Christian Frank – Page 20 – Climate Justice, Cloud Native and Buddhism

End of an era

If we’re serious about protecting our climate, we need to show and apply the true cost of CO2 emissions to where they occur.

One business that will for sure suffer is the airline industry, especially the low-cost carriers – that most likely will not be a business model that can be sustained much longer.

Of course I do accept the necessary change and will adapt, but that’s where it hurts me the most personally, and I quietly mourn the ability to travel the world freely; it almost feels as if my wings were clipped.

But long distance trains are an option, too – if they weren’t so expensive … I really hope we will reintroduce sleeper carriages and over night trains in Europe!

FatSecret

One of the key things to do when attempting to loose weight is to track what you eat.

My dietician recommended FatSecret (Android / iOS) because it tracks both calories and macro nutrients, which comes in quite handy on a LCHF-type of diet.

I’ve been using the app for almost a year and can say that I’m quite happy with it – you’ll be surprised by the insights you get, and it definitely helps a lot with sticking to the diet. I use it together with a simple fitness tracker to determine the amount of calories spent – in the end, loosing weight comes down to keeping your calorie intake below your calorie expenditure, doesn’t it?

(FatSecret weekly report)

Willkommen in Neuland

On November 5, @dieserDad (father of @dieserOskar) will release his new book “Willkommen in Neuland” – a travel guide for YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms.

Knowing Tobias I’m pretty sure that it will be a very good resource for all parents and other concerned grown-ups, to get behind the scenes information from social media and the life as a Creator, and a better understanding of the digital realm.

The book will be published by Kreutzfeld digital

(Cover)

Feierabenddemo

Yesterday we had the first afternoon climate strike, organized by Parents 4 Future, Scientists 4 Future, Extinction Rebellion and many more, to support the Fridays and acknowledge our responsibility.

It’s the grown-ups who’ve caused the climate emergency, and it’s up to us to do our part to mitigate it – individually, of course, but also collectively as a society.

After the abysmal “Klimapaket” was presented by our government, the idea was born to add a weekly protest on Friday evening, to reach the people who are at work during the day, to increase awareness for the need for climate action, broaden support for the Fridays and compel our government to act.

Wish us luck!

(Chlodwigplatz, Cologne)

Going Green

After last week’s catastrophic failure of our governing parties to address climate change, I have decided to formally switch my affiliation to the Greens.

I have kept my affiliation with the Social Democrats for quite some time now in honor of my late father, who dedicated his life to the politics of Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt, but enough is enough.

Earlier this year, the Social Democrats failed to protect the digital realm and we’re still waiting for the fallout from that disaster; this Friday they abandoned our environment and our planet to support measures that will harm the climate for the benefit of our car industry.

Protecting our planet for the future of our children is the most pressing issue of our time and I want to make sure that our next government will listen to climate scientists and act accordingly!

Meanwhile I will of course continue to do my part, and change to a sustainable way of life.

(#NieMehrSPD #NieMehrCDU #NiemalsAfD)

Climate Fail

We’re currently being massively let down by our politicians, first last Friday by our local government and on Monday by the world.

We all know that in order to protect our planet and ensure the survival of humanity, we’ll need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically and stop burning fossil fuel. The science behind that is crystal clear and non-negotiable; a system change is necessary.

So why is it that our politicians, instead of leading the change, waste our time away and endanger all of us by sticking to old habits?

There is only so much we as individuals can and definitely should do – on a personal level we can change the way we eat, travel, commute and consume – on the level of our society we need politicians. Maybe we need new ones – the next general elections are on the horizon!

(“Spanner in the works”, IAA Frankfurt)

E-Mobility

Yesterday, the international Motor-Show in Frankfurt (IAA) saw a big protest, demanding an urgent change in politics towards eco-friendly mobility.

A lot of people think that this is only about the question which power train to use in a car.

Alas, it’s not. Even with an all-electric car, it’s still neither a good idea nor good use of resources to propel 2 tons of steel forward to get a single human being to work.

Rethinking mobility is much bigger and needs to focus on how to keep us mobile, with a strong focus on public transport and bicycles. It also includes questions like home office – why do people need to commute to work, if work could also commute to them?

If we’re serious about saving our planet, we need to stop putting individual car ownership on top of our agenda.

(Deutsche Bahn, ICE 3, Cologne Central Station)

Reached 100, now towards 200

For a couple of weeks now, I’ve managed to maintain a weight below 100 kg – the first big milestone

Next milestone is a weight below 200 lbs., after which I will probably reward myself with a new game

So far, a low carb, high fat diet (LCHF, Keto) has been very good to me, and my GP is quite happy with my blood stats. I also almost by accident slipped into 16:8 interval fasting, simply because I wasn’t hungry and never was a big breakfast eater anyway

My long term goal for the next two years is to reach a normal BMI value

(Scale)

PowerWatch Matrix

In 2017 I contributed to a campaign on Indiegogo for the PowerWatch Matrix.

An interesting and promising concept – a smart watch and fitness tracker that you’d never need to charge, because it would recharge using thermoelectric energy from your wrist.

Alas, after more than a year, I’ve now to decided to abandon it, for these reasons:

Frequent freezes. Nothing a reset wouldn’t fix, but since the watch does not have non-volatile storage, all data after the last sync is lost
Data. There’s nothing you can do with the data, except for looking at it from the app on the phone. There’s no way to export your stats, let’s say to Google Fit, or share it with other devices.
Global warming. Thermoelectric energy harvesting works off the delta between the case and your skin – more often than not I found that there no longer was a difference and thus had return to manual charging.

While freezing and manual charging were only mildly inconvenient, my main reason to leave the PowerWatch behind is the inability to use the data. I’m now using a refurbished Polar Loop – it needs charging every couple of days, but at least I have access to my stats.

(Same skin and case temperature, no harvesting)

Segway done right

This weekend I had the great opportunity to test-drive a prototype of a new scooter, the Steereon; I’ve been watching it closely ever since I saw the first prototype during a startup event at Stadtgarten a year ago.

The Steereon will come in two versions (for regulatory reasons) and sports a unique, all-wheel steering which makes driving an enormous amount of fun; the founders call it “Carving on the Street” and that’s pretty much exactly how it feels.

As a modern device for urban mobility on the last mile it’s basically what the Segway should have been – light weight, fun and extremely agile.

The scooter will become available during early 2020 (planned) – I can highly recommend it and plan to pre-order one

(Test-drive in Cologne, e-Scooter configuration)