The 6 Most Useful Books I’ve Ever Read

I love reading, and over time I’ve been lucky to read many useful, and then a handful quite extraordinary books. Here I like to share my current non-fiction favorites: The Nature of Personal Reality, Getting More, Public Opinion, and three (3!) more.

Post from April 1, 2014, filed under Everything Else.

Lessons from Writing a Dream Journal

I love dreaming. I love dreams. Dreams are fascinating. I’ve learned that dreams are realities just as real as this one, physical reality. I’ve learned that much when it comes to dream memory depends on one’s own beliefs with respect to dreaming…

Post from February 14, 2014, filed under Philosophy and Everything Else.

On Writing a Book with Google Docs and Amazon KDP

Google Docs is okay to write short books and when making limited use of the comment feature. Amazon KDP’s HTML format is a technical disgrace, and Amazon needs to fix it. A few thoughts and tips on completing a book using either.

Post from December 20, 2013, filed under Web Development and Everything Else.

How I Read 10 Books a Month

I read 10–15 books a month. As I’ve been doing this for a few years and thus developed a routine, I thought it could be interesting to share a few notes, tips, and quirks—I remember how hard it can be to even read 1 book a month.

Post from October 16, 2013, filed under Everything Else.

9 Tips to Become a Better Driver

What makes a good driver? I don’t know whether I know. I’ve driven much, have deepened my skills, I fit stereotypes—and I’ve also screwed up. What I do know is that I’m a driver who cares. A few ideas on what could make people better drivers.

Post from September 10, 2013, filed under Everything Else.

Surveillance Kills Democracy

I meet people who think that mass surveillance, as with NSA and GCHQ spying, is okay because they don’t have anything to worry about. The argument is either that they don’t have anything to hide or that what they’re doing is not important enough…

Post from August 18, 2013, filed under Everything Else.

The Meanings of Googliness

The words “googley” and “googliness” are not to be found in common language. They are almost magical words however. Even at Google, where they’ve been coined, it’s not clear to everyone what these words mean though. And that’s no surprise…

Post from August 12, 2013, filed under Everything Else.

Goodbye Google, San Francisco, California, and United States

I’m resetting my life. I’ve quit at Google, I’ve quit my apartment in San Francisco, I’ve sold most of what I own and put the rest in storage. I’m now about to backpack the world to pursue my studies and goals and to build a new life somewhere else. Here’s a little story.

Post from July 31, 2013, filed under Everything Else.

Driving: Tips and Thoughts

It’s time for a helpful, heart-warming, loving post about driving.

Post from May 11, 2011, filed under Everything Else.

On Solutions

Solutions require problems. If you don’t have a problem, you don’t need a solution. This is exactly why you should, whenever someone proposes a solution—which includes design and technical changes—ask what problem that solution solves…

Post from July 7, 2010, filed under Web Development and Everything Else.

How to Relocate, the Alternative Guide

If there’s one area of expertise I’m only involuntarily linked with, it’s moving. I moved 25 times so far, spanning cities, countries, and now continents; my career stats mean .81 relocations per year, or 1.24 years per relocation…

Post from March 2, 2010, filed under Everything Else.

My Top 15 Android Apps

This is a serious post, not one of those “the 1,000 best blah” ones. Or something like that. I’m an Android user for a bit longer than December 2008, and I love my HTC Magic as much as the HTC Dream (aka G1)…

Post from August 12, 2009, filed under Everything Else.

The Result of Maturity Is Simplicity

“Finally, it doesn’t lack some irony considering that web design gets often enough protected by the credo ‘the end justifies the means’ and pragmatism’s paid homage to. The question is whether you’re talking about sick, sanctimonious pragmatism or…”

Post from May 26, 2009, filed under Everything Else.

Presenting… the Google Shoe

They finally arrived, long longed for Google shoes, in this case the “Google j9t” model based on the Adidas ZX700. They’re not for sale but I might share the configuration I used to design them. The “Google j9t” may only be worn for dynamite fishing and important launches.

Post from March 16, 2009, filed under Everything Else.

Merged RSS Feed for German Readers

A new merged feed featuring all entries of my site, English and German, is now available through Yahoo Pipes. Since both parts of my site are different in several regards, including separate feeds, English-speaking German readers tended to subscribe to two feeds…

Post from November 8, 2008, filed under Everything Else.

Thoughts on Disclaimers

How awesome that these are particularly popular in Germany: disclaimers on both websites and emails. Recently I came across the German Wikipedia article on disclaimers which talks about the topic in detail, and I could not but go for yet another “thoughts” post…

Post from October 28, 2008, filed under Everything Else.

meiert.com Survey Results

It’s one and a half months since I asked for your feedback on meiert.com, and I finally decided to publish some of the results. I also wanted to reply to some responses I got via the “comments and suggestions” field. First, however, I like to thank everyone…

Post from October 13, 2008, filed under Everything Else.

Asking for Your Feedback

I’d like to ask for 15 seconds (meaning exactly 15 seconds) of your precious time to take a really short survey related to this website, to learn about your perspective and ideas…

Post from August 28, 2008, filed under Everything Else.

Expertise and the Inverted Parabola

I’m not a mathematician but it looks like applying one’s experience and expertise resulted in an inverted parabola of effort to be exercised. So knowledge or its use, respectively, seem to mean that beginners don’t know what to do and thus don’t do much, while true experts…

Post from July 18, 2008, filed under Everything Else.

Thoughts on Email

Email was, is, and will stay the web’s true killer application, but spam, top-posting, incompetent use of newsletters, and the HTML email problem mean serious challenges.

Post from June 10, 2008, filed under Everything Else.

The 1,000 Dollar Donation

A few minutes ago, I donated the 1,000 US dollars I offered in the 1,000 Dollar Comment Game. I rounded the 1,000 dollars to 700 euros and transferred the money to “Selbsthilfe für Wohnungslose e.V.”, Hanover…

Post from March 1, 2008, filed under Everything Else.

Akismet Plugins Archive

Since no older versions of famous WordPress spam protection plugin Akismet seem to be available anymore, I decided to preserve the collection of Akismet plugins I could get my hands on. Get your API key all excited.

Post from February 27, 2008, filed under Everything Else.

Dark Days for Germany

Yesterday, on the historically significant November 9, the German government approved a law that requires telecommunications providers to retain all customer communication data for a period of six months, and allows authorities to gain access to stored communications…

Post from November 10, 2007, filed under Everything Else.

3 Great Learning Strategies for Generalists

“Lifelong learning” sounds like some sort of buzzword but it is necessary to develop and progress, and awesome to master. Mistakes are great, too, as they are accelerating the learning process, and this needs to be kept in mind…

Post from November 2, 2007, filed under Everything Else.

Cost of Solution vs. Cost of Problem

Problems cost money, and problems require solutions that also cost money. This is known in all industries, but in many cases, there is focus on only one side: What does the solution of the problem cost? This ignores the other side, the cost of the problem…

Post from September 20, 2007, filed under Everything Else.