More Mittelmaß Please

Considering myself a non-political person, I am surprised at the deep disturbance I felt on the #brexit. As a European, I think this will be remembered as some sort of beginning, but not in a good way.

Democracy is a tricky thing (and has some amount of crazy in it), but a majority is one more than half of the voting population.

It's just that close votes like #brexit or the last elections for Austrian Presidency (both close to a 50:50 draw) show how extremely divided we are as countries, a union of countries or as individuals.

Seems that there is no 'Mittelmaß', no healthy balance anymore. Just extremes. And extremes lead to extreme things.

In a union, be it a marriage on a scale of two people or a political construct on a scale of hundreds of millions, there will always be controversies and one party sometimes has to accept to give more than they take. I believe we have to learn that again.

peace

Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald

Ödön von Horvath's anti-Gemütlichkeit drama Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald never ceased to impress me with its clarity and brutality. The author died young (the fate of the Good obviously), hit by a falling tree branch during a thunderstorm in Paris.

I managed to grow older than Ödön, and can only confirm that hideous and brutal people whose only goal is to exploit and damage others still exist in abundance. Quite a depressing perspective on humankind.

His quote "Nichts verleiht so sehr das Gefühl der Unendlichkeit als wie die Dummheit" ('Nothing gives so much the sense of infinity than stupidity') is one of my favorites ever since. And by my own experience very accurate.

Let's hope we evolve

PS: This article was written before the United(!) Kingdom elected to leave the European Union.

Summer Solstice

Our rocky spaceship reached maximum axial tilt on June 21st, as it does every year. For dwellers north of the equator this means the longest day and shortest night.

In our neck of the woods, folks celebrate this astronomical event by setting up huge bonfires, locally known as 'Sonnwendfeuer'.

So let's rock on then

Genetic Algorithms

It was back in 2000 when I crammed my head with IT knowledge in the lovely township of Leonding, Upper Austria. I was member of a team of students that experimented with genetic algorithms. During my online research I found a tiny little application called imogenes (written in 1995 by some clever folks at Carnegie Mellon University).

The program does not run on my 64bit Windows and I am too lazy to set up a VM with XP or Win2K, and it doesn't matter.

Back then I was fascinated and spent much time tweaking the controls and marveled at the grainy output (images generated by iterating mathematical functions over and over).

One more bit of string that holds me together. Now where's that Win2k ISO file?

peace

Wood

Living in the country has its perks. Oh the joy of cutting down trees, splitting the logs and laying them out to dry for 3 or more years.

Moving to the countryside was the best decision in my life. The patch of land we found was totally grown in with trees. 5 winters of cutting and splitting later, we have a reserve for about 10 years of fluffy, cozy warmness.

And then there's still the neighbor's woodland to go ;-)

Don't get me wrong, I am as much an environmentalist as can be. Wood is a natural resource that grows back. Almost half of Austria is bedecked with forest. And it is growing every year.

Source: Wald in Österreich

peace

Harvest

I am a country dweller, always have been. Crackling wood in the fireplace makes me much happier than central heating. I even was a farmer for a while. Nowadays I like to watch farmers and their tractors buzzing busily around the fields. It's harvest season - hey (or hay?).

Nothing like the smell of fresh sun-dried poaceae. 

happy harvesting

Gravitational Waves

I'm in awe how sensitive humankind has become, so we can now detect the ripples in spacetime caused when two black holes gobble each other up.

Exciting times to live in. More reading pleasure here.

peace

Zeroes and Ones

How many zeroes and ones are stored in the digital universe we created?
Are there more zeroes or more ones?
How would this post look in binary form?

At least one question answered...
Better than zero

peace