Everything Else (2)
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.
On Writing 1,000 Poems
A story of venturing into an entirely different genre.
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.
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.
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).
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…
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…
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.’”
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.
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.
On Work
On work, retirement, definitions, and mixing things up.
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?”
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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…
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.
On Rationality, and Love
Philosophy can be heart-breaking, or is it the other way around.
198 Methods of Nonviolent Protest and Action
Just when one wonders how many options there are exactly.
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.
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…
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?
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…
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