Miscellaneous (3)
Highlights From āThe Elements of Styleā (William Strunk Jr.)
āConsciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; he wishes to be told what is.ā
#81 Ā· Ā· design
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.
#80 Ā·
On Writing 1,000 Poems
A story of venturing into an entirely different genre.
#79 Ā· Ā· design
Privacy Experiments: How to Auto-Generate Random Web Traffic
I believe that privacy, which has never been about āhiding something,ā is a fundamental civil right, one that is but must not be infringed on; so I once more played with randomizing personal web traffic.
#78 Ā·
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.
#77 Ā· Ā· advocacy
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).
#76 Ā· Ā· advocacy
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 coursesā¦
#75 Ā· Ā· philosophy
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 checksā¦
#74 Ā· Ā· development
Highlights From Martinās āThe Behavior of Crowdsā
āWhen 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 āreal,ā however ācrazy.āā
#73 Ā·
Why Iām 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.
#72 Ā·
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.
#71 Ā· Ā· advocacy
On Work
On work, retirement, definitions, and mixing things up.
#70 Ā·
Highlights From Lippmannās āPublic Opinionā
āWho 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?ā
#69 Ā·
Highlights From Wattlesās āThe Science of Getting Richā
āMan is a thinking center, and can originate thought. All the forms that man fashions with his hands must first exist in his thought; he cannot shape a thing until he has thought that thing.ā
#68 Ā· Ā· philosophy
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.
#67 Ā·
Foreigners Are Heroes
Foreigners to our countriesāexpats, immigrants, refugeesāare heroes. Foreigners, people like you and I, add to our lives and our cultures. Foreigners deserve our respect and our support.
#66 Ā· Ā· advocacy
A Digital Charta
When we think about it, although we live in a time of rights violations we donāt lack good intent, nor good law. That leads us to a particular initiative, the Digital Charta.
#65 Ā· Ā· advocacy
The Great Neglect
What is most important for us to learn in our lives? Are we learning it? Teaching it? On āone of the greatest motive powers in the world,ā and āthe noblest of possessions.ā
#64 Ā·
Highlights From Smilesās āCharacterā
āThe 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.ā
#63 Ā·
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 openedā¦
#62 Ā· Ā· advocacy
Living and Mistakes
We canāt make a mistake living our own lives. A counter to the fear of doing wrong, the harmful idea of guilt, as well as unhelpful doubt, the statementās power lies in the realization that itās impossible for us to live our lives āincorrectly.ā
#61 Ā·
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 siteās RSS feeds.
#60 Ā·
On Rationality, and Love
Philosophy can be heart-breaking, orā
#59 Ā· Ā· philosophy
198 Methods of Nonviolent Protest and Action
Just when one wonders how many options there are exactly.
#58 Ā· Ā· advocacy
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 disappointmentāIām mentioning it for the people I meet who donāt use it.
#57 Ā·
Humanity and āThe Other Manifestoā
On a wish for more work on a vision, on values, on principles, on goals actually worth striving for, on utopias, on a good future, a good cause, a good world for all of us.
#56 Ā· Ā· philosophy, advocacy
Itās Not Too Late
ā¦to contribute to good causes.
#55 Ā·
Endless Peace
Amidst all the wars we never wanted but our governments and industries wage and participate in regardless of our will, we threaten to lose sight of our goal. That goal, surely, is peace. That goal, clearly, is durable peace. That goal, indeed, is endless peace.
#54 Ā· Ā· advocacy
Crowdfunding, 5 Years and 81 Projects Later
Iām a Kickstarter and Indiegogo backer. Iāve backed my first campaign in February 2011, and the so far last one in May. In the five years on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, Iāve bid on 81 projects of which 73 funded successfullyā¦
#53 Ā·
Personally Speaking
After my eternal travels Iāve 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 notesā¦
#52 Ā·
Rules for the Media: Independence, Transparency, Accountability, Comparative Reporting
Iāve 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?
#51 Ā· Ā· advocacy
Media: The Choice Between Misinformation and Uninformation
āThe man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.āāOur media, generally speaking, are not trustworthy. They are not trustworthy because of conflicts of interestā¦
#50 Ā· Ā· advocacy
Love Reciprocity
Love! What a wonderful topic. My mind would instantly turn into a good number of directions, from love in our personal lives to different forms of love, to the powers of love, to the possibly universal character of love. Letās be more specific.
#49 Ā·
The One Belief to Cultivate
Thereās a particularly important belief, habit, or trait for us to cultivate: that whatever it is we want to be or master, we can learn how to be or master whatever it is we want.
#48 Ā·
On Conspiracy Theories
These days, many a serious inquiry into significant events leads to something marked a āconspiracy theory.ā Use of the expression āconspiracy theoryā has gone as far as to be used as a blanket dismissalā¦
#47 Ā· Ā· advocacy
Business Practices, Reframed
Ideas for the next performance review.
#46 Ā· Ā· advocacy
The 1% Hypothesis of Mass Surveillance
A few weeks back I read this security article about how itās odd that no one has ever suspected and detected anything related to all that mass surveillance we learned about through Edward Snowden. In particular, physical manipulation of devicesā¦
#45 Ā· Ā· advocacy
No
Have we stopped killing yet?
#44 Ā· Ā· advocacy
News Headlines I Want to Read
A brainstorming with assumptions and implications. We shouldnāt use our creativity to come up with ever horrid scenarios; we could use it to envision awesomeness.
#43 Ā· Ā· advocacy
A Population Control Primer
An incomplete, roughly sorted sketch of actions, methods, and developments that donāt serve us, that instead divide, distract, confuse, manipulate, exploit, demotivate, control, and dominate us. We have a lot of work to do.
#42 Ā·
On Age
Age is wonderful. Aging is wonderful. Age is wonderful for in a life reasonably lived, in a life not exclusively spent idly or hedonistically, age signifies the accumulation of experience and knowledge, and perhaps even wisdom.
#41 Ā· Ā· advocacy
Love
Love is vulnerability. First and foremost, love is vulnerability. It took me many years to recognize this. Many years in which there wasnāt much love in my life, even permitted in my life. I had locked it all out, out of fear to beā¦ vulnerable.
#40 Ā·
Character
A couple of weeks ago I read Samuel Smilesā Character, a book extraordinarily useful and important. I think youād like it. āCharacter is one of the greatest motive powers in the world. In its noblest embodiments, it exemplifies human nature in its highest formsā¦ā
#39 Ā·
Ground Rules for Working With Web Agencies
After we identified inherent problems of working with agencies, letās look at some of our options. We may still need to hire an agency after all, or make the best out of a project. The leg work weāve done in the first part will help us keep this briefā¦
#38 Ā·
The Problems of Working With Web Agencies
I started my career in a small agency, I later worked for a big agency, and I at other times collaborated with or managed agency staff. Iāve never enjoyed working for nor with agencies. That was not because of the people, but because of some inherent issuesā¦
#37 Ā·
Electronic Data as Evidence
We need better defenses against assaults on our rights and privacy. In a world in which most happens electronically, one such defense gets surprisingly little attention: Everything electronic can be forged.
#36 Ā· Ā· advocacy
On Net Neutrality
We need net neutrality, and we need to insist on net neutrality. Everywhere, not just in the United States. Throttling internet access, or charging select content providers extra, much appears like a brazen combination of profiteering, extortion, and, effectively, censorship.
#35 Ā· Ā· advocacy
On Privacy
A few theses on a critical subject. The most important ones: One cannot be free without privacy, all living beings have a right for privacy, and we shall punish intentional violations of privacy.
#34 Ā· Ā· advocacy
On America
The United States have so far engaged in 71 wars in which they killed 13.8 million people; not counted are the World Wars they ended with nuclear strikes on Japan. The U.S. have led 26 proxy wars in which they took 1.4 million livesā¦
#33 Ā·
Sources
I always like to learn what people turn to for information, education, and also entertainment. In particular what they deem most excellent. Thatās part of trying to be open. Yet, learning about peopleās sources typically requires inquiring directly. Here Iām extrovert and shareā¦
#32 Ā·