Simple Things

The speechlessness recedes after all. It's summer/vacation time and I take refuge in nature, living the simple life. Far away from the lunacy that resides in cities.

There isn't much that is more satisfying than a bowl of self-grown vegetables, prepared on a fire from self-cut wood enjoyed with good friends.

That is the luxury that I indulge in.

Why?

Can someone please invent a cure against those f*ckwits who kill, torture, dismember or otherwise inflict misery upon innocent people?

Maybe I'm just asking for too much.

peace

Poppy

'tis the season of the flowering poppy. The rural Waldviertel area of northern Austria has a legacy in growing poppy and selling produce (seeds, oil, etc) all over Europe. For instance, farmers in Germany are not allowed to grow poppy, so Germany imports most of the poppy seed it consumes from Austria.

And no, the farming variety of Waldviertel grown poppy is not used (nor usable) to produce opiates.

peace

Frankfurt Niederrad

In my profession, it is a typical occupational hazard to spend some time in strange places. One of these places is the 'Bürostadt' in Frankfurt, Germany.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Niederrad is one of these locations where you can do/see any of the following in no particular order, but often at the same time:

• Take an evening stroll being the only human among hundreds of rabbits.
• Work in an office that looks exactly like another office in a different city.
• See what architects are capable of when they're given a clean slate.
• Sleep in a hotel next to a cemetery (very tranquil).
• Watch/hear a never ending fleet of aircraft landing.

peace

How Does the Web Feel?

The world wide web is fascinating. One of my favorite pages (long gone and irretrievable even by the wayback engine) was of a girl who wrote compelling personal stories.

One of them was titled "How Does the Web Feel?" and even 20 years after first reading the text it still rings with me.

Back in the mid-nineties the internet was a place to meet friendly strangers and make friends easily. It was a close-knit community and far away from what the web is today.

For more than a decade, the sole means of access to the vast interweb was modem dial-up. The good thing was that you were unperturbed by phone while you were surfing.

I spent many nights online, just exploring and marveling, feeling connected to the minds of people who wrote stuff like that girl.

Thanks Julie

Hubble's Constant

It was one of the better days of humankind, when we brought a telescope to orbit. Undisturbed by atmospheric conditions, the Hubble Space Telescope has been delivering imagery of the otherworldly kind for more than 25 years.

Happy Birthday Hubble, and here's to (at least) five more years.