“It seems to me that there are about 1,000 people on the planet to whom ad blocking is problem and about 7 billion to whom it’s a solution.”
Bob Hoffman
Category Archives: Better world
How I enjoy creating yet another online profile
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Yes, that title is meant ironically. More or less anything you want to do online these days, any service you want to use, any network you want to join, comes with the requirement to create a personal profile. This is particularly true if whatever you want to get hold of is free (actually meaning: “you can have this without having to pay for it, if we can have your personal data” – as I discussed in a previous post), or can access your personal data or your money.
In the latter case, I obviously agree that it is a good idea to have some barriers Continue reading
Refugees: How much is too much?
In 1956, over 200.000 Hungarians fled to Austria as refugees in a relatively short timespan, after the Soviets had ended the Hungarian Revolution manu militari. Unlike what you might expect from looking at the political climate in Austria today, a mere 60 years later, those refugees were treated so well that one of them openly stated: “If I am ever required to be a refugee, I hope to make it to Austria.” (source: The Bridge At Andau, a book published in 1957 by James A. Michener, based on interviews with some of those Hungarian refugees). Continue reading
Suggestions for a slightly better world #6
As you could read here before I’m not always a big fan of the British. But there is one thing I absolutely love about them: the way that behave on escalators. Especially if you contrast that to the way the rest of the world population (or at least the part I have already been exposed to) behaves on them.
Picture by OiMax (https://www.flickr.com/photos/oimax/)
Those of you who have been in the UK will no doubt already realize what I am l referring to: on escalators that are wide enough to allow Continue reading
When do you stop being an immigrant?
These last few weeks, refugees from war zones like Syria have been headline news around the clock in just about every single news bulletin. On their journey towards Europe, they encounter both very positive and very negative reactions from the local population of whichever area they happen to be passing by (or got stuck in) that day.
The locals reacting negatively are pointing out that a number of the refugees are not on the run because of a dangerous situation in their home town, but Continue reading
Quote of the day #52
“A man who does not want anything, but does things solely to earn money, is in any case a poor man, even if he earns that money.”
Bertolt Brecht (in Dreigroschenroman)
My superpower
No action figure has been made yet resembling me, but that is merely a matter of time, as I turn out to be the proud possessor of a superpower. 
At least that seems to be the only plausible explanation for the fact that I can quite easily do something that evidentally must require from other people an effort too huge to accomplish – judging from the factual evidence both at home and at work: I can, with the use of nothing but my bare hands, replace an empty roll of toilet paper with a new one on the holder meant for this sole and wonderful purpose!
You must by now be thinking I’m showing off, but there’s even more than that: I also manage to put the empty roll into the trashcan instead of just letting it lie around on the bathroom floor… amazing, isn’t it?
How to get a discount in webshops
Did you know that a lot of companies are following you when you’ve been on their website? There is a technique called retargeting that causes you to see ads from websites that you have recently visited (provided they have set up an agreement with Google to pay Google Continue reading
Warning: you are likely to be victim of a huge scam!
Those who know me in person, will be able to confirm: intellectual development is quite important to me. That is why in recent years I have been thrilled to see loads of new devices entering our society at a large scale with a name containing the prefix ‘smart’. BUT… there is a big problem! And probably you are just as much a victim to it as I have now discovered to be myself!!! Continue reading
Important concept for teenagers: subtlety in scent
This is really a message specifically meant for teenagers, so if you happen to have any near you: make sure to spread the word to them (preferably via a share button – being experts at this, the members of the targeted demographic will gladly explain to you how this works; you will have to put up with some rolling of the eyes or a mocking glance, though).
The message is connected to any kind of scent applied to the human body, Continue reading
THE SECOND HALF 