Category: socialmedia

Shutdown two, week eleven

Eleven weeks and no respite in sight – on Tuesday, our government will reconvene with the states and evaluate further tightening of the contact restrictions. I hope they will finally make working from home mandatory for all office workers.

On Saturday, our governing party elected its new leader. They opted for continuity and the least controversial candidate and avoided the ultra-conservative Chairman of the Supervisory Board at BlackRock Germany.

Also, Winter is here, with the first snow of the year. Only two more months to Spring.

I wrote this blog post while dancing to Melodic Sunday at Techno Lieben und Leben – a great place to start the day!

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(First snow, Cologne, 1/17/21)

2021 Goals

I’m happy to say that I reached most of my 2020 goals, except for my YouTube targets.

Here are my goals for this year:

  • Continue to support Fridays For Future and the Climate Justice movement actively
  • Maintain my weight and continue to exercise
  • Move my transport needs to a (shared) cargo bike
  • Continue regular (online) Rancher meetups in Cologne
  • Write my Bachelor thesis and finish my studies

2021 must be the year in which CO2 emissions finally begin to drop!

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(Final paper of 2020, Overleaf, 12/31/20)

Podcasts

One casualty of Covid-19 in my life is podcasts. In pre-Covid times, I would listen to podcasts during my commute or at any other time when I was waiting for a connection or a meeting or something else.

However, I’m now working almost exclusively from home, and there are no idle times anymore.

I am not very good at listening to someone talking in the background, so I’ve been missing many podcast episodes lately.

To make up for it, I want to share my top three:

If you’re still finding time to listen to Podcasts, give them a try!

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(Google Podcasts, Radiorebell screenshot, 12/7/20)

Pandemimimis defile parliament building

This weekend saw a big gathering of right-wing extremists and other Corona-deniers in our capital, Berlin.

During their protests, a group went to the stairs in front of our parliament building, brandishing the Reich’s hateful symbols – absolutely disgusting and shameful!

The Police should have prevented this, but they were sadly understaffed, with only three officers present in front of the parliament (according to media reports).

Maybe these officers protecting the commercial interests of RWE at the Garzweiler open-pit coal mine could have helped?

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(Alle Dörfer Bleiben, 8/30/20)

Travel

I miss travel. I miss attending concerts.

I have been traveling most of my life as part of my professional career and in my free time. Once I understood the climate emergency, I started to decarbonize my life and change the way I travel.

Then came Covid-19, and subsequently the shutdown.

Now travel is pretty much out of the question, and will probably remain very limited for the next couple of years.

There are quite positive aspects: Last week I attended a book club in New York. Yesterday I participated at the Heyou Awards in Gothenburg and then later at a concert in Madrid – neither would have been possible pre-Corona. I hope that we’ll keep the online accessibility for the future!

Early October I have tickets for a concert in Madrid – will I be able to go? Or will we be in lockdown again at that time?

Only time will tell, but I feel like my wings have been clipped. And I seriously lack content for my YouTube.

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(Heyou Awards Livestream, YouTube, 8/15/20)

World Mask Week

This week (August 7 – August 14) is World Mask Week.

Wearing a mask is the best tool we currently have to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and break the chain of infections.

By wearing a mask, I protect others from infection, in case I carry the virus.

Does this in any way infringe on my freedom or any constitutional rights that I have? Not at all – wearing a mask is about being a decent and considerate person.

Even the Google doodle dons a mask. And so can you!

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(Google doodle, Android, 8/5/20)

Anti-Sexist Social Club

Thursday last week I attended a great online meeting, organized by the Anti-Sexist Social Club and Next Gen Men; people from all over the world were attending.

Although I miss attending discussions in person, there’s a massive opportunity in remote events – I would not have been able to participate, had it taken place in New York.

During the event, Jackson Bird was reading from his memoir, Sorted, and Dane Woodland was reading from his collection of poems, transVersing.

The event focused on what we can do in the 2SLGBTQ+ community to be more inclusive and less sexist; all proceeds went to The Okra Project.

Many thanks to the organizers and their skillful moderation – I learned a lot, and I look forward to many more such events!

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(Sorted, Audio Book – I support Jackson on Patreon)

Perseverance

Space: The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the Mars Rover Perseverance. Its two-year mission: To drill and search for signs of past microbial life. To boldly search where no one has searched before.

Follow the launch and the full mission on Nasa’s Mars website!

And get your boarding pass 😎

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(Perseverance Boarding Pass, 7/26/20)

Corona & Weight

So far, knock on wood, I have been able to (almost) maintain my weight during the Corona pandemic.
Although we’re not under lockdown anymore, I spend most of my days indoors at my desk – there’s no commute, no shopping, no going out to the cinema, no meeting with friends.
The one app that helps me maintain a healthy dose of exercise is Pokémon Go. A virtual buddy helps me to socially distance while playing, and the gamification works well, compelling me to walk long distances every day.  And there’s no end in sight, neither for the pandemic nor for the game.
So – thank you, Niantic!

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(Shiny Gastly, Community Day, 7/19/20)