Everything Else (Archive) · Jens Oliver Meiert

Everything Else

Highlights from Cobbett’s Advice to Young Men

“The first thing to be required of a man is, that he understand well his own calling, or profession; and, be you in what state of life you may, to acquire this knowledge ought to be your first and greatest care.”

Post from February 1, 2018, filed under Everything Else.

On Loyalty

We should be protective of our greatest possession—our values.

Post from January 27, 2018, filed under Everything Else.

Oh WTF My Tone, or: On Germans Speaking English

Anecdote. When I was working at Google, shortly after I had made one of my first bigger contributions, I experienced one of my more memorable performance reviews. You’ll never guess what happened next.

Post from January 17, 2018, filed under Everything Else.

Highlights from The Elements of Style (William Strunk Jr.)

“Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; he wishes to be told what is.”

Post from January 15, 2018, filed under Art and Design and Everything Else.

On Meeting and Leaving People

Humans are social. Cooperation got us where we are. There are several ways to get to know new people, and, in relationships, to leave them. A few thoughts.

Post from December 30, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

On Writing 1,000 Poems

A story of venturing into an entirely different genre.

Post from December 17, 2017, filed under Art and Design and Everything Else.

Privacy Experiments: How to Auto-Generate Random Web Traffic

I believe that privacy, which has never been about “hiding something,” is a fundamental civil right, one that is but must not be infringed on; so I once more played with randomizing personal web traffic.

Post from December 15, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

What Happens When You Email the Companies That Are Responsible for 71% of All Greenhouse Gas Emissions

A few months ago I ran into an article referring to data from the Carbon Disclosure Project. I realized that the data may have been inaccurate and incomplete but also that it presented an avenue for us to actually do, a little.

Post from September 28, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

What Happens When You Email Each of the 1,380 Members of the German and European Parliaments

Over the last couple of months I have emailed, each individually, all the 631 members of the (departing) German Bundestag as well as 749 members of the European Parliament (I was short two MEPs).

Post from September 27, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

Destroying Is Not Arguing, or: Why It Would Be Bad If Jesus Was Here

Arguing is something we have to learn. I observed this again in recent years when I started studying philosophy and went through courses for logic and argumentation theory. These courses…

Post from September 20, 2017, filed under Philosophy and Everything Else.

Living Websites, Living Books

To me, websites are living objects. They require regular care and maintenance. Such care starts with monitoring, from uptime control to visual site tests, demands technical quality controls, and ends with content checks…

Post from August 17, 2017, filed under Web Development and Everything Else.

Highlights from Martin’s The Behavior of Crowds

“When most of our neighbors are motivated by certain ideas, those ideas become part of the social environment to which we must adjust ourselves. In this sense they are ‘real,’ however ‘crazy.’”

Post from June 28, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

Why I’m Suspending Interviews with U.S. Companies

Over the last few quarters I was in conversations to move back to the United States. Over the last few weeks I noticed that that would feel like endorsing U.S. policy, and contradict my principles and values.

Post from June 13, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

The Simple Answer to All Our Terrorism Problems

How about we stop invading countries and murdering people. How about we allow those who are too afraid to live in freedom to live in supermax prisons (for free). And how about we finally remove from office who ever propose to violate a human right.

Post from June 9, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

On Work

On work, retirement, definitions, and mixing things up.

Post from April 26, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

Highlights from Lippmann’s Public Opinion

“Who actually saw, heard, felt, counted, named the thing, about which you have an opinion? Was it the man who told you, or the man who told him, or someone still further removed? And how much was he permitted to see?”

Post from April 5, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

My Top 10 Android Apps

Years ago, in 2009, I wrote an enthusiastic post about my then-favorite apps for Android. More for fun than anything I decided to write a follow-up.

Post from March 29, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

Foreigners Are Heroes

Foreigners—expats, migrants, refugees—are heroes. Foreigners, people like you and I, add to our lives and our cultures. Foreigners deserve our respect and our support.

Post from March 21, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

A Digital Charta

When we think about it, although we live in a time of rights violations we don’t lack good intent, nor good law. That leads us to a particular initiative, the Digital Charta.

Post from February 6, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

The Great Neglect

What is most important for us to learn in our lives? Are we learning it? Teaching it? On “one of the greatest motive powers in the world,” and “the noblest of possessions.”

Post from February 1, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

Highlights from Smiles’s Character

“The very sight of a great and good man is often an inspiration to the young, who cannot help admiring and loving the gentle, the brave, the truthful, the magnanimous.”

Post from January 22, 2017, filed under Everything Else.

Privacy, Obscurity: Randomizing New Tabs

You want to leave a less predictable online trail? I wrote a little browser extension for Chrome that accomplishes that: the New Tab Traffic Randomizer. The extension requests a random URL every time a new tab is opened…

Post from November 10, 2016, filed under Everything Else.

A Note on meiert.com Feeds

There are a number of ways to follow what I write on this website, from a very low volume newsletter for German publications to an enriched account on Google+. The most reliable and focused option, however, is to subscribe to one of this site’s RSS feeds.