john.doe@email.com>"
subject="$1"

echo | mail -r "$from" -s "$subject" "$from"

Finally, in order for mail to be able to send mails to a remote SMTP server, smtpd needs to be configured such that it relays outgoing mail to a remote server.

Usage

E-mail reminders are sent by calling mailrem with the specific reminder text as its argument, e.g.

$ mailrem "Prepare tax statement"

In order to schedule reminders for a specific time, mailrem is not invoked directly as above, but either by cron or by at, depending on whether the reminder is to be sent on a regular basis or just once.

Recurring reminders

Recurring reminders are scheduled by cron via corresponding crontab entries. Start editing the crontab file:

$ crontab -e

Then add an entry for each recurring reminder like this:

0 0 3 18 * $HOME/bin/mailrem "[Reminder] Paul's $(( $(/bin/date +\%Y) - 1976 )). birthday (1976)"

This entry would send an e-mail each year at midnight on March 18 with subject “[Reminder] Paul’s n. birthday (1976)”, where n is calculated each time the cron entry is triggered by subtracting Paul’s year of birth, 1976, from the current year obtained by the date utility.³

Nonrecurring reminders

Nonrecurring reminders are scheduled by at via corresponding atjobs. For instance, to schedule an atjob for midnight in three days:

$ at midnight + 3 days

When prompted, enter the action to be executed at the specified time like this:

> mailrem "[Reminder] Doctor's appointment at 9 am"

Then, press <Ctrl> + D to queue the atjob.

That’s it. A very simple system which does its job and is easy to setup and maintain.

Caveats

The system is certainly not suitable for time-critical reminders. This is obvious, since by nature the reminders are sent in an asynchroneous way (i.e. via e-mail).
There is no easy way to get a consolidated overview over all currently scheduled reminders. For recurring reminders, crontab -l could be used. Similarly, atq displays the queue of atjobs. However, the output of atq is pretty much unparseable (at least in the version which ships with OpenBSD). So one would have to manually extract the job ID from the output of atq and then do $ at -c <id> in order to see the content of the job.
Failures cannot easily be discovered in general, and there is no recovery mechanism. If, e.g., for some reason the cron daemon is not running at the time a reminder is due, it will not be sent and will subsequently be lost forever.

Man page of the OpenBSD version: calendar(1) ↩
In principle, of course, it is also possible to run the system on a laptop. The severe drawback would be that reminders were lost if the laptop were not running at the scheduled time of a reminder. One could use tools like anacron instead of cron. This would mitigate the risk of losing reminders, but the time they are sent would then depend on when the laptop is running (which may differ greatly from the intended time of sending). ↩
Man page of the OpenBSD version: date(1). ↩

My New Website

2021-06-20

My New Website

2021-06-20

Not long ago, I created my first website. It was a static website, just like this one. I wrote the content in AsciiDoc and created a small script which rendered the pages to HTML.

I was very proud of it.

The content was basically plain text with a little bit of markup and some meta data – a beautifully clear separation of form and content.

The script generating the site consisted of about 200 lines of Ruby code. It was simple, and it did its job.

But it turned out that I would spend far more time tweaking the script to generate the site than to write content. After all, it was easier and more fun than to think about what to write.

Also, the barrier to publish was too high: There were always a few steps to be done before any change could be published. Not many steps, really: Make some change, run the script, clone the respository for the site, delete its content, copy the output of the script to the repository, commit and publish it.

Yet too many, as it turned out.

So I ditched the script for generating the site and started anew.

This time, it’s just plain HTML. Everything is created manually. Sounds like more work, but it’s not. It’s a profound simplification.

This approach has its drawbacks, of course. The content is interspersed with markup – HTML is not really lightweight. It is not possible to make a change in the template which is immediately reflected in all pages using this template.

But it’s definitely worth it.

I thought my site was simple, but it wasn’t. Or at least not simple enough.

Lesson learned.

Pretended Intentionality

2021-10-21

Pretended Intentionality

2021-10-21

I have recently become aware of an interesting – and somewhat concerning – behavior of mine in relation to my phone: In those spare moments when I am waiting for something, for instance, and the inevitable compulsion to check my phone arises, I often do manage to resist that urge. But after that first little victory over myself, something interesting happens: My mind, unable to accept that it is denied the diversion it so much craves, is trying to come up with suggestions for things that would be worth doing with my phone while waiting:¹

What was it again that makes Ridge A such a special place? Now would be a good time to head over to Wikipedia and check it out – after all, there is not much else you can do right now anyway!

Which city in the world has the longest subway system, actually? Well, why not figure it out quickly?

Let’s check openbsd.org to find out whether the new OpenBSD release is already available.

My mind knows that I am trying to control myself in order not to compusively check my phone for no obvious reason whatsoever. And therefore, recognizing that just letting things run will not suffice this time, it becomes creative: Knowing that I am trying hard to act intentionally instead of compulsively and reflexive, it makes me believe that I do in fact act intentionally by rationalizing using my phone.

And thus my mind gets hold of me. It’s the monkey mind at work. But just like a real monkey, it is not just jumping around like crazy; it is also very clever and inventive.

What is so perfidious about it is that my mind is tricking me into the very behavior I am trying to avoid by convincing me that I am in fact avoiding it. Yet, this is all just another, albeit clever, strategy of my mind to run away from the slightest sign of boredom and instead indulge in distractions; that everlasting endeavor of the mind of not having to cope with the truly important things in life – or, at the least, of not having to sit alone in a quiet empty room.

The good thing is: Once you become aware of something you want to change, it becomes possible to actually change it.

I am mostly using the terms me and my mind here to refer to the conscious and subconscious parts of myself, respectively. ↩

Installation and Setup of the RainLoop Webmail Client on OpenBSD

2021-12-22

Installation and Setup of the RainLoop Webmail Client on OpenBSD

2021-12-22

Rainloop is a modern, simple and rather lightweight webmail client. This article describes its installation and setup on a local OpenBSD machine and the configuration necessary for accessing a Posteo e-mail account.

Tested with OpenBSD 6.9, PHP 8.0 and RainLoop 1.16.0.

Prerequisites

On a default OpenBSD installation, only a few things are required in order to get RainLoop set up and running:

Web server. Since we are on OpenBSD, we will be using httpd(8).
PHP. In addition to the extensions contained in the base installation, only PHP-cURL is required, and optionally PHP-PDO for contacts.

No database is required for the core functionality; it is only needed for storing contacts, which is optional.

Installation and Setup

httpd

Create an entry in /etc/httpd.conf for a HTTP server listening on localhost:8080 (of course, any other port can be specified):

server "default" {
  listen on "127.0.0.1" port 8080
  log {
    access "default-access.log"
    error "default-error.log"
  }
  root "/rainloop"
  directory index index.php
  location "/data/*" { block }
  location "*.php" {
    fastcgi socket "/run/php-fpm.sock"
  }
}

Here, it is assumed that RainLoop will be installed in /var/www/rainloop, which therefore needs to be set as the document root for the server. Also, web access to the data subdirectory must be blocked.

Start httpd(8) unless it is already running:

$ doas rcctl enable httpd
$ doas rcctl start httpd

Otherwise, simply restart it:

$ doas rcctl restart httpd

PHP

Install php(1) unless already done:

$ doas pkg_add php

Start the PHP FastCGI Process Manager (PHP-FPM):

$ doas rcctl enable php80_fpm
$ doas rcctl start php80_fpm

Install the PHP-cURL extension and make it known to PHP:

$ doas pkg_add php-curl
$ doas ln -sf /etc/php-8.0.sample/curl.ini /etc/php-8.0/

Optionally, install the corresponding PHP-PDO extension for the database to be used (in this case SQLite; other options are MySQL and PostgreSQL) and make it known to PHP:

$ doas pkg_add php-pdo_sqlite
$ doas ln -sf /etc/php-8.0.sample/pdo_sqlite.ini /etc/php-8.0/

RainLoop

Create a directory for RainLoop under /var/www:

$ doas mkdir /var/www/rainloop

Get the latest version of the RainLoop Community edition and unzip it in /var/www/rainloop:

$ doas mkdir /var/www/rainloop
$ cd /var/www/rainloop
$ doas ftp https://www.rainloop.net/repository/webmail/rainloop-community-latest.zip
$ doas unzip rainloop-community-latest.zip
$ doas rm rainloop-community-latest.zip

Set the owner of the data subdirectory to www:

$ doas chown -R www data

Finally, copy /etc/resolv.conf to /var/www (otherwise, the domain names of the mail servers may not get resolved to their corresponding IP addresses):

$ mkdir -p /var/www/etc
$ doas cp /etc/resolv.conf /var/www/etc/resolv.conf

RainLoop can then be accessed via the URL localhost:8080, and it can be configured in the admin panel which can be accessed via localhost:8080?admin.

Accessing a Posteo E-Mail Account

Access to a Posteo e-mail account can be set up by creating the file /var/www/rainloop/data/_data_/_default_/domains/posteo.de.ini with the following contents:

imap_host = "posteo.de"
imap_port = 993
imap_secure = "SSL"
imap_short_login = Off
sieve_use = Off
sieve_allow_raw = Off
sieve_host = ""
sieve_port = 4190
sieve_secure = "None"
smtp_host = "posteo.de"
smtp_port = 587
smtp_secure = "TLS"
smtp_short_login = Off
smtp_auth = On
smtp_php_mail = Off

Alternatively, the account can be set up via the admin panel.

References

Taking Screenshots on OpenBSD

2022-01-30

Taking Screenshots on OpenBSD

2022-01-30

I rarely need to take screenshots, but occasionally it is convenient to be able to do so. The method described here uses maim, cwm(1) and ksh(1). I use it on OpenBSD, but it should work in a very similar way on all Unix-like operating systems.

Here is how it works:

Preparation

Install maim:

$ doas pkg_add maim

Create a script with the following content and save it to ~/bin/screenshot (assuming ~/bin is in the user’s PATH):

#!/bin/sh

maim -s | xclip -selection clipboard -t image/png

All this script does is invoking maim to prompt the user to select the region of the screen he wants to take a screenshot of, upon which maim will create a PNG image of the region, which is then copied to the clipboard.

Make the script executable:

$ cd ~/bin
$ chmod u+x screenshot

Define a keybinding in ~/.cwmrc for invoking screenshot via the key combination <Alt> + s (of course, any other combination works as well):

bind-key M-s "bin/screenshot"

Define an alias in ~/.kshrc for pasting the image from the clipboard to a file:

alias clip2file='xclip -selection clipboard -o >'

That’s it.

Taking a Screenshot

Then, to take a screenshot, do the following:

Press <Alt> + s.
Select the region of the screen you want to take a screenshot of.
Go to a terminal and type:
```
$ clip2file <file>.png
```

The resulting screenshot will be saved to <file>.png.

Derek Sivers: “How to Live”

2023-03-05

Derek Sivers: “How to Live”

2023-03-05

To state it upfront: How to Live is a book which can hardly be overrated. It is full of wisdom, packed even more densely with insights than Dereks’ previous writings.

The title of the book asks one of the most important questions of life – maybe the single most important one –, and it implies that the book sets out to answer this question.

Instead of answering the titles’ question, however, the book presents us with twenty-one ways how to live. Each of the 21 short chapters explains how to live a life according to a certain guiding principle. It describes how to live in complete accordance with that principle, to adhere to it with the utmost consequence.

But: All of the 21 ways to live are completely incompatible with each other, due to their conflicting guiding principles.

So does this book answer the question posed in its title? No. Instead, it presents possibilities. Every single chapter is convincing and persuading, yet every one is completely different than any other.

To me, the core statement of this book is that there are no definite answers, at least not to the really important questions of life. We humans yearn for answers, for recipes, for certainty – yet at some point, everybody has to face the fact that there are no simple, universal answers to the truly important questions. Life is contradictory, often messy, rarely proceeding along a straight line. And, most important: Each life is absolutely individual, and everyone has to find his own answers.

Just as remarkable as the books’ content is its form. It is incredibly dense. Derek somehow manages to picture the different ways to live in often not more than three or four pages. Most sentences are very short, often fitting on a single line, and new sentences always start on the next line. His writing is never pleasing, but always sharp and to the point, and with “How to Live” he has perfected his style. To me, it is supremely elegant.

Two quotes come to my mind when thinking of “How to Live”:

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It seems to me that this was Dereks’ personal guiding principle in writing this book.

The second one is by Michelangelo: “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” I can imagine how Derek spent hours and hours chiseling away the superfluous words, finally achieving something which comes very close to the perfection as it is defined in the quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry above.

Making a point using many words is easy; making a point using very few words is exceedingly difficult. Derek has succeeded in every aspect.

If you have not read the book yet, buy it and read it, immediately. Then, after some time, read it again, and again.

Derek Sivers: “Useful Not True”

2025-07-06

Derek Sivers: “Useful Not True”

2025-07-06

Useful Not True is another gem by Derek Sivers. Whenever he publishes a new book, I order it immediately, no matter what it is about. I know from experience that everything he writes is packed with wisdom and insights I don’t want to miss.

Let me start with the form of the book (I am referring to its physical version here): It is short, as Derek’s books usually are. Most chapters are one or two pages at most, very few are longer. The font size is pretty large, as well as the distance between lines, and the lines are rather narrow, which makes the reading a very pleasant experience. This is in contrast to many other books which look as if they were laid out with the goal to pack as many words as possible on each page. With Derek’s books, it is the exact opposite, with respect to both form and content: They look as if the goal was to use as few words as possible (and it was!). They are a perfect example for James Altuchers’ maxim “To increase the value of ~~your~~ words, make them as few ~~as possible~~.”

The content of the book perfectly matches its form: It is distilled to the bare minimum of what is necessary to convey its point. Nothing is superfluous; every word serves a purpose. One could certainly easily inflate the books’ content to 1000 pages, but it would not be possible to reduce it to fewer pages without losing content.

Useful Not True is a book about perspective. Everything is relative; nothing is absolute. There is no “right” or “wrong”, just “useful” or “useless”. While reading it, so many associations popped up in my mind:

To Zen Buddhism with its belief that everything is made up by the mind alone and its seeking for looking at things as how they are, without making up things about them in our mind.

To phenomenology and its concept of epoché (and similar concepts in Stoicism and other philosophies), a method for refraining from subjective judgements of things or situations.

And even to physics and mathematics, in different aspects: In gauge theories, there are intrinsic unphysical degrees of freedom. By fixing the gauge, those unphysical degrees of freedom can be removed. And this can be done in different ways, depending on what is most useful in the respective situation.

Also, physical theories are formulated as models which describe (physical) reality. They never do it perfectly, though, because they cannot capture every aspect of reality. And yet, good models are extremely useful (and a good model is not necessarily one that describes reality most accurately; it may be perfectly sufficient to describe a very particular aspect of reality with a certain coarseness if it still captures the relevant physical mechanisms). As George E. P. Box put it: “Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful.”

The importance of the book lies in the fact that, while its statement seems perfectly plausible, we very often tend to ignore it. Ask two people standing opposite each other where the river is. The one says: “On the left.” The other says: “On the right.” Who is right? It is remarkable how firm our belief is that there is “right” and “wrong”, while it is so obvious that this is usually not true, if we just looked at things as they are. While the consequences may be trivial as in the example above, they can be arbitrarily grave in other situations.

So, on the one hand, recognizing there are no absolutes can prevent us from making mistakes in judging situations. But there is another aspect, which is hinted at in the title of the book: We can turn this realization to our advantage. You can face a wall, or you can turn around and look at a serene beach. Both perspectives are “right” or valid. Why not choose the one you like better? There lies power in not being confronted with the one “true” perspective, but instead being able to choose ones preferred perspective, and this power can be harnessed – provided we know that we can simply turn around.

I will end with my usual recommendation of Derek’s books: Buy it, read it, and digest its content as fully as possible! It is worth every word.

Relay Mail to a Remote SMTP Server With `smtpd`

2022-03-27

Relay Mail to a Remote SMTP Server With `smtpd`

2022-03-27

Configure smtpd(8) to relay outgoing mail to a remote SMTP server as follows:

Create the file /etc/mail/secrets:

$ doas touch /etc/mail/secrets
$ doas chmod 640 /etc/mail/secrets
$ doas chown root:_smtpd /etc/mail/secrets
$ doas echo "label username:password" > /etc/mail/secrets

username and password are the credentials for accessing the remote SMTP server, and label is an identifier for the username-password combination. It can be chosen arbitrarily and is used in smtpd.conf (see below). Since the credentials are stored in plain text, restrictive permissions are set for the secrets file.

Replace the default content of /etc/mail/smtpd.conf with the following:

table aliases file:/etc/mail/aliases
table secrets file:/etc/mail/secrets

listen on lo0

action "local" mbox alias <aliases>
action "relay" relay host smtp+tls://label@smtp-server:port auth <secrets>

match for local action "local"
match for any action "relay"

label is the corresponding label from the secrets file, smtp-server is the URL of the remote SMTP server, and port is the mail submission port (default: 587).

Verify that the configuration is syntactically correct:

$ doas smtpd -n

smtpd will answer with:

configuration OK

Restart smtpd:

$ doas rcctl restart smtpd

smtpd will answer with:

smtpd(ok)
smtpd(ok)

Test the configuration by sending an e-mail using mail(1):

$ echo "This is a test" | mail -s "Test" mail@example.com

References

smtpd.conf(5)
Forward outgoing mail to a remote SMTP server by Roman Zolotarev.

Multiple-Click Selections in xterm

2022-02-12

Multiple-Click Selections in xterm

2022-02-12

It is possible to configure in detail which portion of the screen – a word, a line, etc. – is selected in xterm(1) on rapid successive mouse clicks.

What is a Word in xterm, After All?

In xterm, words can be selected by double-clicking on any character in the respective word. This will highlight the word, and it is then in the primary selection of the X Window System and can be pasted elsewhere.

Characters are grouped into character classes. Words are defined in xterm as strings of characters belonging to the same character class. Therefore, what xterm interprets as a word depends on the mapping of characters to character classes.

In the default mapping, alphanumeric characters and the underscore belong to one character class, space and tab belong to another character class, and all other characters have their own character class. This definition works well when dealing mostly with prosaic texts, since it more or less corresponds to the usual definition of a word (i.e. certain characters separated by whitespace). In other cases, it is less convenient though. For instance, it is not possible to select a path consisting of several directories by double-clicking on it, since directories are separated by a slash, which belongs to a different character class than alphanumeric characters and the underscore.

Interestingly, the mapping can be changed via a certain xterm resource called charClass. Its value is a list of key-value pairs, where the key is either a single character code or a range of character codes, and the value is a character class. A given key-value pair then defines that the character(s) specified by the key belong to the character class specified by the value.

Character classes are identified by numbers (which in turn correspond to the character code of a representative of that character class). The default mapping of characters to character classes is given in the respective section of the manpage. In the default mapping, alphanumeric characters and the underscore belong to character class 48 (the character code of the character 0), and space and tab belong to character class 32 (the character class of space).

Therefore, in order to add e.g. the characters ! (character code 33) and : (character code 58) to character class 48, add the following line to ~/.Xresources:

xterm*charClass: 33:48,58:48

To add all “regular” characters to character class 48, add the following line to ~/.Xresources:

xterm*charClass: 33-126:48

Activate the change:

$ xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

xterm Knows More Than Just Words

Words are just one kind of character grouping in xterm. The full list is:

word: As defined above.
line: The entire line to which the character under the pointer belongs to.
group: Basically the paragraph the character under the pointer belongs to, i.e. all lines above and below up to the next blank line. Does not extend outside the current page.
page: All visible lines on the current page.
all: All lines, including i.e. saved lines.

Even that is not all there is, though. On top of that, it is even possible to define custom groupings via regular expressions (basically, all other predefined groupings are just shortcuts; they could just as well be defined via a corresponding regular expression). Also, there is the pseudo-grouping none which specifies that no selection should occur in the respective case.

So it is possible to specify in a very fine-grained way what will be in the primary selection when double-clicking on some character. But it can be specified just as well what happens when clicking multiple (i.e. more than two) times in rapid succession. This is useful since one may be interested in selecting different character groupings depending on the respective case. For instance, in the default configuration, triple-clicking usually selects the entire line. Which character grouping is selected when clicking 2, 3, 4 and 5 times in rapid succession is specified by assigning one of the character groupings defined above to the xterm resources on2Clicks, on3Clicks, on4Clicks and on5Clicks, respectively.

As an example, in order to specify that double-clicking should select words defined as a string consisting of alphanumeric characters, the underscore, the exclamation mark and the colon, that triple-clicking should select words defined as a string consisting of all regular characters except whitespace (defined via a corresponding regular expression), and that clicking four times in rapid succession should select the entire line, add the following lines to ~/.Xresources:

xterm*charClass: 33:48,58:48
xterm*on2Clicks: word
xterm*on3Clicks: regex [^[:space:]]+
xterm*on4Clicks: line

Even when using the mouse sparingly, it is very convenient to be able to specify what gets selected on multiple clicks in xterm, and it certainly does save some time.

Quake Discoveries

2026-03-14

Quake Discoveries

2026-03-14

Here is a question I am sometimes pondering: Can there be discoveries which completely shatter our worldview and our understanding of ourselves and the universe we live in? For lack of a better term, I will call such discoveries “quake discoveries” in the following.¹

To be clear: I am not talking about discoveries which simply question or change our worldview. I am talking about experiences which shatter it altogether, which break it apart irreparably and leave behind nothing but debris.

Take, for instance, the discovery of the theory of relativity, or of quantum theory: These were certainly discoveries which adjusted our worldview. Suddenly, it was clear that the universe was completely different than we thought – at least in certain aspects. Many people were probably confused, maybe even aghast when they first heard about these theories. Maybe they did not want to believe them and were thinking that they could not be true. Yet, most likely, this is what happend to most people after having digested the initial shock: At the end of the day, they went to bed. The next day, they got up and went to work. And that was it.²

These are not the kinds of discoveries I am talking about here. I am talking about discoveries which will not allow one to just get up the next morning and go to work. I am talking about discoveries which throw us out of our world, of our universe; discoveries which render it impossible to get up as the same person as the day before. Discoveries which, from one moment to another, change everything. Discoveries after which nothing will ever be as it was.

I am talking about discoveries which mankind has never made before, never in its entire history. Sure, most people were shocked and upset when they learned that the sun does not revolve around the earth, that the earth is not the center of the universe. But did that stop them from meeting friends, playing games, chatting with each other? Most likely not. Shortly after this discovery, they went on with their lives as usual.³

So, I am talking about discoveries of a whole different kind. But what could such discoveries look like? I do not know; after all, there are no examples to be found in history. What I usually imagine is something like the discovery in the film “The Matrix” that what people believed to be their real life was actually nothing but a simulation. I guess that would be a discovery which would not allow you to simply get up and go to work the next day. But then, who knows?

Possible future discoveries with respect to the nature of time or the mind might also be candidates for discoveries of this kind. Then again, discoveries cannot be predicted, and their kind or nature can be predicted even less.

The point is this: So far, all discoveries mankind has ever made in its history have at most shaken our worldview, leaving us back confused, but still within our universe. They may have thrown us on the floor, but they left us in our familiar environment. Our perspective has changed, but only momentarily.

Quake discoveries, on the other hand, would kick us out of our universe and destroy every bridge which might enable us to ever return to it. It would throw us into another universe altogether, into a distant and foreign place. It would leave us completely disoriented.

Will we ever make such discoveries? Is that even possible, given that our direct experience and perception of the world can probably never be changed by any discovery whatsoever? After all, even if we found out that we live in a gigantic simulation, we would still feel the warmth of the sun on our skin; we would still get hungry and tired, and we would still have wishes and desires. And even if we knew that we live in a gigantic simulation, it would still feel like the real world. So, can mere knowledge ever have these effects I am talking about?

I do not know the answer, but I find this a fascinating question.

The term “disruptive discoveries” would probably sound more serious, but does not really seem appropriate for what I am talking about here. ↩
Of course, many people – in particular those dealing professionally with these theories – continued to deal with them and their consequences for a long time and in many cases even fought hard fights within themselves before they were able to accept them. I doubt, however, that any of those people perceived these discoveries as existential threats to their worldviews. ↩
With the exception of those who felt threatened by those discoveries and tried to forcefully hide or miscredit them, of course. ↩

Vim and PKM

2026-04-30

Vim and PKM

2026-04-30

First things first: It is a pleasure to once again participate in a Vim Carnival, created and hosted by the fabulous Hyde.

Though the topic of the Vim Carnival - April 2026 is: “How do you use Neovim/Vim to build your knowledge management?”, let me state upfront: This article is going to be more about personal knowledge management (PKM) than about Vim. After all, Vim is “just” an editor, which is per se agnostic to what it is employed for – be it writing todo lists, emails, books, doing PKM or whatever. So honestly, I am somewhat stretching the idea of the Vim Carnival with this contribution. For the short (and maybe a bit disappointing) answer to the above prompt, you can jump directly to the section And what about Vim? at the very end.

A short note regarding terminology: In this article I will use “Vim” as a placeholder for vi-like editors in general. In particular, it includes both Vim and Neovim, but even plain vi¹.

A short preface

Actually, this Vim carnival is a welcome prompt for a subject I intended to write about since a long time, but never came around to doing: That is, how I do PKM.

I won’t delve into the “theory” of PKM in any detail here. There is a lot to say about PKM, and a lot has already been said about it in the past and will be said about it in the future (and I am no expert at all in this matter). The risk in writing an article like this one is to completely get lost in the many aspects and facets of PKM. So I deliberately try not to let that happen and will focus on very few aspects – mostly on the technical implementation of my PKM system – in the hope of not ending up with a complete mess of an article.

So, here we go…

PKM on a computer

I have long dabbled with the challenge of PKM (long before I even knew a term existed for it and a large and active community has developed around it) – that is the challenge of how to manage knowledge (i.e. not just to store it, but to actively use it and engange with it in a meaningful way): Be it storing ideas for later reference, short notes, how-tos, trivia, inspirational quotes or whatever one considers worth remembering or needs to remember.

While implementing an analog PKM system (i.e. a system not relying on a computer) is very well possible – after all, people have been doing it for hundreds if not thousands of years –, the advent of computers has certainly opened up new possibilites, like organizing documents in different fashions, searching in them and filtering them according to certain criteria. I will not discuss the advantages and disadvantages of analog and digital forms of PKM here and instead, without further explanation, focus on digital PKM systems from here on.²

The question then is: How to implement a PKM system on a computer? While dedicated tools – from simple to highly sophisticated and complex – abound, I have always had a certain aversion to them. I guess it stems from the fact that I have always thought that there must be a really simple way to implement such a system, a way that is efficient and so robust that it can stand the test of time (and the coming and going of software tools…).

This does not mean that there are no good tools around for implementing a PKM system. Even when taking into account some of my basic requirements, like

notes must be stored as plain text,
the tool must be open source (to prevent vendor lock-in, among others),
it should be simple and not suffer from feature creep,

there is still a respectable number of tools which satisfy these. Yet, I have never come to really like them. Even Obsidian, a tool which has many dedicated fans and which I really appreciate, is not for me, mostly for two reasons (which are directly connected to the requirements above): It is too complex for my taste and offers way more features than I would ever need, and – no matter how successful and widely used it is today –, it will most likely be gone someday.³

Therefore, I have always preferred to build my own PKM systems, tailored to my specific needs (which sounds more grandiose than it actually is; hold on).

The simplest PKM system

But first, let us take a step back. The simplest system for storing notes – the one most people have used decades ago, and in particular before the advent of graphical user interfaces – is storing them in plain text files, one per note, in some directory (or directory structure). There is basically just one ingredient necessary for setting up such a system on a computer (apart from rather obvious things like a file system): A text editor for creating and editing notes.

With nothing more than this, working with the system is somewhat limited. But as soon as basic tools available (and usually preinstalled) on essentially all Unix-like operating systems are taken into account, we already gain quite a bit:

A pager like less lets us view notes.
grep lets us search notes.
ln lets us link notes (for creating aliases, for instance).

and so on.

And honestly, I still feel that not much more is needed for implementing a PKM system on a computer. While I tend to spend much time thinking about how to best implement things, sooner or later I usually feel myself drawn to very simple solutions with few dependencies. Here, as in many other cases, the danger lies in spending so much time setting up and administrating the system that one does not really use it at all.

There are basically just two things I would really miss with a pure plain text approach like this one: The ability to tag and to link notes. While tagging would be possible by, for instance, prepending tags with a certain prefix like “#” and then using grep to find notes containing them, that would be a little cumbersome. But I have not been able to find a good solution for linking notes (in particular linking from a specific point in a note) with this approach.

Here HTML comes to the rescue – or rather leightweight markup languages like Markdown or AsciiDoc which translate to HTML.

A little bit of (personal) history

Before explaining the system I am currently using, however, let me briefly mention three of the many self-built systems I have used over the years. I have chosen these because of the different ideas and concepts they were based on.

A self-written simple static site generator where notes were written in AsciiDoc and included front-matter for metadata like tags etc. (actually, it was a derivate of a static site generator I built for my website). Since the output format was HTML, linking between notes was easy. Since the output was static, though, it was only possible to filter for single tags; dynamical filtering was simply not possible. This may be fine for a personal website, for instance, but it is definitely a drawback for a PKM system.
A pure plain-text system where notes were stored as plain-text files without any structured markup (like Markdown or AsciiDoc) at all. Tags were implemented via symbolic links to (empty) directories named like the given tag, and links between notes were implemented via symbolic links between these notes (I got the idea of using symbolic links for implementing tags by the great article “The Case Against Everything Buckets” by Alex Payne, which unfortunately is no longer available online to my knowledge). What I really liked about this system was that it depended only on tools which are already available on any Unix-like system (an editor, a pager, symbolic linking etc.). All the linking was somewhat cumbersome, however, and in particular error-prone. Therefore, I wrote a simple shell script which provided convenience functions for viewing, editing, tagging and linking of notes (and in particular for carrying out all the linking). A major disadvantage of this system was that linking was only possible on the level of the notes themselves (i.e. you could link note A to note B, but you could not link from a specific point in note A to note B).
Another pure plain-text system with unstructured plain-text notes where tags of notes, links between notes and other metadata was stored in a JSON file (thereby separating metadata of notes from the notes themselves). This was meant to solve the problem that I did not want to have metadata directly in my notes, as well as the problem of having to create all those symbolic links in the system mentioned above. A Ruby script provided convenience functions similar to the ones mentioned above (and in particular for managing the JSON file, which would have been rather impractical and error-prone to do manually). In addition, notes were stored in a Git repository, and the script automatically committed changes to the repository when creating or editing notes. The main disadvantage of this system probably was that, while it was designed with the idea in mind that everything should be doable without special tools like my Ruby script, editing the JSON file and committing to the Git repository was cumbersome and error-prone and could easily be forgotten when done manually. So, while having a separate file for storing metadata information for my notes was more robust than employing symbolic links, I felt that the problems were only shifted to different areas.

While all these systems worked and did what they were meant to do, I was never really satisfied with them. The main problem was that I never really worked with them. They were based on certain ideas and principles I had in mind, but it turned out that the theory of conceiving them and the practice of using them diverged.

My current system

The system I am currently using is the one I am most happy with so far. It does not solve all problems, but it is the one which currently works best for me.

The main design goals of my system are (and have pretty much always been):

It should be usable as a pure plain-text system without any kind of dedicated software processing the notes or operating on them (i.e. using only standard tools like text editor, pager, grep etc.).⁴
It should be simple and have very few dependencies.
It should be platform-independent and future-proof.

All my notes are stored in a single directory called, well, notes (this is not different from practically all the other systems I have used in the past, like the ones mentioned above). Notes are Markdown-formatted plain text files.⁵ There is (almost) no metadata contained in my notes. In particular, there is no front-matter (i.e. structured metadata) at the top of a note. While front-matter makes it easy to parse metadata programmatically, it somewhat clutters the notes and is not so easy to parse without specific tools (which contradicts the first of my design goals).

There are only two special syntactical constructs which extend Markdown and have a special interpretation in my system:

Words prefixed with # at the beginning of a note are interpreted as tags.
Strings matching the pattern [[<note>]] or [[<title>|<note>]] are interpreted as internal links, i.e. links to other notes.

The system is perfectly usable with nothing more than this (note in particular that the syntax for the two special constructs for tags and internal links mentioned above is so unobtrusive yet self-explanatory that they would even work without rendering the notes). In particular, it satisfies my first design goal; for instance, some basic operations could be done like this:

Viewing a note: less <note>
Editing a note: vim <note>
Searching for a given string in all notes: grep <string> *
Filtering notes on given tags: grep -l -e "#<tag1>" -e "#<tag2>"
Finding all notes which link to a given note: grep -l "\[\[<note>\]\]" *
Finding all notes which are linked to from a given note: grep -o "\[\[.*\]\]" <note>

Note the small number of tools needed to achieve these operations.

However, to be able to efficiently use tags and links (which are integral ingredients in a PKM system), it is convenient render notes as HTML and view them in a browser. In my system, the preprocessing and rendering of the notes is facilitated by a small Ruby program I wrote.⁶ Since the notes are written in Markdown, it is easy to convert them to HTML by employing standard libraries or APIs available in most programming languages. The tool provides a simple web application employing the Sinatra web framework. This in particular facilitates serving content dynamically (in contrast to the static site generator I used as a PKM system in the past; see above). This makes it possible, for instance, to filter for several tags, since the code determines the matching notes dynamially before they are getting rendered and served.

While the notes are mostly simply translated from Markdown to HTML, marks and links are preprocessed as follows:

Tags are extracted from the note so that they can be laid out separately in the rendered note (to make them appear below the note title instead of above it, for instance, or to make them link to a page which lists all other notes with that tag).
Internal links are converted to a link to the given note, which is displayed with the respective title if given. This is a Wiki-style shortcut for internal links (i.e. links to other notes).

A note can then be reached via the path /note/<note> and viewed in the browser by entering the corresponding URL (i.e. the host – localhost if run locally – plus this path). This is what a rendered note might look like in the browser.

There is also an index page listing all the notes available (and also one for listing all the tags defined), so it is easy to directly navigate to them instead of having to enter the URL manually.

Note that, according to my second design goal above, things should be simple. Therefore, there is basically no explicit user interface for doing things like filtering (after all, I am the only one using the system…). Instead, the filtering can be done by appending query parameters to the corresponding path. For instance, the path for filtering notes on tags “tag1” and “tag2” would be: /?tag=tag1,tag2

In addition, there are a few endpoints for doing certain consistency checks, like whether there exist links to non-existing notes, which is then reported so that it can be fixed.

Note that it is not possible to create, modify or delete notes in any way using the web interface (it works in a purely functional way, one might say). This is a deliberate choice: Deleting and renaming can easily be done using rm and mv on the command line, and editing is exclusively done using my editor of choice – that is, of course, Vim (so, I have finally turned things around and arrived at the actual subject of this article - yay!).

So much about the technical implementation of the system. Regarding its organization: It is more or less based on the Zettelkasten approach⁷, but I will not go into any detail about it here. I am trying to write notes which are atomic, i.e. which entail a single idea or concept, and to link them to create semantic connections to similar of related ideas or concepts (though I often fail at doing this in a good fashion, I think). As mentioned in the beginning, though, this is not the focus of this article, so I will just refer to the many good resources about the organizational aspects of PKM in general, and the Zettelkasten method in particular, available out there.

And what about Vim?

So, I have written a lot already, but rarely mentioned Vim at all. Considering that this is a contribution to a Vim Carnival, the question “Where does Vim come into play?” imposes itself.

The – somewhat trivial – answer to this question is: Where it always comes into play when I work with plain text files. I use it, obviously, to edit my notes – just as I use it to edit any other kind of text file.

So, I hope Hyde will forgive me for somewhat abusing this Vim Carnival for my ramblings about PKM. Let me close this article, however, by emphasizing that, while there is nothing special in my using of Vim for PKM, it does play an extremely important role in it. It’s a simple syllogism:

I edit plain text files in Vim.
My notes are plain text files.
Therefore, I edit my notes in Vim.

I want to be able to edit text files as smoothly and efficiently as possible: That is why I use Vim – for PKM and everything else that comes as plain text.

I know it sounds somewhat strange to call plain vi “Vim”. Then again, this is an article for a Vim Carnival, so what… ↩
Examples of analog PKM systems are commonplace books, which have been around for centuries, and the Zettelkasten method, probably most famously employed by Niklas Luhmann, which is often used in an analog way (though it can also be implemented on a computer). ↩
I know: Since notes are stored in Markdown-formatted plain text, they can even be used if Obsidian (or whatever other tool) is gone someday. Yet, I prefer to depend as little as possible on external software. It is a rather mild case of vendor lock-in – much less so than with many other applications –, but I like to not only own my data, but also the software which operates on it (which, of course, is only possible in rather few cases). ↩
This basically means that my system would fall back to the basic plain text approach I sketched earlier. My notes would still contain markup in the form of Markdown, but one of the nice properties of Markdown (even more so than with other markup languages like AsciiDoc) is that Markdown does not distract much from the text; it integrates rather seamlessly into it. So even if Markdown would cease to exist, along with every tool to generate HTML from it, it would still be viable as some kind of self-explanatory plain-text markup. ↩
In the past, I have mostly used AsciiDoc. I switched to Markdown because I do not need all the power of AsciiDoc, and the markup of Markdown is less intrusive than that of AsciiDoc (which is more intrusive precisely because it is more powerful), thereby making it even more readable. ↩
The tool can be found here: https://codeberg.org/thorstenzoeller/noted. Note, however, that it is not quite up-to-date; in particular, this version only works with AsciiDoc-formatted notes (not with Markdown-formatted notes). An updated version will (hopefully) be provided soon. ↩
Some good ressources for starters are:
And no, I actually do not like footnotes that much, even though it very much seems to be exactly so. I just usually fail not to extensively make use of them. Fortunately, you have now made it to the last footnote of this article… ↩

[Stream] 2021-05-01

2021-05-01

OpenBSD released – the 50th OpenBSD release!

[Stream] 2021-05-02

2021-05-02

Switched from Vim to nvi. Vim started to feel too bloated.

[Stream] 2021-05-06

2021-05-06

Yes – This is the Mindset For Life.

[Stream] 2021-05-14

2021-05-14

How to Write: why jotting things into notebooks improves your writing – I fully agree.

[Stream] 2021-05-23

2021-05-23

A good habit to form: Reading in A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy every day.

[Stream] 2021-06-20

2021-06-20

New website is live! Here’s why.

[Stream] 2021-06-28

2021-06-28

Slowly getting used to using the Spleen font in the terminal.

[Stream] 2021-07-04

2021-07-04

Acting yourself into motivation is much more effective than thinking yourself into motivation or waiting for motivation to occur.

[Stream] 2021-07-11

2021-07-11

Installed OpenBSD 6.9. A big thanks to the developers for what so far looks like another great release!

[Stream] 2021-07-30

2021-07-30

What does it mean to be a leader? Leaders make people better. Applies to leading yourself as well.

[Stream] 2021-08-03

2021-08-03

Every completed Ashtanga practice is a little victory.

[Stream] 2021-08-04 (1/2)

2021-08-04

The renovated Twin Gable House, designed by Ryan Leidner, is truly amazing with its light-flooded, minimalist interior and beautiful inner courtyard.

[Stream] 2021-08-04 (2/2)

2021-08-04

In recent years, I have become increasingly aware of the profound effects of walking. Many ideas occur to me while walking, and to me, walking – especially in solitude in nature – is a very calming and contemplative activity. How Walking Fosters Creativity: Stanford Researchers Confirm What Philosophers and Writers Have Always Known is another interesting article on this subject, focusing on the connection between walking and creativity. In particular, it cites the wonderful book “A Philosophy of Walking” by Frédéric Gros.

[Stream] 2021-08-06

2021-08-06

Once again, I find myself fascinated by the miracles and history of the Laocoon Group.

[Stream] 2021-08-08 (1/2)

2021-08-08

Two very convenient shell aliases for copying the primary X selection to the system clipboard and vice versa:

alias primary2clip='xsel -p | xsel -i -b'
alias clip2primary='xsel -b | xsel -i -p'

Alternatively, using xclip instead of xsel:

alias primary2clip='xclip -o -selection primary | xclip -i -selection clipboard'
alias clip2primary='xclip -o -selection clipboard | xclip -i -selection primary'

See X is for the X Selection: Copy and Paste on Linux (Shallow Thoughts) for more information.

[Stream] 2021-08-08 (2/2)

2021-08-08

Rediscovering the joy of cycling.

[Stream] 2021-08-29

2021-08-29

Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.

– Stephen Vincent Benét

[Stream] 2021-09-06

2021-09-06

Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.

– Mitch Albom, The Time Keeper

(Related recent article by Chris Guillebeau: Time Anxiety Is the Most Pressing Problem of Our Age)

[Stream] 2021-09-07 (1/2)

2021-09-07

Instead by Seth Godin. A few additions:

Instead of overeating, stop when still feeling slightly hungry.

Instead of exclaiming “I knew it!”, remain silent.

Instead of rushing to the next to-do, sit still for a few moments.

[Stream] 2021-09-07 (2/2)

2021-09-07

Can we please establish a universal code of conduct stating that no smartphones are to be used at the dining table?

[Stream] 2021-09-08 (1/2)

2021-09-08

Beautiful article: Long, Boring Walks by Craig Mod.

[Stream] 2021-09-08 (2/2)

2021-09-08

Wise advice: Make Sure You Write Down Everything Interesting That You Find.

[Stream] 2021-09-13

2021-09-13

My advice (for what it’s worth) for success and happiness: Compete with yourself and root for everybody else.

– Candice Millard, https://twitter.com/candice_millard/status/1383508127442608141

[Stream] 2021-09-23

2021-09-23

Roden 059 – Stupid Life Tricks by Craig Mod contains a thoughtful piece on the ever-present distractions of our phones and their consequences – a pressing and, in my opinion, still underrated issue of our time. In particular, it cites an expressive passage from the recent article Picturing the Humanity and Dread of the Infinite Scroll by Jia Tolentino, and refers to an interesting Aziz Ansari interview, Aziz Ansari on Quitting the Internet, Loneliness, and Season 3 of Master of None. Finally, it mentions two great articles by Craig himself, The Glorious, Almost-Disconnected Boredom of My Walk in Japan and How I Got My Attention Back – both must-reads.

[Stream] 2021-10-03

2021-10-03

igh school and university students have designed and built a LEGO model of the detector of the ALICE experiment at CERN, consisting of about 16,000 LEGO bricks – highly impressive!

[Stream] 2021-10-21

2021-10-21

“…which components of what aspects of the many things making up our lives at any point are worth noting in some external fashion, and which can be left undocumented?” – The question Colin Wright is asking in his newsletter article Documentation, and a question I am pondering as well.

[Stream] 2021-11-13 (1/2)

2021-11-13

I love beautiful hand-crafted web sites. Examples: sive.rs, mlaine.sdfeu.org.

[Stream] 2021-11-13 (2/2)

2021-11-13

Finished reading Your Music and People by Derek Sivers and loved it, though I am not even a musician myself!

[Stream] 2021-12-18

2021-12-18

Rediscovered two good posts by Zach Holman (and, well, Zach Holman himself): Keeping a Journal and My Favorite Tweet. Also, Text Snippets. Boom..

[Stream] 2021-12-20

2021-12-20

I hate Ashtanga Yoga. And I love it.

[Stream] 2022-01-09

2022-01-09

Taschenhirn.de: Knowledge database containing lots of interesting data in the form of lists organized into different categories (German only).

[Stream] 2022-01-16 (1/2)

2022-01-16

Harder, easier and more convenient by Seth Godin – the aspiration to ever more convenience is often faulty.

[Stream] 2022-01-16 (2/2)

2022-01-16

Just finished reading Hell Yeah or No by Derek Sivers and enjoyed it at least as much as Your Music and People. Great collection of articles, including some of my favorites by Derek, like Actions, not words, reveal our real values, Subtract, Disconnect, Everything is my fault, My favorite fable Parenting : Who is it really for?, and I’m a very slow thinker, among others.

[Stream] 2022-01-24

2022-01-24

A worthy prompt: Just For A Moment, Let’s Be Still.

[Stream] 2022-01-29

2022-01-29

“Just in case” – One of the most common justifications for letting clutter accrue.

[Stream] 2022-01-30

2022-01-30

New note: Taking Screenshots on OpenBSD.

[Stream] 2022-02-05

2022-02-05

I had long been looking for a keyboard alternative to clicking the middle mouse button for pasting the primary selection. Recently I learned that pressing <Shift> + <Insert> will do it – very convenient!

[Stream] 2022-02-11

2022-02-11

I didn’t know that carrot greens are edible and so delicious when stir-fried!

[Stream] 2022-02-12

2022-02-12

New note: Multiple-Click Selections in xterm.

[Stream] 2022-02-13

2022-02-13

Finished reading How to Live by Derek Sivers A definite must-read: Extremely dense and to the point, packed with wisdom – in a word: stunning!

[Stream] 2022-02-20

2022-02-20

Jeder Mensch – Initiative for six new fundamental rights for Europe which take the major developments and problems of the recent decades into account.

[Stream] 2022-02-23

2022-02-23

Apparently, there was an inscription on the temple of the Oracle of Delphi which read:

Know thyself
Nothing to excess

Maxims to be taken to heart.

[Stream] 2022-03-04 (1/4)

2022-03-04

xkcd: ISO 8601 – Exactly.

[Stream] 2022-03-04 (2/4)

2022-03-04

I fully agree with practically everything stated in Write plain text files by Derek Sivers as I have come to the same conclusions myself. Another one of Derek’s articles which can hardly be cited too often.

[Stream] 2022-03-04 (3/4)

2022-03-04

I have never really seen coding the way described in The Healing Power of Code by Craig Mod, but I can definitely relate to much of what is being said in the article.

[Stream] 2022-03-04 (4/4)

2022-03-04

Base64-encode a string from the command line using uuencode(1):

$ echo -n <string> | b64encode '' | sed '1d;$d' | tr -d '\n'

[Stream] 2022-03-06 (1/2)

2022-03-06

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

– T.S. Eliot, The Rock

[Stream] 2022-03-06 (2/2)

2022-03-06

As the title of Ridgeline: 139 – Walk for the Boredom of it All by Craig Mod implies, the topic of this newsletter article is boredom, and since it is Craig Mod, specifically the boredom while walking. Actually, it mostly references a recent interview with him, citing some passages from it and featuring his comments to them. In particular, he further stresses the importance of boredom in his remarks.

Boredom is an issue I also find highly interesting, and I am convinced – as Craig is – that it is really important to experience boredom and to be able to stand it and cope with it, and that we currently live in an age where we are trying very hard to do everything we can to not be bored, mostly by resorting to various kinds of ever more intricate and sophisticated (and not so sophisticated) distractions and diversions.

[Stream] 2022-03-26

2022-03-26

The Tyranny of Convenience by Tim Wu – an important article to which I was pointed by the article Harder, easier and more convenient by Seth Godin. Both articles emphasize the importance of doing things which are not convenient, in the face of the general trend towards ever more convenience in practically all areas of life. The last paragraph of Tim Wu’s article provides a good summary:

So let’s reflect on the tyranny of convenience, try more often to resist its stupefying power, and see what happens. We must never forget the joy of doing something slow and something difficult, the satisfaction of not doing what is easiest. The constellation of inconvenient choices may be all that stands between us and a life of total, efficient conformity.

[Stream] 2022-03-27

2022-03-27

Just rediscovered this impressive depiction of depths: xkcd: Lakes and Oceans.

[Stream] 2022-04-02

2022-04-02

Turning off my phone improved my science – insightful article by PhD student Adam Weiss. How much would our all lives be improved if we stopped using our phones all the time?

[Stream] 2022-05-08

2022-05-08

103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known by Kevin Kelly: Full of insights and invaluable advice.

Note to myself: Reread at least once per month.

Update 2025-09-28: No longer available online. The advice is now contained in a book titled “Excellent Advice for Living”.

[Stream] 2022-08-17

2022-08-17

Population density world map by NASA Earth Obervations (NEO) (contains various other interesting maps of the world).

[Stream] 2022-08-29

2022-08-29

The digital collection of the Städel Museum contains more than 24,000 images of artworks in the public domain.

[Stream] 2022-09-04

2022-09-04

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is certainly one of the great achievements of mankind (in spite of the – in many cases entirely insufficient – degree to which human rights are respected throughout the world). Yet, with rights also come responsibilities. A Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities is a proposal by the InterAction Council for human responsibilities that come along with the human rights.

[Stream] 2022-11-03

2022-11-03

The Minimalism Life Manifesto.

[Stream] 2023-01-14

2023-01-14

Since yesterday was Friday, the 13th, I was wondering how often the 13th day of a month is a Friday. Instead of trying to come up with a proper derivation, I approached the question by employing brute force (i.e. by writing a small script on the computer which counts such occurrences).

The result: On average, there are approximately 1.72 occurrences of Friday, the 13th, per year.

(Of course, if one were less lazy than me, one could also just do the math, or if one were even more lazy than me, one could just look it up.)

[Stream] 2023-02-09

2023-02-09

A great example of seeing things from a different point of view: The short story “The House of Asterion” by Jorge Luis Borges.

[Stream] 2023-02-10

2023-02-10

New note: A Simple E-Mail Reminder System Based on cron and at.

[Stream] 2023-02-11 (1/2)

2023-02-11

New text: The Melancholy of the Day.

[Stream] 2023-02-11 (2/2)

2023-02-11

“Gibs auf” (“Give it up!”): Fascinating (and, well, very Kafkaesque) very short story by Franz Kafka.

[Stream] 2023-02-12

2023-02-12

The importance of editing texts and refactoring code can hardly be overestimated.

[Stream] 2023-03-12

2023-03-12

We have lost the ability to just be. We know how to do, but not how to be.

[Stream] 2023-02-26 (1/2)

2023-02-26

New article: Running Anki inside Xephyr.

[Stream] 2023-02-26 (2/2)

2023-02-26

There are few things which are as humbling as practicing Ashtanga Yoga regularly.

[Stream] 2023-03-05

2023-03-05

New article: Derek Sivers: “How to Live”.

[Stream] 2023-03-10

2023-03-10

Simply beautiful: BEING by Michael Torke. Found it via c.im/@jwsgeek@glod.org/109996126447093296.

[Stream] 2023-03-11 (1/2)

2023-03-11

Ashtanga Yoga is not about progress. It’s about perseverance.

[Stream] 2023-03-11 (2/2)

2023-03-11

3 good things:

Meditated for 20 minutes – first time in a rather long time.
Played two rounds of the fantastic game “Ganz schön clever” with my son.
Got some fresh air in the afternoon.

[Stream] 2023-03-15 (1/2)

2023-03-15

I’ll admit it: I usually have way too many browser tabs open. Every now and then, I lose my open tabs upon restarting the browser (because it could not fully recover from a previous crash or for whatever other reason). And each and every time, I somehow feel relieved when that happens. I don’t miss any of the tabs I previously considered too valuable to close; usually, I cannot even remember most of them.

Which reminds me that I should really adjust my browser preferences such that tabs will not be reopened upon starting…

[Stream] 2023-03-15 (2/2)

2023-03-15

Good article by Bradley Taunt: Stop Using Custom Web Fonts (also good: A rant on web font licenses by Manu Moreale, referenced in Bradley’s article).

[Stream] 2023-03-16

2023-03-16

The Unpredictable Abilities Emerging From Large AI Models: At the same time startling, intriguing, and uncanny.

[Stream] 2023-03-26

2023-03-26

A set of guidelines for designing command-line programs based on Unix principles: Command Line Interface Guidelines

[Stream] 2023-03-27

2023-03-27

Avoid unnecessary amplifiers by Seth Godin.

[Stream] 2023-03-28

2023-03-28

Thoughts on journaling: Answering common questions by Michael Eaton.

[Stream] 2023-04-27 (1/2)

2023-04-27

Space Elevator: Really fun, not just for kids.

[Stream] 2023-04-27 (2/2)

2023-04-27

The best science images of 2022: Stunning!

[Stream] 2023-05-03

2023-05-03

Nice article about Turing machines: The Most Important Machine That Was Never Built.

[Stream] 2023-06-16

2023-06-16

Simple way to rename a hash key in Ruby:

hash[new_key] = hash.delete(old_key)

This employs the fact that the delete method returns the value associated with the key to be deleted. Therefore, it is equivalent to:

hash[new_key] = hash[old_key]
hash.delete(old_key)

Note: If old_key is not guaranteed to exist, the case that it does not exist needs to be handled.

[Stream] 2023-09-09

2023-09-09

I first became aware of Johann Sebastian Bach’s genius when I read Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter, one of my favorite non-fiction books of all time, more than two decades ago. The question posed by Tyler Cowen, Is Bach the greatest achiever of all time?, therefore seems fully reasonable to me.

[Stream] 2023-11-21

2023-11-21

Can little actions bring big joy? Researchers find ‘micro-acts’ can boost well-being (via https://mastodon.social/@Robinbonhomme/111449193672309445)

[Stream] 2023-11-26

2023-11-26

The Plaintext Journal: An open project created by Geffrey van der Bos about the importance of plain text for digital communication. Articles can be contributed and edited by anyone by making pull requests on a GitHub Repository. As the website states: We believe in the timeless essence of plain text. Yes, we do!

[Stream] 2024-06-07

2024-06-07

So true: Store-Brand Insecurity by Joshua Fields Millburn of The Minimalists.

[Stream] 2024-06-23

In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteor. We are not only in danger. We are the danger. But we are also the solution.

– António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

Source: Special address on climate action, A Moment of Truth, to the American Museum of Natural History in New York on 2024-06-04 https://press.un.org/en/2024/sgsm22255.doc.htm.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-07-23

2024-07-23

Best statement about patriotism I have ever heard:

No, no. I don’t love states. I love my wife; that’s it.

– Gustav Heinemann, former President of Germany

(German original: “Ach was, ich liebe keine Staaten, ich liebe meine Frau; fertig!”)

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-08 (1/2)

2024-08-08

Note to self: Instead of impulsively checking the phone in idle moments and mindlessly browsing the web (which includes mindlessly browsing Mastodon), do a few rounds of mindful breathing instead.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-08 (2/2)

2024-08-08

An ability of utmost importance – and becoming ever more important: To be able to focus, to not easily get distracted, to withstand the constant fight for one’s attention.

A true superpower.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-09

2024-08-09

First Ashtanga Yoga practice in a while this morning. Was a tough one (even more so than usual). Right knee hurt a lot, as was to be expected. Sweated like crazy in the tropical heat of Nha Trang, Vietnam (in spite of the early morning hours).

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-13 (1/4)

2024-08-13

Went to see the current exhibition Planet Ozean in the Gasometer Oberhausen when I visited my hometown a couple of weeks ago. Another great exhibition in this really cool location; thinking about going a second time later this year.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-13 (2/4)

2024-08-13

Beautiful restaurant with many vegan options in Nha Trang, Vietnam, not far from the beach: Ơi Nha Trang

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-13 (3/4)

2024-08-13

You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.

– Cormac McCarthy

A very stoic and true quote.

Also see: My favorite fable by Derek Sivers.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-13 (4/4)

2024-08-13

A little vegan gem in Đà Lạt, Vietnam: “Quán Chay Hằng Thiện”. The vegan lẩu (hot pot) is excellent.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-14

2024-08-14

2024-08-28

Repeating things over and over again creates strong habits with time.

We are aware of this and make use of it when we deliberately try to form new, beneficial habits.

But it is just as true for all the things we repeat unconsciously all the time. It is worth trying to become aware of these as well and asking ourselves if they create habits which serve us or habits which hinder – or even harm – us.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-28 (2/2)

2024-08-28

The wonderful and timeless text Words by Justin Jackson actually quite perfectly captures the essence of what the Gemini protocol was made for.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-30

2024-08-30

Two really great (and completely unrelated) documentaries I watched a while back on a flight:

The Alpinist about climber Marc-André Leclerc.
The Way I See It about Pete Souza, former Chief Official White House Photographer.

Both are highly recommended!

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-01 (1/2)

2024-09-01

I have created a Gemini capsule out of curiosity: thorstenzoeller.com.

It is hosted on OpenBSD Amsterdam (just like this website) and served by gmid(8) by Omar Polo. Setting it up was really simple!

Thanks to OpenBSD Amsterdam for hosting my website as well as my Gemini capsule, and thanks to Omar for having written the gmid server!

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-01 (2/2)

2024-09-01

[Stream] 2024-09-06 (2/3)

2024-09-06

So why does the behavior of dc(1) and bc(1) differ with respect to the -e command-line parameter?

$ bc -e <expr>

evaluates <expr> and then enters the REPL, while

$ dc -e <expr>

evaluates <expr> and then exits.

The advantage of the bc(1) behavior is that one can easily define an alias which e.g. sets the scale before doing calculations:

alias bc="bc -e 'scale = 2'"

while defining an alias with the equivalent expression for dc(1),

alias dc="dc -e '2 k'"

does not make a lot of sense.

Am I missing something?

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-06 (3/3)

2024-09-06

Again practiced meditation for 20 minutes this morning.

Read on Mastodon.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-15 (1/3)

2024-09-15

Practiced meditation for 30 minutes this morning.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-15 (2/3)

2024-09-15

I love the poem “Small Kindnesses” (see www.danushalameris.com/poems) by Danusha Lameris, an ode to kindness and compassion. It is not about big, heroic actions, but rather about small, everyday acts often performed almost unconsciously. Yet those small kindnesses are so important for our living together that they deserve attention and awareness.

It is a beautiful elaboration on the Dalai Lama’s famous statement “My religion is kindness”.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-15 (3/3)

2024-09-15

Thinking differentiates the world, meditation integrates it.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-22

2024-09-22

A simple demonstration of the monkey mind in action I find startling every time I am experiencing it:

When something comes to your mind which you must not or do not want to forget, do not write it down (or otherwise persist it) immediately, but instead try to keep it in your mind for a couple of minutes.

Sounds easy, but most of the times when something I need to or want to remember comes to my mind while brushing my teeth, for instance, I have forgotten it by the time I am finished because my mind has already jumped to the next subject(s) it happens to find interesting.

Time and again I am thinking to myself in such situations: “Come on, it is impossible that you forget until you are done with just repeat the thought in your mind all the time." And often, the thought is forgotten within a fraction of a minute.

Of course, oftentimes I will remember my thought again after a while; usually it is not completely forgotten and gone. The point is that this shows that it is really hard to focus your mind on a single thing even for a short period of time.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-29 (1/2)

2024-09-29

Finished reading Ed Mastery by Michael W Lucas. Review will be coming shortly.

Looking forward to getting Run Your Own Mail Server next.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-29 (2/2)

2024-09-29

Here’s my review of Michael W Lucas: “Ed Mastery”.

Make sure to read the review by Peter N. M. Hansteen as well (might be a little more factual than mine…)!

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-11-03 (1/2)

2024-11-03

A nice – if somewhat explicit – companion to Words by Justin Jackson:

Motherfucking Website

And another reason for the Gemini protocol, for that matter.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-11-03 (2/2)

2024-11-03

The “Día de Muertos” is a really beautiful tradition (and yes, I know I’m a little late…). It is so contrary to the way death is dealt with in most European cultures (and in particular in German culture), where it is usually attempted to avoid thinking of death as much as possible.

To me, it seems that the “Día de Muertos” is a very healthy way of coping with death and acknowledging that there is no live withouth death – memento mori.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-11-12

2024-11-12

Sharath Jois, director of the Sharath Yoga Centre in Mysore, India, and lineage holder of the Ashtanga Yoga system, dies at age 53.

We live in an age of distraction and diversion, of minimal attention spans and of scattered, fragmented and erratic minds.

This is no new insight, but worth remembering.

Being able to focus is a true superpower.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-03-09

2025-03-09

Forgot my mobile phone in the car when I got home yesterday and only noticed it 3 hours later.

Pretty happy about that (well, not necessarily about my mental presence, but about my ability to live without a phone for short periods of time).

And no, I didn’t sleep during those 3 hours.

And yes, I’m fully aware of how ridiculous it is to be proud of that.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-03-11

2025-03-11

Read How I Got My Attention Back by Craig Mod for the second or third time. It is a wonderful piece which is more relevant and timely than ever (even with respect to the political allusions – now, eight years after it was first published).

It is eloquently written and full or relevant observations and insights. Also, it reminds me of how much I like Craig’s writing style and that I should really read more from him (in particular his great newsletters!).

In fact, I think one can see the piece as an excellent elaboration on the central proposition “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone” by Blaise Pascal, which is quoted in the piece (and which has long been one of my favorite quotes). But while man was not able to sit quietly in a room alone already several hundred years ago, in our times it has become incomparably harder – knowing that the much sought-after distraction – and thereby salvation – from his aloneness is not waiting somewhere outside his empty room, but beckoning right next to his fingertips.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-03-13

2025-03-13

Finished reading A System for Writing by Bob Doto (yes, I’m a very slow reader…). My first impression was confirmed by the rest of the book, which is very well written and devised. I learned quite a bit from the book, and it definitely renewed my interest in the Zettelkasten method.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in PKM in general, the Zettelkasten method in particular, and/or writing which is supported by the use of a Zettelkasten.

Hat tip to Richard Griffiths for pointing me to the book via his review!

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-03-16 (1/2)

2025-03-16

I have several files (mostly related to the logging of tasks, events etc.) where (some) lines start with a date. Since the current date is usually not at the very beginning or very end of the file, a convenient shortcut in Vim or Neovim (or other Vim-like editors) to jump to the current date is:

nnoremap <C-G> /^<C-R>=strftime('%Y-%m-%d')<CR><CR>:noh<CR>

This assumes that the date is given in the strftime format %Y-%m-%d (the only true date format), and it maps the command to the key combination <Ctrl> + G (of course it can be mapped to any other key or key combination).

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-03-16 (2/2)

2025-03-16

Our perception is fully compatible with the assumption that everything, including all our memories, was created an instant (or any other time) ago.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-03-18

2025-03-18

Started reading Lev Shestov – Philosopher of the Sleepless Night by Matthew Beaumont and am very curious about it.

I hadn’t known Lev Shestov before reading The Myth of Sisyphos by Albert Camus, in which he is mentioned several times and which got me interested in him in the first place. What caught my attention most is Shestov’s deep belief that reality cannot be pressed into a (philosophical or any other kind of) system and that humans are fundamentally irrational beings.

Let’s see what the book has in store about this largely unknown thinker…

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-07-06

2025-07-06

My review of Useful Not True by Derek Sivers.

[Stream] 2025-08-13 (1/2)

2025-08-13

Having a lot of fun playing Pickleball in Vietnam. There are so many Pickleball courts here – in contrast to Germany, where there are still very few courts unfortunately…

[Stream] 2025-08-13 (2/2)

2025-08-13

Finished reading “The Worst Ship in the Fleet” a couple of days ago, the first part of Skyler Ramirez’ “Dumb Luck and Dead Heroes” series. I had bought a copy of it after having read about it more or less by chance on Nathan Lowell’s website (hat tip to Nathan Lowell).

It is a quick read and rather fast paced, and I enjoyed it a lot. There are certainly inconsistencies and logical hiccups, but I didn’t really care (in contrast to pretty much everything outside of fiction, where I would typically care a lot). The story is captivating, but what is probably most compelling are its two main characters. I am really curious about how their relationship will be developing in the course of the series.

Looking forward to reading part two, “The Worst Spies in the Sector”.

[Stream] 2025-08-15

2025-08-15

Finished reading Lev Shestov – Philosopher of the Sleepless Night by Matthew Beaumont yesterday. I wanted to read more about Shestov ever since I first read about him in The Myth of Sisyphos by Albert Camus. Unfortunately, he is mostly forgotten these days, and it is hard to get hold of copies of his original works.

With his rather short, but very dense book, Beaumont offers a lot of information about this elusive and highly unique thinker, focusing on one of his central themes or motives, sleeplessnessand watchfulness in the face of the horrors of our world.

There is much to say about this book, and I plan to elaborate on it in a longer review.

[Stream] 2025-08-16

2025-08-16

Last day in Hanoi, Vietnam, before heading back to Germany tonight. Had a great time as usual; in particular my first visit to Danang was memorable.

[Stream] 2025-08-27 (1/2)

2025-08-27

Delicious lunch: Stir-fried dandelion leaves with rice (yes, that is a full-fledged meal!).

[Stream] 2025-08-27 (2/2)

2025-08-27

Getting really interested in Solarpunk and looking for good fiction to read.

[Stream] 2025-08-30 (1/2)

2025-08-30

New article How I Use Vim, a contribution to the first Vim Carnival.

[Stream] 2025-08-30 (2/2)

2025-08-30

Finally got an account on Codeberg. Feels good!

[Stream] 2025-09-04

2025-09-04

How I fell in love with calendar.txt: Interesting article about the calendar.txt format for a text-file-based calendar.

[Stream] 2025-09-05 (1/2)

2025-09-05

Life is an acceleration run towards death.

This is not morbid, but a matter of fact – our time on earth runs out quicker than we would like to believe, no matter what our stage in life.

[Stream] 2025-09-05 (2/2)

2025-09-05

Haiku attempt:

Vast sky opens
behind the window.
The honey bee cannot escape.

Critique welcome.

[Stream] 2025-09-07

2025-09-07

Haiku attempt (prompt “Laughter”):

Nightshades falling
over silent meadows –
faint laughter in the distance.

[Stream] 2025-09-08

2025-09-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Willow”):

the old willow bends
ailingly over the pond
a brown duck swims by

[Stream] 2025-09-09

2025-09-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Harvest”):

fields stretching golden
beneath the evening sun –
harvest in the cart

[Stream] 2025-09-10

2025-09-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Grave”):

on a weathered grave
rotten oak leaves are covered
by branches and snow

[Stream] 2025-09-11

2025-09-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Puddle”):

gusts of wind hitting
the puddle’s quiet blue surface –
the full moon is gone

[Stream] 2025-09-12

2025-09-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Harvest”):

fruits, nuts, cereal –
the ample harvest delights
mice and men alike

[Stream] 2025-09-13

2025-09-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Pumpkin”):

the hollow pumpkin
shining dimly from within
grins maliciously

And an alternative version:

the hollow pumpkin
contemplating its grim fate
grins maliciously

[Stream] 2025-09-14 (1/2)

2025-09-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Chrysanthemums”):

between the debris
a patch of chrsyanthemums
defies the wasteland

[Stream] 2025-09-14 (2/2)

2025-09-14

I love it when the sun breaks through gloomy clouds. Magnificient play of light!

[Stream] 2025-09-15

2025-09-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Deer”):

behind a large tree
in the snow-covered forest
a shy deer peeks out

And another one:

the young deer wanders
around in fear, its mother
gone without a trace

[Stream] 2025-09-16

2025-09-16

Daily haiku (prompt “Orchids”):

in a steep rock face
a wee grassy ledge harbors
two purple orchids

[Stream] 2025-09-17

2025-09-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Lotus”):

on a mountain top
the monk, sitting in lotus
meditates deeply

[Stream] 2025-09-18

2025-09-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Morning”):

morning dew pearling
from a daffodil, sunbeams
scattered by the drops

[Stream] 2025-09-19 (1/2)

2025-09-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Glow”):

a faint glow appears
behind the dark horizon –
morning approaches

[Stream] 2025-09-19 (2/2)

2025-09-19

Finished reading Aufzeichnungen aus dem Kellerloch (Notes from the Underground) by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Deeply fascinating psychological study of a social outsider, an “underground man” – disturbing and uncomfortable.

[Stream] 2025-09-20 (1/3)

2025-09-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Cascade”):

amidst wild waters
cascading down the mountain
a lone tree persists

[Stream] 2025-09-20 (2/3)

2025-09-20

The joy I get out of tweaking a minimal detail of the layout of my website or from refactoring a tiny piece of code – even if it has no visible effect and just makes things a bit nicer under the hood – is completely irrational, yet very real.

[Stream] 2025-09-20 (3/3)

2025-09-20

Started reading The Worst Spies in the Sector by Skyler Ramirez – part 2 of his Dumb Luck and Dead Heroes series.

Really looking forward to it after the fun I had reading the first part!

[Stream] 2025-09-21 (1/3)

2025-09-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Somber”):

in the depth of night
the stars shine faintly above
in somber silence

[Stream] 2025-09-21 (2/3)

2025-09-21

I would be really willing to give Tuta a try – almost everything about them looks really good.

There is one thing, though, which is a complete no-go for me: Being locked-in to a specific piece of software (even if it is open source) in order to be able to send/receive mail, and in particular not being able to use a terminal-based email client like mutt or aerc which e.g. allow me to use a decent text editor for writing mails.

Any suggestions? Am I missing something?

[Stream] 2025-09-21 (3/3)

2025-09-21

I have said it before, and I will say it again: The quote “I don’t love my country; I love my wife!” by former German president Gustav Heinemann (freely translated by myself) is the best statement about patriotism I have ever come across.

Note: You can replace “wife” by anything you like – as long as it is a human being.

[Stream] 2025-09-22

2025-09-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Chilly”):

a pale sun’s light rays
breaking through the chilly fog –
autumn has arrived

[Stream] 2025-09-23

2025-09-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Salmon”):

a flock of salmon
pushing up the steep river
flanked by lush forests

[Stream] 2025-09-24

2025-09-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Footsteps”):

footsteps in the snow
barely visible by now
washed away by rain

[Stream] 2025-09-25

2025-09-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Walnuts”):

in the bowl full of
walnuts, almonds and pecans,
a single raisin

[Stream] 2025-09-26

2025-09-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Dapple”):

orange dappled floor –
painting the wall was only
a partial success

[Stream] 2025-09-27

2025-09-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Sea Bass”):

the dark silhouette
of a sea bass swimming past
in troubled waters

[Stream] 2025-09-28

2025-09-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Eaves”):

droplets dripping down
the eaves, falling towards their
destiny, soon gone

[Stream] 2025-09-29

2025-09-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Laughter”):

deep solemn silence
all of a sudden broken
by jarring laughter

[Stream] 2025-09-30 (1/4)

2025-09-30

Daily haiku (prompt “High Tide”):

the small isle, swallowed
by the high tide, waiting to
re-rise from the sea

2025-10-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Hunter’s Moon”):

hunter’s moon shining
brightly over reddish woods –
autumn time has come

[Stream] 2025-10-02

2025-10-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Grain”):

heaps of grain filling
the storage chambers, a mouse
delights in its share

[Stream] 2025-10-03

2025-10-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Frost”):

frost-covered meadows
let fall in oblivion
a summer long gone

[Stream] 2025-10-04

2025-10-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Yellow Leaves”):

yellow leaves dancing
wildly in the air, stirred up
by harsh autumn wind

[Stream] 2025-10-05

2025-10-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Flour”):

no trace of the mouse –
except footsteps in the flour
scattered on the floor

[Stream] 2025-10-06 (1/2)

2025-10-06

Daily haiku (prompt “Night Chill”):

as the moon rises
on a starry sky, autumn’s
night chill slowly spreads

[Stream] 2025-10-06 (2/2)

2025-10-06

Thanks to Adam Newbold, today I learned that one’s Mastodon posts are automatically published via an RSS feed, where the URL of the feed is obtained by simply appending .rss to the URL of one’s Masotodon account (so, for instance, my feed is available under https://exquisite.social/@thorstenzoeller.rss) – Obvious to others. Amazing to me.

[Stream] 2025-10-07

2025-10-07

Daily haiku (prompt “Avoid”):

flocks of birds flying
towards the south to avoid
the cold of winter

[Stream] 2025-10-08

2025-10-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Ghost”):

in deep autumn fog
a raven slowly descends
like a somber ghost

[Stream] 2025-10-09

2025-10-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Geese”):

the sky is mirrored
in the lake; at its far end
a flock of geese rest

[Stream] 2025-10-10 (1/2)

2025-10-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Straw”):

a straw is dancing
on the meadows, blown around
by petulant winds

[Stream] 2025-10-10 (2/2)

2025-10-10

A must-read: The slow decline of joy

[Stream] 2025-10-11 (1/2)

2025-10-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Vivid”):

created by my
vivid imagination:
a world united

[Stream] 2025-10-11 (2/2)

2025-10-11

In Ruby, transforming a hash of the form

h = {key_1 => arr_1, ..., key_n => arr_n}

into an array of the form

[
  [key_1, arr_1.first],
  ...,
  [key_1, arr_1.last],
  ...,
  [key_n, arr_n.first],
  ...,
  [key_n, arr_n.last]
]

can be achieved as follows:

h.flat_map { |key, arr| arr.map { |elem| [key, elem] } }

Example: With

h = {"a" => [1, 2, 3], "b" => [4, 5, 6]}

one thus obtains:

[["a", 1], ["a", 2], ["a", 3], ["b", 4], ["b", 5], ["b", 6]]

[Stream] 2025-10-12

2025-10-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Crunch”):

pebbles crunch under
the cart’s heavy wheels, drowning
out tired panting

[Stream] 2025-10-13

2025-10-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Stem”):

waiting patiently
for the asparagus stems
to finish cooking

[Stream] 2025-10-14

2025-10-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Fallen”):

so many people
have fallen in disgrace for
just speaking the truth

[Stream] 2025-10-15

2025-10-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Apple”):

an apple falling
from a tree helped finding the
law of gravity

[Stream] 2025-10-16

2025-10-16

Daily haiku (prompt “Ease”):

standing at the shore
watching the infinite sea
puts my mind to ease

[Stream] 2025-10-17

2025-10-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Crisp”):

this delicious smell –
i anticipate the taste
of bread, fresh and crisp

[Stream] 2025-10-18

2025-10-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Mushrooms”):

mushrooms, big and small,
sprout abundantly on grounds
moist from autumn rain

[Stream] 2025-10-19

2025-10-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Withered”):

long-withered flowers
surround the weathered tombstone
under a pale moon

[Stream] 2025-10-20

2025-10-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Decline”):

ceasing to do things
for their own sake – this is the
slow decline of joy

Inspired by The slow decline of joy.

[Stream] 2025-10-21

2025-10-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Grown”):

vegetables grown
in one’s own garden – what could
be more delicious?

[Stream] 2025-10-22

2025-10-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Haystack”):

on the withered field
a single haystack rises
like a huge meerkat

[Stream] 2025-10-23

2025-10-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Pear”):

amidst apples and
plums in the basket a pear,
crooked and beautiful

[Stream] 2025-10-24

2025-10-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Endeavor”):

leaves fall in autumn
in earth’s timeless endeavor
to renew itself

[Stream] 2025-10-25

2025-10-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Ripe”):

no leaves, no fruits – yet
once again leaves will be green
and fruits will be ripe

[Stream] 2025-10-26 (1/2)

2025-10-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Halt”):

sitting in silence
letting all my thoughts pass by
time comes to a halt

[Stream] 2025-10-26 (2/2)

2025-10-26

Finished reading The Worst Spies in the Sector by Skyler Ramirez – part 2 of his Dumb Luck and Dead Heroes series. Had as much fun reading it as the first part. Looking forward to read the next part in the series soon!

[Stream] 2025-10-27

2025-10-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Coolness”):

autumn’s wet coolness
creeps into my bones as i
wander through the mist

[Stream] 2025-10-28

2025-10-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Groan”):

i groan sullenly
as i get up, still dazed from
morning tiredness

[Stream] 2025-10-29

2025-10-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Desolate”):

desolate is the
garden of gethsemane
wasteland of despair

Inspired by the wonderful book Lev Shestov – Philosopher of the Sleepless Night by Matthew Beaumont.

[Stream] 2025-10-30

2025-10-30

Daily haiku (prompt “Maudlin”):

maudlin memories
overwhelm me as i watch
the deserted beach

[Stream] 2025-10-31

2025-10-31

Daily haiku (prompt “Foggy”):

a weak sun’s dispersed
light faintly illuminates
the foggy landscape

[Stream] 2025-11-01

2025-11-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Carp”):

its mouth wide open
the giant carp seems resolved
to swallow the world

[Stream] 2025-11-02

2025-11-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Sleet”):

winter’s premature
visit turns rain into sleet
as temperatures drop

[Stream] 2025-11-03

2025-11-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Endure”):

if only nature
would not have to endure man’s
foolish ruthlessness

[Stream] 2025-11-04

2025-11-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Mittens”):

half-covered by snow
a pair of mittens suggests
ill-fated events

[Stream] 2025-11-05

2025-11-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Pine Sap”):

small drops of pine sap
dripping down the tree sparkle
golden in the light

[Stream] 2025-11-06

2025-11-06

Daily haiku (prompt “Moon Rise”):

it fills me with joy
to watch the moon rise on a
cloudless winter sky

[Stream] 2025-11-07

2025-11-07

Daily haiku (prompt “North Wind”):

whistling through the woods
the harsh north wind makes the trees
dance to its music

[Stream] 2025-11-08

2025-11-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Clear Day”):

stony giants far
away, visible on a
clear day’s horizon

[Stream] 2025-11-09

2025-11-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Turnips”):

delicious turnips –
autumn’s gifts are plenty, and
veggies grow galore

[Stream] 2025-11-10

2025-11-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Fireplace”):

embers smolders in
the fireplace, a last faint
glow in the darkness

[Stream] 2025-11-11

2025-11-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Fading”):

memories of peace
fading to oblivion
for so many souls

[Stream] 2025-11-12

2025-11-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Mask”):

thick clouds mask earth’s face
not even the gods high on
olymp can look through

[Stream] 2025-11-13

2025-11-13

Daily haiku (prompt “First Snow”):

first snow is falling
early, an unexpected
guest in november

[Stream] 2025-11-14

2025-11-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Winter Moon”):

silent mountains cast
in silver by the distant
winter moon’s pale light

[Stream] 2025-11-15

2025-11-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Classic”):

all is separate:
classic misunderstanding
of the thinking mind

[Stream] 2025-11-16

2025-11-16

Daily haiku (prompt “Rust”):

sprinkled stains of rust:
beautiful imperfection
and lesson for life

[Stream] 2025-11-17

2025-11-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Pine”):

tasty salad bowl
full of raw veggies topped with
delicious pine nuts

[Stream] 2025-11-18

2025-11-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Rake”):

ants crawl all over
the rusty rake’s teeth; it has
not scraped leaves since long

[Stream] 2025-11-19

2025-11-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Withering”):

flowers in full bloom
days ago, now withering –
that’s the course of life

[Stream] 2025-11-20

2025-11-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Bonfire”):

do things completely
leaving no trace of yourself
like a bonfire

Inspired by Shunryu Suzuki.

[Stream] 2025-11-21

2025-11-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Hot Tea”):

steam rises from the
hot tea, slowly dissolving
in cold winter air

[Stream] 2025-11-22

2025-11-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Withered Grass”):

dusty paths flanked by
withered grass wind their way through
the barren landscape

[Stream] 2025-11-23 (1/2)

2025-11-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Imbibe”):

imbibe the wisdom
of great souls who figured out
how to live life well

[Stream] 2025-11-23 (2/2)

2025-11-23

Winter has arrived in Frankfurt, Germany: Sub-zero temperatures and the first snow.

[Stream] 2025-11-24

2025-11-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Fireplace”):

crackling fireplace
inside, outside the storm is
raging in the night

[Stream] 2025-11-25

2025-11-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Fright”):

birds fly up in fright
as the scarecrow suddenly
jerks and comes to life

[Stream] 2025-11-26

2025-11-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Frost”):

frost covers the grass
after another ice cold
late november night

[Stream] 2025-11-27

2025-11-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Yellowing”):

leaves cover the trail,
yellowing, soaked from pouring
cold november rain

[Stream] 2025-11-28

2025-11-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Turnip”):

a patch of purple
reveals the turnip, hidden
in the dark brown soil

[Stream] 2025-11-29

2025-11-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Withered Reeds”):

between withered reeds
a lonely duck swims along
on an autumn eve

[Stream] 2025-11-30

2025-11-30

Daily haiku (prompt “Winter Coat”):

days get colder in
late autumn – time to dig out
the warm winter coat

[Stream] 2025-12-01

2025-12-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Tea”):

drink your tea slowly
let it become the center
of your universe

[Stream] 2025-12-02

2025-12-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Cold Night”):

as the cold night ends
the sun rises for its brief
visit to the sky

[Stream] 2025-12-03

2025-12-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Moon”):

pitch black is the night
which no moon illuminates
and cast in silence

[Stream] 2025-12-04

2025-12-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Juncos”):

a flock of juncos
suddenly appears, rushing
by, gone in a blink

[Stream] 2025-12-05

2025-12-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Cardinal”):

behind green leaves a
cardinal’s red cap protrudes –
nice play of colors

[Stream] 2025-12-06

2025-12-06

Daily haiku (prompt “December”):

december has come,
another year has almost
passed – tempus fugit

[Stream] 2025-12-07

2025-12-07

Daily haiku (prompt “Desolation”):

let us be wakeful
and not slip into a world
of desolation

[Stream] 2025-12-08

2025-12-08

Daily haiku (prompt “North”):

in the far north days
are so short now, darkness is
almost permanent

[Stream] 2025-12-09

2025-12-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Breath”):

my anxiety
finally fades as my breath
becomes slow and deep

[Stream] 2025-12-10

2025-12-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Camellia”):

between bushes and
shrubs camellia in bloom
unassuming gem

[Stream] 2025-12-11

2025-12-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Star”):

in the north a star
shining brightl in the sky –
reliable guide

[Stream] 2025-12-12

2025-12-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Snowflake”):

last moments of the
snowflake descending towards
earth before it melts

[Stream] 2025-12-13

2025-12-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Dark Cloud”):

behind the dark cloud
the sun is shining brightly
even if unseen

[Stream] 2025-12-14

2025-12-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Hare”):

serene silence of
the snowy woods, broken by
a hare racing by

[Stream] 2025-12-15

2025-12-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Stew”):

steaming stew on the
stove, tempting offer on a
cold december day

[Stream] 2025-12-16

2025-12-16

Daily haiku (prompt “Snow Drift”):

snow drift on the road
violent blizzard’s remnant
deceptive hazard

[Stream] 2025-12-17

2025-12-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Grebe”):

on the lake’s surface
reflecting pale december
sun a lonely grebe

[Stream] 2025-12-18

2025-12-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Long Night”):

after a long night
the sun will finally rise
and give light and warmth

[Stream] 2025-12-19

2025-12-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Winter”):

the cold and darkness
of winter weight on my mood
i long for springtime

[Stream] 2025-12-20

2025-12-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Sleet”):

snow turns into sleet
awkward precipitation
wet, cold and nasty

[Stream] 2025-12-21

2025-12-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Solstice”):

december solstice
year’s longest night and mark of
a new beginning

[Stream] 2025-12-22

2025-12-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Overcoat”):

good to have a warm
overcoat in these freezing
cold december nights

[Stream] 2025-12-23

2025-12-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Quilt”):

hand-sewn quilt, patchwork
of bright and colorful fabric,
real piece of art

[Stream] 2025-12-24

2025-12-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Hay”):

stacks of hay fill the
old barn from bottom to top.
where is the needle?

[Stream] 2025-12-25

2025-12-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Night”):

deepest night, dark and
silent, stars shining faintly
in the endless sky

[Stream] 2025-12-26

2025-12-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Mirth”):

what a joyful time
these days between the years are
and brimming with mirth

[Stream] 2025-12-27

2025-12-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Bear”):

i know a lazy
bear called hyde, lover of vim,
cool guy all the way

Lazybear

[Stream] 2025-12-28

2025-12-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Chestnut”):

on top of the hill
a sole chestnut tree towers
over the landscape

[Stream] 2025-12-29

2025-12-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Cold”):

human warmth: this is
the counterpoint to a world
growing cold so fast

[Stream] 2025-12-30

2025-12-30

Daily haiku (prompt “Icicles”):

icicles lined up
like nails of frozen water
melting in the sun

[Stream] 2025-12-31

2025-12-31

Daily haiku (prompt “Clear Sky”):

the storm is over
and the sun is shining from
the cloudless clear sky

[Stream] 2026-01-01

2026-01-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Thread”):

breath is like a thread
we traverse along in our
great journey through life

[Stream] 2026-01-02

2026-01-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Plover”):

on the lake’s sandy
shore a lone plover, looking
into the distance

[Stream] 2026-01-03

2026-01-03

Daily haiku (prompt “New Year”):

another new year
another chance to renew
like every day

[Stream] 2026-01-04

2026-01-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Bear”):

deep down in the box
a frayed teddy bear, hidden
for many decades

[Stream] 2026-01-05

2026-01-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Pheasant”):

colorful pheasant
proudly showing its plumage
while strutting around

[Stream] 2026-01-06

2026-01-06

Daily haiku (prompt “Field”):

flower field in bloom
deceptive beauty, full of
annoying pollen

[Stream] 2026-01-07

2026-01-07

Daily haiku (prompt “Wolf Moon”):

no wolves are howling
in this year’s first full moon night
wolf moon is silent

[Stream] 2026-01-08

2026-01-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Time”):

sitting in silence
being aware, just breathing
time seems to stand still

[Stream] 2026-01-09

2026-01-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Soup”):

hot soup - warming and
delicious not only on
freezing winter days

[Stream] 2026-01-10 (1/2)

2026-01-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Creek”):

small creek just hours
ago, now raging river
flooding the valley

2026-01-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Winter Grass”):

frozen winter grass
scattered on snow-covered ground
blend of green and white

[Stream] 2026-01-13

2026-01-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Cold”):

cold days, colder nights
winter puts us heat lovers
to the test once more

[Stream] 2026-01-14

2026-01-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Thaw”):

thaw has arrived now
as winter’s tight grip loosens
momentarily

[Stream] 2026-01-15

2026-01-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Rage”):

maybe there is hope
if we can learn to respond
to rage with kindness

[Stream] 2026-01-16

2026-01-16

Daily haiku (prompt “Candle”):

flickering candle
in the dark, shadows dancing
madly on the wall

[Stream] 2026-01-17

2026-01-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Turnip”):

purple and white bulb
small stem with green leaves – turnip’s
peculiar look

[Stream] 2026-01-18

2026-01-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Chestnuts”):

melting snow reveals
a bunch of rotten chestnuts
remains from last fall

[Stream] 2026-01-19

2026-01-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Snow”):

snow, rare guest these days
even now, deep in winter –
the times they have changed

[Stream] 2026-01-20

2026-01-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Smoke”):

thick gray plumes of smoke
meander through the bright sky
slowly dissolving

[Stream] 2026-01-21

2026-01-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Quiet”):

quiet is the night
around me, the only sound
my slow and calm breath

[Stream] 2026-01-22

2026-01-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Sparrow”):

in the bare brown bush
a little sparrow, sitting
calmly in the cold

[Stream] 2026-01-23

2026-01-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Mountain”):

mountain of knowledge
completely worthless without
wisdom how to live

[Stream] 2026-01-24

2026-01-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Blizzard”):

swirling white vortex
disappearing horizon –
furious blizzard

[Stream] 2026-01-25

2026-01-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Lonely”):

this beautiful state
of solitude, of being
alone, not lonely

[Stream] 2026-01-26

2026-01-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Charcoal”):

red glowing embers
beneath dark charcoal briquettes
fire’s last remains

[Stream] 2026-01-27

2026-01-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Hoarfrost”):

old willow tree in
hoarfrost, like glittering strands
of long silver hair

[Stream] 2026-01-28

2026-01-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Bean Soup”):

delicious bean soup
hot and spicy, smelling well
perfect winter meal

[Stream] 2026-01-29

2026-01-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Quince”):

quince tree in full bloom
pale pink blossoms all over
a feast for the eyes

[Stream] 2026-01-30

2026-01-30

Daily haiku (prompt “Horse”):

wild horse’s gallop –
impressive blend of beauty
and raw energy

[Stream] 2026-01-31

2026-01-31

Daily haiku (prompt “Glimmer”):

in the darkest sky
glimmer of a shooting star
flashing up, then gone

[Stream] 2026-02-01

2026-02-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Twittering”):

serene silence in
the woods, broken only by
the bird’s twittering

[Stream] 2026-02-02

2026-02-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Rain”):

this beautiful smell
when the rain begins to fall
so fresh and earthy

[Stream] 2026-02-03

2026-02-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Grove”):

grove of cedar trees
permeated by a grid
of golden sunbeams

[Stream] 2026-02-04

2026-02-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Barley”):

golden barley field
rocking gently in the wind
lovely melody

[Stream] 2026-02-05

2026-02-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Warmth”):

what a beautiful
place this world would be were it
filled with human warmth

[Stream] 2026-02-06

2026-02-06

Daily haiku (prompt “Mend”):

let us start to live
in harmony with nature
so earth’s wounds can mend

[Stream] 2026-02-07

2026-02-07

Daily haiku (prompt “North Wind”):

this chilly north wind
clear sign that spring time is still
quite a long way off

[Stream] 2026-02-08

2026-02-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Flurry”):

my mind is in a
flurry, i cannot calm it –
breathe, just breathe slowly

[Stream] 2026-02-09

2026-02-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Spring Lantern”):

spring lantern shaking
wildly in the wind – sign of
a stormy new year?

[Stream] 2026-02-10

2026-02-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Violet”):

sky in violet
and orange, like strokes painted
by a giant brush

[Stream] 2026-02-11

2026-02-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Cloud”):

huge cloud moving by
slowly in the azure sky
unattached and free

[Stream] 2026-02-12

2026-02-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Evergreen”):

lone cypress high up
in the mountains, evergreen
amid endless gray

[Stream] 2026-02-13

2026-02-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Wind”):

gentle wind blows mild
air into my face – almost
feels like spring is near

[Stream] 2026-02-14

2026-02-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Pilgrimage”):

what will we find on
our quiet pilgrimage
back to ourselves?

[Stream] 2026-02-15

2026-02-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Note”):

in the yellowed book
now incomprehensible
a note from my youth

[Stream] 2026-02-16

2026-02-16

Daily haiku (prompt “High”):

high up in the sky
a swallow flies by; black blob
on deep blue canvas

[Stream] 2026-02-17

2026-02-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Egg”):

egg-shaped and orange
wonderfully refreshing
delicious kumquats

[Stream] 2026-02-18

2026-02-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Friend”):

so calm and serene
alone with me and my thoughts
the night is my friend

[Stream] 2026-02-19 (1/2)

2026-02-19

Finished reading 72 Minuten bis zur Vernichtung (Nuclear War – A Scenario) by Annie Jacobsen. Highly frightening and alarming reading – in particular if one believes that the threat of nuclear war has decreased since the end of the cold war. Shockingly clear exposition of the horror of nuclear war and its consequences.

[Stream] 2026-02-19 (2/2)

2026-02-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Fresh Water”):

crystal clear creek, like
a silver thread, carrying
pure and fresh water

[Stream] 2026-02-20 (1/2)

2026-02-20

Started reading Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff.

[Stream] 2026-02-20 (2/2)

2026-02-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Day”):

this magical time
when a new day starts, full of
opportunities

[Stream] 2026-02-21

2026-02-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Late”):

late february
winter may be over soon
maybe not – who knows?

[Stream] 2026-02-22

2026-02-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Seed”):

the final end or
seed of a new beginning
not always so clear

[Stream] 2026-02-23

2026-02-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Robin”):

a splash of color
between the bare brown branches
cute little robin

[Stream] 2026-02-24

2026-02-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Blackbird”):

over snow covered
treetops a blackbird enjoys
its perfect freedom

[Stream] 2026-02-25

2026-02-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Yellow”):

pages turned yellow,
faded letters – old records
from a distant past

[Stream] 2026-02-26

2026-02-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Frog”):

two red balls protrude
from the green – only its eyes
reveal the shy frog

[Stream] 2026-02-27

2026-02-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Buds”):

how pleasurable
to see the first buds after
the long wintertime

[Stream] 2026-02-28 (1/2)

2026-02-28

What a great joy it is to walk – the pure joy of movement itself, of feeling ones body, of using it the way it is meant to be used.

[Stream] 2026-02-28 (2/2)

2026-02-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Tranquil”):

so tranquil a night
casting the world in darkness
peaceful and solemn

[Stream] 2026-03-01 (1/2)

2026-03-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Fresh”):

a fresh month begins
winter will make way for spring
time passes quickly

[Stream] 2026-03-01 (2/2)

2026-03-01

It is not that other tasks prevent us from doing our practice – the other tasks are our practice.

[Stream] 2026-03-02

2026-03-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Wild Rose”):

near the riverbank
surrounded by rampant shrubs
a single wild rose

[Stream] 2026-03-03

2026-03-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Evening”):

frigid evening
after a warm sunny day
deceptive pre-spring

[Stream] 2026-03-04 (1/3)

2026-03-04

Two options (non-exhaustive) what to do when waiting for something or someone:

Mindlessly checking your phone.
Focusing on long and deep inhalations and exhalations and enjoying your breath.

Choose wisely.

[Stream] 2026-03-04 (2/3)

2026-03-04

How beautiful to have spring ahead (except for the hayfever; that is not so nice…)!

[Stream] 2026-03-04 (3/3)

2026-03-04

Daily haiku (prompt “New Moon”):

heaven and earth
and all is fused in deep darkness
pitch black new moon night

[Stream] 2026-03-05

2026-03-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Catkin”):

like a kitten’s tail
peeking out behind the rock
yellow birch catkin

[Stream] 2026-03-06

2026-03-06

Daily haiku (prompt “Geese”):

a flock of gray geese
flying in the azure sky
like beads on a string

[Stream] 2026-03-07

2026-03-07

Daily haiku (prompt “Nirvana”):

nirvana, that realm
of emptiness – let us live
in this world for now

[Stream] 2026-03-08 (1/3)

2026-03-08

I get that “personal growth” is a big thing these days. In fact, many of the non-fiction books I read more or less fall into the category of “personal growth”.

Yet, I increasingly get the impression that much of the personal growth advice is very self-centered – which is somewhat obvious in a sense (it is called personal growth after all). What I mean by that is that personal growth often seems to focus on improving oneself in a way that the benefit is also mostly for oneself.

It is good to grow, for instance, by paring down ones possessions and noticing that one does not need all the material stuff one has accumulated, or by learning a new language and immersing oneself in a new culture. But it can also easily become a trap if it is only centered around onself.

Here is a very simple (but not easy) alternative I am trying to focus on: to not be a jerk. What is all the personal growth worth if one does not manage to not be a jerk, at least most of the time? What would the world be like if we all put a little more effort into not being jerks (no offense intended)?

[Stream] 2026-03-08 (2/3)

2026-03-08

Addition expanded my house.
Subtraction expanded my life.

When you have everything, you still want more.
When you want less, you finally have enough.

— Josha Fields Millburn; How More Made Me Broke

[Stream] 2026-03-08 (3/3)

2026-03-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Fiddlehead”):

patch of fiddlehead
ferns, their bright green curled up fronds
seeking attention

[Stream] 2026-03-09

2026-03-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Moon”):

pale mountains tower
underneath a crescent moon
in perfect silence

[Stream] 2026-03-10

2026-03-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Frog”):

frog on a lotus
sitting motionless like in
deep meditation

[Stream] 2026-03-11

2026-03-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Plow”):

rusty plow, not used
in ages; now meeting point
for doves and sparrows

[Stream] 2026-03-12

2026-03-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Spring Sky”):

anticipation
grows as i look into the
bright yellow spring sky

[Stream] 2026-03-13 (1/2)

2026-03-13

There are three kinds of people: Those who see God in nothing; those who see God in everything; and those who see God in some things only.

The last kind I understand the least.

[Stream] 2026-03-13 (2/2)

2026-03-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Low Tide”):

low tide brings to light
what high tide will swallow soon
moon’s eternal play

[Stream] 2026-03-14 (1/2)

2026-03-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Hare”):

ears with ugly cracks,
ruffled brown fur – witnesses
to the hare’s hard life

[Stream] 2026-03-14 (2/2)

2026-03-14

New post: Quake Discoveries

[Stream] 2026-03-15

2026-03-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Bloom”):

violas in bloom
a taste of the colorful
splendor spring bestows

[Stream] 2026-03-16

2026-03-16

Daily haiku (prompt “Tadpole”):

wriggling in the pond
dark shadow above the ground
a tiny tadpole

[Stream] 2026-03-17

2026-03-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Late Snow”):

late snow end of march
when winter was thought over
unpleasant surprise

[Stream] 2026-03-18

2026-03-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Horse Tail”):

growing in the yard
a strange kind of fern looking
like a green horse tail

[Stream] 2026-03-19

2026-03-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Melting”):

merging into one
like ice melting in water
complete union

[Stream] 2026-03-20

2026-03-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Equinox”):

vernal equinox
next milestone on earth’s endless
orbit around sun

[Stream] 2026-03-21

2026-03-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Spring Grass”):

spring grass, splashes of
fresh green, bringer of joy and
hay fever alike

[Stream] 2026-03-22

2026-03-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Long Day”):

pure and simple joy:
letting body and mind rest
after a long day

[Stream] 2026-03-23

2026-03-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Warbler”):

greenish white warbler
chirping its plain melody
sitting on a branch

[Stream] 2026-03-24

2026-03-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Shell”):

shaking in the wind
caught on a broken sea shell
a torn plastic bag

[Stream] 2026-03-25

2026-03-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Stork”):

standing in shallow
waters, balancing on its
skinny leg, a stork

[Stream] 2026-03-26

2026-03-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Gusts”):

gusts of wind driving
clouds across the rainy sky
more autumn than spring

[Stream] 2026-03-27

2026-03-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Swallow”):

lone swallow circling
over rough waters; tiny
dot in the vast sky

[Stream] 2026-03-28

2026-03-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Thunder”):

thunder far sway
suddenly the sun breaks through
the ominous sky

[Stream] 2026-03-29

2026-03-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Till”):

dancing in the rain
not waiting till it’s over
living in the now

[Stream] 2026-03-30

2026-03-30

Daily haiku (prompt “Crocus”):

blue crocus blooming
at the forest clearing’s edge
unassuming gem

[Stream] 2026-03-31

2026-03-31

Daily haiku (prompt “Buds”):

red hibiscus buds
patiently developing
their graceful beauty

[Stream] 2026-04-01

2026-04-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Pheasant”):

colorful pheasant
parading the riverbank
red head holding high

[Stream] 2026-04-02 (1/2)

2026-04-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Waning”):

waning moon shining
weakly, barely shedding light
on silent meadows

[Stream] 2026-04-02 (2/2)

2026-04-02

Having a lot of fun reading the third book of Skyler Ramirez’ “Dumb Luck and Dead Heroes” series, “The Worst Pirate Hunters in the Fringe”.

This series really has something which makes it highly entertaining and fun to read. It is probably the combination of the setting (space!), a light-footed way of narrating the stories with just the right amount of humor, and – probably most importantly – the characters, which are both original and credible, and especially their development within the series.

Hat tip once again to Nathan Lowell for having drawn my attention to the series in the first place!

And yes, I am a very slow reader. And yes, I seem to like reading this series when I am on vacation…

[Stream] 2026-04-03

2026-04-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Hoe”):

bringing out the hoe
having waited for so long
time to work the soil

[Stream] 2026-04-04

2026-04-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Seedlings”):

new life breaking through
the fertile soil, fragile young
lavender seedlings

[Stream] 2026-04-05

2026-04-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Misty”):

mad misty mountains
impenetrable silence
dwelling place of ghosts

[Stream] 2026-04-06

2026-04-06

Daily haiku (prompt “Carp”):

swimming in the pond
does the carp notice how the
water is today?

[Stream] 2026-04-07

2026-04-07

Daily haiku (prompt “Pond”):

hidden in the woods
surrounded by bamboo groves
so serene a pond

[Stream] 2026-04-08

2026-04-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Lamb”):

drinking from the stream
how can the lamb pacify
the wolf approaching?

[Stream] 2026-04-09

2026-04-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Sowing”):

digging the crop field
sowing seeds on fertile soil
rich harvest will come

[Stream] 2026-04-10

2026-04-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Grass”):

covered by blue grass
rolling hills lie silently
under a bright moon

[Stream] 2026-04-11

2026-04-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Blossoms”):

colorful blossoms
springtime’s greetings make forget
winter’s dull grayness

[Stream] 2026-04-12

2026-04-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Spring Mist”):

dense spring mist pervades
the narrow valley before
morning sun breaks through

[Stream] 2026-04-13

2026-04-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Mustard Flower”):

bright yellow blossom
sanguine color of spring
mustard flower charm

[Stream] 2026-04-14

2026-04-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Wisteria”):

pink wisteria
climbing a bright white stone wall
beautiful decor

[Stream] 2026-04-15

2026-04-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Plum”):

sitting on the porch
on a warm spring afternoon
delicious plum cake

[Stream] 2026-04-16

2026-04-16

Daily haiku (prompt “Clouds”):

dark clouds passing by
casting shadows on the plain
no more warming sun

[Stream] 2026-04-17

2026-04-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Mulberry”):

coffee and fresh bread
with homemade mulberry jam
not a bad breakfast

[Stream] 2026-04-18 (1/2)

2026-04-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Planting”):

planting one new tree
beautiful act of caring
for our future

[Stream] 2026-04-18 (2/2)

2026-04-18

Started reading Play Your Way Sane: 120 Improv-Inspired Exercises to Help You Calm Down, Stop Spiraling, and Embrace Uncertainty by Clay Drinko.

[Stream] 2026-04-19

2026-04-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Colt”):

standing by the creek
drinking fresh and pure water
a content young colt

[Stream] 2026-04-20

2026-04-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Calm”):

calm is the vast sea
gone the raging thunderstorm
a patch of blue sky

[Stream] 2026-04-21

2026-04-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Windmill”):

old windmill spinning
slowly in the gentle wind
creaking now and then

[Stream] 2026-04-22

2026-04-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Mountain”):

pointed mountain peak
piercing the thick cloud cover
giant stone needle

[Stream] 2026-04-23

2026-04-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Calf”):

newborn red deer calf
walking first uncertain steps
staggering around

[Stream] 2026-04-24 (1/2)

2026-04-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Lupine”):

wild lupine bursting
into bloom in violet
and blue, so charming

[Stream] 2026-04-24 (2/2)

2026-04-24

Started reading “Saga: Compendium One” by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

[Stream] 2026-04-25

2026-04-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Evening”):

mild spring evening
golden sun casting all things
in bright warm colors

[Stream] 2026-04-26

2026-04-26

Daily haiku (prompt “New Leaves”):

new leaves sprouting on
trees and shrubs, turning bare brown
into bright lush green

[Stream] 2026-04-27

2026-04-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Down”):

time for the down coat
to vanish in the closet
bye bye wintertime

[Stream] 2026-04-28

2026-04-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Hazy Moon”):

barely visible
in the hazy moon’s dim light
a town’s silhouette

[Stream] 2026-04-29

2026-04-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Spring Rain”):

spring rain pouring down
behind distant dark hilltops
a rainbow appears

[Stream] 2026-04-30 (1/2)

2026-04-30

Daily haiku (prompt “Lingering”):

these lingering thoughts
about what was and will be
why not just live now?

[Stream] 2026-04-30 (2/2)

2026-04-30

New article: Vim and PKM

[Stream] 2026-05-01

2026-05-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Moth”):

in the dark a moth
flattering frantically
around the lantern

[Stream] 2026-05-02

2026-05-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Bright”):

bright is the spring sun
shining in the afternoon
its warmth so soothing

[Stream] 2026-05-03

2026-05-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Summer Moon”):

yellow summer moon
rising in the dark blue sky
behind ragged clouds

[Stream] 2026-05-04

2026-05-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Wave”):

the wave’s last moment
gently kissing the seashore
before vanishing

[Stream] 2026-05-05

2026-05-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Breeze”):

a breeze so gentle
almost imperceptible
feeble breath of spring

[Stream] 2026-05-06

2026-05-06

Daily haiku (prompt “New Clothes”):

nature awakens
proudly wearing its new clothes
lush green everywhere

[Stream] 2026-05-07

2026-05-07

Daily haiku (prompt “Spray”):

white spray rising up
from viciously breaking waves
the sea is roaring

[Stream] 2026-05-08

2026-05-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Chick”):

fluffy whitish ball
this young chick toddling around
exploring its world

[Stream] 2026-05-09

2026-05-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Grief”):

grief leading to rage
rage leading to tragedy
a chain so fatal

(Inspired by Anne Carson, Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides.)

[Stream] 2026-05-10

2026-05-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Balmy”):

cicadas chirping
smell of spring filling the air
in this balmy night

[Stream] 2026-05-11

2026-05-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Porch”):

sitting on the porch
enjoying a pleasant day
under warm spring sun

[Stream] 2026-05-12

2026-05-12

Daily haiku (prompt “South Wind”):

lovely scent of spring
carried by gentle south wind
over wooded hills

[Stream] 2026-05-13

2026-05-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Roots”):

cobblestones lifted
by the old tree’s mighty roots
the power of age

[Stream] 2026-05-14

2026-05-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Nest”):

high up in the tree
two sparrows building a nest
tall and airy home

[Stream] 2026-05-15

2026-05-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Thunder”):

thunder echoing
off rock faces, its rumbling
strangely distorted

[Stream] 2026-05-16 (1/2)

2026-05-16

Daily haiku (prompt “Tickle”):

swaying with the wind
gentle grass blades’ soft tickle
delights the senses

[Stream] 2026-05-16 (2/2)

2026-05-16

When I was a child, there was hardly a day I didn’t run. Running was a completely natural method of locomotion – maybe the most natural method. I barely walked; most of the time, I ran. And when I walked, I almost had to force myself to do so, to overcome my urge to move (and to move fast) and to release energy.

Nowadays, there is hardly a day I do run. Running has lost all of its naturalness; when I do run these days, it feels unusual, and certainly not normal and natural. And when I run, I often have to force myself to do so, to overcome my inertia.

I think the message here is pretty obvious.

[Stream] 2026-05-17

2026-05-17

Daily haiku (prompt “New Tea”):

the last infusion
was a tad bland already
high time for new tea

[Stream] 2026-05-18

2026-05-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Rainbox”):

thinking about it
the beauty of a rainbow
is truly gorgeous

[Stream] 2026-05-19

2026-05-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Ambrosial”):

opulent gardens
filled with captivating scents
ambrosial joy

[Stream] 2026-05-20

2026-05-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Cocoon”):

future butterfly
caught in a whitish cocoon
hanging from a branch

[Stream] 2026-05-21

2026-05-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Airing Out”):

airing out the room
releasing the old and stale –
let the freshness in!

[Stream] 2026-05-22

2026-05-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Chimes”):

soft breeze caressing
the wind chimes, eliciting
their sweet melody

[Stream] 2026-05-23 (1/3)

2026-05-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Green Reeds”):

hemming the lake’s shore
hiding its deep-blue water
dense green reeds abound

[Stream] 2026-05-23 (2/3)

2026-05-23

If you are seriously thinking about learning Vim/Neovim, do yourself a favor and proceed as follows:

Grok ed(1).
Grok vi(1).
Ask yourself whether you really need anything ed(1) and vi(1) don’t provide.

If your answer to step 3 is “yes”, go ahead. But first, do steps 1 and 2.

Here is how to do step 1: Read the man page (it’s rather short), read Ed Mastery by Michael W Lucas (those two steps are interchangeable and even parallelizable), then use it consistently.

Here is how to do step 2: Read the man page (it’s rather short as well, though not as short as ed’s), then use it consistently.

Also, have a look at https://stackoverflow.com/a/1220118.

[Stream] 2026-05-23 (3/3)

2026-05-23

Fried dandelion greens with a splash of soy sauce – so delicious…

[Stream] 2026-05-24

2026-05-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Melody”):

spring rain pattering
against the tall roof window
lovely melody

[Stream] 2026-05-25 (1/2)

2026-05-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Snapshot”):

why not enjoying
the here and now instead of
taking a snapshot?

[Stream] 2026-05-25 (2/2)

2026-05-25

The checker shadow illusion is really striking. Not sure if I ever saw it before, but it is really remarkable for sure (recently stumbled on it when it was a “Did you know…” article on German Wikipedia).

[Stream] 2026-05-26

2026-05-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Peony”):

wilting peony
last pink speckles recalling
a beauty now gone

[Stream] 2026-05-28

2026-05-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Cicada”):

trillions of insects
emerging all at once now –
cicada-geddon

[Stream] 2026-05-29

2026-05-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Pool”):

plunging from great heights
into a deep turquoise pool
misty waterfall

[Stream] 2026-05-30

2026-05-30

Daily haiku (prompt “Curl”):

divergence, curl and
gradient – sounds like some nice
vector calculus

[Stream] 2026-05-31

2026-05-31

Daily haiku (prompt “Green Tea”):

cup of fresh green tea
my whole universe for some
precious calm moments

[Stream] 2026-06-01

2026-06-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Swelter”):

swelter in late may
a heat so unusual
far from midsummer

[Stream] 2026-06-02

2026-06-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Swallow”):

on top of the cliff
hanging over rough waters
a small swallow rests

[Stream] 2026-06-03

2026-06-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Waterfall”):

silver waterfall
cascading down the rock face
splendid spectacle

Thorsten Zöller

Running Anki inside Xephyr

Running Anki inside Xephyr

The Melancholy of the Day

The Melancholy of the Day

Michael W Lucas: “Ed Mastery”

Michael W Lucas: “Ed Mastery”

How I Use Vim

How I Use Vim

My History of Using Vim – A Personal Account

So, How Do I Actually Use Vim?

Further Reading

A Simple E-Mail Reminder System Based on cron and at

A Simple E-Mail Reminder System Based on cron and at

The Setup

Usage

Recurring reminders

Nonrecurring reminders

Caveats

My New Website

My New Website

Pretended Intentionality

Pretended Intentionality

Installation and Setup of the RainLoop Webmail Client on OpenBSD

Installation and Setup of the RainLoop Webmail Client on OpenBSD

Prerequisites

Installation and Setup

httpd

PHP

RainLoop

Accessing a Posteo E-Mail Account

References

Taking Screenshots on OpenBSD

Taking Screenshots on OpenBSD

Preparation

Taking a Screenshot

See Also

Derek Sivers: “How to Live”

Derek Sivers: “How to Live”

Derek Sivers: “Useful Not True”

Derek Sivers: “Useful Not True”

Relay Mail to a Remote SMTP Server With smtpd

Relay Mail to a Remote SMTP Server With smtpd

References

Multiple-Click Selections in xterm

Multiple-Click Selections in xterm

What is a Word in xterm, After All?

xterm Knows More Than Just Words

Quake Discoveries

Quake Discoveries

Vim and PKM

Vim and PKM

A short preface

PKM on a computer

The simplest PKM system

A little bit of (personal) history

My current system

And what about Vim?

[Stream] 2021-05-01

[Stream] 2021-05-02

[Stream] 2021-05-06

[Stream] 2021-05-14

[Stream] 2021-05-23

[Stream] 2021-06-20

[Stream] 2021-06-28

[Stream] 2021-07-04

[Stream] 2021-07-11

[Stream] 2021-07-30

[Stream] 2021-08-03

[Stream] 2021-08-04 (1/2)

[Stream] 2021-08-04 (2/2)

[Stream] 2021-08-06

[Stream] 2021-08-08 (1/2)

[Stream] 2021-08-08 (2/2)

[Stream] 2021-08-29

[Stream] 2021-09-06

[Stream] 2021-09-07 (1/2)

[Stream] 2021-09-07 (2/2)

[Stream] 2021-09-08 (1/2)

[Stream] 2021-09-08 (2/2)

Relay Mail to a Remote SMTP Server With `smtpd`

Relay Mail to a Remote SMTP Server With `smtpd`