Thorsten Zöller - Stream

[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

2024-06-23

Dopamine fasting is a tech fad that sounds silly – but might just work by Oliver Burkeman.

[Stream] 2024-07-06

2024-07-06

Nice article about the wonderful John Baez: Mathematician Aims to Keep It Simple

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-07-07 (1/4)

2024-07-07

Read (and watch) The Walking Man by Jiro Taniguchi. Why? Craig Mod explains it much better than I could in Ridgeline Transmission 158 (which is worth reading in its own right). Just like Craig, it took me a year of two to actually buy and read it (since – just like Craig – I am not a big comics reader), but it was on my list ever since I read Craig’s review. It may not be for everyone, but if you can relate to the theme, it is definitely worth it.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-07-07 (2/4)

2024-07-07

And for those interested in a more philosophical elaboration of the subject of walking, A Philosophy of Walking by Frédéric Gros might be for you (as well as basically everything Craig Mod writes, of course).

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-07-07 (3/4)

2024-07-07

The Elegance of Plain-Text Writing

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-07-07 (4/4)

2024-07-07

It’s a pity that most undergraduate physics students today are still not properly being taught about the geometrical nature of tensors. While tensors are at the foundation of much of the mathematics of physics today, they are still not usually being introduced and taught as the geometrical objects they are. Sure, when working in a space which is endowed with sufficient structure, many objects can be transformed to either vectors or scalars, but that completely conceals their true geometrical nature.

It is really remarkable (in a sad way) that the focus of teaching today is so much on what is likely considered to be some kind of pragmatism or practicality. This may make it easier to quickly get enabled to calculate stuff, but this ease comes at the expense of developing a real understanding. I think this is a very shortsighted approach.

Furthermore, and just as important in my opinion, students are deprived of experiencing the full beauty of these objects in favor of providing them with a mere tool whose sole purpose it is to be able to somehow obtain correct results (not that this is not important, but it is only one aspect).

So what to do about this? For beginning undergraduate students, I recommend reading Geometrical Vectors by Gabriel Weinreich (which basically contains no formulae at all and instead completely focuses on conveying a grasp of the objects themselves). When I first read Geometrical Vectors sometime during my undergraduate studies, it did not speak to me at all (I guess I was already too much indoctrinated by the traditional, orthodox way of teaching vectors and tensors). The second time I read it, however, was a profound experience, almost like an epiphany.

After having developed a basic understanding of these matters, Gauge fields, knots and gravity by John Baez and Javier P. Muniain is a great resource (it contains much more and advanced material though). John Baez is a master of conveying physical and mathematical ideas, and I would recommend basically everything he writes.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-07-12

2024-07-12

Human beings used to witness
25,000 sunrises during their lifetime.
Have you seen 25 in the last year?
Or were you too busy?

– The Minimalists, Unbusy

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-07-14 (1/2)

2024-07-14

Why Functional Programming Matters by Minh Quang Tran.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-07-14 (2/2)

2024-07-14

Finished reading Der Zen-Affe und die Lotusblume (The Zen Monkey and the Lotus Flower). Although the many beautiful Buddhist stories and parables appear a little corny and naive at times, they convey timeless insights and wisdom and are pleasant to read. I could have done without the explanations after each story, though.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-07-20

2024-07-20

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

Richard Rogler, one of the great German political satirists (“Kabarettist”), died at age 74.

May you rest in peace.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-15

2024-08-15

Eating fresh mangosteens – what a joy!

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-16

2024-08-16

Note to self: Spend more time squatting.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-19

2024-08-19

Just had my first sugar apple (or sweetsop?) in years – so delicious!

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-21

2024-08-21

Perspectives are not right or wrong. They are useful or not useful.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-27 (1/3)

2024-08-27

Words uttered far too rarely: “I don’t know.”

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-27 (2/3)

2024-08-27

The best booster for creativity: Being in motion.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-27 (3/3)

2024-08-27

Always take the stairs.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-08-28 (1/2)

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

Just started reading Ed Mastery by Michael W Lucas, and it’s great fun (and very instructive as well).

I’m starting to feel a little whimpy as a vi user, though…

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-03

2024-09-03

Installed aerc today and quite like it at first (and second) glance.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-05 (1/3)

2024-09-05

Today’s featured article on the German Wikipedia is about Caspar David Friedrich, one of my favorite painters. Worth reading (I guess the English version as well)!

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-05 (2/3)

2024-09-05

Above 30 °C in Frankfurt right now. Might well be the hottest day here in the remaining year (although in previous years, we had days with temperatures around 30 °C as late as mid-October).

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-05 (3/3)

2024-09-05

Practiced meditation for 20 minutes yesterday and today morning. First time in a while…

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-06 (1/3)

2024-09-06

I love the pictures of the Scottish Highlands by Steve Carter. They not only capture the beautiful rough Highlands landscape, sometimes displaying scattered tr aces of mankind, sometimes not, but – and this is why they are so appealing to me – they often create a really dense atmosphere which I find captivating.

Highly recommended!

Read on Mastodon.

[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.

[Stream] 2024-09-07 (1/5)

2024-09-07

Foggy morning in Frankfurt. Probably going to be another warm day before the temperature drops somewhat.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-07 (2/5)

2024-09-07

Practiced meditation for 30 minutes this morning.

And yeah, I am fully aware of the irony that I am already back to social media…

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-07 (3/5)

2024-09-07

Creating a Gemini capsule (in particular when approached with the mindset of creating a web page) is another proof for the fact that constraints often foster creativity and focus on what is really important.

In short: Not being able to do everything is often a good thing.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-07 (4/5)

2024-09-07

I always felt like being too much of a mathematician for being a physicist, and too much of a physicist for being a mathematician – like sitting between two chairs.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-07 (5/5)

2024-09-07

Did some gardening work in the evening, enjoyed vegan overnight oats made with oat milk – time to close the day.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-08 (1/2)

2024-09-08

Practiced meditation for 30 minutes this morning.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-08 (2/2)

2024-09-08

Got some more gardening work done before the rain starts.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-09

2024-09-09

Practiced meditation for 30 minutes this morning.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-09-11

2024-09-11

One of the things I really like about the Gemini protocol is that Gemini capsules lend themselves to being viewed with a text-based Gemini client in a terminal (although there are great GUI Gemini clients as well, notably Lagrange).

While there are text-based browsers for web pages as well (like lynx, links or w3m), to me they always felt more like workarounds, since the web is very much m ultimedia-oriented these days (in spite of its origins).

On the contrary, since the geminiprotocol is text-oriented, text-based Gemini clients feel completely natural to me.

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.

A sad reminder that all of our lives, no matter how healthy and strong we may seem, hang by a thread and can end at any one moment. Memento mori!

May you rest in peace.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-12-14

2024-12-14

Reading The Wizard of Oz for the first time in my life, in preparation for watching it in theater over Christmas with my son and parents.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2024-12-15

2024-12-15

I rarely spend time just sitting there and looking out of the window into the garden, for instance, but it is always worth it. Taking time for becoming calm, doing “nothing”, not being “productive”, enjoying stillness is so important and necessary.

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-01-03

2025-01-03

Started reading A System for Writing by Bob Doto (got it after heaving read the great review by Richard Griffiths). Haven’t read much of it so far, but it already looks very primising!

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-02-09

2025-02-09

Interesting: 33 Ways To Improve Your Life, Japanese Style (via Recomendo - issue #449)

Read on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2025-02-16

2025-02-16

The importance of being able to focus and concentrate and to withstand distractions and immediate gratifications can hardly be overstated.

It is one of the most powerful abilities in today’s world, and it will be even more so in the future when methods to catch the attention of people will get ever more refined.

While in the past people were able to focus entire days on writing or thinking (provided they could afford it), today someone who is able to concentrate on a single task for an extended period of time has almost become an exception.

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

[Stream] 2025-09-30 (2/4)

2025-09-30

Finally added an Atom feed to my website: /atom.xml.

[Stream] 2025-09-30 (3/4)

2025-09-30

About a week ago, I had the great pleasure to be on the Over/Under series from Hyde. You can read the questions I was asked and my answers, along with Hyde’s answers to the same questions, here. It was a lot of fun – thanks to Hyde for having me!

Also, don’t forget to follow Hyde on Mastodon if you don’t already do!

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

2025-09-30

Learned about Typst today (hat tip to Russ Sharek for pointing me to it – had for some reason never heard of it before). It is a typesetting system for creating documents which has a lot of features, including advanced facilities for typesetting mathematical formulae. I have only started diving into it, but it looks really promising, and as far as I can tell so far, it may even have the potential to replace LaTeX (though it is probably a little early to assess).

Currently, I use Asciidoctor PDF for simpler documents and LaTeX for more complex documents, in particular documents involving mathematical formulae (though this happens rarely these days). Typst might very well be able to satisfy both these use cases. And there is even an OpenBSD package for it!

[Stream] 2025-10-01

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

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

2026-01-10

Beautiful post by R.L. Dane: Why You Need A Stack of Thinkpads

[Stream] 2026-01-11 (1/5)

2026-01-11

Started using Ledger for tracking the team fund of my son’s soccer team. Haven’t used Ledger in a while, but it definitely feels like the right tool for the job (plain text, after all!).

See Plain Text Accounting.

[Stream] 2026-01-11 (2/5)

2026-01-11

Reading “The Calendar of Wisdom” by Lev Tolstoi has become one of my favorite daily practices over the past couple of years. I certainly don’t agree with everything, but I feel there is a lot of truth and wisdom in it, and everything is expressed in very clear and simple words. It is a bit like a compass: After reading the entry of a given day, I feel a little more aligned and focused on what is really important, if only for a short while.

[Stream] 2026-01-11 (3/5)

2026-01-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Sable”):

high up in the tree
a sable clings on a branch
enjoying the view

[Stream] 2026-01-11 (4/5)

2026-01-11

Interesting insights by Samir Talwar: So I’m that age, apparently

[Stream] 2026-01-11 (5/5)

2026-01-11

Can a 50-year-old book on Paris help repair your attention span? – hat tip to Colin Wright for mentioning the article over on Mastodon.

[Stream] 2026-01-12

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

[Stream] 2026-06-04

2026-06-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Paint”):

pale blue paint peeling
from the cabin’s wooden wall
first signs of decay

[Stream] 2026-06-05

2026-06-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Sweet Peas”):

spreading their strong scent
growing on the mountainside
white and pink sweet peas

[Stream] 2026-06-06

2026-06-06

Daily haiku (prompt “Pests”):

fields being flooded
pests destroying the harvest
this too is nature

[Stream] 2026-06-07

2026-06-07

Daily haiku (prompt “Wild Iris”):

wild iris blooming
its wide-open blue blossom
greeting the bright sun

[Stream] 2026-06-08

2026-06-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Cut Grass”):

fresh cut grass scattered
across the wooden porch floor
blown by moody winds

[Stream] 2026-06-09

2026-06-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Salvia”):

salvia in bloom
blending into the colors
of summer meadows

[Stream] 2026-06-10

2026-06-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Spray”):

white spray: the only
sign of motion far below
on the sea’s surface

[Stream] 2026-06-11

2026-06-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Cool Evening”):

cool evening air
relieving and refreshing –
the day’s heat is gone

[Stream] 2026-06-12

2026-06-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Aroma”):

aroma of pines
intense on hot summer days
tangy and soothing

[Stream] 2026-06-13

2026-06-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Spring Water”):

purest spring water
emerging from the surface
tender new lifeline

[Stream] 2026-06-14 (1/2)

2026-06-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Cool Water”):

what a great pleasure:
a glass of cool water on
a hot summer day

[Stream] 2026-06-14 (2/2)

2026-06-14

I’m not too fond of the roots of sugar beet, but the leaves are simply delicious (just like almost all other leaf vegetables)!

(Actually, it’s true for most vegetables with edible leaves that I much prefer the leaves over their roots or tubers.)

[Stream] 2026-06-17

2026-06-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Roots”):

roots of sugar beet –
tasty companion to its
delicious green leaves

(Honestly, not too tasty in my opinion, but not that bad either…)

[Stream] 2026-06-18

2026-06-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Maple”):

sunbeams filter through
the maple tree’s canopy
strange play of shadows

[Stream] 2026-06-19

2026-06-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Mild”):

mild days of summer
winter chill and gloomy skies
forgotten for now

[Stream] 2026-06-20

2026-06-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Grazing”):

grazing in the shade
a sleepy cow is hiding
from the midday sun

[Stream] 2026-06-21

2026-06-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Solstice”):

this year’s longest day
delights with sunshine galore
hot summer solstice

[Stream] 2026-06-22

2026-06-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Balmy”):

a balmy night is
finally descending on
a feverish earth

[Stream] 2026-06-23

2026-06-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Picnic”):

ruthless summer sun
shining from a cloudless sky
too hot for picnic

[Stream] 2026-06-24

2026-06-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Long Days”):

long days and short nights
summer solstice has just passed
now all is reversed

[Stream] 2026-06-25

2026-06-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Vibrant”):

vibrant summer air
pulsating with energy
so stimulating

[Stream] 2026-06-26

2026-06-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Pastoral”):

flock of sheep grazing
near a meandering creek
pastoral landscape

[Stream] 2026-06-27

2026-06-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Toss”):

this way or that way?
toss a coin, then go ahead
and never look back

[Stream] 2026-06-28

2026-06-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Splash”):

a splash of water
disrupting the pristine pond’s
mirror-smooth surface

[Stream] 2026-06-29

2026-06-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Shade”):

dozing in the shade,
hiding from the harsh sunlight –
not bad, this dog’s life

[Stream] 2026-06-30

2026-06-30

Daily haiku (prompt “Hot Night”):

when the hot night ends
a sweltering day begins –
the world’s out of joint

[Stream] 2026-07-01

2026-07-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Morning Dew”):

when the sun rises
the morning dew is long gone
was there even some?

And another one, in German:

aller morgentau
ist im ersten sonnenlicht
schon längst verschwunden

[Stream] 2026-07-02

2026-07-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Lightning”):

grotesque formations
flaring up in the darkness
surreal lightning

[Stream] 2026-07-03

2026-07-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Pasture”):

rising morning sun
casting golden rays of light
on the dark pasture

[Stream] 2026-07-04

2026-07-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Roses”):

scent of fresh roses
blending with shades of orange
sensual vortex

[Stream] 2026-07-05

2026-07-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Sand”):

sand trickling slowly
through the hourglasses crack
time is running out

[Stream] 2026-07-06

2026-07-06

Daily haiku (prompt “Parched”):

dusty brown meadows
parched by a relentless sun
clouds in the distance

[Stream] 2026-07-07

2026-07-07

Daily haiku (prompt “Morning Cloud”):

morning cloud backlit
by the rising sun’s light, like
orange cotton wool

[Stream] 2026-07-08

2026-07-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Swim”):

broken branches swim
in the raging swollen stream
the storm is over

[Stream] 2026-07-09

2026-07-09

Daily haiku (prompt “Cut Grass”):

smell of fresh cut grass
filling humid summer air
when it starts to rain

[Stream] 2026-07-10

2026-07-10

Daily haiku (prompt “Cool Off”):

dim glow in the dark
the fire’s sole remnant while
the embers cool off

[Stream] 2026-07-11

2026-07-11

Daily haiku (prompt “Rain”):

this beautiful sound
of pouring rain pattering
against window panes

[Stream] 2026-07-12

2026-07-12

Daily haiku (prompt “Meadow”):

bright full moon casting
faint light on the blue meadow –
mystical silence

[Stream] 2026-07-13

2026-07-13

Daily haiku (prompt “Sunflower”):

sitting on the porch
snacking some sunflower seeds –
la dolce vita

[Stream] 2026-07-14

2026-07-14

Daily haiku (prompt “Lush Pasture”):

lush pasture abounds
in the deep valley’s twilight
guarded by steep rocks

[Stream] 2026-07-15 (1/2)

2026-07-15

Daily haiku (prompt “Overcast Sky”):

dark overcast sky
pierced through by a golden beam
in the far distance

[Stream] 2026-07-15 (2/2)

2026-07-15

Started practicing Ashtanga Yoga again after a rather long break. The pain is still there, but practice feels really good. It is hard – as always –, but not practicing is not an option.

[Stream] 2026-07-16

2026-07-16

Daily haiku (prompt “Evening Rain”):

dark is the sky as
evening rain approaches
no stars are shining

[Stream] 2026-07-17

2026-07-17

Daily haiku (prompt “Cook Out”):

a pleasure it is
to cook out in the garden
on hot summer nights

[Stream] 2026-07-18

2026-07-18

Daily haiku (prompt “Lotus Blossom”):

old lotus blossom
bereft of former beauty
wilting on the shore

[Stream] 2026-07-19

2026-07-19

Daily haiku (prompt “Beach”):

a beach so pristine
hidden by steep rock faces
the waves’ soft murmur

[Stream] 2026-07-20

2026-07-20

Daily haiku (prompt “Eggplant”):

delicious dinner:
flavorful eggplant curry
garnished with basil

[Stream] 2026-07-21 (1/3)

2026-07-21

Ashtanga Yoga is definitely the most humbling practice I am aware of.

[Stream] 2026-07-21 (2/3)

2026-07-21

Daily haiku (prompt “Light Clothing”):

light clothing filling
my wardrobe; no end in sight
of hot summer days

[Stream] 2026-07-21 (3/3)

2026-07-21

Heading home tonight after three and a half weeks in Vietnam. Had a great time here as usual. Not keen on getting back to the rat race…

[Stream] 2026-07-22 (1/2)

2026-07-22

Daily haiku (prompt “Melon”):

big juicy melon
sweet summer delicacy
in these latitudes

[Stream] 2026-07-22 (2/2)

2026-07-22

Finished reading “The Gentle Romance”, a collection of sci-fi short stories by Richard Ngo. Though most are AI-related, they are not about current-state AI developments, but rather constitute eloborate thought experiments about how AI might develop in the near, not-so-near and very distant future.

Don’t expect any AI marketing bullshit – at the heart of most stories lies the human nature, and the stories are often more about humanity than about technology.

I first heard about “The Gentle Romance” in a short but raving review by Kevin Kelly in the “Recomendo” newsletter. Highly recommended, no matter what your views on current AI developments are!

[Stream] 2026-07-23 (1/4)

2026-07-23

Daily haiku (prompt “Cool Morning”):

cool morning shower
purifying stifling air
refreshing and sweet

[Stream] 2026-07-23 (2/4)

2026-07-23

Started reading Things Become Other Things by Craig Mod. Looking very much forward to it!

[Stream] 2026-07-23 (3/4)

2026-07-23

One of the worst things you can do as an adult: ignore your natural urge to move.

[Stream] 2026-07-23 (4/4)

2026-07-23

After finishing my first workday after having returned from Vietnam yesterday morning, I go for a short walk in the nearby forest (why do I do this so rarely?). The weather is beautiful and the temperature just about perfect. Usually walking pretty fast, I deliberately walk slowly; I am not in a hurry. I focus on deepening and slowing my breath and relaxing the muscles in my face. The gravel crunches beautifully under my feet, and I enjoy the many shades of green around me in the warm evening sun. Then I notice something weird: The space – there is so much space around me. Spending most of my days in a room, and most of that time in front of a screen, my eyes are happy to be able to fix on something more than a meter away. How come this has become unusual?

I don’t aim for mileage. Returning home after less than half an hour, I know this was the most beneficial time of the day for my physical and mental well-being.

[Stream] 2026-07-24 (1/2)

2026-07-24

Daily haiku (prompt “Pinks”):

hardly visible
betrayed only by their scent
pinks behind the hedge

[Stream] 2026-07-24 (2/2)

2026-07-24

Many famous people (and probably also many not-so-famous people) have said it already, even books have been written about it^[1], but let me say it in my own simple words:

Going for a walk is the single most efficient way to generate ideas.

(And besides, it is good for your physical and mental health, too.)

Usually, as soon as I start walking, ideas come flooding in on me (if I want it or not). I am not talking about big, grandiose ideas (though these might come as well); but the walking seems to set in motion parts of the mind which are not so easily set in motion when sitting still. Or phrased more pointedly: Setting oneself in motion sets one’s mind in motion. I find this connection deepy fascinating.

And yet, I spend most of my days sitting at a desk…

[1] Like A Philosophy of Walking by Frédéric Gros – very recommended

[Stream] 2026-07-25 (1/4)

2026-07-25

Finished my Ashtanga practice and meditated for half an hour.

Feels good to start the day with two small victories.

[Stream] 2026-07-25 (2/4)

2026-07-25

Interesting exercise: When you can hear your own heartbeat (e.g. after physical exertion), try to count with a frequency different from that of your heart beating.

[Stream] 2026-07-25 (3/4)

2026-07-25

Seriously, how could one not love the writing of Craig Mod?

[Stream] 2026-07-25 (4/4)

2026-07-25

Daily haiku (prompt “Sand Castle”):

its evanescence
creates the sand castle’s grace
soon it will be gone

[Stream] 2026-07-26

2026-07-26

Daily haiku (prompt “Fireworks”):

frightened cat hiding
in the treetop – fireworks
so loud and scary

[Stream] 2026-07-27

2026-07-27

Daily haiku (prompt “Lotus”):

hardly visible
in pale moonlight – a lotus
or a peony?

[Stream] 2026-07-28

2026-07-28

Daily haiku (prompt “Glade”):

deep forest’s twilight
resolving into brightness
unexpected glade

[Stream] 2026-07-29

2026-07-29

Daily haiku (prompt “Smoldering”):

smoldering ashes
relics of the bonfire
glowing in the dark

[Stream] 2026-07-30

2026-07-30

Daily haiku (prompt “Overcast”):

gray overcast sky
looking like cool fall weather
not this summer heat

[Stream] 2026-07-31

2026-07-31

Daily haiku (prompt “Yarrow”):

whitish pink yarrow
growing so abundantly
on alpine pasture

[Stream] 2026-08-01 (1/4)

2026-08-01

Spending the weekend in my hometown of Oberhausen. Feels good to be here!

[Stream] 2026-08-01 (2/4)

2026-08-01

Daily haiku (prompt “Grasshopper”):

green-brown grasshopper
clinging to a blade of grass
singing its strange song

[Stream] 2026-08-01 (3/4)

2026-08-01

Visited the exhibition Mythos Wald (Forest Worlds) in the Gasometer Oberhausen today. Another great exhibition in this wonderful location with lots of impressive photos and interesting facts.

Highly recommended!

[Stream] 2026-08-01 (4/4)

2026-08-01

Afterwards went on to the LUDWIGGALERIE Schloss Oberhausen (just a short walk away form the Gasometer) to see the exhibition Anja Niedringhaus – An vorderster Front (Anja Niedringhaus – On the front line about the Pulitzer prize winning German photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus who was killed in Afghanistan in 2014. I was not familiar with her work before and all the more impressed by her photos, mostly (but not exclusively) from war zones worldwide.

Another highly recommend exhibition!

[Stream] 2026-08-02

2026-08-02

Daily haiku (prompt “Sail”):

rocking on the waves
torn sail tossing in the wind
an old boat half-sunk

[Stream] 2026-08-03

2026-08-03

Daily haiku (prompt “Sardines”):

school of young sardines
silver-glittering pattern
in the sun-drenched sea

[Stream] 2026-08-04

2026-08-04

Daily haiku (prompt “Refresh”):

this relentless heat –
it’s time to refresh in the
pond’s soothing coolness

[Stream] 2026-08-05 (1/2)

2026-08-05

Daily haiku (prompt “Soaked”):

soaked to bones after
the violent summer storm
stroke too suddenly

[Stream] 2026-08-05 (2/2)

2026-08-05

One nice thing about a daily Ashtanga yoga practice is that no matter how much you’ve messed up your day, you know that the very first thing you’ll do the next morning is something good and meaningful.

[Stream] 2026-08-06

2026-08-06

Daily haiku (prompt “Fall Colors”):

still some time until
muted fall colors replace
the green of summer

[Stream] 2026-08-07

2026-08-07

Daily haiku (prompt “Valerian”):

pink valerian
growing wild on the roadside
pretty medicine

[Stream] 2026-08-08 (1/2)

2026-08-08

Daily haiku (prompt “Leaves”):

brown leaves withering
on dusty meadows parched by
fervent summer heat

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

2026-08-08

I am seriously considering switching back from Neovim to nvi. I constantly vacillate between the richness and bloat of Neovim and the scarcity and minimalism of nvi. Sure, Neovim does have some nice features. But is it worth this huge increase in complexity? The size of Neovim’s codebase is probably like 20 times that of nvi’s, while its benefits seem rather marginal to me (based on my way of using it – your mileage may vary).

We always add, add, add instead of subtract, subtract, subtract…