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.

Why It Would Be Bad If Jesus Was Here

Arguing is something we have to learn. I observed this particularly 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 control, 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 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 proposes 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 to our countries—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.

Post from July 11, 2016, filed under Everything Else.

On Rationality, and Love

Philosophy can be heart-breaking, or is it the other way around.

Post from July 2, 2016, filed under Philosophy and Everything Else.

198 Methods of Nonviolent Protest and Action

Just when one wonders how many options there are exactly.

Post from April 6, 2016, filed under Everything Else.

The Reminder Trick

This tool is so powerful and at the same time so trivial to make a routine that I ask everyone who regularly employs it to transcend their disappointment—I’m mentioning it for the people I meet who don’t use it.

Post from March 1, 2016, filed under Everything Else.

Personally Speaking

After my eternal travels I’ve had entered a new stage of my life. Now that I and the dust have settled a little, the position that I assume in the world is a bit more clear, at least for the next couple of years. A few notes…

Post from October 30, 2015, filed under Everything Else.

Rules for the Media: Independence, Transparency, Accountability, Comparative Reporting

I’ve suggested to opt out of following news for the simple reason that news rarely constitute reliable and actionable information, and in the spirit that even ignorance may be preferable so to at least keep an open mind. Now, what would make me change this view?

Post from October 10, 2015, filed under Everything Else.

Media: The Choice Between Misinformation and Uninformation

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”—Our media, generally speaking, are not trustworthy. They are not trustworthy because of conflicts of interest…

Post from October 6, 2015, filed under Everything Else.